The 90s TV shows you didn’t know were on Netflix right now

Everything you need for a nostalgic weekend binge-watch (Picture: GETTY / REX)

If the past few months of TV habits have shown us anything, it’s that viewers want nothing more than some nostalgic shows to add to their watch-list.

From the success of the Gladiators’ revival, to Sex and the City making its way to a whole new generation, throwback series’ are stealing the limelight.

And if there’s one era that takes the top spot, it has to be the 90s – the decade of Wannabe, Tamagotchis and The Simpsons.

It also happens to be the decade of some of Netflix’s most popular shows, from Seinfeld to Friends, and while some more recent favourites have been set in that era, like Derry Girls, others are rebooting old hits, like Fuller House.

If you’re looking for a trip down memory lane this weekend with a cozy binge-watch, we’ve compiled a list of the 90s Netflix shows you may have forgotten about.

Friends

If there was one show that defined the 90s (and the rest of history) (Picture: Reisig & Taylor/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)

Though it may be impossible to forget, it had to be at the top of our list.

Perhaps the greatest TV show of all time was born in the 90s, and gave us more than 200 episodes over 10 seasons to watch over and over again, especially after it dropped on Netflix UK in 2018.

The beloved sitcom, starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer and Matthew Perry, ran from 1994 until 2004.

Following the death of Perry in October 2023, his former co-stars are said to be planning a ‘special reunion’ in his honour, having already all come back together for Friends: The Reunion in 2021, which was his final on-screen appearance.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Law & Order: SVU was the first of the franchise’s spin-offs (Picture: NBCUniversal via Getty Images)

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit was the first spin-off of crime drama Law & Order (before the LA, True Crime, and Trial by Jury versions).

It began airing in 1999, and officially became the longest running primetime live-action series in US TV history two decades later in 2019.

The series has won 33 awards, and received more than 108 nominations, and stars the likes of Mariska Hargitay and Ice-T.

It’s also guest starred a whole load of surprising Hollywood icons, including Girls actor Adam Driver, The Hunger Games’ Elizabeth Banks, Mean Girls icon Amanda Seyfried, and the late legend Robin Williams.

Seinfeld

Seinfeld quickly became one of the most popular sitcoms of the 90s (Picture: Nbc/Sony/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock)

Seinfeld dropped on Netflix in 2021, after being one of the most popular sitcoms of the 90s.

It ran for nine seasons from 1989 to 1998, and in 2013, was even voted the number two Best Written TV Series of All Time by the Writers Guild of America.

The Jerry Seinfeld-starring show,  followed a semi-fictionalized version of the lead star’s life with his close friends, with the two-part finale drawing a huge audience of more than 76million viewers when it originally aired.

Heartbreak High

We’re talking about the original Heartbreak High series, but if you’ve loved the new Netflix version, you’ll want to go back and watch this (Picture: ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

Heartbreak High was so good that it was even rebooted a few years ago, following the students and teachers of Hartley High as they navigate gritty plots and the dramas that arise when coming-of-age.

The original series, which ran from 1994 to 1999, starred the likes of Ada Nicodemou, Luke Jacobz, Lara Cox, Jeremy Lindsay Taylor, Salvatore Coco and Callan Mulvey.

The classic Aussie series, which became a cult teen favourite for those who would go on to follow Neighbours and Home and Away, has all seven seasons available to watch on Netflix.

Star Trek: Next Generation

Star Trek: Next Generation saw Sir Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard (Picture: CBS via Getty Images)

Sci-fi series Star Trek: The Next Generation ran from 1987 to 1994 across seven seasons, as the third series in the Star Trek franchise.

It followed the adventures of a Starfleet star ship exploring the Alpha and Beta quadrants of the Milky Way, set in the later half of the 24th century, with Earth just part of the United Federation of Planets.

It starred Sir Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard and reportedly had 30million viewers tune in for the finale in 1994.

Mr Bean

If there’s one show to take us back to our childhoods… (Picture: Universal/Working Title/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock)

For those of you who really want a throwback to your childhoods, Mr Bean has made it to Netflix.

Rowan Atkinson once credited the beloved comedy programme’s legacy to his ‘childish anarchic behaviour’, and despite finding it stressful himself, we can’t think of anything better to take us back to our own childhoods.

After first appearing in 1990, Mr Bean went on to star in an animated spin-off, as well as the films Bean (1997) and Mr. Bean’s Holiday (2007).

That ’90s Show

That ’90s Show, a spin-off to the That ’70s Show is on Netflix now (Picture: Rex Features)

It was actually That ’70s Show that aired in the 90s, while That ’90s Show hit our screens only last year, but it’s the latter that’s still on Netflix while the original programme, starring Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher, was taken off the streaming service in September 2020.

Instead, the 90s version is a spin-off from the iconic series, which followed the lives of teenage friends in a fictional town in Wisconsin and ran from 1998-2006.

The original That ’70s Show (which aired in the 90s) has been removed from the streaming service (Picture: 20th Century Fox/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock)

That ’90s Show is set in Wisconsin in 1995, and the 10-episode series follows Leia, daughter of Grace’s Eric and Laura Prepon’s Donna.

She bonds with a new generation of Point Place youngsters under the watchful eyes of Debra Jo Rupp’s Kitty and Kurtwood Smith’s Red.

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