(American) TV Shows That Defined My (Colombian) Childhood

When Ashley over at Rainstorms & Lovenotes wrote about the movies that defined her childhood, I knew I had to come up with my own version. However, I didn’t watch many different movies growing up (in Colombia), so I decided to write about my many fave 90s TV shows instead.

But because Colombian TV shows for kids weren’t that great, a lot of us relied on American shows and and Colombian Mexican telenovelas.

However, because I didn’t want this post to drag on AND ON, I decided to break it into two: This part features my fave American shows, while part two will feature those Colombian and Mexican TV shows I loved.

LET’S GET STARTED!

Clarissa Explains It All

I was such a big fan of her fashion sense that I asked my parents to bring me patterned tights and other CEIA staples back from their trips. The great thing is that they did but they were always a couple sizes bigger since they weren’t made for kids. (Wah wah.) Also, I always wanted a guy friend and/or a room that was relatively accessible from the ground. But we lived on a penthouse so no can do.

Clueless

Again, the fashion. Also that automatically rotating closet and outfit chooser that I STILL wish I had!!

Full House

Discovering that Michelle was actually two kids blew my mind. I then became a huge fan of the duo–I watched all their movies and even bought a Mary Kate & Ashley Olsen curling iron (that hasn’t been used in decades) soon after moving to the States.

Are You Afraid of The Dark?

Some stories did in fact leave in afraid of the dark :/. Besides, AYAOTD isn’t like modern “horror” movies that are SO lame I could care less about them. (American Horror Story being the exception I’m happy to avoid because that shiz IS scary.)

Ghostwriter

(Not to be confused with Ghost Rider) —AKA “Fantasma Escritor”

In case you have NO idea what this show’s about: “Filmed in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, Ghostwriter followed a team of young sleuths who solved neighborhood crime with the help of an invisible ghost. While boosting their vocab” (via Complex.com). (I really wanted a cool mystery-solving virtual friend too–plus a boyfriend like the character Alex.)

You can now find all eps (I think) on Youtube!

Sabrina the Teenage Witch (the earlier non-college seasons)

Because who didn’t dream of at least at some point discovering they were a witch? And along those lines, if you haven’t–at least once–ever point at yourself with both your index fingers hoping to transform your look (see above), then you and I can’t be blog friends.

Kidding! Moving on…

Popular Mechanics for Kids

This show made the happy nerd in me SO happy.

It was also the FIRST ever show I sent (or at least attempted to send) some fanmail. True story (AKA how I learned about email as a kid): To participate in a contest, viewers had to send the show an email entry. So I went to our computer, typed the given address in our IE address bar and NOTHING happened (aside from it displaying a freaking 404 error page each time). So then my dad explained that to send an email, I had to do so from our email client instead.

Art Attack

This show came in pre-Pinterest when people wanted to learn crafts for crafts’ sake rather than for upstaging each other. This show was hilarious and made things look SO easy. The single tip I still recall (though I can still remember the one above) is how to add the right kind of shadow and luminance to both flat and round objects. Still very handy 20 years later!

Bananas in Pajamas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwcB0CIaI8I

This set made me want to get my own house because those sets seemed so kid-friendly. (As a [young] adult, I still go nuts every time I see a toy house or toy kitchen, so I vow to buy them for my kids later on like my parents did back in the day.)

Rugrats

This show reflected the beauty of being a kid. These toddlers didn’t need fancy gadgets–just their imaginations, which would transport them to the craziest places. I feel like nowadays kids would be nowhere without their computers even though back in the day, all we needed was the box that computer came in and some markers, right?

The Nanny

Because I found the son to be such a heartthrob. And because the underlying love story seemed so improbable yet so right. And who could forget the third most important reason: Karma never forgot about Mr. Sheffield’s assistant.

Sister Sister

Because who didn’t dream of one day finding a long-lost twin??!! I even watched the gals’ three-season reality show, Tia & Tamera, although Tia was becoming a lil’ too bossy and non-Tamera-like for my taste. (Tamera’s my fave of the two.)

Gullah Gullah Island

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wow3g5rGw5Y

Since I didn’t remember the name of this show back when I was drafting this post, when I went to google it, I typed, “90s show about a black family living in an island.” Fortunately for me, I found its name among the first few results and I couldn’t have been more excited :D! Up until a few days ago, though, I also hadn’t realized that it was set in the U.S. (Whoops.) It was so wholesome and fun, I can’t help but miss now.

Seventh Heaven

Reason #1: Simon (ahem, David Gallagher). Reason #2: So many siblings! (As an only child, I liked to live vicariously through them.) Reason #3: This was another happy wholesome family that I could identify with. (Bonus reason: A LOT of the gals there went on to make it big later on, which made it cool to say, “I liked them before they made it big.”) Speaking of big, SH is “the longest-running family drama in television history” (thanks, Wikipedia).

Everybody Loves Raymond

My love affair (perhaps “love affair” is the wrong term but you get my point) with Ray Romano’s comedic genius began with this show, which, to this day, as I get to watch reruns, is friggin hilarious. Though that family’s so incredibly dysfunctional, the cast felt like a real family and I always liked how improv’d the show seemed. (Its bloopers are some of the BEST, so look some up asap.)

You should always mean what you sigh. (ELR)

Friends

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’m sure you saw this one coming. I mean OF COURSE Friends had to be on here! I’m sure the reasons why you love it are the same as mine, so I’ll spare you the redundancy.

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Lastly, and in case you haven’t spotted it yet, a major theme of this list is the fact that most of the homes featured in it had a back door, which to someone living in a penthouse, was not only unheard of but also THE coolest concept ever. Those homes’ upstairs could also be accessed through both the back and the front of the house, and since our apartment had two floors, I often thought why we couldn’t have that feature.

OK that’s it! Which of these shows did YOU watch and still remember? Which would you add to the list?