1. Growing Up (1996-2001): Domestic drama in the ’60s! Andrew Seow in a white undershirt! Irin Gan’s beehive hair!
2. Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd (1997-2007): It’s hard to suppress a shudder thinking about PCK’s yellow boots, curly hair and giant mole. And remember when the government tried to get the show to cut down on the Singlish?
3. The Noose (2007-present): This no-holds-barred Singapore news satire might just be our favorite. Michelle Chong and Chua Enlai routinely kill it.
4. VR Man (1998): James Lye dons spandex and a mask in this hilariously awful attempt at sci-fi. A cult classic for a reason.
5. Crimewatch (1986-present): One of the longest-running TV shows in Singapore history, this proto-reality TV show/PSA featured unintentionally funny amateur reenactments of local true crime cases.
6. The Unbeatables (1993): As star-crossed lovers from rival families, Zoe Tay and Li Nanxing made casinos impossibly glamorous. It seems unlikely that we’ll ever see another gambling lifestyle-promoting TV show come out of Singapore.
7. The Pyramid Game (1997): Every geeky ’90s kid tuned in to this game show with terrible prizes (quite literally peanuts as well as McDonald’s meals).
8. Spin (2004): MediaCorp’s first teen drama was surprisingly good. There were actually relatable storylines and non-tokenistic female characters (more than we can say about a good handful of today’s TV shows).
9. Masters of the Sea (1994): This so-bad-it’s-good TV soap was best known for Margaret Chan’s catchphrase, “crush you like a cockroach”.
10. Under One Roof (1995-2003): Moses Lim led the iconic family comedy, one of Singapore’s most successful by international standards. It’s been aired in countries like Australia, Taiwan, France and Canada.
11. Singapore Idol (2004-2009): Heartthrobs Taufik Batisah and Hady Mirza got fans in a dialing frenzy, though we thought Dick Lee (our Simon Cowell) stole the show.
12. The Little Nyonya (2008-2009): Jeanette Aw plays the regressive womanly ideal—beautiful, mute, good in the kitchen—in this Peranakan dynasty epic.
13. Shooting Star (2005): Someone came up with the brilliant idea of putting the Singapore Idol contestants in a teen drama. It broke Channel 5’s 10 million viewer record.
14. Triple Nine (1995-1999): Thanks to stars James Lye, Robin Leong and Wong Li Lin, this homegrown police drama is perhaps best known for its ang moh accents galore.
15. Asia Bagus (1992): We remember this early talent TV show mostly for its awesome, if slightly unhinged, host, Najip Ali.
16. City Beat (1990s): Flamboyant trio Kym Ng, Bryan Wong and Sharon Au traveled round Singapore eating up a storm, exploring neighborhoods and acting ridiculous in between.
17. Right Frequency (1990s): Better known as “Bo Ying Ren”, this retro comedy had amazing characters like the gangly, asexual Xiao La Ba and can’t-keep-it-in-his-pants Yan Dao.
18. Don’t Worry, Be Happy (1996-2002): Looking back, this Chinese comedy was fueled mostly by extremely bad jokes. Yet we couldn’t stop watching it.
19. Moulmein High (2000): Why were our high school teachers not Cynthia Koh?
20. Comedy Night (1990s): Jack Neo cross-dressed his way to fame on this SNL-style Channel 8 comedy staple, better known as “Gao Xiao Xing Dong”. His on-screen character Liang Po Po even turned into a feature film.
Photo by stevestein1982
