| Nickelodeon | Other Cartoons | MTV | Spawn | Sitcoms | Northern Exposure | Imus & Stern | MST3K | Wishbone | Hercules & Xena | Magic the Gathering | Wyvern | Pogs | PC Games | Encarta 95 |

1994-1996

This era was the golden age of my childhood. Playing with toys evolved into an obsession for collectible card games like Magic the Gathering and Wyvern, and diving deep into Warhammer tabletop gaming.

At the same time, I was immersed in the new world of modern computers. We bought a Packard Bell with Windows 3.1 in 1994 and it changed my life forever. I spent a lot of time at the computer playing Doom, Dark Forces, various Gold Box cRPGs, and other action games and shooters of the late 80s and early 90s. No one can take away the comfy atmosphere of using Encarta 95 and playing Mind Maze. When I wasn't at my PC or lost in the worlds of Magic cards and Warhammer, I was watching the frontiers of cable TV: Nickelodeon, MTV, E!, SciFi, TNT.

Golden Age of TV

When we first got cable TV in 1994 it was an extraordinary moment in time. Although cable had been around for years, most people I knew and our family didn't have it. We were used to antenna TVs with 4-7 channels and a few others with poor reception. We were content, though, with good sitcoms on NBC, Saturday morning cartoons on Fox, and plenty of 80s action movie marathons on Sunday. But when cable came along, it was a revelation. We couldn't conceive of having 40 channels and all the shows were new and exciting to discover.

Nickelodeon

I was raised on early Nickelodeon. I remember first discovering it after we got cable when I saw this odd game show with kids in safety helmets running through a Mayan temple. What in the world? Oh that was just Legends of the Hidden Temple. Soon thereafter I stayed on this channel and was introduced to a universe of amazing shows I could watch after school. These were astonishing in their quality and to this day people recognize them as peak Nickelodeon. We had a range of superior cartoons: Doug, Rugrats, Rocko's Modern Life, Ahh Real Monsters, Hey Arnold, and Ren & Stimpy (later moved to MTV).

Rocko's Modern Life was my favorite and I remember singing the intro theme along with the TV.

Then there were the live action shows ranging from comedy to drama: Salute Your Shorts, Hey Dude, Clarissa Explains it All, The Secret World of Alex Mack, Pete and Pete.

My favorite was Are You Afraid of the Dark? I watched this religiously every weekday after school. So many good memories of the early seasons of this show; it declined in later seasons. Salute Your Shorts was a close second. It encapsulates the 90s kid life and what it was like back then, even if the setting of the show is a summer camp. Both shows represent peak mid 90s greatness.

Just thinking about it now gives me the coziest feeling of what it's like to be a latchkey kid sitting at home by myself watching these shows before mom gets home. To her credit she'd let me continue watching more Nickelodeon shows after dinner. Clarissa Explains it All and Doug were good family entertainment for both of us.

Other cartoons

Before the best stuff on Nickelodeon aired on weekdays, I'd often flip to other channels like WB and Fox Kids to watch Batman: The Animated Series, Animaniacs, and Tiny Toons. By this time I was no longer an avid Batman fan, but the animated series show was special with surprisingly mature characters, sophisticated plots, and a haunting art direction fusing noir with art deco. Quite a contrast to watch this intelligent and classy show followed by the zany silliness of Tiny Toons.

While I have memories of many cartoons, it's a blur when these shows aired--were they Saturday morning cartoons, weekdays, summer? It feels like I watched the same ones between 1990 and 1995. Regular viewing included X-Men, Gargoyles, Darkwing Duck, Chip n' Dales Rescue Rangers, Duck Tales, and Inspector Gadget.

Two other cartoons I watched in 1995 and early 1996 were Little Bear and Rupert. These were guilty pleasure shows that I was getting too old for at the time, and I'd never admit to my friends that I watched them. But I have fond memories of the cozy pastoral atmosphere in Little Bear. Sometimes I'd watch it like it was an oasis of peace and an innocent fairy tale world enhanced by beautiful animation.

MTV

In the mid 90s MTV was the epitome of cool and introduced a darker aesthetic too, namely through grunge, Marilyn Manson, NIN, Nirvana, and Tool. The music videos on MTV were unlike anything I had ever seen. But what drew me most to flipping over to the MTV channel was the animated shows exemplified by Liquid Television, a broadcast that featured shows like Beavis & Butthead, Aeon Flux, The Maxx, The Head, and Daria. I was too young to truly appreciate all of these, but I remember the images and animations vividly; they appeared in other media at the time like gaming magazines.

Beavis & Butthead, though, quickly became my favorite show on MTV. They were considered a bad influence for kids--my grandmother hated them and didn't want me watching VHS tapes of episodes. So my rebellious mind soaked in their absurd misadventures and stupidity in each episode. It was funny, it was satirical, and pure mid 90s in its attitude. I also discovered a wealth of bands I liked thanks to their riffing on the music videos. My mom graciously indulged my Beavis & Butthead craze by buying books, comics, trading cards, and a Butthead pillow and B&B themed slippers. She even made custom shirts to match the color and font of the Metallica and Megadeth t-shirts worn by the boys, which I proudly wore to school thinking I was cool.

Other adult cartoons

While The Simpsons was a popular viewing choice on some evenings, I personally enjoyed more The Critic, which is such an underrated and trail-blazing show that paved the way for Family Guy later. The parody of movies, the writing, and voice acting by Jon Lovitz left an impression on me as a kid. I'd rewatch the whole show as an adult and enjoy it even more.

Another show that blew me away when it aired on HBO was Spawn: The Animated Series. This was more like a miniseries and it was an extraordinary piece of art that was much too adult for me. I only got to see it one time when cable featured a free demo of HBO. When I originally saw Spawn, I was exposed to nudity, gore, language, and really dark subject matter. It felt so edgy to watch this when it premiered in 1997; I'd revisit the series in 2000 by renting the VHS.

Golden Age of Sitcoms

Seinfeld was appointment television for large swathes of people in the 90s. It was the best show and the best sitcom ever made. I grew up with it and of course found the main draw was Kramer's physical comedy. This is the one show my dad and I would bond over whenever we watched it together, typically reruns. I revitalized a passion for Seinfeld in the early 2000s and recorded all the episodes on VHS and just kept the tapes going in my room all the time so that I eventually memorized entire episode scripts.

A typical sitcom lineup on some nights was a cornucopia of entertainment, between classic 80s stuff to the newer shows like Marriage with Children, Coach, and my next favorite after Seinfeld was Home Improvement. Tim Taylor and Al Borland are hilarious and the writing on the show was phenomenal. I've rewatched all seasons as an adult and the humor really stands up (watch every scene between Tim Allen and Jill's feminist friend and it is as fresh as it was in the 90s). No other show encapsulates what it was like to be an upper middle class suburban 90s kid. What the boys in Home Improvement experienced on the show mirrored my own childhood in so many ways.

Great Live Action Shows

A show I liked but didn't deeply appreciate until rewatching as an adult was Northern Exposure. It was my mom's favorite show in the 90s. That intro with the moose walking through the small town of Cicely Alaska to the memorable theme music is baked into my childhood memories. When I got older I rewatched the whole thing and became an enthusiastic devotee. I maintain it is one of the best shows of the 90s and the among the greatest written shows of all time. The humor is quirky and subtle, the writing is at a high intelligence and yet down to earth. Each episode entertains while having something to say about the human experience, and the show has heart without being sappy.

Imus in the Morning

Every morning before school when my mom was getting ready she would have Imus in the Morning going on MSNBC - back when the channel was actually good. In the 90s politics was considered boring and adult. Nobody in elementary or middle school talked about it. Teachers didn't mention it. It was outside of mainstream life. If you were one of those rare news wonks, you had few outlets like talk radio and C-SPAN. It just wasn't interesting to most of us, unlike today when everyone is opinionated, tuned in to current events via social media, and pop culture is infused with politics.

So why did Imus appeal to me as a kid? Well, I was far too young to understand the political references and adult humor, but boy did I laugh when Imus got angry at his crew, or Bernie made a sarcastic remark about Imus's ugly face, or Chuck McCord went on an unhinged tirade. I would return to Imus later in the late 2000s and appreciate his show more as an adult, but I remember it fondly in the mid 90s. My mom even took me to see Imus live when he toured. People who never heard or watched his show from the 90s and only remember the Rutgers incident have missed out. Imus was an influential shock jock phenomenon between the 70s and 90s.

Howard Stern

When Stern's aired on E! channel back in the mid 90s, I had to stay up late to tune in and it was a forbidden fruit to a kid. Strippers taking their tops off (censored), toilet humor, and funny interviews with all sorts of celebrities and cultural icons was so new and exciting at the time. For a prebuscent kid it was a show I couldn't resist, even if I was so innocent I didn't understand much of the adult humor and sexual innuendos. I'm one of those rare people who liked both Howard Stern and Imus. Stern of course would eventually become the neutered antithesis of his shock jock radio personality by the 2010s. A sad downfall, but I'll remember his halcyon days.

Mystery Science Theater 3000

MST3K was a Sunday treat. Instead of church, my mom would bake cinnamon rolls and we'd both sit and watch MST3K religiously on Sunday mornings. There's no way my 11-year-old brain could understand all the MST3K pop culture references and yet it was still laugh-out-loud funny almost every 5 seconds. MST3K is the funniest show I've ever seen and I'd argue one of the funniest ever made. Consider the creativity of shows like this, too, which reflect that 90s zeitgeist of wacky innovation and humor. A man is trapped on a spaceship with robots and is forced to watch bad movies. They cope by making cracks and riffing during the movie; their silhouettes in theater seats an iconic and unique emblem of the show.

Wishbone

One show must be mentioned for having a pronounced impact on my life, and that is Wishbone on PBS. No show had greater influence on my childhood or intellectual development. It single-handedly introduced me to classic literature stories and when it centered on Ivanhoe, Robin Hood, or Hercules, Rip Van Winkle, and Don Quixote it appealed to my love of fantasy. This show was transformative for me. I remember impressing my 4th grade teachers so much because I kept writing assignments based on the literature I was seeing in Wishbone. Don Quixote, Rip Van Winkle, and The Odyssey were the most powerful stories for me and the teachers thought I must be gifted for even knowing about them. After seeing the Wishbone episodes for The Odyssey and Hercules, it not only fueled an escapism into fantasy, I became enamored with all things Greek mythology.

It got so serious that when I kept bringing mythology books to class or write acrostic poems about literature from Wishbone, the teachers tried to bump me up a grade in English. Instead, one of the administrators hosted a "Mythology club" for me and invited some of my friends to join. We'd basically get to skip a class period for an hour a week to meet up and discuss Greek mythology. I remember us looking at books and using a computer program to design a labyrinth with Theseus and the Minotaur. My inclination towards literature and higher intellectual pursuits like this would not have been possible without Wishbone.

I even had the Wishbone CD-ROM educational game called Wishbon and the Amazing Odyssey. I adored this little game and spent hours with it just to feel immersed in a world of cozy mythology and tranquil animated graphics that transported me to the world of Wishbone. There was a puzzle minigame with Trojan warriors used like chess pieces that fascinated me so much I replicated the game in real life, drawing the board on cardboard and using my own toy figurines as pieces.

Hercules and Xena

By the mid 90s I also had a thing for Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess. I was obsessed with Greek mythology at this time and so these shows hit the spot for me on multiple levels. I got to see recognizable names of gods, goddesses, and creatures, but all of it in a faux-serious presentation. The show was fun, the action and drama cheesy in a good way, and for an 11-year-old boy the scantily clad babes had a distinct appeal. No surprise I started watching Xena more often. The intros to both shows hit me in the "feelz."

Magic the Gathering

Between roughly 1993 and 1996 the collectible card game was not only born but enjoyed a flourishing golden age. In 1995 alone there were so many varied sets. Trading cards and collectible card games were all the rage. Magic the Gathering was the most popular and I got in on it early, acquiring the alpha black-bordered Antiquities, Legends, The Dark, and Arabian Nights, as well as revised and fourth edition cards, and the following expansions: Ice Age, Fallen Empires, Homelands, Alliances, Oasis, Visions, and a few others. My dad often rewarded me for doing yardwork with Magic booster packs. He gave me Inquest and Scrye magazines too, which bolstered an intense affinity for all things collectible card games.

Magic was the most popular at school and with my neighborhood friends. We traded cards all the time. I remember meeting a new neighborhood kid, Gervais, who had an eye for one of my cards. We had our cards laid out on my driveway and another neighborhood kid, Aaron, yelled a few yards away "Andy! Don't trade him your Royal Assassin!" [Royal Assassin was a coveted revised edition black card]. I didn't, and still have it. Magic appealed to my friends as a game, but I collected the card for the art above all. Imagination, escapism, and fantasy were the cornerstones of my childhood, so I was spellbound by fantasy art on these cards. MTG had an amazing roster of artists like Marke Poole, Anson Maddocks, Jesper Myrfors, Rod Spencer, Mark Tedin, and so many others. I stopped collecting MTG around 1999 and have kept all my Magic cards of the 90s preserved in a time capsule fashion. I have no interest in Magic cards beyond this era.

Wyvern

My favorite collectible card set that never gained popularity was Wyvern. All of the art was done by the same artist, the great and late Peter Pracownik (pruh-cow-nick) who passed not long ago. He was a national treasure in England. His art is some of the most dreamlike and hypnotic fantasy art you’ll ever see. Almost all of it is characterized by gorgeous dusks, night skies, and moody leafless trees. The card game itself was alright, but I'll confess I bought the cards for the art. I have a nearly complete Wyvern collection as well as many unopened decks and booster packs. Wyvern supplanted MTG for me. I spent so many imagination-filled moments staring at the art on these cards and dreaming of the mystical fantasy worlds they evoked.

I acquired other CCG sets and still have them: a factory sealed box of Blood Wars (the Planescape-themed card game), Rage, Shadowfist, Spellfire, and DoomTrooper. I also got into a bunch of various non-sports trading cards featuring Star Wars, Predator, GI Joe, Beavis & Butthead, just a kaleidoscope of 90s pop culture. I used to go to comic shops that had trading card sections and binders of used cards.

Pogs

It was inevitable in 1993 that the pog fad would enter my orbit. Kids at school had them and they were everywhere in retail shops. I remember going to a place called MJ Designs--a forerunner to Hobby Lobby--where they had troughs filled with loose pogs. All my friends got into them and I coerced my mom many times to find obscure shops nearby that sold pogs so I could unearth rare ones I hadn't seen before. Naturally, I liked pogs with skulls and fantasy art. I don't think the fad lasted more than a couple years but it was an intense hobby while it lasted. I still have all my pogs today, replete with metal slammers, a couple pads dented by slammer throws, and plastic pog containers.

Computer Games

As mentioned earlier, the only console I had growing up was the NES, at least until the Nintendo 64 came out in 1996. What we did get was a nice Packard Bell PC with Windows 3.1 in 1994. I had messed around with my mom's IBM DOS computer in the early 90s--we played Leisure Suit Larry and I was too young to understand the adult humor. But I didn't really embark on being a computer nerd until we got the Packard Bell in 1994. It felt like buying our first computer. I remember it happening at Comp USA, and my mom let me pick out one PC game to buy with it. Surveying the aisles of colorful big box PC games, I settled on one: Star Wars Dark Forces because the box art was a bunch of stormtroopers. This turned out to be the right choice. It's a first-person Doom experience in the Star Wars universe, and I poured hours into this.

Playing Dark Forces and Doom along with messing about in the new fancy Windows 3.1 was very exciting at the time. We had never seen anything like this, coming from dos-based IBM or Amiga. Younger generations take all this for granted and don't know what it's like to have lived in an analog world and for something entirely new like the personal computer with the Windows operating system to come along. I would just open folders and explore, try different programs and games including Journeyman Turbo.

I quickly became a computer gaming nerd playing shooters, SSI goldbox cRPGs, Deadlock, and most memorably Stronghold, a strategy game set in the DnD universe. My friends in the neighborhood played this too, and I vividly recall us talking about our encounters in the game at the bus stop in the mornings. Doom I and II were a big deal for a while. I played all sorts of titles that were available as shareware demos: Shadow Warrior, Quake, Tomb Raider, Duke Nukem, and adventure games and RPGs of all kinds. PC gaming would be a constant outlet for me for the next 20 years and these gaming experiences were foundational in my life, especially in the late 90s and early 2000s.

Encarta 95

One of the most memorable things I did on this new computer was explore Encarta 95, an encyclopedia program with articles and multimedia which was really thrilling to use. We take for granted today that anything can be pulled up on Wikipedia, and few people are browsing Wikipedia articles to read them for fun. Encarta was different. You opened the program and enjoyed reading about different topics, or watch embedded video clips that looked so futuristic. This was an impressive technology at the time. Then there was the embedded puzzle game that came with Encarta called "Mind Maze." I spent hours with this as a kid, not because I liked answering trivia questions but because the different rooms and characters in this medieval estate/castle were so interesting. The art direction and graphics pulled me in even though they were static 2D images. I can hear the Mind Maze music as I type this.

1985-1993 1997-1998