The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

’90s Teen TV Characters: Where Are They Now?

All your friends are getting married. Some of them are having kids. And now, in case you didn’t already feel like an overgrown child whose life is passing him by, Cory Matthews and Topanga Lawrence have a preteen daughter. Yes, for the past week, the internet has been abuzz with the news that a Boy Meets World sequel is in the works. Called Girl Meets World, it will focus on young Riley Matthews and her “edgy friend,” Maya. While we’re not sure that revisiting ABC’s TGIF lineup is the best idea, the update on Cory and Topanga has made us wonder what some of our other favorite ’90s teen TV characters might be up to in 2012. After the jump, we check in on (by which we mean, “we imagine”) what they’ve done since last we saw them. … Read More

9 Signs a Teen TV Show Has Exceeded Its Expiration Date

Glee, whose fourth season premieres tonight, is at a crossroads. At this point, the once-revolutionary musical comedy-drama has alienated most of the critics (and, judging by its falling ratings, some of the viewers) who once rallied around its quirky storylines and underdog characters. Perhaps that’s why, during May’s upfronts, creator Ryan Murphy announced that the show will be a bit different this year, splitting its focus to both remain at William McKinley High and follow some newly graduated characters to performing arts school in New York. Whatever the cause behind the change turns out to be, the show is clearly experiencing some growing pains. So, while we hope Glee will get it together in Season 4, we think it’s only fair to provide viewers with a (spoiler-filled) guide to spotting a teen TV show that has exceeded its expiration date. … Read More

What’s On at Flavorpill: The Links That Made the Rounds in Our Office

Today at Flavorpill, we discovered the American towns that have the most unfortunate names. We found out that Guantanamo Bay detainees are obsessively watching The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. We remembered Devo at the 2010 Winter Olympics, and then we visited the London Olympics in 1908. We spotted a pulsating … Read More

10 Awesomely ’90s Moments from MTV’s ‘House of Style’

Have you heard the news? MTV is reviving its ’90s-tastic House of Style, the show that brought you endless “supermodel” style tips from the likes of Kate Moss, Hanson, and, of course, host Cindy Crawford. The new Cindy won’t be announced until the MTV Video Music Awards on September 6th, a month before the show’s October 9th premiere, so we’ve decided to help you get psyched by rounding up 10 incredibly ’90s moments from the show’s incredibly ’90s archives — a trove that has just recently been posted online. After the jump, enjoy some excellent fashion advice from Will Smith, Salt-N-Pepa, Spice Girls, and more. … Read More

Ranking ’90s TV Boyfriends from Worst to Best

There ain’t no boyfriend like a ’90s TV boyfriend, are we right or are we right? For some reason or another, they don’t make ‘em like they used to. Is Puck our new A.C. Slater? Is Tim Riggins our new Jordan Catalano? It’s safe to say that while their 21st-century equivalents are attractive enough, the original guys are irreplaceable, so we’ve ranked some one-of-a-kind ’90s TV boyfriends from worst to best, because — well, why not? Don’t be alarmed when you don’t see any adults on this list — recounting the many lost loves of Jerry Seinfeld sounds exhausting, so we’re sticking to teenagers. Check ‘em out after the jump, and hit the comments to let us know which Savage brother you prefer.  … Read More

10 Great TV Crossover Episodes

Television crossover events, like this week’s buzzed-about meeting between Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice, are by nature complicated. Sending the characters of a lesser-known series into a more established hit (or vice versa) is a time-honored move for studios, but making the grammar of two shows mesh isn’t always easy. Take the notorious episode of The Simpsons that crossed over with The Critic, a FOX-arranged partnership that Simpsons creator Matt Groening considered enough of an imposition on his creation that he removed his name from the credits in protest. But at their best, TV crossovers encapsulate that marvelous feeling you get when two pieces of pop culture wink at each other from across the room. When they’re done well, crossover episodes are tiny links in the sprawling fictional universe of television, from Kramer’s turn on Mad About You to Detective Munch’s appearance on Arrested Development. We count down ten great crossover television episodes, after the jump. … Read More

Adult TV Characters and Their Kid Counterparts

Well, TV fans, the die is cast. Last week, The CW green-lighted The Carrie Diaries, that Sex and the City prequel network television has been threatening to inflict on us for years. Set in the ’80s, the show will follow Carrie Bradshaw’s high-school years in Connecticut, where we’re sure she’ll be asking a whole new, teen-focused slew of pseudo-profound questions (“What does ‘going steady’ really mean?”) and lusting over shoes at Contempo Casuals. But forgive us if we don’t intend to watch the show for long enough to find out. Like Mary Elizabeth Williams at Salon, we’ve had our fill of Carrie. In fact, the only good thing we can imagine coming from the prequel is that it inspired us brainstorm some adult TV characters who already have kid equivalents on other shows. Find out who Zack Morris grew up to be, and which kid reminds us of Downton Abbey’s Dowager Countess, after the jump. … Read More

15 TV Kitchens We Covet

As we may have mentioned, we are pretty excited to see Absolutely Fabulous back on TV. We missed Patsy and Edina, we missed Saffy, we missed Gran, and we especially missed Bubble, Eddy’s walking acid trip of an assistant. But it wasn’t until we read Tom & Lorenzo’s great blog post about the show’s return that we realized we had been longing for more than just the characters. As they note, Eddy has one hell of a kitchen, and it feels great to watch the cast sip coffee and chug champagne in it again. The Monsoon kitchen and 14 others that we wouldn’t minding owning are after the jump. … Read More

10 of TV’s Oddest Middle Names

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet; So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d, retain that dear perfection which he owes without that title.” We get you, Juliet — names are just names, and what we’re called is irrelevant to our true, inner essence. But does this famous Shakespearean notion prevent modern TV writers from weaving a character’s so-called “embarrassing” middle name into a comedy’s occasional plot line? Of course not! When it comes to sitcom middle names, the weirder, the better. Iphigenia? Miervaldis? Leakey? Sure, why not! Let’s play a name game — click through to enjoy some of television’s silliest and most unexpected middle names, then hit the comments to let us know of any others that you’ve found noteworthy. … Read More

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

1. “There will never be a reunion … as I will never do anything with an as*hole like Will Smith. He is still an egomaniac and has not grown up. This constant reunion thing will never ever happen in my lifetime unless there is an apology, which he doesn’t know the word.” — Janet Hubert,… Read More