‘Friends,’ ‘ER,’ ‘Party of Five’: Was 1994 the Greatest TV Era Ever?

What were you doing in September 1994? If you were somewhere between the ages of 10 and 100, you probably spent a lot of it watching some truly great TV. And if you weren’t born yet or were too young to remember, chances are you’ve since become addicted to at least one of the classic shows that came out of what Us believes could be the greatest season for TV ever.

As amazing as it may seem, in September 1994, three iconic shows debuted: aesthetically-pleasing hospital drama ER, moving family drama Party of Five, plus a little sitcom you might have heard of, Friends. And just a few weeks before, in August of ‘94, My So-Called Life first aired. Devastatingly, it only lasted for one season, but it catapulted two of its stars, Claire Danes and Jared Leto, to instant fame (and pin-up status) and created a whole new genre of well-written teen TV that adults could enjoy too. Without it, there would probably be no Dawson’s Creek, The O.C. or Gossip Girl.

Looking back, it’s hard to believe so many game-changing shows came out in one year, let alone within a few weeks of each other, but fall 1994 was basically TV perfection. And since streaming services were still the stuff of pure fantasy, the beauty of it was viewers all watched these series at exactly the same time — and had to wait a week for a new episode! Seriously, the kids of today will never know this pain.

Friends

First up, Friends, the show that turned a group of six coffee-drinking New Yorkers into, well, your actual friends. Whether you were quoting Chandler’s (Matthew Perry) sarcastic quips, trying to master Joey’s (Matt LeBlanc) iconic “How you doin’?” (it works about 0.1 percent of the time IRL) or desperately trying to manipulate your hair into The Rachel, Friends rapidly became a cultural phenomenon. Amazingly, its success hasn’t really slowed  since, thanks to every generation binging it on Netflix and throwing their money at all the branded merch.

Dating, career disasters, bad fashion decisions, ill-advised pets — Friends taught us how to mess all of that up in the most hilarious way possible. It set the blueprint for all future sitcoms: a group of lovable, easy on the eye, mildly flawed 20-somethings struggling through life together. Shows like How I Met Your Mother and New Girl owe their very existence to its huge success. And how would we even function in our own friendship circles if we couldn’t litter the group chat with “Pivot!” and “18 pages — front and back!” GIFs?

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Of course, celebrating the show’s 30th anniversary (it first aired on September 22, 1994) feels bittersweet, since it’s also almost a year since Perry’s tragic death. “It’s a huge loss and it does make the 30th a little fraught,” creator Marta Kauffman told Today on Friday (September 20).

ER

September 1994 also gave us the pilot episode of ER, the turbulent medical drama that left Us breathless — partly thanks to its breakout star, a certain silver fox (then, just a plain old fox) named George Clooney. Long before McDreamy or McSteamy, Clooney’s Dr. Doug Ross was the original McEverything. ER wasn’t just about medical emergencies, it was about wondering how on earth these doctors managed to look so attractive while racing through hospital hallways, treating gunshot wounds and having emotional breakdowns in broom closets.

ER wasn’t just pretty faces though, it was seriously gripping and intense. It was the kind of show that made you feel like you’d aged five years after every episode (which was good news for many of Us in 1994, since we’d be less likely to get carded). The show basically invented the fast-paced, heart-pounding medical drama that paved the way for Grey’s Anatomy to come along and break our hearts all over again, just with more scalpels and less Clooney.

ER was the top-rated show on U.S. television for a huge chunk of the 1990s, won multiple Emmy Awards and aired for 15 seasons globally, before it was switched off life support in 2009.

My So-Called Life

Then there was My So-Called Life, which captured the emotional turmoil of adolescence so accurately and with a pain that was comparable to breaking in a new pair of Doc Martens. Starring Danes as Angela Chase, the show was essentially 45 minutes of intense sighing, journal writing and obsessing over Leto’s character, Jordan Catalano. He was the original brooding heartthrob, perpetually leaning against lockers, somehow embodying every teenage girl’s dream and nightmare at the same time.

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For a show that inexplicably only lasted one season, airing on ABC from August 1994 to January 1995, My So-Called Life made an impact. It addressed real issues, like identity, peer pressure and the existential crisis that comes from not being able to figure out your feelings before third period history. It was essentially emo before emo was even a thing. And as for the style, all middle-parts, baggy jeans and shapeless knits? It’s pretty much what every teenager looks like right now.

Party of Five

Finally, Party of Five came in like the emotional wrecking ball of family dramas, with five orphaned siblings enduring plenty of turmoil; yes, the “party” in the title was definitely misleading. Big brother Charlie (Matthew Fox) was suddenly thrust into parenthood, while his younger siblings Bailey (Scott Wolf), Julia (Neve Campbell), Claudia (Lacey Chabert) and Owen (Jacob Smith) had to work out how to grow up in a world that was constantly throwing them curveballs, including suddenly needing to run the family restaurant, Salinger’s. It was like a masterclass in grief, responsibility and emotional resilience. Yeah, being sad was big in 1994 (don’t forget, it was the grunge era too!).

Party of Five, which ran on Fox for six seasons before wrapping in 2000, was also the perfect precursor to all the shows we love today which put complicated family dynamics front and center, like This Is Us and even The Bear. Plus, it gave us Campbell and Fox, basically the slightly less famous but just as hot versions of Jennifer Aniston and Clooney. It’s definitely one to revisit, or dip into for the first time, if you get the chance.