Nostalgia is dangerous. We go back to the shows and films that we watched as kids, hoping for reassurance, but sometimes we end up with a cringe-inducing reminder of how far culture has shifted. What got a laugh at the time comes off as mean-spirited now, and what was glossed over previously reads as seriously troubling nowadays. The next 15 titles were popular in their day, but on rewatch, they don’t quite stand the test.
15. Drake & Josh
This Nickelodeon show used to be all about silly jokes and brotherly conflict. But look again now, and you’ll notice how Josh, the good, gentle one, was forever bullied and taunted, even by adults who should have done better. His boss took advantage of him, his sister bullied him, and his family gangged up on him. The assumed moral? That being good makes you a target. What seemed like innocuous slapstick at the time now reads as cruelty in disguise
14. The Man Show
In the early 2000s, The Man Show found it funny to feature beer chugging, skits, and women bouncing on trampolines as a “grand finale.” Hosted by Adam Carolla and Jimmy Kimmel, it leaned far into lazy stereotypes. Even more jarring, blackface sketches appeared on the show. Kimmel can be credited with pioneering progressive late-night comedy now, but this show is a harsh reminder of how far mainstream television was willing to take misogyny in the name of humor.
13. Friends
Even among the most-watched sitcoms today, Friends remains timeless. But it also contains jokes that have not weathered the years so well. Monica’s weight is continuously used as a punchline, Chandler’s trans parent is ridiculed instead of venerated, and possessiveness over Rachel regularly tips over into coercive. The homophobia casually scattered around doesn’t sit well in 2025. A show about “friends” had a lot of its humor at someone else’s expense.
12. How I Met Your Mother
Barney Stinson was once the outrageous womanizing character everyone loved to hate, or perhaps just loved. But his insults, hate slurs, and underage-girl jokes are hard to swallow now. Meanwhile, Ted, the romantic “good guy,” is selfish, manipulative, and entitled on a regular basis. The show attempted to strike a balance between charm and edginess, but in retrospect, much of its humor is tone-deaf, particularly in its depiction of women and queer characters.
11. Saved by the Bell
Saved by the Bell was the Saturday morning staple for an entire generation of children. But the shiny high school hijinks habitually spilled over into disturbing behavior, such as Kelly going out with grown men when she was still in high school, or Zack Morris’s schemes that audiences originally laughed at. Watching now, Zack isn’t the charming scamp he once appeared; he’s a cautionary figure.
10. Gossip Girl
This glitzy teen drama about New York’s elite had plenty of scandal, but some of its storylines are flat-out disturbing. Early on, Chuck Bass attempts to assault Jenny, but the show barely acknowledges the seriousness of it. Victim-blaming and toxic relationships are played as drama rather than red flags. For all its designer clothes and steamy plotlines, Gossip Girl often normalized behavior that today we’d recognize as abusive.
9. House M.D.
Hugh Laurie’s Dr. House was brilliant, condescending, and charmingly rude. But the program went too far more than once. In a particularly jarring plotline, a teenage girl seduces her father, and the script portrays her as the instigator. The father’s part is minimized, the abuse is glossed over, and the entire affair is topped off with House making jokes. What was intended to be edgy comedy now reads as reckless dealing with deep trauma.
8. The Cosby Show
At the time it aired, The Cosby Show defied conventions by showing a prosperous Black family during primetime TV. It was hilarious, sentimental, and aspirational. But since Bill Cosby’s offenses, it is virtually impossible to watch the show without the shadow cast over it. Fans struggle with the dualistic choice of enjoying what the show represented culturally, yet denouncing the individual who made it. For most, Cosby’s misdeeds tainted his own legacy.
7. Dawson’s Creek
This late-’90s teen drama was progressive in some respects but backward in others. The female gender was frequently depicted as shameful, with Jen’s character repeatedly penalized for her history. The series threw around homophobic slurs and struggled at first to approach Jack’s coming-out narrative sensitively. Its efforts at inclusivity seem awkward now, leaving the show with an unbalanced legacy.
6. Home Improvement
Tim Allen’s Home Improvement used to be the family sitcom of the ’90s, but rewatching uncovers its flaws. The comedy relies heavily on toxic masculinity and has Tim mocking his more sensitive co-star, Al, repeatedly. The gag about “real men” not being emotional or vulnerable hasn’t aged well. What used to be a stock laugh track joke now comes off as a period piece about outdated gender expectations.
5. 24
Jack Bauer was America’s post-9/11 hero, a guy who would do whatever it takes to end terror. But 24 condoned torture, celebrated the suspension of civil rights, and relied on Muslim actors as easy villains. The series dealt with anyone who objected to Jack’s actions as weak or disloyal. Today, seeing it, it is less exciting TV and more a reflection of America’s darkest fears during that time.
4. Police Academy
This franchise comedy relied on slapstick and zany characters, reducing the police to bumbling clowns with hearts of gold. But applied in a contemporary context, the entire idea is more difficult to accept. As police brutality and systemic racism frame contemporary conversations, the notion of laughing at adorable cops who never get called on their actions feels insensitive. What was once innocuous now has an uncomfortable subtext.
3. Soul Man
Few movies hold up as poorly as Soul Man. In it, a white university student uses “tanning pills” to look Black so he can become eligible for a minority scholarship. He wears blackface for the duration of the film, and although the narrative simulates confronting racism, the character experiences no actual penalty. Rather, the offensive premise is done for laughs. It’s a product of its era, and one most viewers today find untenable.
2. Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
Jim Carrey’s over-the-top acting made Ace Ventura a comedy blockbuster, but the film’s handling of its transgender antagonist is appallingly heartless. In the notorious reveal scene, the character is outed against their will and humiliated in public, and other characters respond with revulsion. What audiences used to laugh at is now widely understood to be transphobic. Even Carrey himself has confessed that the jokes wouldn’t fly today.
1. Basic Instinct
Sharon Stone’s performance as Catherine Tramell solidified her as one of cinema’s great femme fatales. But the movie’s portrayal of same gender women as cunning murderers caters directly to perilous stereotypes. LGBTQ groups picketed the film when it was first released, and the backlash hasn’t subsided. While the thriller is glamorous and iconic, its representation of queer identity is damaging, a reminder of how Hollywood has tended to distort representation into caricature.
Stepping back to read those headlines isn’t about erasing them. It’s about how far pop culture has progressed, and how much farther it has yet to go. What might have been considered humorous or exciting in the past now provokes us to discuss what we will and won’t stand for in our fiction. Occasionally, the past is funny; occasionally, it’s embarrassing, but either way, it gets us thinking about how much we’ve developed.