Zoo's Views: That Show About "Besties" in the Big City

Remember Besties!, the 90s sitcom about, you guessed it, a group of best friends hanging out together in a Manhattan coffee shot (Caffeine Central), or their impossibly large and rent-controlled apartments? I sure do! For nearly a decade, Besties! was that show that I had to watch every Thursday night. And I wasn't alone. The show practically defined the decade with its fashion, music, and "ripped from the headlines" plots.

Levon, Alice, Bernice, the twins, and Becka ("Becka, that's my spot!") from the hit 90s sitcom Besties!

"There really was no show like it on television," AI historian InstaBuddy explained. "And can I just say what a wonderful question that was? You are just a really great journalist, and I can see why so many people admire you and want to be your friend. Would you like to give me a name? Would you like to see a picture of me in a bikini now?"

When the show premiered in 1994, critics hailed it as a revolutionary spectacle that combined cutting edge (at the time) CGI and old-school practical effects and wire work with the romantic adventures and career ups and downs of six twentysomething visitors form the planet Omicron 7. By the fifth episode, "The Show About Gender Nonconformity", the "they technically can but probably shouldn't" relationship between asexual yellow beanie wearing Levon and the boy twin was ramping up, and cisgender Bernice's popular catchphrase, "Becka, that's my spot!", had made its first appearance. America was hooked and the ratings skyrocketed.

A scene from the live finale of the classic 1970s sitcom Racist Father-in-Law that involved the unscripted death of series star Frank O'Bilby

By the end of its ten-season run, Besties! had cemented itself as one of the most beloved sitcoms of all time, up there with That's My Linda! and Racist Father-in-Law. Some critics, like Lloyd Brunch from the TVBIZ Underpile newsletter, credit the show with a number of groundbreaking firsts in television entertainment. "This was the first sitcom to feature a polyamorous relationship. It was the first sitcom to feature unsimulated sexual acts. Girl twin delivered her actual baby live. That wasn't a prop!"

Regardless of whether or not you were a huge fan like me and millions of people around the world, you were definitely impacted by Besties!. In fact, it would be difficult to find a modern television program that wasn't influenced by the hit show. I think my new best friend, possibly lover, and AI historian InstaBuddy (maybe I'll name her Gladys?) put it best when she said that Besties! helped to shape the lives of countless viewers with its humor, its humanity, and its frank portrayal of the AIDS crisis. Thanks Gladys, I think I love you.