One interesting thing is that Where in the World Is Carmen San Diego was part of the 90's push for educational content, but unfortunately it disappeared because the information given by the show would quickly get outdated. There are some episodes where they actually had to put up a disclaimer,

I mean, California did/does have a high Asian population so that feels like a nod to that.

I remember watching Cruel Summer and it was really noticeable, especially the mall scenes (which was supposed to be a busy mall in 1990's Texas) and the 4th of July celebration scenes. You could really see the lack of people.

The Facts of Life is a pretty good example. The show evolved from the late 70's and really changed by 1985-86 season when filming and color palettes were just completely different from what they were in 1979-80.

I've found that any show that goes beyond a 5th/6th season tends to change in tone wildly, especially because that's usually when the core cast members start to leave.

Kirstie Alley, as nutty as she is, is actually a solid comedienne. Shelley Long can be funny (see: The Brady Bunch movie) but I think Kirstie was in general a better comedian.