Ranking the 10 Best 90s Sitcom Families

(Cue the beat, Jazz) Now, this is a story of some sitcoms, that revolved around families from all backgrounds. We would like for you, just a minute, to sit right there, and let me tell you how these shows became the princes of TV.
Family sitcoms weren’t playing it safe anymore in the era of hip-hop and the rise of the internet. That bold move toward more serious topical plotlines gave rise to a new generation of sitcom families that were more diverse in both its casting and storytelling. So now that Collider has covered the top ten family sitcoms of the 80s, let’s leap ahead a decade and reveal which show did family the best in the 90s.

10. Home Improvement (1991-1999)

By 1991, Tim Allen was hitting the peak of his comedic career, and the powers that be at ABC granted him his family sitcom, Home Improvement. The show, which revolves around the lives of the Taylors in suburban Detroit, became an instant hit on the network, landing in the top ten of the television rating chart during its entire run; a feat that few shows can lay claim to.

The sitcom made Tim Allen’s star even brighter and turned Jonathan Taylor Thomas (who played the middle son, Randy Taylor) into a teenage heartthrob. Tim Allen and his co-star Richard Karn even made a return to TV as hosts of the new show Assembly Required.

9. Family Matters (1989-1998)

Family Matters initially began as a star vehicle for Reginald VelJohnson, who was just coming off of a strong supporting performance guiding John McClain through an L.A. high rise filled with terrorists in 1988’s Die Hard. When Steve Urkel appeared in the Season 1 episode “Rachael’s First Date,” the show’s producers quickly realized they had a sensation on their hands and quickly gave the spotlight the Winslows’ geeky neighbor.

Despite the many Urkel-centric episodes, the show was still, at its heart, a showcase of the family love the Winslows had for each other, which made it a must-watch every week before the show eventually burned out in 1998.

8. Everybody Loves Raymond (1996-2005)

By the mid-90s, sitcoms revolving around the everyday family man were becoming a hot trend on network television. No show illustrated that better than Everybody Loves Raymond.

Ray Romano starred as Raymond Barone, a Newsday sportswriter who lives in Long Island with his wife, Debra (Patricia Heaton), and their twin sons, who don’t take life too seriously and go the extra mile in avoiding household chores, much to the dismay of his wife. Romano’s dry, sarcastic humor was a selling point of the series, and the family sitcom quickly became one of CBS’s flagship comedies.

7. Moesha (1996-2001)

In 1996, UPN was an upstart network looking to tangle toe-to-toe with the “Big Three.” To help in that quest, they needed a hit family sitcom, and that hit was Moesha. Debuting in the fall of ‘96, Moesha stared Brandy Norwood as the titular character, a teenager living in the Leimert Park neighborhood of L.A. with her family, the Mitchells.

The show was an instant hit for the network, with strong characters centered around Norwood, including Countess Vaughn, who, along with comedian Mo’Nique, would be the focus of the spinoff series The Parkers.

6. Roseanne (1988-2018)

As much as Good Times showcased an African-American family trying to make it in the Cabrini Green projects in Chicago in the 70s, Roseanne replicated that formula in the late 80s, replacing the crime-plagued Cabrini Green with Lanford, Illinois, a drab suburb of Chicago.

Roseanne Barr was the matriarch of the Connor family, a working-class family trying to get by on limited income. As soon as the series premiered, it made Barr a household name, and Roseanne shot to number one in the ratings in 1990. The initial run ended in 1997 but received a much-praised revival in 2018 before controversy forced ABC to fire Barr and rename the show The Connors.

5. King Of The Hill (1997-2010)

Hank Hill is one of the more iconic characters in modern family sitcoms. His love of his family, and all things Texas, is what propelled King Of The Hill into a modern-day classic. Not only was the show hilarious, but it also included topical subjects that the series dealt with in its own, nonchalant way. Adding to this comedy gold was Hank’s wife, Peggy Hill, who always believed she was two steps ahead of everyone, and Bobby, the lovable kid who moved to his drumbeat.

Rounding out this unique, and hilarious cast of characters was Hank’s drinking friends; Dale Gribble, who knew every conspiracy theory alive, Boomhauer, the ladies man who talked fast, and Bill, the aloof, lonely guy, who all brought their touch of hilarity to this family comedy. With a hint at reviving the King of The Hill family, fans are eager to see what has become of this lovable bunch.