Top 15 cult series of the 90s
Contents:
• In the 90s, a stormy stream of foreign films and serials poured into Russia. Some of them were frank "slag", designed for the most unpretentious audience. But some film masterpieces have become popular favorites, and to this day they have high ratings on Kinopoisk.
• We present you the top 15 cult TV shows of the 90s that the whole of Russia watched.
15. Santa Barbara (TV series 1984 – 1993)
Genre: drama, melodrama
Kinopoisk Rating: 4.3
IMDb rating: 5.6
A country: USA
Directed by: Rick Bennewitz, Michael Gliona, Rob Schiller
Music: Dominic Messinger, Joseph Harnell, Randy Padgett and others
• People grew up, got married, had children, and the Santa Barbara went on and on.
• In our country, this soap opera about the life of four families in the American town of Santa Barbara began to be shown in 1992, and ended on April 17, 2002. At the same time, 97 final episodes of the TV saga were not shown to Russian viewers.
• But even this did not prevent "Santa Barbara" from becoming the longest television series of all that was broadcast.
14. The rich also cry (TV series 1979 – 1980)
Genre: drama, melodrama
Kinopoisk Rating: 4.9
IMDb rating: 4.8
A country: Mexico
Directed by: Rafael Bankels, Fernando Chacon
Music: different compositions
• Although the series was filmed in the late 70s of the twentieth century, it was shown in 1991. Over the fate of Marianna Villareal then sobbed both the rich and the poor. Indeed, for her film fate, the heroine managed to know great and pure love, part with her beloved, give birth to a son, lose him and search for many years.
• And the spectators could only worry about her and argue passionately about who Marianna would end up with – with Luis Alberto or with the architect Mendisabal.
13. Just Maria (TV series 1989 – 1990)
Genre: drama, melodrama
Kinopoisk Rating: 5.2
IMDb rating: 4.9
A country: Mexico
Directed by: Arturo Ripstein, Beatrice Sheridan
Music: José Antonio 'Potro' Farias, Paco Navarette
• Nowadays, the story of a beautiful peasant woman who was loved but rejected by a wealthy young man and then became a famous fashion designer seems naive and does not deserve special attention. But in the early 90s, when "Just Maria" was on TV, the streets of Russian cities were empty.
• What was the secret of the success of one of the most popular TV series of the 90s? Not only in the lack of spoilage of Russian viewers (or, mostly, spectators), but also in the fact that a simple Russian woman could easily associate herself with a naive, kind and hardworking heroine.
• The relatively small number of episodes for Mexican TV series (143) made it possible to quite dynamically reveal the characters' characters, their relationships and bring the matter to its logical conclusion.
• In honor of "Just Maria", Belarusian breeders even brought out a variety of pears with the same name.
12. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV series 1997 – 2003)
Genre: fantasy, action, drama
Kinopoisk Rating: 7.1
IMDb rating: 8.2
A country: USA
Directed by: Joss Whedon, James A. Contner, David Solomon and etc
Music: Christoph Beck, Thomas Wanker, Robert Duncan
• Long before the Winchester brothers began their fight against evil spirits, young Buffy Summers and her comrades were engaged in this.
• A well-chosen cast, great jokes and touching moments, as well as simple and understandable topics for teenagers, such as schooling, love relationships and relationships with friends and family, are the ingredients for the success of this series.
• As the series developed, it more and more turned from a fairy tale about the victory over evil into a deep and even tragic story in which good did not always come out victorious, and the “good” were not good in everything. However, you fully notice this when you review Buffy as an adult.
11. Xena – Warrior Princess (TV series 1995 – 2001)
Genre: fantasy, action, adventure
Kinopoisk Rating: 7.2
IMDb rating: 6.5
A country: USA, New Zealand
Directed by: Bruce Campbell, Charlie Haskell, Charles Siebert and others
Music: Joseph LoDuca, Daniel Peter Colton
• Fearless, cool and damn sexy warrior with her characteristic battle cry and unusual chakram weapon became not only the queen of warriors, but also the queen of the 90s series.
• Her adventures were not limited to Ancient Greece, and took place in the Roman Empire, India, Egypt, China, Japan, Africa, Norway and even Siberia. Sometimes in her travels, Xena encountered Hercules, and then the heroes acted together, for the benefit of people.
• Renee O'Connor stars as Xena's faithful friend Gabrielle. And she performed almost all the stunts in the series herself, without the help of an understudy.
• It's funny that in real life, dark-haired Xena (or rather Lucy Lawless) is blonde. For the role, she dyed her hair dark or chestnut.
10. Amazing wanderings of Hercules (TV series 1995 – 1999)
Genre: fantasy, action, adventure
Kinopoisk Rating: 7.2
IMDb rating: 6.5
A country: USA, New Zealand
Directed by: Bruce Campbell, Charlie Haskell, Charles Siebert and others
Music: Joseph LoDuca, Daniel Peter Colton
• The strong and independent "Xena" had a worthy rival – the courageous and noble handsome Hercules, whose role in the popular TV series of the 90s was played by Kevin Sorbo.
• His adventures, in which the characters of Greek (and not only) mythology appeared, were not only fascinating, but also funny, there was a place for good jokes, instructive moments, and even tragic episodes. For the sake of comic effect, the writers sometimes added doppelgangers of the main characters to the plot. For example, Kevin Sorbo played the evil version of Hercules, the Sovereign.
• Unlike "Xena", "The Amazing Journeys of Hercules" does not have a clear ending, the heroes go towards the horizon, towards new feats. They simply didn’t have time to shoot it, since Kevin Sorbo suffered three strokes during filming and quietly retired.
9. Beverly Hills 90210 (TV series 1990 – 2000)
Genre: drama, melodrama
Kinopoisk Rating: 7.6
IMDb rating: 6.3
A country: USA
Directed by: Daniel Atties, Chip Chalmers, Jason Priestley and others
Music: Marty Davich, Gary S. Scott, John E. Davis
• Beverly Hills 90210 had everything a teenage viewer needed – beautiful characters, love, true friends, heartfelt drama and the absence of clichés typical of soap operas of the time.
• In addition, the series raised common youth issues such as early pregnancy, difficult relationships with parents, betrayal of friends, drugs and alcoholism, which quickly elevated him to the peak of popularity.
• It is curious that the school building of Torrance High School, which was used for filming, "migrated" to another popular youth series of the 90s – "Buffy the Vampire Slayer".
8. Tales from the Crypt (TV series 1989 – 1996)
Genre: fantasy, horror, thriller
Kinopoisk Rating: 7.6
IMDb rating: 8
A country: USA
Directed by: Russell Mulcay, Elliot Silverstein, Robert Zemeckis
Music: Jay Ferguson, Nicholas Pike, Alan Silvestri
• Those who in the 90s wanted to tickle their nerves not only in reality, but also on the silver screen, the Keeper of the Crypt was looking forward to. His stories were full of the darkest humor, and the denouement of each story was completely unpredictable.
• Many famous actors have gone through this series, from Lance Henriksen, Whoopi Goldberg and Michael Ironside to Demi Moore, Robert Patrick and Kirk Douglas.
7. Knight Rider (TV series 1982 – 1986)
Genre: fantasy, action, drama
Kinopoisk Rating: 7.7
IMDb rating: 6.9
A country: USA
Directed by: Winrich Kolbe, Georg Fenady, Sidney Hyers and etc
Music: Don Peak, Stew Phillips, Morton Stevens
• Get out of the way, Tesla! Make way for cop Michael Long (played by David Hasselhoff) and his awesome co-driver Kitt, a black sports car with self-evolving artificial intelligence and a talking on-board computer. Together with this couple, the audience traveled along the roads of America, fighting evil in all its manifestations.
• Spectacular scenes, funny dialogues between Michael and KITT, stunts and the very idea of friendship between a man and an intelligent machine provided Knight Rider with phenomenal popularity for many years to come.
6. Parallel worlds (TV series 1995 – 2000)
Genre: fantasy, adventure
Kinopoisk Rating: 7.8
IMDb rating: 7.4
A country: USA
Directed by: Richard Compton, David E. Peckinpah, Jerry O'Connell and etc
Music: Danny Lux, Steven Graziano, Mark Mothersbaugh
• Another name for this popular series is "Sliders". It alludes to the operation of the portal machine, invented by one of the main characters, Queen Melory. With its help, you can "slide" into parallel worlds, somewhat similar, but in some ways very different from our mother Earth. For example, in one of the worlds, the Russians captured America.
• The series "Parallel Worlds" has earned the love of the audience due to several features:
- charismatic characters,
- attention to physics
- humor,
- non-standard problems that the protagonists constantly face,
- plot unpredictability.
• However, after the departure of John Rhys-Davies, who played Professor Arturo, the series lost some of its appeal, so we recommend watching the first 3 seasons as the most successful ones.
5. Alf (1986 – 1990)
Genre: fantasy, comedy, family
Kinopoisk Rating: 7.9
IMDb rating: 7.4
A country: USA
Directed by: Nick Havinga, Bert Brinkerhoff, Gary Shimokawa and others
Music: Alf Clausen
• A furry alien from the planet Melmak and a big lover of cats (in gastronomic terms) won the hearts of Russian viewers with his sincerity, kindness and funny situations in which he constantly finds himself. At the same time, it allows you to look at people from a non-standard side, because for an alien, laws, art and other aspects of human life are strange and surprising.
• The humor in Alpha is understandable to both adults and children, there are almost no vulgar jokes, so it can be safely recommended for family viewing.
• At the beginning of the series, the role of Alpha was played by midget actor Mihai "Mihu" Meszaros, but then he was replaced with an electronic doll and the fluffy cat lover was filmed only to the waist. Meszaros was involved in filming only when it was necessary to show Alf in full growth or in motion.
4. Colombo (TV series 1968 – 2003)
Genre: detective, drama, crime
Kinopoisk Rating: 8
IMDb rating: 8.2
A country: USA
Directed by: Vincent McEveety, James Frawley, Patrick McGoohan and etc
Music: Richard DeBenedictis, Bernardo Segal, Patrick Williams and others
• A simpleton detective in an eternally wrinkled raincoat, driving around in an old Peugeot 403 and constantly mentioning his wife, whom no one has seen – this is how Lieutenant Frank Columbo, played by Peter Falk, appeared before the audience. By the way, the cloak was taken from the wardrobe of the actor himself, he served Falk for about 25 years.
• Despite his imaginary absent-mindedness, Colombo solves the most complex crimes without resorting to shooting or threats. And the way he does his job gracefully won the show the enduring love of the audience. Who the killer is is known from the very beginning of each episode, but it seems that the villain or the villain has provided himself with the perfect alibi. Until Colombo comes...
3. Poirot (TV series 1989 – 2013)
Genre: detective, drama, crime
Kinopoisk Rating: 8.1
IMDb rating: 8.6
A country: United Kingdom
Directed by: Edward Bennet, Rennie Rye, Andrew Grieve
Music: Christopher Gunning, Christian Henson, Stephen McKeon
• Proud, over-accurate and aristocratic, Hercule Poirot is completely different from his British "colleague" Sherlock Holmes or the modern image of a detective who wields more with his fists or weapons than with his brains. And this is good, because the audience loves Poirot precisely for his behavior and manners, as well as for the brilliant work of the "gray cells".
• It's funny that the British David Suchet was reincarnated as the Belgian Poirot on the silver screen. In order to feel the spirit of Hercule, to better understand his character, Suchet studied the history of Belgium, looked through all the works of Agatha Christie from the Poirot cycle and previous film adaptations related to Poirot, and also developed a special gait for the famous detective.
• The result is a series in which everything is good – from acting to costumes, from directing to the atmosphere in which events take place. Every step, every movement of the characters is thought out and brought to perfection, every detail in the series has its own meaning, and the audience can only compete with Poirot in sharpness of mind, wondering who the criminal is.
2. X-Files (TV series 1993 – 2018)
Genre: fantasy, drama, crime
Kinopoisk Rating: 8.2
IMDb rating: 8.6
A country: USA, Canada
Directed by: Kim Manners, Rob Bowman, David Nutter
Music: Mark Snow
• Mulder and Scully, looking for the truth, which is "somewhere nearby", for many years became the favorite movie couple of Russian viewers.
• The most interesting and non-standard stories related to paranormal phenomena, well-thought-out dialogues, high-quality special effects and the notorious “chemistry” between the main characters made both young and adult Russians cling to blue screens so as not to miss a single episode of the cult series of the 90s.
• The X-Files repeatedly received prestigious awards – Emmy, Saturn and Golden Globe in various categories (most often – as the best drama series), and their success lasted so long that in 2016 it was decided to release on the screen Season 10, with aged but still peppy David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson. Alas, the tenth failed to come close to the success of the first seasons.
1. Twin Peaks (TV series 1990 – 1991)
Genre: thriller, drama, crime
Kinopoisk Rating: 8.5
IMDb rating: 8.8
A country: USA
Directed by: David Lynch, Lesley Linka Glatter, Caleb Deschanel and etc
Music: Angelo Badalamenti
• Who killed Laura Palmer? This was the main mystery of the Twin Peaks series, and it kept viewers on their toes until the last episode.
• The fusion of detective, drama, mysticism and melodrama provided the series with a high viewer rating, and in 2007 it was included in the list of the best TV shows of all time according to Time magazine.
