5 Star-Studded TV Shows of the 90s Pretty Much Everyone Forgot About

There are plenty of TV shows that have disappeared without a trace – many of them with good reason. But it’s surprising when you think of how many of those now-forgotten shows featured actors who were already household names or would go on to be big stars.

Here are five of them – remember these?

1. State of Grace

The list of names for this show is quite phenomenal given that it’s fallen completely out of favour with pretty much everybody. Alia Shawkat and Mae Whitman (Arrested Development) played two 12-year-old girls from different backgrounds in the coming-of-age teen drama that also featured Fay Grant (V) and Dinah Manoff (Grease and Empty Nest)

2. Joan of Arcadia

Amber Tamblyn was nominated for an Emmy and a Golden Globe for her role as Joan Girardi – a 16-year-old who chatted with a pretty modern iteration of God, who she carried out jobs for. Joan’s father, Will, was played by Joe Mantegna who played David Rossi in Criminal Minds, Joey Zasa in The Godfather III and Fat Tony in The Simpsons. It also featured Twilight actor Michael Welch (Mike Newton).

3. Greg the Bunny

Eugene Levy (Noah Levenstein in American Pie) starred in this comedy about a puppet called Greg who co-hosted a kid’s TV show. This was a slightly surreal and satirical show that also starred Seth Green who you might recognise from his role as Dr Evil’s son in Austin Powers.

4. The Thin Blue Line

A hilarious but seemingly forgotten BBC sitcom set in a police station in the fictional town of Gasforth. Critics knocked it for a lack of character development, but it was a throwback sitcom with a cast that included stars such as Rowan Atkinson (Blackadder), Mark Addy (Game of Thrones), Rudolph Walker (Eastenders) and David Haig (Four Weddings and a Funeral and Killing Eve).

5. The Grimleys

Set in the 1970s, The Grimleys was a comedy about the pretty average Grimley family – a dysfunctional lot from Dudley in the West Midlands. The show starred James Bradshaw (who would go on to appear in Endeavour as Pathologist Dr Max Debryn) as schoolboy Gordon Grimley. Other famous faces that appeared in the show include Nigel Planer (The Young Ones), Samantha Janus (Eastenders) who was later replaced as a school teacher, Miss Geraldine Titley by Amanda Holden (Britain’s Got Talent), and lead singer of 70s rock band Slade, Noddy Holder.