Some days all you want to do is binge on whatever original series Netflix just added or rewatch all 11 seasons of Grey's Anatomy for the millionth time, but sometimes, something a little older sounds good. Those old-school options are a little harder to find when you spend all your streaming hours on the new stuff, so if you're in the mood for a vintage TV series, here are nine options that premiered 20 or more years ago.
1. The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone is a sci-fi/fantasy anthology series from the 1960s, loaded with plot twists, famous guest stars like William Shatner and Robert Redford, and signature spooky voiceovers. Each episode is a standalone, like little plays, so you can skip around to whichever episodes look most compelling, or least likely to freak you out when you're watching home alone in bed. Try the classic episode "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet," about a plane trip that turns into a monstrous spiral of paranoia, or "It's a Good Life," about a small child with disturbing powers.
2. Murder She Wrote
You might know Murder She Wrote as that show your grandmother's super into, but what you might not know is that your grandmother's super into it because it's great. Jessica Fletcher, played by Angela Lansbury, is a best-selling mystery author who is also really good at solving murders in the small town she lives in, off the coast of Maine. Yes, there are a disproportionate number of murders taking place in what is a decidedly rural setting and yes, it's hokey in a way that only '80s and '90s TV can be. But it's oddly soothing to watch, and Jessica is a badass female lead for the ages.
3. SeaQuest: DSV
SeaQuest: DSV premiered in 1993 but was set in the "distant future" of 2018, on a submarine after earth's resources have been depleted, causing mankind to colonize the ocean. Among other things, it features a dolphin that communicates with humans via computer technology, a teen computer genius (the late Jonathan Brandis, who has the distinction of being my first-ever crush), diplomatic tension between underwater colonies and the government on land and, at one point, a ghost ship. It is ridiculous. It is incredible.
4. 3rd Rock From the Sun
If you've ever wondered what Joseph Gordon-Levitt would look like with long hair, an awkwardly placed part, or a ponytail, then this is the show for you! His character is one in a family of four aliens, sent to earth to live in a tiny town in Ohio as humans and study human behavior. Even though the "lol humans" storylines can get a little bit repetitive, the show always feels fresh and funny because it's anchored by a strong roster of comedy legends, like John Lithgow, Jane Curtin, and Jan Hooks. If you like quirky sitcoms like The Last Man on Earth or New Girl, chances are you'll like 3rd Rock too.
5. Sliders
Sliders stars a young and floppy-haired Jerry O'Connell as a graduate student in physics who created a vortex in the fabric of reality; unfortunately, he and three other travelers get trapped within the vortex and have to jump between time and realities, hoping to get home. By the third season, it starts to get extra-weird, with episodes inspired by movies like Twister and Jurassic Park. Between the wacky premise, the troubled production (a performer died on set in a dune buggy accident), and the ambitious storytelling, it's a truly unique viewing experience. Bonus: If you fall in love with Sliders, check out Quantum Leap — it's the show's spiritual predecessor, featuring a time-jumping, hunky Scott Bakula, and it's streaming on Netflix too.
6. Xena: Warrior Princess
When I was younger, I'd get upset when Xena came on; it was the syndicated live-action series that meant Saturday morning cartoons were over for the week. But revisiting it as an adult, I came to realize how badass Lucy Lawless is in the title role, and how much fun the series is. It borrows from all kinds of mythology (with varying degrees of accuracy), takes us all over the universe and world and gives us a truly complex main character in Xena herself. But even though it can be melodramatic and over-the-top, it has moments of real warmth and emotion too. And sword-fighting. Lots of sword-fighting.
7. Twin Peaks
Twin Peaks reliably winds up on lists of all-time great cult classics (and on lists of best-ever television shows too), and with good reason. It's the creepy, psychologically intense story of the murder of a homecoming queen in a small town in Washington state. It's both a chilling exploration of how nothing is ever quite the way it seems, and a campy sendup of American soap operas and crime dramas. The fact that it defies one specific genre is part of what makes it so compelling and so profoundly bingeable. Plus, if you dive in now, you'll be ready to go when the series reboot begins on Showtime in 2017.
8. Friends
It's hard to believe that Friends qualifies as vintage, even though it premiered way back in the fall of 1994, and that's because as long as you don't pay too much attention to the clothes, the show feels like it could be contemporary. The tone and the jokes and the occasional flashes of insight into what it's really like to be in your 20s and early 30s all feel fresh. Counterpoint: Pay extremely close attention to the clothes, because they are hilarious. The overalls! The crop tops! The weirdly blousy men's shirts! The vests! Dear god, dive back in (or dive in for the first time) for the vests alone.
9. M*A*S*H
M*A*S*H is inarguably the funniest-ever series set in an Army hospital during the Korean War. Don't get me wrong — it's a dark comedy. The theme song of the series is titled "Suicide Is Painless," if that's any indication of how real shit gets, and the emotional and situational stakes are high throughout. But there are strong light-hearted elements too, as the doctors and nurses find ways to cope with the reality of war, whether that's by using humor as a defense mechanism or by building a still to make moonshine in a tent. As an added benefit, young Alan Alda is a total dreamboat (although to be honest the present-day, silver fox version of Alda is too).
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