There were many stone cold classic TV shows that aired in the 90s. It’s easy to look back at that entire decade of television with rose-colored glasses. But there were just as many, if not more, shows that seriously stunk. That doesn’t mean they weren’t fun to watch, of course. You can’t eat your vegetables all the time. Sometimes you gotta have the television equivalent of a deep-fried Oreo.
Let’s wade into some of the dreck that plagued the airwaves in the years of on-air paternity tests, unasked-for sitcom spin offs, and harebrained premises. You might find yourself feeling some nostalgia for shows you’d rather never watch again. Take a journey back into the channel-flipping days of the 1990s with this gallery.
1
The Jerry Springer Show was the epitome of trash, and this picture captures it perfectly. Two women screaming at each other, barefoot for some reason, and Jerry standing there feeding off the chaos.
2
There really was nothing less sophisticated than Jerry Springer.
3
Even Jerry himself thought his show was trash. In 2000, he said “I would never watch my show.”
4
The cast of Cop Rock, possibly the worst show of the 90s, if not of all time.
5
Cop Rock was a police procedural musical that featured cops and criminals bursting into song at inopportune moments. It only lasted for 11 episodes.
6
One infamous Cop Rock moment featured a human trafficker singing a song called ‘Baby Merchant’. How did this make it to air!?
7
Baywatch Nights was a 1995 spinoff of Baywatch that featured David Hasselhoff’s character going from lifeguard to private detective.
8
That’s already a pretty bad idea, but the second season inexplicably became science fiction, with X Files style mysteries. Can you believe this image is from a Baywatch show?
9
The Chevy Chase Show was a short-lived talk show that people generally hold to be the worst late night show of all time.
10
The show was an uncomfortable watch, with Chase coming off as mean-spirited and bitter.
11
The Chevy Chase show was commercially, critically, and undeniably a complete disaster. It’s gone down in history as one of the biggest TV flops of the 1990s.
12
Chuck Norris is a cool guy, but Walker, Texas Ranger was no masterpiece.
13
The show was corny, predictable, and ridiculous. You could pretty much tell exactly what was going to happen in each episode in the first two minutes.
14
Baby Talk took the concept for Look Who’s Talking and ran with it. Problem is, they really shouldn’t have.
15
Tony Danza voicing an infant was not enough of a novelty to carry the show for long. It was truly terrible.
16
Oh, and it had George Clooney in it. Why did you agree to this, George!?
17
Harry and the Hendersons always scared the bejeezus out of me.
18
The 1990s obsession with turning movies into sitcoms resulted in some of the worst TV of all time.
19
Teen Angel. Oof. A largely forgotten show, and for good reason.
20
This show featured a teenager eating a six-month-old hamburger, dying, and then becoming his best friend’s guardian angel. Surely there were better ideas they could have greenlit.
21
George Foreman did a great job boxing and selling grills, but he really should have stayed out of the sitcom game. Only nine of the ten episodes of this show even made it to air.
