For decades, HBO has been known for producing high-quality television. Launched in 1972 as the first premium cable channel, it originally offered movies and unique programs for an additional fee. While early shows included series like The Hitchhiker, Fraggle Rock, and America Undercover, HBO truly gained recognition in the 1990s with the arrival of groundbreaking, critically acclaimed dramas and comedies.
As a huge HBO fan, I’ve been thinking about the best shows they put out in the ’90s, and I’ve put together a list of seven that really stand out – from hilarious comedies to seriously gripping dramas. It’s a look back at some true classics!
7) Arliss
HBO launched its original comedy series, Arli$$, in 1996. Created by and starring Robert Wuhl – seven years after his role in Tim Burton’s Batman – the show followed Arliss Michaels, a Los Angeles sports agent who had trouble setting boundaries with his clients. While a comedy, Arli$$ also tackled important and often controversial issues in the sports world, like gambling, corruption, domestic violence, and the inclusion of transgender athletes – addressing these topics years before they gained widespread attention.
Inspired by the book The Art of the Deal, which creator Robert Wuhl jokingly dismissed as completely untrue, each episode of the show featured Arliss explaining his successful deals. However, these explanations always turned out to be fabrications, revealing the real story behind them. The series received high praise from critics and boasted numerous appearances by famous athletes and owners, including Jimmy Johnson, John Elway, Derek Jeter, Kobe Bryant, and Jerry Jones.
6) Todd McFarlane’s Spawn
In 1997, HBO launched an animated series based on the Image Comics character Spawn, titled Todd McFarlane’s Spawn. It was one of two shows for adults that debuted on HBO that year, and it proved to be more popular than the other, Spicy City. The series closely followed the original comic book story: Al Simmons, a former Marine and assassin, is killed and makes a deal with a demonic being to return as a Hellspawn.
The animated series ran for three seasons, featuring Keith David as the voice of Spawn and Todd McFarlane guiding the story development. Though it only had 18 episodes, the show became a fan favorite and received critical praise, even winning an Emmy Award in 1999 for Outstanding Animation Program. It also helped people forget the poorly received movie that came out around the same time as the HBO premiere.
5) The Larry Sanders Show
In the 1990s, The Larry Sanders Show was a big hit for HBO and paved the way for shows like Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Office, which often refer to themselves as TV shows within the show. Starring Garry Shandling as a late-night talk show host, the series showed both what happened on stage and all the chaos behind the scenes, even including fictional interviews with actual celebrities.
The show featured a fantastic supporting cast, including Janeane Garofalo, Jeremy Piven, Wallace Langham, and Jeffrey Tambor. Several celebrities made appearances as themselves, such as Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, Beck, Winona Ryder, and Hugh Hefner, among others. The series was a funny and insightful look at the world of celebrities, lasting six seasons and earning three Primetime Emmy Awards.
4) Mr. Show with Bob and David
As a comedy fan, I have to say HBO really struck gold in the ’90s with Mr. Show with Bob and David. This sketch show, running from 1995 to 1998, was genuinely brilliant. You probably know Bob Odenkirk now from Better Call Saul, and David Cross from Arrested Development, but together they were magic. For four seasons, they delivered some truly unforgettable sketches – a perfect comedic pairing, in my opinion.
Mr. Show distinguished itself from typical sketch comedy shows like Saturday Night Live, MAD TV, and In Living Color with its strange, often dreamlike, and sometimes nonsensical sketches. It drew more influence from Monty Python’s Flying Circus and The State, and this unique style earned it a dedicated cult following that continues today, even three decades later.
3) Tales from the Crypt
Look, everyone talks about The Twilight Zone being the greatest anthology series ever, and it’s amazing, I agree. But when I want pure, scary fun, nothing beats Tales from the Crypt. It was based on those old EC Comics, and each episode was introduced by the Crypt Keeper with his signature creepy laugh. The stories were genuinely frightening, but they always had this darkly funny twist to them, like a twisted little moral lesson. It’s a real shame, though – you can’t easily find it streaming anywhere because of all the licensing problems.
Tales from the Crypt showcased amazing performances from a fantastic cast of actors, featuring stars like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tom Hanks, Will Wheaton, Ewan McGregor, Steve Buscemi, Brad Pitt, and Daniel Craig. Since it aired, no other horror anthology series has quite lived up to its quality and chilling stories.
2) The Kids in the Hall
The 1990s featured a lot of funny sketch comedy shows, including MAD TV, The State, and Mr. Show with Bob and David. But arguably the best of the bunch was The Kids in the Hall, a Canadian comedy troupe whose show aired on both CBC in Canada and HBO in the United States.
The comedy troupe, which launched the careers of stars like Dave Foley, Kevin McDonald, and Mark McKinney, was inspired by groups like Monty Python. The Kids in the Hall kept this style of surreal comedy going strong for six seasons, airing from 1989 to 1995, and had a lasting impact on shows like South Park and Portlandia.
1) Oz
Often considered one of the greatest HBO shows ever, Oz originally aired from 1997 to 2003. The series takes place inside Oswald State Correctional Facility – nicknamed ‘Oz’ – a harsh, maximum-security prison on the East Coast, and focuses on the lives of its dangerous inmates and the guards who oversee them.
It’s incredible to look back at the HBO series Oz and see how many well-known actors had early roles on the show. Ernie Hudson (from Ghostbusters) plays the warden, and among the prisoners you’ll find faces like Harold Perrineau (Lost), J.K. Simmons (Law & Order), Dean Winters (Sex and the City), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Game of Thrones), and Christopher Meloni (Law & Order: SVU). Oz aired for six seasons, totaling 56 episodes on HBO.
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2025-10-27 23:17