Top TV Shows of 1988 (According to Nielsen Ratings)
From The Cosby Show and A Different World to Cheers, The Golden Girls, Growing Pains, and Murder, She Wrote, these were the TV shows that ruled American living rooms in 1988.
Read more →SMELLS LIKE GEN X BLOG
Gen X Nostalgia Blog: 70s, 80s, and 90s Music, Movies, TV, Toys, Fads, and Pop Culture
Explore the written archive for 70s nostalgia, 80s nostalgia, and 90s nostalgia across music, movies, TV shows, toys, fads, commercials, trends, and the weird pop-culture debris that never fully left your brain.
Use this page as the main written gateway into Smells Like Gen X: start with a decade hub, follow a topic lane, search the archive, or jump straight into the latest post.
Find your exact nostalgia rabbit hole
Looking for a specific year, song list, movie countdown, TV ranking, toy post, fad archive, commercial rewind, or category lane? Search the archive directly instead of scrolling the whole feed.
Browse by Decade
The blog works best when you use the decade hubs as your map. Start with the 70s, jump into the flagship 80s hub, or head into the expanding 90s archive.
70s
The warm analog foundation
Start here for 70s songs, movies, TV, toys, and the slower, stranger, more analog version of Gen X memory.
80s
The flagship nostalgia lane
Big hooks, bigger movies, iconic toy aisles, prime-time TV, mall culture, and now the full 1980–1989 fads archive in one decade hub.
90s
The mall-and-VHS sequel
Alt-rock, sitcom empires, CDs, snack-branding overload, holiday toy panic, and the polished late-era Gen X archive.
Browse by Topic
These topic lanes route into the main category hubs, so visitors can browse the archive by what they actually care about.
Music
Top songs, charts, and radio memory
Start here for year-end countdowns, chart rewinds, radio nostalgia, and the songs that permanently colonized your brain.
Movies
Blockbusters, VHS, and multiplex chaos
Dive into year-by-year movie countdowns, box office rewinds, poster-wall nostalgia, and video-store-era comfort watches.
TV
Prime-time comfort and rerun brain damage
Network giants, sitcom empires, Nielsen-era countdowns, forgotten shows, and the TV memories that still feel weirdly personal.
Toys
Toy aisles, must-haves, and plastic memory
Holiday toy panic, weird products, year-by-year toy posts, and the kind of childhood plastic that still lives in your head rent-free.
Fads
Trend archaeology and beautiful nonsense
Schoolyard crazes, mall fads, bad hair decisions, logo flexes, and the short-lived obsessions that defined everyday Gen X life.
Commercials
The ads, mascots, slogans, and TV interruptions we never forgot
Dive into classic commercial rewinds, catchphrases, mascots, cola wars, beer ads, Super Bowl spots, and the campaigns that completely colonized Gen X memory.
New here? Start with the 80s hub for the fullest archive, or jump into Commercials or Fads if you want the weirdest entry point first.
Best Places to Start
These are the strongest written entry points into the current Smells Like Gen X archive.
Hub
The 80s Hub
The strongest decade page on the site right now, with clear paths into songs, movies, TV, toys, fads, commercials, and broader 80s nostalgia.
Category Hub
The Fads Archive
One of the most distinctive lanes on the site now that the full 1980s fad run is live. Great for fast nostalgia hits and everyday-memory weirdness.
Category Hub
The Commercials Archive
Classic ad campaigns, mascots, cola wars, beer slogans, and the TV spots that got so big they stopped feeling like ads.
Latest Blog Posts
Fresh nostalgia, deep cuts, countdowns, weird trends, and beautifully unnecessary rewinds across the Gen X archive.
Top TV Shows of 1987 (According to Nielsen Ratings)
From The Cosby Show and Family Ties to Cheers, Murder, She Wrote, The Golden Girls, and Moonlighting, these were the TV shows that ruled American living rooms in 1987.
Read more →Top TV Shows of 1986 (According to Nielsen Ratings)
From The Cosby Show and Family Ties to Murder, She Wrote, Cheers, Miami Vice, and Dallas, these were the TV shows that ruled American living rooms in 1986.
Read more →Top TV Shows of 1985 (According to Nielsen Ratings)
From Dynasty and Dallas to The Cosby Show, Family Ties, 60 Minutes, and Murder, She Wrote, these were the TV shows that ruled American living rooms in 1985.
Read more →Top TV Shows of 1984 (According to Nielsen Ratings)
From Dallas and 60 Minutes to Dynasty, The A-Team, Magnum, P.I., and Cagney & Lacey, these were the TV shows that ruled American living rooms in 1984.
Read more →Top TV Shows of 1983 (According to Nielsen Ratings)
From 60 Minutes and Dallas to Magnum, P.I., Dynasty, Simon & Simon, and The A-Team, these were the TV shows that ruled American living rooms in 1983.
Read more →Top 10 TV Shows of 1982 (According to Nielsen Ratings)
From Dallas and 60 Minutes to The Jeffersons, Three’s Company, MAS*H, and The Dukes of Hazzard, these were the TV shows that ruled American living rooms in 1982.
Read more →Top 10 TV Shows of 1981 (According to Nielsen Ratings)
From Dallas and The Dukes of Hazzard to 60 Minutes, MAS*H, and The Love Boat, these were the TV shows that ruled American living rooms in 1981.
Read more →Top 10 TV Shows of 1980 (According to Nielsen Ratings)
From 60 Minutes and Three’s Company to Dallas and The Dukes of Hazzard, these were the TV shows that ruled American living rooms in 1980 according to Nielsen.
Read more →Top 10 Songs of 1989 (Billboard Hot 100 Year-End Countdown)
Billboard’s Top 10 songs of 1989—ranked #10 to #1 with Chart Snapshot panels, peak positions, and neon Gen X nostalgia.
Read more →Top 10 Songs of 1988 (Billboard Hot 100 Year-End Countdown)
Billboard’s Top 10 songs of 1988—ranked #10 to #1 with Chart Snapshot panels, peak positions, and neon Gen X nostalgia.
Read more →Top 10 Songs of 1987 (Billboard Hot 100 Year-End Countdown)
Billboard’s Top 10 songs of 1987—ranked #10 to #1 with Chart Snapshot panels, peak positions, and neon Gen X nostalgia.
Read more →DON’T MISS THE REWIND
Go deeper with the blog, then hit the videos.
Countdowns, forgotten media, weird rabbit holes, and peak Gen X nostalgia across every category.