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I have written multiple books about ‘90s TV. I have a new one coming out this year. As such, getting to 1999 in my look back at TV is right up my alley. Why mess around? Let’s dive in!
Obviously, we are well-and-truly before the streaming era. Where he are, though, is at the birth of HBO as a powerhouse. In January, The Sopranos debuted. That changed everything for HBO, with all due respect to The Larry Sanders Show, Oz, and Sex and the City. It was also a notable year for Nickelodeon as SpongeBob SquarePants debuted.
Three other, deathless shows have debuted, even if two of them died multiple times. One, I love, and that’s Futurama. Two others, I actively dislike, Family Guy and Law & Order: SVU. On the cultish TV front, Strangers with Candy, Mission Hill, Freaks and Geeks, and Good Eats all debuted. I really like two of those shows (and I haven’t seen Mission Hill).
Several shows ended, including Home Improvement and Mad About You. The one that struck me the most, at the time, was Mystery Science Theater 3000. I remember watching the then-series finale. I even wrote a book about the show, talking of it as a piece of pop culture history. Then, of course, it returned…then returned again. Even stretching back to the 1990s, TV shows turned out deathless.
