The Little '90s Family Sitcom Stars That Couldn't

by Rachel Stein February 3, 2010 10:37 AM
The Little '90s Family Sitcom Stars That Couldn't

When we heard that Melissa Joan Hart and Joey Lawrence were getting their own sitcom, we thought of a few '90s family comedy stars who are even less deserving of their own shows, due to their ultra-campy acting and unforgettable awkwardness. So while we may have appreciated some of these folks back in the day, we're in no rush to see any of them again in starring TV roles soon.

Jonathan Taylor Thomas (Randy Taylor of Home Improvement)
While he was arguably the teen heartthrob of the '90s, his role on Home Improvement got a bit too heavy when the writers almost gave his character cancer and eventually made him an angry liberal. The last time we found JTT interesting was immediately before he squashed rumors about being gay.

Sasha Mitchell (Cody Lambert of Step By Step)
Mitchell's main role on Step by Step was to use variations of the word "dude," have a creepy crush on his step-sister, and live in his van in the driveway. In a recent interview, Bronson Pinchot (who had a recurring role on the show) said Mitchell was forced to take a year off because he had shown up on set with a gun.

Bobcat Goldthwait (voice of Mr. Floppy, Unhappily Ever After)
If it wasn't for Jimmy Kimmel, Goldthwait would be long gone from TV. As the imaginary sidekick of a schizophrenic father, we can't understand why anyone would accept the role of Mr. Floppy on the biggest rip-off of Married With Children ever.

Elisa Donovan (Amber Mariens of Clueless)
Donovan was all for being typecast in the '90s, proven by accepting the role of Amber in both the Clueless movie and television show, as well as the exact same role (but renamed Morgan) in Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. Now that Donovan is nearly 40, she can't pull off her only shtick as a dumb, pretty, fashion-obsessed teenager. Go figure.

Mayim Bialik (Blossom herself)
While the '90s star has landed a few gigs in recent years (Secret Life of an American Teenager, What Not To Wear), most people will only ever know Bialik as Blossom, because let's face it: neither her face nor her style has transformed much since she was a teen. Honestly, we're not entirely sure how Joey Lawrence has gotten a line other than "Woah!" his entire career.

Dave Coulier (Joey Gladstone of Full House)
After watching E! True Hollywood Story: Full House we feel bad saying that we'll never think of him as anything other than Uncle Joey or the inspiration of Alanis Morissette's "You Oughta Know," but those are two very memorable career moves from which you don't bounce back.

Tia and Tamera Mowry (Sister, Sister)
It must've been hard to have been wacky twin sisters in the '90s, as the Olsens will forever be the it-girls of that decade. The Mowrys have held on to a few roles over the years, though each twin's attempt at separating herself from her sister has yielded poor results. Despite the short-lived fame of The Game, we doubt either Tia or Tamera will ever rise higher than the occasional role on ABC Family, because there are only so many made-for-TV movies about teen witches made per decade.

Danielle Fishel (Topanga Lawrence of Boy Meets World)
BMW had such continuity issues and was so campy that it could only be watched be a very dedicated viewer. There were so many of us, though, that Fishel hasn't been able to get away from the Topanga persona. She makes a good host on the Style Network's The Dish, and while we didn't love that she was a special correspondent for the dreaded Tyra Banks Show, it looks like Fishel's career with non-fiction television is going pretty well, so that's where she should stay.

Alfonso Ribeiro (Cartlon Banks of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air)
We have no idea how Will Smith became one of the most famous actors in Hollywood while his awesome cousin Carlton is stuck as a GSN host and an occasional director of Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns. Unless he shows up on television again in a polo shirt with a sweater wrapped around his neck, Ribeiro is definitely off our radar for good.

Kathy Kinney (Mimi Bobeck Carey of The Drew Carey Show)
I was so young when I used to watch this show that I actually thought that Mimi was just Drew Carey in drag. No wonder we haven't seen her much since the '90s. Yikes. If there are Kinney fans out there, they'll be happy to know that she'll be playing the role of Madame Morrible in the Broadway production of Wicked starting in March, which fits the slightly scary, slightly funny actress's personality pretty well.

There's family TV and then there's families on TV. Look back at TV's most dysfunctional families.

32 Comments

February 3, 2010 11:07 AM
CraftyLuna
Reply

The way this article is written is almost like English, but not quite. I've read the first sentence about 10 times and I still don't understand it. Please can y'all get some editors to read this stuff before you publish it?

February 3, 2010 11:20 AM
JB
Reply

I agree with CraftyLuna. The occasional slip is understandable, but the writers on here make too many grammatical and spelling mistakes to be explained away as mere human error, while at other times it's downright unreadable. It just looks unprofessional.

February 3, 2010 11:35 AM
Schmaggart
Reply

Kathy Kinney IS on TV. She's also on Secret Life of the American Teenager as a worker in the butcher shop. *Sad to say that I've watched enough episodes to notice. I need a life.*

February 3, 2010 12:39 PM
Tamara
Reply

Cody Lambert wasn't Dana's step-brother. He was her step-cousin (the dad's nephew).

February 3, 2010 12:48 PM
Josh
Reply

Huh, and here I thought I was the only one who thought Kathy Kinney was Drew Carey in drag.

February 3, 2010 12:57 PM
Kristen
Reply

"Honestly, we're not entirely sure how Joey Lawrence has gotten a line other than 'Woah!' his entire career."

First, how does this sentence belong in the Mayim Bialik section? Are you sure this didn't belong in the first paragraph? Also, and I really shouldn't have to say this to a "professional" writer on a "professional" website, but it's spelled "whoa." How many times do your loyal readers have to beg for editors? Have some respect for your audience.

February 3, 2010 1:00 PM
AJ
Reply

Um, this site is free to you isn't it? If yes, cut them a little slack on the grammar.

February 3, 2010 1:19 PM
Punstressak
Reply

KK is enough shorter than DC that the drag thing didn't last long for me. Plus, I had the advantage of seeing her on his version of Whose Line. And I recognized her voice on Secret Life before I recognized her without all that Tammy Faye makeup. Also, ITA with Kristen's comments.

February 3, 2010 1:21 PM
Punstressak
Reply
replied to comment from AJ

A little slack? That's like saying HFCS is ok in moderation; may be true, but it's freaking EVERYWHERE.

February 3, 2010 1:23 PM
SR
Reply

Rachel Stein, I generally find your additions to this site to be pretty much the only ones worth reading... So why is this one so unreadable?

I'm with everyone else. TWoP needs an editor (preferably one not currently enrolled in ESL classes). I no longer recommend this site to friends because I'm embarrassed by the quality of what gets posted.

February 3, 2010 2:12 PM
Amber
Reply

I hate to be whiner especially since it is for free but come on! At least reread your article once or twice before posting it. The occasional small grammar or spelling error won't bother me all that much but forgetting words is a bit too much and it's annoying to have to read a sentence again because there's a word missing.

February 3, 2010 2:49 PM
LucyC
Reply

Deer TWoP-
I am happy to bee you're editor so these people dont have to post they're opinions anymore, altho they will post irregardless.

February 3, 2010 3:34 PM
synergy
Reply

It shouldn't be about whether the site is free, but about whether it's correct and understandable.

February 3, 2010 4:07 PM
Court
Reply
replied to comment from LucyC

I hope you are making a joke. If you aren't, please stay in school.

February 3, 2010 4:13 PM
Alicat
Reply

I thought Mitchell left Step by Step because he was accused of domestic violence - I completely remember him on Oprah discussing it. Turns out later his wife was on drugs and it was all false. He really got screwed.

And Boy Meets World is one of the best 90's sitcoms - what continuity issues? Plausability definitely but who wants a world without Feeheeeny.

February 3, 2010 5:50 PM
Kristen
Reply

Alicat, Boy Meets World was awesome. There's no denying that. The only continuity issue I clearly remember (although I feel like there were a bunch) was that Morgan was a baby one season then she was like 8 years old the next. I seem to remember them making a joke about it, though, like, "Boy, you're growing up so fast."

February 3, 2010 7:33 PM
The Lorig
Reply

what is with you people?!get off her case!

February 3, 2010 7:34 PM
Chris
Reply

I enjoyed your article rachel,dont listen to these dummies

February 3, 2010 7:52 PM
Anonymous
Reply
replied to comment from synergy

Amen. Far too many people these days are settling for less than even "good enough."

There really isn't a good excuse for lazy writing and even more lax proofreading.

February 3, 2010 8:18 PM
CraftyLuna
Reply

It looks like at least the first sentence was fixed, so thanks for that, whoever fixed it! Now I will go read the rest of the article.

February 3, 2010 9:09 PM
Alexandria
Reply
replied to comment from Court

Seriously, you have to ask? What are you doing on a site devoted to snark?

February 3, 2010 9:39 PM
Kay
Reply
replied to comment from Alicat

Re: Boy Meets World, I was a die hard fan of the show, and I recall a few serious changes and continuity issues towards the end of the series. Once Corey and Topanga started dating in high school, they started saying they've always been together, and were always in love. In the early seasons, it was clear they like each other, but in the Elementary School, hate each other kind of way, not the schmaltzy romanticized way they later portrayed it. That, and they made Eric (or whatever Will Friedle's character was named) into a complete idiot later on, but in the beginning he wasn't stupid, just girl crazy. It made the last couple of seasons pretty unwatchable.

February 3, 2010 11:31 PM
Rose
Reply

The Game is still on. It got picked up by BET. Please do your research.

February 4, 2010 1:23 AM
Stephanie Tanner
Reply

I will always love Jodie Sweetin (Stephanie from Full House) - I always thought she got the short end of the stick because so few episodes were about her even though she was the most talented of the three girls, just rewatch the first 3 seasons to see this girl had potential. She had a natural wit and charm vs. the Olsens who became unwatchable waiting for them to deliver their 'cute' lines. After it became clear they were too old for that, they basically gave her Stephanie's character traits - namely being intelligent. However, the Olsens could not pull it off and Michelle looked like a jerk from season 6 onward. I hope she gets a chance to come back to tv. As for Dave Coulier, I recently rewatched the early seasons of Full House and he was much funnier than I recall from the 80s. Its still a little lame sometimes, but not as awful as I seemed to think. The only ones who were really bad or unnecessary on the show were Michelle, Alex and Nicky, and to a large extent Becky who was a bland character only useful to counsel D.J. on some "woman to woman" issues every blue moon.

February 4, 2010 3:30 PM
LucyC
Reply
replied to comment from Court

Yes, of course grammar and spelling mistakes were completely intentional, however - offer to edit completely serious.

February 4, 2010 3:49 PM
nan
Reply

I loved Boy Meets World, but there were some real continuity problems. In the beginning, Topanga had an older sister and her whole family were super hippies. Then the sister was dropped and the parents weren't hippies (they switched actors, too) and they got a divorce. Shawn's family story was a real mess. In an early season he was revealed to have an older brother who was a thug. Who his mother was changed about five times. The thug-brother never appeared again, but then the secret half-brother from his "real real" mother was introduced. I still love the show, anyway. I liked how Shawn seemed to know they were on a tv show, so he knew how storylines would be resolved. I hated how they changed Eric, but liked most of the rest of the show, even in the end.

February 4, 2010 8:28 PM
Izalika
Reply
replied to comment from Kristen

I think they were referring to Blossom's style, ie how did he manage to say anything other than "Whoa!" when he had to look at her outlandish outfits all the time.

February 19, 2010 12:07 PM
Abu Shenob
Reply

Kathy Kinney is a fine actress - I saw her once in some film with DeNiro where DeNiro is an abusive Father who tries to isolate his wife and son (neither of which was played by Kathy - she was a friend of the wife). I hated Boy Meets World, but from the comments here, I suspect that it was the Brady Bunch of its era - a show that is a touchstone of a generation. Word on Jodie Sweetin - she was great - the only saving grace on that show other than the gal who played Kimmie, a female Eddie Felsted. And Dave Coulier was easily one of the ten worst actors ever to be in a hit show. Sorry, worst five.

March 4, 2010 4:28 PM
rick
Reply
replied to comment from Rose

The Game is still on the air, but in syndication. Original episodes of The Game ended after three seasons. What you are watching on BET are reruns.

March 26, 2010 3:01 AM
Angie
Reply
replied to comment from JB

I wholeheartedly agree with CraftLuna and JB - this article makes very little sense. Do they have shows now? Or are you just saying they shouldn't? Ugh, I actually shouldn't get into what is wrong with the article - I will be here all day!

March 29, 2010 7:14 PM
Emily
Reply

I am willing to put up with a few grammatical errors or writing style quirks if it means I get to read something that is actually funny and interesting. Go read your own blog posts people!

April 7, 2010 2:01 PM
Wiseguy
Reply

Kathy Kinney was a regular on the last year of Newhart in 1989, long before most people knew who Drew Carey was.

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