13 Shows From The 90s That You Were Not Supposed To Watch As A Kid

Although television in the '90s was fairly limited as compared to today's set-top boxes, some of the channels we watched had some shows that our parents really objected to.

1. Ally McBeal

Although the comedy was set around the lives of legal firm employees, it had very little to do with lawsuits and legal matters. Consider it a pre-existing love child of The Office and Boston Legal. The show personified the minor faults of its various characters through the hallucinogenic mind of Ally McBeal. The entire story-line was sexualised with characters having romantic relations with one another and often bumping into exes and potential love interests, just about anywhere - thus leaving the mind of a 10-year-old, confused and misunderstanding of the ways adulthood.

2. Aahat

Aired on Sony Entertainment Television in 1995, this mix of suspense and horror was the stuff that nightmares of innocent Indian mothers were made of. It starred several Bollywood and television personalities like Om Puri, Mandira Bedi, Kanwaljeet Singh, Arun Bali, Tom Alter and Ahmed Khan.

With plots like husbands killing their wives and vice versa, it was a complete no-no for kids to even take in such an idea.

3. The X-Files

A science fiction show that left viewers frustrated and begging for more, it paved the way for sci-fi thrillers on daytime television, with some episodes being heralded as masterpieces. Although my parents loved watching this show, they would keep me away from the television every time it was on air. As a kid, I always thought it had something to do with aliens.

4. Baywatch

Like any show in the 90s, this centered around a group of people of a profession and their day-to-day jobs. In this case, lifeguards on a beach in California, struggling with their interpersonal relationships while being the heroes of the beach they monitored. Saving people from drowning, shark attacks, bomb plants and kidnappings, who would have thought this show was forbidden for kids? Oh hang on a sec, does Pamela Anderson ring a bell? As for David Hasselhof, a younger, more muscular (minus the steroids) male protagonist was necessary. 

5. Baywatch Hawaii

Same plot as Baywatch, just set in a different location. The reason parents never watched this - more bikini clad women with the camera zooming in at all the wrong (right) places. 

6. Mahayagya

A story of two opposing political families who indulge in dirty politics to take away the powers of privilege from one another. Need I say more as to why kids just should not have watched this disaster? No wonder no one wants to grow up to be a politician.

7. The Bold And The Beautiful 

A soap for fans who think they live in a world of glamour, this show started in the late '80s and shows no signs of stopping. Set in the Hollywood fashion scene, enter the Forester and Logan families and their various trials and tribulations. Expect ambitious good-looking people sleeping their way to the top, the kind of people your mother would never want you to grow up to be.

8. TCW/WWF

I will probably have insults hurled at me from all directions, because despite all the warnings shown before and after the show, we as kids always thought the stunts done by wrestlers were actually real. It might have inspired you to try "choke slams" and flip kicks, but all it got you into was trouble.

9. Xena Warrior Princess

Based partly on Greek myth and American action fantasy, Xena Warrior Princess was probably the first show that portrayed a scantily dressed woman beating men to a pulp. An absolute affront to the sanskaris of the 90s but a success for feminists worldwide.

10. Shanti - Ek Aurat Ki Kahani

First aired on DD National in 1994, this show followed a convoluted storyline which is similar to Indrani Mukherjea's family tree. A journalist discovers scandal after scandal in the families of two producers while she tries to uncover the true identity of her father. It is also said to have featured a rape scene that was central to the storyline.

welcomenri.com

11. MTV Grind

A show that was nothing but half naked people dancing suggestively to pop music. Yeah, anyone would feel embarrassed about watching that in front of family, even in the 90's.

12. The Simpsons

We love the Simpsons today, but back then we might have thought it was nothing but a mere cartoon equivalent to the wit and humour of Dexter's Laboratory. I remember being scolded by my mom when I tricked my grandparents into thinking The Simpsons was actually a show on Cartoon Network.

13. Heena

We thought 90s shows were all saas-bahu, rich families and happy couples, until Heena came along to show us how dysfunctional some families can be. From two douchebag husbands to one of her kids being abducted, no one would want to watch a poor woman's domestic bliss be tossed up in the air. But wait, there's more. Heena is told her abducted kid is dead, but then she finds out the child is still alive. Ugh.

I bet your grandma didn't let your parents watch this.