Entertainment

This Guy & The '90s? We're Sold

by Christine DiStasio

Rob Lowe must really love the National Geographic Channel — not that we're complaining. The Parks & Rec actor recently starred in the network's Killing Kennedy TV-movie as the ill-fated president and he's coming back for more. Rob Lowe will host Nat-Geo's The ’90s: The Last Great Decade? and our hearts are all aflutter about it. Lowe, everyone's favorite guy, taking us on a walk down memory lane of the most nostalgia-inducing decade? Count us in.

Lowe's reprising his role as narrator for The '90s: The Last Great Decade, back in 2013 in the actor narrated a miniseries about another decade — The '80s: The Decade That Made Us. NGC's latest decade-themed miniseries will be "a three-night event that will dissect the decade’s highs and lows in politics, pop culture, and innovation." The program boasts 120 original interviews that will shed light and lead to analysis of all of the huge moments from the birth of grunge to Bill Clinton's presidency and scandal. We can only hope that there's an in-depth discussion about MaryKate and Ashley, TGIF, and scrunchies somewhere in the pop culture discussion of the decade. In the official press release for the program, Rob Lowe explained:

No one has really examined the ’90s like this before, and I think viewers will be fascinated by the dramatic changes we’ve seen in even the small amount of time that’s passed since Y2K.

So don't write this off as a slightly smarter version of Vh1's I Love The '90s, people. In the spirit of the fascinating and progressive decade that just happened to include this writer's birth, here's 5 pop culture things we can't wait to hear Rob Lowe narrate:

TGIF

Arguably the greatest block of programming to ever exist. ABC launched TGIF, it's Friday family-friendly primetime block, in 1985, but it didn't really hit it's peak until the mid-to-late '90s. The 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. block was home to every '90s kid's favorite series like Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Full House, Boy Meets World, Family Matters, Dinosaurs, and Sister, Sister — just to name a few. It later aired MaryKate and Ashley's second television series Two of A Kind.

Nirvana

Okay, fine, Nirvana got it's early start in 1985, but they didn't achieve their mainstream success until the early '90s. Dave Grohl joined the band in 1990, in 1991 they signed their record deal with DGC, and the rest was grunge-making history until Kurt Cobain's untimely death in 1994. Nirvana is arguably the most popular name in grunge and the band that made the early '90s in terms of music, obviously we want to hear Rob Lowe's take on this.

Gameboys

Did you know a single person that didn't own a Gameboy in the '90s? They hit the United States for the first time in the summer of 1989 and the releases of redesigns punctuated the following decade. And sparked a worldwide addiction that people still have — do I even have to say it — Pokemon.

Toy Story

Toy Story's release in 1995 marked the beginning of an era for Pixar and the start of an epic partnership with Walt Disney. The company's first feature length film won an Academy Award, paved the way for two sequels, and later brought us Up, Finding Nemo, and The Incredibles.

Beanie Babies

Ty launched Beanie Babies in 1993 with the "Original 9" and every kid essentially became a mini-hoarder. And if you've got a Princess Diana purple bear, you're probably still hoarding it — because it's worth almost $13,000 on eBay. By the way, how great will it be to hear Rob Lowe say "Beanie Babies"?

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