The TV industry has evolved a lot to keep up with modern technology and cultural taste over the last 30 years. This is why award shows like the Emmys are important, as they mark the best art of each era, allowing audiences to go back and track the entertainment industry’s evolution — or just enjoy the most critically acclaimed and popular shows from a specific decade. The ’90s were an especially strong period for TV.
The 1990s gave us beloved sitcoms like “Friends” and “Frasier,” and boundary-pushing women-centric shows like “Sex and the City” and “Ally McBeal.” All of these series were at least nominated for an Emmy, but a show that was good enough to be nominated the most prestigious awards in television in the ’90s and one that actually holds up today despite changes in the cultural landscape are two very different things.
Rewatches make it clear that plenty of episodes of “Friends” have aged poorly, and the lack of diversity throughout the whole show would be called out today. “SATC” had similar diversity issues and told lies about living in New York City. So, it’s surprisingly harder than you’d think to find Emmy-winning ’90s series that still hold up in the 2020s — but there are a few gems. Even if they have some flaws, these Emmy-Award winning ’90s shows still hit all the right notes today.
“ER” was on NBC for an impressive 15 seasons, and is the most-recognized medical drama in Emmys history with 124 nominations and 23 wins. The series premiered in 1994 and ended in 2009. While the majority of its episodes aired in the 2000s, “ER” won many Emmys in the ’90s and broke new ground in its genre from the very beginning, doing plenty of things better than many previous medical dramas. It could’ve had more diversity in its main cast, especially in the ’90s, but it was miles ahead of many shows that shared the airwaves at the time.
“ER” set a standard for how medical shows mimic the fast pace of hospital rooms thanks to being one of the first TV shows to regularly use the Steadicam. Dr. Mary Siki, a surgical resident at Washington University, ranked “ER” third for accuracy among medical shows, behind only “Scrubs” and “The Pitt.” As far as relatable relationships are concerned, no one needs a doctor to tell them that although the County General staff has plenty of romances among them, it’s more realistic than many shows because they usually keep their sex between sheets in their homes. Sure, it’s a funny detail to note, but realism like that over fairytale-like drama will help “ER” stand the test of time well beyond the 2020s.
Seinfeld
Let’s state the obvious first. Diversity was an issue for many ’90s shows, and “Seinfeld” was no exception. Despite that critique, the critically acclaimed sitcom (which earned 68 Emmy nominations and 10 wins during its run) has stood the test of time for decades thanks to its intelligent premise and timeless humor.
There are occasional arcs that last multiple episodes, but the fact that Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld), Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), George (Jason Alexander) and Kramer’s (Michael Richards) exploits are essentially about “nothing” makes “Seinfeld” feel extremely authentic to mundane, everyday life in any decade. For example, there’s an episode where Jerry accidentally promises Kramer’s girlfriend, “the low-talker,” that he’ll wear an outrageous puffy shirt during a television appearance. The circumstances are unique, but we’ve all stepped out of our comfort zones to keep promises to friends.
And we’ve all been frustrated while hangry and waiting for a table at a restaurant like the gang was in “The Chinese Restaurant,” especially when we have a movie to catch. Or spent way too much time looking for our cars in unfamiliar places like the gang did in “The Parking Garage.” These conflicts are timeless, no matter the era.
The Sopranos
The acclaimed HBO series “The Sopranos” premiered on January 10, 1999 and ran for six seasons, so it barely makes the cut. But, with 112 Emmy nominations and 21 wins, including wins in writing and acting categories in Season 1, it absolutely cannot be excluded. Following mob boss Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) and the anxiety issues that lead him to therapy, the series is widely regarded as one of the greatest of all time (and topped the Writers Guild of America’s 2013 list of the best-written shows).
More than a decade after the WGA list, that still holds true. All you have to do to see why is watch the acting performances and try not to get too sucked into the stress of people potentially getting backstabbed while dealing with mental health, family drama, and everything in between. We might not all be members of the mob, but through its premise, the show explores relatable, dark, and difficult themes like depression, addiction, evolving relationships, and personal moral limits.
Viewers can still relate to the struggles, as is evident by the fact that “The Sopranos” and its cast aren’t just “still relevant” in today’s culture, they’re a beloved part of it. The Museum of the Moving Image honored the show in 2026, cast members have made popular podcasts about it, and there was even a Super Bowl commercial in 2022.
The X-Files
“The X-Files” follows FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) as they investigate the government’s strangest unsolved cases involving alien abductions, conspiracy theories, psychic phenomena, and everything in between. The original series, running from 1993 to 2002, received 61 Emmy nominations and 15 wins in categories ranging from sound mixing to makeup, acting, and writing.
The show pushed the boundaries of network TV so far that executives banned an episode called “Home,” about an inbred family called the Peacocks that give birth to deformed babies and terrorize a rural town. A 1995 episode called “Humbug,” in which Mulder and Scully investigate the murder of an “Alligator Man” in a Florida community of former freak show performers, was ahead of its time in disability representation.
“The X-Files” remains culturally relevant in large part thanks to its huge fan base, whose members show up at countless conventions, and were large and loyal enough that the industry knew there was an audience for the movie in 1998, followed by a revival series that lasted two seasons from 2016 to 2018. Since the writers took so long to bring Mulder and Scully together romantically, “The X-Files” is credited with being the origin of “shipping,” the phenomenon of fans wanting two fictional or real-life people to get (or stay) together. Shipping and the internet changed fan culture forever.
The West Wing
NBC’s “The West Wing” follows Democratic U.S. President Jed Bartlet’s (Martin Sheen) cabinet as they run the United States of America. His team includes Chief of Staff Leo McGarry (John Spencer), Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford), Communications Director Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe), Press Secretary C.J. Cregg (Allison Janney), and assistant Donna Moss (Janel Moloney). Politics supplied the show’s plotlines, but over time, creator Aaron Sorkin and his team explored deeper, more personal issues related to addiction, PTSD, disability and sudden accidents, assassination attempts, and life transitions. “The West Wing” received 26 Emmy wins and 95 nominations during its run.
“The West Wing” is often described as idealistic, and gave audiences a break from politics as usual since it focused on a fictional Democratic admin during the Bush Administration. That argument remains true today, amid a completely different political landscape. It allows for a specific type of dreaming that later political shows like “Scandal” and “House of Cards” lack in favor of murder plots or backstabbing. The series made the Writers Guild of America’s 101 best-written shows list at number 10. “The West Wing” found a new audience on Netflix, which helped keep it in the cultural conversation.
