I spent the greater half of my holiday vacation watching nearly 80 episodes of The Wonder Years, the beloved family dramedy that ran on ABC for five years.
Starting on Christmas Eve with the first season, I skipped around the series watching Fred Savage's head shrink and swell, and witness Winnie Cooper get hotter and hotter. At this point Daniel Stern now voices my inner monologue.
"And it was on that morning writing a blog about The Wonder Years, that I realized that there are tons of other sitcoms and dramas that I wish NetFlix Instant would also offer. Oh cool, that homeless person out my window just took six copies of the newest print issue."
Finding the series on NetFlix Instant was fun because I hadn't seen the show since it originally aired, besides very stray syndication runs, and it was always a series that satisfied. Morals and lessons and whatnot made it easier for my parents to plunk me down in front of.
But it got me to ponderin' on other shows that NetFlix Instant should carry, and I asked some of my fellow 'Flix potatoes what they were fiending for.
Baywatch
To be honest I only saw maybe three complete episodes of Baywatch during it's heyday as the top-rated syndicated show featuring women in one-piece bathing suits of all-time, but I would to try again. The Hoff, The Pamela, the....Hobie, it's all there begging to seen all over again. Us '90s kids -- now adults -- owe this show and it's stars a debt of gratitude.
American Gothic
This 1995-1996 CBS series was about a decade and change ahead of it's time. Of course it only lasted one season. Gary Cole and Lucas Black made compelling stars, but the creepy subject matter didn't jive well with the rather saccharine network offerings of the day. This was the same network running Touched By An Angel at the time...
7th Heaven
Some people have major problems....
Family Matters
Steve Urkel terrorized the Winslow family for nine years, and America laughed and laughed until it wasn't funny anymore and the nerd married Laura and the show was cancelled. What's funny now is that Urkel's then-nerdy attire is now high hipster fashion.
Mama's Family
Is this just a cult hit in Houston, where it aired endlessly in the '90s in syndication? I have never met anyone from outside of Texas who knows what this show even is.
The Sopranos
This would probably affect the working productivity of most Americans with NetFlix Instant, who will find themselves zombie-fied during the day from sleepless nights of revisiting the landmark HBO mob drama. For now it is only available from NetFlix on yucky gross physical DVD.
The Brady Bunch
Hurry up and let this one stream in it's entirety before a generation misses out on the unnatural hotness of Florence Henderson and about a million '90s pop-culture references. Did you know that there are kids roaming America who don't know who Cousin Oliver or Sam The Butcher are? Frowny face.
