10 Major Flaws in '90s Sitcoms That Are More Noticeable Now (2024)

Every sitcom, even the greatest ones ever made, has flaws. They won’t be noticeable on the first viewing or maybe even the tenth viewing, but time has a way of exposing all flaws eventually. Often, the flaw doesn’t ruin the quality of the show, but it’s an irregularity hard to ignore when revisiting years later.

Take, for example, the 90s, which was an incredible decade for sitcoms that included hits like Friends or Frasier. At the time, these comedies were considered bullet-proof and an example of perfection to strive for, but on closer inspection, there are a few loose threads that get harder to ignore once noticed. While all the following sitcoms are indisputable classics, there are some flaws worth pointing out.

10 Characters Living Outside of Means

'Frasier' (1993-2004)

A lot of attention is drawn to Monica’s apartment in Friends, and how Monica (Courtney Cox) and Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) couldn’t afford it on their salaries, but the two friends can’t compare to the opulent lifestyle of one Dr. Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer). Frasier is a man of refined taste, priding himself on the finest wines, the trendiest art, and the most fashionable suits. One small problem – he works in radio. Specifically, he works as an on-air talent doing a therapy call-in show – guaranteeing he wasn’t the number one show in Seattle.

It would be a different story if Dr. Crane was still working in private practice with rich clients he could overcharge, but the average radio host's salary, according to ZipRecruiter, is roughly $56,000. And that’s current day rates, so if you adjust for 1993, that means Frasier’s security guard at his building was probably making more money than him in holiday tips. There were many seasons of Frasier, but there wasn’t one episode delving into his crippling credit card debt, which would be the only way Dr. Crane was paying for his extravagant way of life.

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Frasier

TV-PG

Comedy

Where to Watch

• stream
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Not available

*Availability in US

Release Date

September 16, 1993

Cast

Kelsey Grammer , Jane Leeves , David Hyde Pierce , Peri Gilpin , John Mahoney , Jack Cutmore-Scott , Anders Keith , Jess Salgueiro , Toks Olagundoye , Nicholas Lyndhurst

Main Genre

Comedy

Seasons

11

Story By

David Angell, Peter Casey, David Lee, Glen Charles, Les Charles

Writers

David Angell , Peter Casey , David Lee

Network

NBC

Streaming Service(s)

Paramount+

Directors

David Lee , Kelsey Grammer , James Burrows , Pamela Fryman

Showrunner

Christopher Lloyd , Chris Harris , Joe Cristalli

9 Drastic Character Changes

'Boy Meets World' (1993-2000)

Many sitcoms feature characters who lean into dumb stereotypes and don’t understand basic facts for comedic effect. However, while most comedies have this character established from the beginning, in the case of Boy Meets World, they changed the personality of a main character midway through the show’s run. The show centered around Cory Matthews (Ben Savage), but his older brother, Eric (Will Friedle) shared plenty of screen time as a charming and savvy source of real-world wisdom.

As the series progressed, Eric gradually lost his cool and became more airheaded, failing to grasp basic concepts. If there had been a subplot about Eric huffing paint in the garage, the character progression would have made sense, and ABC could have done a special episode about it. Instead, a funny and likable character became a one-dimensional gag with diminishing returns. Friedle still did the best with his material, but his natural charisma seemed suppressed by the new character direction.

Boy Meets World

Comedy

See Also

Everybody's Fine (2009) - Review and/or viewer comments - Christian Spotlight on the MoviesSingler (artister A til I) | FINN-torget

Drama

Where to Watch

• stream
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Not available

*Availability in US

Release Date

September 24, 1993

Cast

Rider Strong , Danielle Fishel , Maitland Ward , Ben Savage , William Daniels , Will Friedle , Matthew Lawrence , Lindsay Ridgeway

Main Genre

Comedy

Seasons

7

8 Weight Shaming

'Friends' (1994-2004)

All the Friends cast are attractive and young, but Friends took special care to revisit that in her youth Monica was once overweight and how it was the most hilarious thing ever. There’s not much more depth to it than Courtney Cox in a fat suit and the audience laughing at her appearance. The joke has the same level of thought to it as when a show flashes back to the 70s and all the characters have big hair, but in the case of Monica, there’s an implication that she was once deeply flawed, but has since fixed herself.

It would be rare to see a character's weight used as essentially a prop joke now, but even if it were, the topic would likely be handled with more care. At best, Monica’s weight is a lazy joke, and at worst, it punches down on a character with self-esteem issues. There are edgier sitcoms such as It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, where the joke would fit more at home, but because Friends projected a warm family dynamic between the core characters, it seems more glaring and out of place.

Friends

TV-14

Romance

Sitcom

Where to Watch

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Not available

*Availability in US

Release Date

September 22, 1994

Cast

Jennifer Aniston , Courteney Cox , Lisa Kudrow , Matt LeBlanc , Matthew Perry , David Schwimmer

Main Genre

Sitcom

Seasons

10

Studio

Network

NBC

7 Loveless Marriages

'Everybody Loves Raymond' (1996-2005)

Everybody Loves Raymond is still considered one of the finest examples of family sitcom writing, bolstered by fantastic performances from cast members like Peter Boyle and Doris Roberts. What the sitcom wasn’t a great example of was what a happy marriage looked like. There are multiple moments per episode where Debra (Patricia Heaton) looks like she despises Ray (Ray Romano). The primary source of the frustration for Debra is living across the street from her invasive in-laws, but the dynamic between the married couple seems overly strained.

It speaks to a larger trope in sitcoms that marriages are grim stretches of darkness with the occasional bright moment, which feel more at home in more outlandish sitcoms like Married With Children. Obviously, long-term relationships will have their peaks and valleys, and those ups and downs are great sources of material to mine for comedy gold. Unfortunately for many sitcoms, including Everybody Loves Raymond, the humor tended to stick to the idea that marriages are things to endure, not enjoy.

Everybody Loves Raymond

TV-14

Comedy

Where to Watch

• stream
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Not available

*Availability in US

Release Date

September 13, 1996

Creator

Philip Rosenthal

Cast

Ray Romano , Patricia Heaton , Doris Roberts , Peter Boyle , Brad Garrett

Main Genre

Comedy

Seasons

9

Network

CBS

6 Magical Architecture

'Fresh Prince of Bel-Air' (1990-1996)

Yes, the set changes for The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air from season one to two, but that’s not the focus in this particular case. The Banks family in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air are said to be living in a large mansion. The outside of the house seems massive in establishing shots, but when the camera moves indoors, it seems less… expansive. Now, this isn’t a major flaw that destroys the viewing experience, but it is noticeable that the house belonging to this disgustingly wealthy family kind of looks like the house set used for most family sitcoms.

There’s a reason why Geoffrey the butler (Joseph Marcell) has so much free time to crack jokes – he only has four rooms in the house to clean. Later seasons have Carlton (Alfonso Ribeiro) and Will (Will Smith) living in the pool house, which made sense for two young adults wanting a baby step toward independence, but from the outside, it seems there’s an open wing of the house they could have used as well. It’s a very nice-looking house, just maybe not a mansion in Bel-Air.

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

TV-PG

Comedy

Where to Watch

• stream
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Not available

*Availability in US

Release Date

September 10, 1990

Cast

Will Smith , James Avery , Tatyana Ali , Joseph Marcell , alfonso ribeiro , Karyn Parsons , Daphne Reid

Main Genre

Comedy

Seasons

6

5 Tacked on Characters

'Step by Step' (1991-1998)

Even though Step by Step boasted two television legends, Patrick Duffy and Suzanne Somers, leading the cast, the breakout star of the show was fan-favorite Cody Lambert (Sasha Mitchell). Cody debuted in the fourth episode of season one as Frank Lambert’s (Duffy) nephew, a free-spirited young man who spoke like a surfer dude and lived out of his van parked in the driveway.

Cody became the Steve Urkel (Jaleel White) of Step by Step, a larger-than-life character that plots began to revolve around heavily. The character of Cody was entertaining and probably extended the life of the series, but it’s still odd how quickly the show felt the need to have the character at all. With Urkel actually making an appearance in the second episode of Step by Step, it forecasted the idea that these types of over-the-top characters prone to catchphrases were required for a show's success.

Step by Step

TV-PG

Comedy

Family

Where to Watch

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Not available

*Availability in US

Release Date

September 20, 1991

Creator

Cast

Patrick Duffy , Suzanne Somers , Staci Keanan , Brandon Call , Angela Watson , Christine Lakin , Patrika Darbo , Christopher Castile , Josh Byrne , Jason Marsden , Bronson Pinchot , Sasha Mitchell

Seasons

7

Creator(s)

William Bickley , Robert L. Boyett

Network

ABC

Directors

Patrick Duffy , Rich Correll , Joel Zwick , John Tracy , Mark Linn-Baker

Producers

Bob Rosenfarb

4 Punching Bag for a Friend

'Home Improvement' (1991-1999)

For the entire run of the ABC hit comedy Home Improvement, Tim Taylor (Tim Allen) could always rely on assistance, whether professional or medical, from his “Tool Time” co-host Al Borland (Richard Karn). And how did Tim repay him? By making fun of Al’s weight, love life, or the relationship he had with his mother. Al will occasionally get a few jabs of his own, but he’s usually content with waiting for Tim to hurt himself again, which usually happens every 20 minutes.

What helps, in this case, is that, much like Peter Griffin (Seth MacFarlane) in Family Guy, Tim is the fool in the story structure, so his behavior is immediately explained as being the incorrect way to treat co-workers and friends. But even with that explanation, Tim lands a constant barrage of body blows on a friend who virtually never fights back. Tim’s karmic comeuppance is usually handled swiftly at the end of some power tool, but Al’s too nice of a guy to shoulder that much abuse per episode.

Home Improvement

TV-PG

Comedy

Where to Watch

• stream
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Not available

*Availability in US

Release Date

September 17, 1991

Creator

Matt Williams, Carmen Finestra, David McFadzean

Cast

Tim Allen , Earl Hindman , Richard Karn , Debbe Dunning , Zachery Ty Bryan , Jonathan Taylor Thomas

Main Genre

Sitcom

Seasons

8

Distributor

Buena Vista Television

Main Characters

Tim Taylor, Jill Taylor, Al Borland, Brad Taylor, Randy Taylor, Mark Taylor, Wilson

Producer

Gayle S. Maffeo, Alan Padula, Jon Pasquin

Production Company

Wind Dancer Productions, Touchstone Television

Number of Episodes

204

3 Paper Thin Premise

'The Nanny' (1993-1999)

There isn’t much time to work with in sitcoms, so establishing the what, why, and where of a sitcom premise needs to be lightning fast. That said, there are a few sitcoms that could have taken a moment longer to establish their footing. The Nanny, for instance, has Fran (Fran Drescher) show up randomly on the doorstep of a wealthy widower to sell makeup, and within five minutes she lives in the house and is entrusted with the children.

When Fran realizes the butler, Niles (Daniel Davis), thinks she’s applying for the nanny position, she hastily writes out her resume in lipstick before handing it to future boss Maxwell Sheffield (Charles Shaughnessy). Writing in lipstick is what a serial killer does when they send a letter to the police department to taunt the police. If a drifter had shown up at the doorstep before Fran, would they have been taking care of the kids? Was the barrier of entry to the job the ability to knock on the front door? The circumstances of a pilot episode are usually quickly forgotten, but first-time viewers might consider the plot points slightly rushed.

The Nanny

Sitcom

Where to Watch

• stream
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Not available

Not available

*Availability in US

Release Date

June 23, 1999

Cast

Fran Drescher , Lauren Lane

Seasons

6

Story By

Fran Drescher

Writers

Fran Drescher

Network

CBS

Streaming Service(s)

Max , Prime Video

Directors

Fran Drescher

Showrunner

Fran Drescher

YouTube Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjhB0agWrR4

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2 Intolerant Views

'Friends' (1994-2004)

While the Friends characters were typically accepting of one another, there was an aversion from the male characters to being mistaken for or assumed to be homosexual. Chandler (Matthew Perry) and Joey (Matt LeBlanc) were very close, but a hug between them couldn’t last too long for fear of the implication of how it would look. The most obvious example of this would be when Chandler’s father, Charles Bing, was introduced as a transgender woman played by actress Kathleen Turner.

Maybe the introduction of any plotlines referencing different sexual orientations was considered progressive at the time it was made, but it’s hard to ignore the tone in which the topic is referenced. Chandler's discomfort with his father would have been a good opportunity to explore how a family adjusts to changes within their family, but the relationship is primarily played for laughs. To a degree, that makes complete sense for a sitcom, but then why even introduce the topic at all if the intent comes off as mean-spirited?

1 Lazy Continuity Errors

'Boy Meets World' (1993-2000)

For a show that had a straightforward premise of a boy… meeting the world, Boy Meets World had a very hard time keeping the facts straight on their show. It’s common to see a side character with brief screen time being altered in future appearances, but details such as the name of Topanga’s (Danielle Fishel) mother to how long Corey and Topanga have known one another seem to change, with no explanation of why.

Boy Meets World enjoyed a long run on ABC and still has devoted fans, but even those lifelong followers would say the narrative was loose, to say the least. Characters like Stuart Minkus (Lee Norris) disappear and return years later to make meta-jokes about where they’ve been the whole time. Even the year the main characters graduate fluctuates from season to season, but maybe only the most diehard Boy Meets World purists would notice the errors.

Boy Meets World

Comedy

Drama

Where to Watch

• stream
• rent
• buy

Not available

*Availability in US

Release Date

September 24, 1993

Cast

Rider Strong , Danielle Fishel , Maitland Ward , Ben Savage , William Daniels , Will Friedle , Matthew Lawrence , Lindsay Ridgeway

Main Genre

Comedy

Seasons

7

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