If you ever wanted to experience the gritty charm that ’90s NYC had to offer but didn’t get the chance, MTV’s Downtown is one way you still can. The animated series paved the way for adult animation, despite its low viewership at the time.
From the same network that produced Daria, Clone High, and Beavis & Butthead, Downtown followed a diverse and multicultural friend group who navigate the world of urban living. They’re all working dead-end jobs trying to make it in the city that never sleeps. What made the series so special was creator Chris Prynoski’s hyper-focus on realism.
The crew interviewed real working-class individuals living in New York City to better understand their day-to-day lives. Many of the characters are said to be inspired by these first-hand accounts.
MTV gave us The Best 90s time capsule
Downtown perfectly captures the turn of the millennium, before the clean-girl and cottagecore aesthetics took over among today’s youth. Instead, its dark, grungy purple hues are set to an incredible soundtrack that features Alice In Chains, Nirvana, Incubus, Oasis, Rage Against The Machine, Placebo, Blur, Sonic Youth, and Foxy Brown.
Pryonski took inspiration from early-1970s Ralph Bakshi films, feeling they served as a time capsule for the era. He wanted the same for the ’90s, such a culturally diverse period. According to Pryonski, he wanted people 20 years later to watch it and feel like they’re stepping right into ’90s NYC, a time before cell phones and the internet ruled our lives, and we still valued human connection.
In 2000, Downtown picked up a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program. Despite the award nod, MTV canceled the show after just 13 episodes. Discarded as lost media for two decades before finding a new sense of relevancy, It’s now a cult classic, particularly with Gen Z who crave that nostalgic feeling.
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