Classic ’90s TV Shows Featuring Black Culture Still Bankable And Streaming Today

Generation Z and the like remain in a ’90s nostalgia craze, and many companies and brands are tapping in, feeding the need for inspiration from the past and boosting fascination with a time long gone. The top streaming networks are no exception, racking up classic ’90s TV licensing and syndication fees.

And there’s a lot of yesteryear content to rerun, rebrand, revisit, and reboot. In the ’90s there was a surge of new TV networks (remember The WB?) that catered to the child and adolescent versions of the very powerful viewing audience of modern-day millennials. And that influx brought in a boost of Black excellence in comedic and dramatic acting, writing, directoral, and production talent.

Back in the day, we’d all religiously gather our snacks after school, awaiting the slate of our favorite TGIF (Thank God It’s Friday) programming. We saw Black women educators, executives, and homemakers, Black dads redefining what it meant to head a household, nods to Afrofuturism through geek culture, and social issues presented in a balanced and humanizing ways.

Today, we’ve lived to enjoy the grand manifestations of those labors, as many ’90s hits featuring Black love, family, and culture launched the Emmy and Oscar award-winning careers of the current Black Hollywood elite.

Here are a few of my favorites that deserve to get their flowers for cultural impact, influence and bankability that has spanned decades:

Speaking of iconic stories, this show featured several, from that of historically Black HBCUs, to the love journey of Whitley (Jasmine Guy) and Dwayne Wayne (Kadeem Hardison). It also consistently ranked in the top five for ratings during its full six years on TV.

A modern-day spin-off is also in the works, centering on the life of Whitley and Dwayne Wayne’s daughter, according to Variety. Writer and producer Felicia Pride is attached to the project, in its development stages with Netflix, as well as Debbie Allen and Gina Prince-Blythewood.

A fab New York City brownstone filled with the drama, love, and friendship of ambitious powerful Black women, each with their own style and uniqueness? What more do you need. Queen Latifah, Erica Alexander, Kim Fields, Kim Coles, along with guy pals John Henton and Terrence C. Carson offer depictions of Black excellence like no other.

Neighbor Steve Urkel was a key draw on this show about a family headed by a proud Black cop, but we loved the whole Winslow family like they were our own. From Urkel’s love obsession with Laura, to the marital bond between Harriet and Carl, to the real-life topics the show often addressed, this is definitely a classic worth re-watching or introducing to your children. At its height it was another ratings draw for ABC (and later, CBS), and in modern days, there was an uptick of streaming minutes on Hulu, as it was watched for almost 11.4 billion minutes.

This show added balance to the oft-done TV archetype of Black families, featuring a blue-collar head of household named Roc (a garbage collector played by Charles S. Dutton), his nurse wife, Eleanor (Ella Joyce) and their interactions with extended family and friends in the Baltimore, Md., neighborhood where they lived. The show infused comedy to tackle tough subjects like gang violence. Praised early on for its “skilled” actors and “interesting,” cast, the show drew numbers from African American audiences and lasted three seasons.

Originally airing on the The WB and the brainchild of iconic director Robert Townsend, this show centered on the Peterson family. Mr. Peterson is a professor who has to come to terms with modern New York City life that his children face, totally different from his upbringing. There’s a great focus on the power of Black fathers and their impact in a household. It was a top viewed sitcom on The WB at the time.

Here a few more favorites that were hits back in the day (or became cult classics years after their premier. ) Add them to your watch list for nostalgia, a rainy day in, or a fun ’90s-themed TV night with family and friends.

The Wayans Brothers, Streaming on Max

Keenan And Kel, Streaming on Paramount+

Hanging With Mr. Cooper, Streaming on Max

The Steve Harvey Show, Streaming on Hulu

Moesha, Streaming on Prime Video

Smart Guy, Streaming on Disney+

The Jamie Foxx Show, Streaming on Netflix

In The House, Streaming on Tubi

Let’s keep giving these iconic Black shows their flowers, unapologetically adding them to our watch lists and reminiscing on the generations of people they’ve inspired. Let’s never forget about the foundations laid by innovative Black creatives who helped shift depictions of Black life in America, change TV greenlighting culture for all creatives of color, and make way for diverse stories to be told.