| Dark Side of the 90s | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Documentary |
| Developed by |
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| Directed by | Richard Rotter |
| Narrated by | |
| Composer | Orin Isaacs |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 30 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
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| Producers |
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| Running time | 60 min. |
| Production companies |
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| Original release | |
| Network | Vice on TV |
| Release | July 15, 2021 – present |
Dark Side of the 90s is a documentary television series created by Insight Productions and RailSplitter Pictures for Vice Studios that takes a look at popular culture of the 1990s. [3] It is a spinoff of Vice's Dark Side of the Ring series. [4] The first episode of Dark Side of the 90s aired on July 15, 2021. [5] [6] [7] The series is narrated by Mark McGrath.
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Subject(s) | Original release date | Viewers (millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Trash TV: Dirty & Deadly Talk" | The explosion of tabloid talk shows (including the critically derided, yet popular, ratings hit, The Jerry Springer Show ). | July 15, 2021 | N/A |
| 2 | 2 | "The Viper Room: Hollywood's Sanctuary" | Johnny Depp's The Viper Room and the death of River Phoenix. [8] | July 22, 2021 | 0.150 [9] |
| 3 | 3 | "TV for Teens" | The conception of Fox Network and its hit show, Beverly Hills, 90210 , and other shows geared at teens (one being Party of Five ). | July 29, 2021 | 0.108 [10] |
| 4 | 4 | "Beanie Babies Go Bust" | The rise and fall of Beanie Babies' creator Ty Warner alongside the culture of collecting the successful toy line, [11] and the birth of E-commerce and eBay with 12th employee Lina Trivedi | August 5, 2021 | 0.080 [12] |
| 5 | 5 | "Grunge & The Seattle Sound" | Seattle, Sub Pop Records and the start of the 1990s rock subgenre known as grunge. | August 12, 2021 | 0.081 [13] |
| 6 | 6 | "Baywatch: Sex Sells" | The popular TV series Baywatch and the controversies surrounding it (especially Pamela Anderson's sex tape with Tommy Lee). | August 19, 2021 | 0.160 [14] |
| 7 | 7 | "A Tale of Two Cults" | Coverage on both the Branch Davidians and Heaven's Gate cults. | August 26, 2021 | 0.086 [15] |
| 8 | 8 | "Hip Hop: The East Vs. West Media War" | The infamous East Coast-West Coast hip hop rivalry and the tragic consequences of it (the deaths of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls). | September 2, 2021 | 0.099 [16] |
| 9 | 9 | "Secrets of The Runway" | The international success of supermodels and the dark secrets behind the scenes. | September 9, 2021 | 0.065 [17] |
| 10 | 10 | "Internet 1.0: Don't Believe the Hype" | The dot.com bubble during the Internet's early years. | September 16, 2021 | 0.077 [18] |
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Subject(s) | Original release date | Viewers (millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 1 | "Arseniooo Hall!" | The success of The Arsenio Hall Show to younger audiences before its downfall, due to competition from Jay Leno and David Letterman, alongside a controversial episode featuring Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan | June 14, 2022 | N/A |
| 12 | 2 | "MTV & The Real World" | MTV's 1992 debut of reality TV sensation The Real World and its impact on the channel | June 21, 2022 | N/A |
| 13 | 3 | "Cops: Bad Boys, Bad Boys" | The documentary TV show Cops featuring racial conflicts between white American police officers and lower class African-Americans. [19] | June 28, 2022 | N/A |
| 14 | 4 | "UFC Pt. 1: No Holds Barred" | The bloody "no rules" origin of Ultimate Fighting Championship. | July 5, 2022 | N/A |
| 15 | 5 | "UFC Pt. 2: To Live or Die in the Octagon" | UFC survives multiple attempts to ban it and becomes a mainstream sport. | July 5, 2022 | N/A |
| 16 | 6 | "Tabloid TV" | Tabloid journalism on television ( Hard Copy and A Current Affair ) and the salacious stories they uncovered (among them the Amy Fisher saga) | July 12, 2022 | N/A |
| 17 | 7 | "Black Sitcoms' Last Laugh" | The successes of African-American sitcoms ( Living Single , Martin and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air ) and In Living Color before falling into the pitfalls of fame. | July 19, 2022 | N/A |
| 18 | 8 | "The Rise of Rush Limbaugh" | Rush Limbaugh is conservative talk radio's first megastar, claiming to have talent on loan from God as he created a divide in America that is still unfolding 30 years on. | July 26, 2022 | N/A |
| 19 | 9 | "Y2K: Paranoia Will Destroy Ya" | At the end of the decade, the fear of an apocalypse looms (even for far-right militias) as two men become the stars of the real-life action thriller known as the Y2K scare. | August 2, 2022 | N/A |
| 20 | 10 | "Morning Show Wars" | Morning TV is the profit center of the news divisions that produce them with The Today Show and Good Morning America battling for dominance where there's no room for failure. | August 9, 2022 | N/A |
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Subject(s) | Original release date | Viewers (millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 | 1 | "Tyson: The Rise and Fall of Kid Dynamite" | Mike Tyson reshaped boxing, became a pop culture sensation and was feared for his violence and seeming invincibility; but in the end, he'll face the greatest opponent of his life: himself. | July 16, 2024 | N/A |
| 22 | 2 | "Friends: The One About The TV Show" | Friends was, in its heyday, must-see TV, but some of the cast struggle under the weight of sudden and massive fame with painfully public addictions and at least one near-death experience. | July 23, 2024 | N/A |
| 23 | 3 | "NYPD Blue" | NYPD Blue forever changes TV with its use of nudity, violence and profanity, but heavy scrutiny from special interest groups would nearly get it cancelled before it ever even aired. | July 30, 2024 | N/A |
| 24 | 4 | "Robert Downey Jr.: The Comeback Kid" | The turbulent life and times of Academy Award-winning actor Robert Downey Jr. | August 6, 2024 | N/A |
| 25 | 5 | "SNL" | The legacy, tragedies and controversies behind the NBC comedy sketch series, Saturday Night Live , since its first airing in 1975. | August 13, 2024 | N/A |
| 26 | 6 | "Infomercials: Shams and Scams" | The competitive world of TV infomercials | August 20, 2024 | N/A |
| 27 | 7 | "Spice Girls" | The popular British girl group Spice Girls and the struggles behind the scenes | August 27, 2024 | N/A |
| 28 | 8 | "Agassi & '90s Tennis Prodigies" | The turmoil of tennis superstar Andre Agassi and the struggles of other pro tennis players | September 3, 2024 | N/A |
| 29 | 9 | "Scores Strip Club: Girls & Gambinos" | TBA | September 17, 2024 | N/A |
| 30 | 10 | "Rave Culture: Under the Influence" | Rave music and the club culture's dark underbelly | September 24, 2024 | N/A |
The spin-off series was announced in December 2020, when Vice TV expanded the Dark Side franchise by ordering its spin-off series dedicated to 90s pop culture called Dark Side of the 90s with New York-based production studio RailSpitter Pictures Canadian production outfit Insight Productions producing the spin-off series. [20]
