These Are 6 Nostalgic TV Shows People Say Stood The Test Of Time

Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy the Vampire Slayer

While we can watch some of our old favourite shows like Friends or Seinfeld while acknowledging that a lot of the humour is “of its time” and is a little off-colour these days, to say the least, there are some that actually aged very well.

In fact, Reddit user 7deadlycinderella was thinking about this very subject when they asked the /r/television Reddit community: “What TV show did you revisit as an adult, and it actually aged quite well?

“I was really surprised on rewatch to find out how STILL gutbustingly funny 3rd Rock from the Sun is.”

Here are a selection of our favourite responses...

Buffy The Vampire Slayer

The top-rated response, with 262 upvotes, was from user Nacknack 26, who shared their love of Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

“Not in terms of production value, but the story holds up very well and I still love to rewatch the show as an adult,” they said.

User Dwkdnvr agreed, adding: “If anything, I find Buffy better if viewed with an adult perspective.

“There was a lot of very intentional thought put into the structure and writing and backing out of the immediate in-world story to see Buffy Summers as something of a universal story of facing what life throws at you is very rewarding.”

King Of The Hill

Rosstin316 confessed: “King Of The Hill is the ultimate example of a show that only gets better and better with every adult year of life that you experience.

“As a kid I thought it was a mildly funny family sitcom, as a mid-30s husband and father it’s like religion.”

Gixk agreed: “I say this unironically, I love the low-def vibe of early King Of The Hill. All the episodes are great, but something about the blurriness of the early seasons is nostalgic to me.”

Malcolm In The Middle

User Aranzeke actually saw Bryan Cranston in Breaking Bad before seeing him in seminal sitcom Malcolm in the Middle.

“I was a kid when Malcolm in the Middle was airing so I was too young to get it, I was around Dewey’s age,” they said.

“But watching in my 30s it was found treasure. Discovering Bryan Cranston as Hal after I’d already seen Breaking Bad was a revelation.”

The Golden Girls

2pickleEconomy2 explained: “Golden Girls and lots of late 80s and early 90s shows tackled some surprising themes that you would expect more today than back then.

“Things like racism, homosexuality and even transgender issues were often covered with a very modern feel that was surprising for the time period. Things that might even today get a right-wing backlash for being ‘woke’. Like when the Golden Girls explored why the confederate flag wasn’t just some southern pride symbol.”

Can confirm: if you haven’t watched Golden Girls, add it to your to-do list, you won’t regret it.

Hey Arnold

Black_Dumbledore said that Hey, Arnold is “always my go to answer when this comes up”.

“There is a ton more going on in that show than I picked up on as a kid (or remembered). I’m not just talking about jokes going over kids heads either,” they explained. “The characters are much deeper and the setting is more grounded than kids cartoons of that era. Them kids had real problems...

“I could list examples all day but standouts include the homelives of pretty much all Arnold’s classmates (Helga’s family in particular), Mr. Simmon’s being gay-coded, and Pigeon Man’s story.

“A lot of kids’ shows will do deeper episodes here and there but Hey Arnold was routinely weaving them into the fabric of the show in a way that was unrivaled at the time.”

Rugrats

W00t4me revealed: “We have a kid and decided to try some shows from my childhood. Rugrats has a whole layer of jokes for adults that I totally missed as a kid.”

IndianaJoes agrees: “Yep. I got Paramount+ for the Frasier revival and watched Rugrats to make the most of it. I loved the show as a kid but there were so many jokes that felt totally new to me because they went over my head back then.”