90s TV - drama, aliens and a fresh prince

Although I was born in the eighties I do consider myself to be a nineties child.


All my memories are from the nineties - films, TV and music all stem from this decade.

So following on from my poptastic post I thought I would go on about the TV shows from the nineties that were simply amazing.


As you know I was a huge Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan, still am I suppose, but I have declared my love for that one too many times on this blog.

Teen dramas: Before The OC, One Tree Hill and 90210 there was the teen drama Dawson's Creek, where 20 year olds played 16 year olds and they spoke in a way that you had no idea what they were talking about.


Dawson was a gentle soul and a film buff, his best friend Joey was pretty but didn't know it and was so shy but strong willed. Pacey was the loveable rouge and Jen was the new girl in town.



The show started the careers of James van der Beek, Katie Holmes, Joshua Jackson and Michelle Williams and had teenagers talking in a way no teenager spoke.

There was angst and a love triangle, first Jen, Joey and Dawson and then Dawson, Joey and Pacey. I always wanted Joey and Pacey together and was over the moon when they did. It was a great show and went on for nine series'.
It looks a little corny now but it is still good and has so many movie references, I love the homage to the Breakfast Club episode, sheer brilliance.


Another teen drama was My So Called Life starring Claire Danes as Angela, a 15-year-old teenager debating her way through school, friends, boys and family.

Really clever and if you were a bit of an odd ball you could relate and even if you weren't you could relate.

It was really clever and a bit off the wall, her best friend was a gay guy who liked to wear make-up. It was dark and brooding but quite true to a teenage girls life.

A short lived sci-fi series was Roswell High, about three aliens who were left after the crash landing. One of them falls in love with a local teenager but has to keep their secret, secret. Only on for three series it starred the now mega-famous Katherine Heigl as one of the aliens.

There were great comedies Fresh Prince of Bel Air starring a very young Will Smith, Boy Meets World and Even Stevens starring Shia LaBeouf.

A creepy offering from the 90s was Eerie Indiana, only one series and 19 episodes but it was fantastic. Stories included a cash machine that made friends by giving him money, a woman who kept herself and her sons young by keeping them in Tupperware and a lost place where things became lost so people would buy more.

I remember this being on over the Summer holidays on channel 4 and was creepy but funny. Just brilliant.

The 90s series were only one or two series in places but were brilliant and not like anything we have today.
 
I love my 90s TV, there were loads of cartoons I loved as well but I will keep them for another time.

Hi, my name's Charlotte and I'm a Buffy-o-holic.

The nineties were all about girl power. The Spice Girls were the fore-runners and although I loved them and their pioneering girl power, there was always one female fighter who symbolised what it was to be a girl, with a no mess attitude who could dress pretty but kick your arse if she wanted. That girl was Buffy Summers.


The programme started in 1997 and seven series later it ended (2003). It propelled its stars, and a teen queen in the form of Sarah Michelle Gellar was born.

Buffy was unlike any other show out at the time, of course there was Dawson's Creek (which I did love), but that show sometimes was just too much, the teens looked about 30 and used a lot of very long words. With Buffy there were dramas but also demons, and the stars looked about the right age.


The show was just fantastic and some episodes were so dark and creepy. Episodes such as Nightmares or Hush where the creepy and frightening is brought in to the real world, but thank the lord there was always Buffy ready to fight to the death, which she did, I think she died twice.

She fell in love with Angel and lost herself to him to not only get her heart broken but I think he also tried to kill her. Toxic boyfriend on a major level, I think that is the problem sometimes with Edward he is just hormones whereas Angel was loving, tortured and potentially dangerous. (I will note here that I am a Twilight fan and love Edward, but it's always Angel).

For a show about ghosts and ghouls it was really relateable.  The teenage angst and problems were all that we could look at.

Even now watching the episodes although the clothes have dated and they use videos instead of DVDs, they haven't dated that much, well, the first season it a little dated but it was 1997. Buffy showed girls that you could be your own person and take no prisoners, she also didn't rely totally on men. Also even though she was pretty she was still on the outside and never in the 'in-crowd' so everyone could relate to her, she had her close friends and that's all she needed.

The love of Angel and Buffy, a love that was meant to be but couldn't. Whereas Bella and Edward are intense and all powerful, and a little creepy Buffy and Angel were passion and love. Soul mates.... I was devastated when they split, Riley never compared!

The script was fast-paced and witty, written to perfection. The show finished in 2003 but I still love it as much today as I did then. I have had a slight overload and been watching it constantly. I know this is sad but I honestly think I would be a different person if I had not watched Buffy in my younger days. It lost its way a little in season 7 but it was still pretty good.

It feels me with dread that there have been rumours of a Buffy film re-make, no SMG, no Alyson Hannigan, in their place Megan Fox............... I will boycott LEAVE IT WELL ALONE!

Josh Whedon was a genius! So come on then everyone Once More With Feeling... we love Buffy as it is so leave it well alone!

Drama, drama, drama

I watch and love shows like Gossip Girl, The OC, Buffy and back in the day Dawson's Creek. However, if my life was that dramatic I think I would have aged a hundred years and be constantly grey, their lives are just one drama after another.

I wonder why life can’t be easy, clear and in black and white. I know that peoples’ lives aren't as dramatic as these shows but why does life have to be so complicated some times. Gone are the days of old when everything was simple, replaced with hard decisions and inner turmoil. An easy task becomes complicated when human emotion comes in to play and nothing is ever as easy as it seems.

Even in films life becomes simplistic, boy meets girl, they fall in love are separated but we all know in the end that they will be living happily after.

In programmes like Gossip Girl, there are more twists and turns than a country winding road. In many ways the dramas do represent a slice of life: heartache, heartbreak and relationships. The clothes and schemes are probably a little out of most people's grasp but the feelings and emotions are probably pretty close.

In that way I suppose you could use these shows as your relationship bible and take what they have done wrong and not do it. It may sound strange but then we could learn from the mistakes of Blair and Serena.

For example, Blair and Chuck know they cannot be apart but they cannot be together until they return to the power people they were. Chuck the big businessman with an empire to match and Blair an independent powerful woman. What can we learnt from this I hear you shout... well you have to know who you are before you can be with someone else.

Vanessa and Dan showed us that people who have been friends for years cannot be boyfriend and girlfriend, too many issues.

Nate and Serena thought they were meant to be, she nearly lost her best friend as Nate was Blair's (best friend) boyfriend, however, they thought they were happy, but timing wasn't right and there love was not meant to be. I think this one is more about karma, fun and exciting is all and well when it has to be in secret but at the end of the day a relationship is more than that.
Ah Gossip Girl, I maybe deluded in thinking this but in a time of need I cannot think of anything better than watching a bunch of rich kids running around New York when all you want to do is cry and eat chocolate.