Great TV of my past

90s/2000s kids, read it and reminisce!

Age 0–5

Favorites:

• Some show about trucks and construction-related vehicles that I desperately wish I could remember the name of
• Likewise for a cartoon about a bunch of imbecilic dinosaur friends
• Teletubbies (I loved Lala, the yellow one)
• Blue’s Clues
• Pingu
• Sesame Street
• Barney & Friends
• Bananas in Pajamas
• Babar
• Zaboomafu
• Sailor Moon

Hate-watched:

• Caillou
• Timothy Goes to School
• The Wiggles
• The Berenstein Bears

Movies:

• The Land Before Time
• My Little Pony: The Movie (1986)

Age 5–8

Favorites:

• Arthur
• Pokemon
• George Shrinks
• Art Attack
• The Magic School Bus
• So Little Time
• Powerpuff Girls
  • I loved Bubbles and wanted to dress like her, but felt I was doomed to play Blossom instead due to my brown hair.
• Totally Spies
• Johnny Bravo
• Rugrats
• Recess
• The Proud Family
  • I got chills when the daughter starred in her school’s production of Romeo and Juliet and rapped Juliet’s pre-suicide monologue.
• Hey Arnold
• Miami 7 (the S Club 7 TV show)
• Braceface
• Scooby Doo
• Pinky and the Brain
• Fear Factor
• Bill Nye the Science Guy

Hate-watched:

• The Saddle Club (My sister loved this show. It was the worst.)

Movies:

• Every Mary-Kate and Ashley movie
  • For some reason my mom decided MK&A were a bad influence and forbade us to watch them, so I could only see them at the houses of friends with cooler parents.
• Pete’s Dragon
• Lilo and Stitch
• Kangaroo Jack
  • This movie is actually awful, but we found it highly entertaining as kids.
• Freaky Friday
  • I remember thinking at the time that I wanted to be like Lindsay Lohan in this movie when I was a teenager.
• Kingdom of Heaven
  • My brother—who is six years younger—was allowed to watch this at age 5, while I was forbidden to rent MK&A’s New York Minute from Blockbuster at age 8. Yep, my parents make no sense.
• Monkey Trouble
  • We got this for free in a cereal box. Why was putting DVDs in cereal boxes such a short-lived trend?
• Spy Kids 1–4
  • We got Spy Kids 4 for free in a cereal box too—the 3D version!
• Barbie in the Nutcracker
  • I fell asleep when my (actually quite wonderful) parents took me to the live ballet, but this movie was awesome.
• MyScene: Jammin’ in Jamaica
  • Someone gave my sister one of the dolls for her birthday. The doll was okay, but it was nothing compared to the movie that came with it, which we watched over and over for months. Aside from the inane plot, it still holds up today.

Movies I saw in theaters:

• Babar: King of the Elephants
• The Jungle Book 2
• The Princess Diaries

Age 9–10

Favorites:

• Even Stevens
• The Lizzie McGuire Show
  • The movie was also AMAZING.
• The Amanda Show
• All That
• Drake and Josh
• Zooey 101
• 6teen
• Life with Derek
• Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide
• The Weekenders

Also watched (but didn’t like as much):

• Kim Possible
• Hannah Montana
• Radio Free Roscoe
• 8 Simple Rules
• America’s Funniest Home Videos
• Angela Anaconda
• Naturally, Sadie
• Jimmy Neutron
• That’s So Raven
• The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
• Phil of the Future

Shows I didn’t watch, but my sister did:

• Malcolm in the Middle
• Are You Afraid of the Dark?

Related, but after my time:

• iCarly
• Wizards of Waverly Place
• Cory in the House
• That 70s Show
• The Fairly Oddparents
• Phineas and Ferb

Movies:

• Mean Girls
• Legally Blonde
• American Pie
• Talladega Nights
• Jackass

Age 11–13

• The OC
  • It’s embarrassing how much I loved this show.
• Big Brother
• America’s Next Top Model
• Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll
• Beauty and the Geek (2005)
• What Not to Wear
• 10 Years Younger
• Paris Hilton’s My New BFF
• So You Think You Can Dance
• America’s Best Dance Crew
• Gossip Girl
  • My best friend and I argued over which one of us was more of a Blair vs. Serena—cringe.

Shows I didn’t watch (or like), but my sister did:

• Degrassi
• Puberty Blues
• Skins
• Beverley Hills 90210
• The Secret Life of the American Teenager
• Glee
• Jon and Kate Plus 8
• Jersey Shore
• The Simple Life
• My Super Sweet 16
• MTV Cribs

Age 13–16

• Lost
  • I gave up after season 3; I kept missing episodes when they aired on TV, and it was too hard to figure out what was going on later.
• Nikita
• Project Runway
• Blue Water High
  • I’m unashamed to declare how much I love this show.
• Foreign Exchange
  • Watched this with my younger siblings—so bad it was good.
• Just Add Water
  • Same as above, except this one was less bad, and hence less entertaining.