Nostalgia in This Is Us

[methodwriter85]

The 10th birthday episode with Madonna references actually takes place in 1990, prime New Kids era. I do think this show has treated 1988-1990 more like it's the early/mid-80's than the late 80's/beginning of the 90's, which had a totally different vibe.

I'm not saying they would have seen Dirty Dancing in the theater, but I'm pretty sure Kate would have rented it. Dirty Dancing has had a pretty long shelf-life.

I would kind of be down for a reference to Debbie Gibson or Tiffany, but they were 1987-1989 and that era has actually passed for the "kid" versions of the Big Three. Paula Abdul or Janet Jackson seemed like the big pop female pop acts circa 1990-1991. (Well, them and Vogue era Madonna.)

I can totally see a reference to Romeo and Juliet during the 1996 storyline. I'd also love for a mention of Buffy  the t.v. series since it's already established that Kate is a Buffy the movie fan, when 1997 hits in this show.

[methodwriter85]

I'm guessing the Tom Hanks reference was to Apollo 13? The time frame is March 1996 and the movie came out a long time ago (June 1995) but Rebecca clearly said that they were seeing it at a second-run dollar theater. And of course, Ron Howard directed it. It could be Toy Story, but we don't actually see him, and Forrest Gump would be waaaayyyyy past the dollar theater stage. That Thing You Do! wasn't out until October.

I miss dollar theaters. I remember going to one in Maryland circa 1996-1997. It was about 3 screens or so, and located at a strip mall. I was a kid, so I wasn't really going to be able to afford a real theater. I remember seeing Jumanji, Evita, Jingle All the Way, and Face/Off there. I think- all I remember is that I was going to watch a PG-13 movie by myself, and I was about 11 years old, and my mother asked them if it was okay if I watched it by myself before she dropped me off.

[Guest]

Since Rebecca mentioned she didn't think Tom Hanks was as great as her own husband, I figured they were referencing the rom-com/leading man Tom Hanks roles like Sleepless in Seattle and You've Got Mail.   Not that either perfectly fits the '96 dollar theater thing. 

[Mrs. DuRona]

On 9/28/2017 at 1:52 AM, methodwriter85 said:

I miss dollar theaters.

Man, me, too!  I lived in Michigan and in Pittsburgh late 90s/early 2000s.  There was one in a Pittsburgh suburb I would go to all the time.  They were, at that point, $2, but still a lot cheaper than first run theatres.  If I recall, the concessions were cheaper, too.

[PRgal]

21 hours ago, Mrs. DuRona said:

Man, me, too!  I lived in Michigan and in Pittsburgh late 90s/early 2000s.  There was one in a Pittsburgh suburb I would go to all the time.  They were, at that point, $2, but still a lot cheaper than first run theatres.  If I recall, the concessions were cheaper, too.

 

We had "cheapie Tuesdays" back then - $2/movie, if I recall correctly - and in regular theatres (Toronto people, am I remembering correctly?).

[methodwriter85]

The Mariah Carey vs. Brandy reference was nice, but I honestly don't remember Brandy ever really being treated like a sex symbol. She was a teen idol for sure with girls, but I don't really remember guys talking about her as if she were hot the way I did with Mariah Carey. It's kind of weird- Brandy was certainty pretty and all, but she got pushed pretty hard as the girl next door who just happens to be black, and she was never really the "hot" one.

[PRgal]

8 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

The Mariah Carey vs. Brandy reference was nice, but I honestly don't remember Brandy ever really being treated like a sex symbol. She was a teen idol for sure with girls, but I don't really remember guys talking about her as if she were hot the way I did with Mariah Carey. It's kind of weird- Brandy was certainty pretty and all, but she got pushed pretty hard as the girl next door who just happens to be black, and she was never really the "hot" one.

That was definitely how *I* remembered her.  I mean, she WAS Cinderella!!! 

Nice My So-Called Life shout-out too - and very Xennial of them to do so (I think it's the ONE THING my cohort/the Big Three cohort has as a TRUE "generational" reference - most of us were too young to be part of the grunge scene and too old/in denial for the late 90s teenybop scene (I, for one, was kind of closeted about liking the Spice Girls and BSB...I KNOW the songs but didn't obsess over them...))

[Scarlett45]

12 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

The Mariah Carey vs. Brandy reference was nice, but I honestly don't remember Brandy ever really being treated like a sex symbol. She was a teen idol for sure with girls, but I don't really remember guys talking about her as if she were hot the way I did with Mariah Carey. It's kind of weird- Brandy was certainty pretty and all, but she got pushed pretty hard as the girl next door who just happens to be black, and she was never really the "hot" one.

Several of my male cousins def thought Brandy was hot. Not as sexy as Mariah but they claimed she make a good girlfriend. Lol. Everybody say "Moesha!"?

[PRgal]

13 minutes ago, Scarlett45 said:

Several of my male cousins def thought Brandy was hot. Not as sexy as Mariah but they claimed she make a good girlfriend. Lol. Everybody say "Moesha!"?

Hot, not just "cute?" 

[NutMeg]

Who is that Brandy you all seem to know?

[methodwriter85]

32 minutes ago, NutMeg said:

Who is that Brandy you all seem to know?

She was kind of Miss Black Teen America back in the mid/late 1990's. Her career kind of died off when the 90's did and Beyonce kind of became the all-encompassing young black R&B diva.

Her face and look were reportedly what inspired Jodi on Daria:

Edited October 11, 2017 by methodwriter85

[NutMeg]

6 minutes ago, methodwriter85 said:

Thanks, sorry this still doesn't ring a bell. Was she a one hit wonder that I somehow missed?

[methodwriter85]

18 minutes ago, NutMeg said:

Thanks, sorry this still doesn't ring a bell. Was she a one hit wonder that I somehow missed?

She had a string of hits through the mid/late 90's, her own t.v. show, played Cinderella in an ABC t.v. movie, and was the black best friend in the sequel to I Know What You Did Last Summer. This was her bigger hit, with Monica, but it didn't hit until 1998:

[Dejana]

19 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

The Mariah Carey vs. Brandy reference was nice, but I honestly don't remember Brandy ever really being treated like a sex symbol. She was a teen idol for sure with girls, but I don't really remember guys talking about her as if she were hot the way I did with Mariah Carey. It's kind of weird- Brandy was certainty pretty and all, but she got pushed pretty hard as the girl next door who just happens to be black, and she was never really the "hot" one.

I was surprised by the juxtaposition of those two, they were both 90s singers but not in the same age bracket or same realm, really. Mariah vs. Toni Braxton wouldn't have seemed as jarring. Then again, IDK if a teenage boy really puts a great deal of logic into hotness comparisons. 

Edited October 12, 2017 by Dejana

[ShadowFacts]

I didn't catch Randall's answer to the question - did he say "neither"? 

[Guest]

16 hours ago, NutMeg said:

Thanks, sorry this still doesn't ring a bell. Was she a one hit wonder that I somehow missed?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandy_Norwood

[Scarlett45]

On 10/11/2017 at 8:18 PM, ShadowFacts said:

I didn't catch Randall's answer to the question - did he say "neither"? 

He said they were both hot. 

[methodwriter85]

Kind of weird to think that malls are going away, at least around the Pittsburgh area. They did a good job of filming in a mall that had a late 90's vibe. I'm going to pretend they were at a 579. That dress definitely looked like a mid/late 90's formal dress. (I have two sisters that are just about the Big Three's age- they would have been a junior and sophomore to their senior.)

[methodwriter85]

Alanis Morisette! Finally!

Now I wonder if we can get in a Fiona Apple or Sarah McLachlan reference. I'm kind of surprised they didn't bring in "I Will Remember You" or "Arms of the Angel", although I think they were more 1999 even though both songs existed in 1998.

[Pallas]

9 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

I'm kind of surprised they didn't bring in "I Will Remember You" or "Arms of the Angel", although I think they were more 1999 even though both songs existed in 1998.

I want to believe that the producers wanted to give Jack his own (as Billie Holiday would say), and use songs that may be familiar but aren't so much the go-to for scoring pain. Or employed with a little twist as "God Bless the Child" was for Clooney -- and by connection, for Randall.

That said, I love both McLaughlin songs, and especially, how they are used to fund-raise. My 86-year-old father is a hard-bitten soft touch for animals, and a night owl. When another 3:30 AM debit card donation to the ASPCA is pointed out to him, he cheerfully shrugs and rejoins, "Sarah McLaughlin." End of discussion.

[ShadowFacts]

6 minutes ago, Pallas said:

I want to believe that the producers wanted to give Jack his own (as Billie Holiday would say), and use songs that may be familiar but aren't so much the go-to for scoring pain. Or employed with a little twist as "God Bless the Child" was for Clooney -- and by connection, for Randall.

That said, I love both McLaughlin songs, and especially, how they are used to fund-raise. My 86-year-old father is a hard-bitten soft touch for animals, and a night owl. When another 3:30 AM debit card donation to the ASPCA is pointed out to him, he cheerfully shrugs and rejoins, "Sarah McLaughlin." End of discussion.

I love your father. 

[Pallas]

3 hours ago, ShadowFacts said:

I love your father.

I'll let him know. Me too. And for the visual...he lives in L.A. and is often mistaken for Gerald McRaney: moustache, accent, demeanor, male-pattern-baldness and all. McRaney made up to be in his late 80's took my breath away a little, last night. The ghost at a funeral, indeed.

[nkotb]

41 minutes ago, Pallas said:

I'll let him know. Me too. And for the visual...he lives in L.A. and is often mistaken for Gerald McRaney: moustache, accent, demeanor, male-pattern-baldness and all. 

K, now I love your father, too! He got me with the animals, but he stole me with being all Dr. Major Dad's clone. I know this isn't the episode thread, but I kinda spot-cried last night through the first part of the show, but when I saw Dr. Major Dad, I was all-out sobbing. That guy just gives me the feels!

[Pallas]

2 hours ago, nkotb said:

K, now I love your father, too! He got me with the animals, but he stole me with being all Dr. Major Dad's clone.

 

All right, if you insist, one more (since this is the nostalgia thread...)  

Ten years ago my vibrant youngest sibling was breathlessly telling our father about how she got a ticket for thirty dollars, when she double-parked her car for just two minutes, while she ran up to her apartment to get her dog, and bring the dog with her over to (our father's) house. Dad stares off into middle distance, nodding along with each point of emphasis, as my sister all but sings, "And I told him all that!" to conclude her plea -- completely implicit; patently obvious -- that our dad pick up this ticket for her. His off-hand reply, equable and unmovable: "Well. Sounds like you lost that argument."

My sister, bless her, hooted with laughter; our father then chuckled. And I don't know how many times I've quoted that line: usually to myself, about myself, with good reason. 

[PRgal]

I posted this on the 2/6/18 episode thread but I was wondering if the family dog, Louie, was a call out to the Baby-Sitters' Club.  One of Kristy's dogs was Louie!  

[methodwriter85]

If the teen Big 3 keep playing them into the early 2000's/early 20's, I really want to see Logan Schroyer get Adult Kevin's spiky/bedhead look at some point. Justin Harley has basically kept to some variation of that look since the early 2000's. As a guy who developed his same-sex interests in the late 90's/early 2000's, I'm always going to find that spiky haired surfer Abercrombie look pretty hot.

It is kind of funny to think about that though- that look was pretty much a 180 from the floppy-haired mid-90's look that was so popular, from Ryder Strong and JTT, Nick Carter and Leo, etc etc. Teen Kevin's hair is basically done in that style. Then around 1999-2000 it's like everyone decided to cut their hair short and start using hair gel to spike their hair up or create purposeful bedhead.

1998 though feels a little early for that look, though. I do remember Ricky Martin being a big influencer of that look in 1999, especially with the frosted tips.

On the other side, 1999-2000 was when the hip-hop boys were cutting their hair short and bleaching their hair to try and look like Eminem.

Given that this show seems determined to keep people in consistently close hairstyles that can kind of pass for any year, I don't know if they'll have Logan cut his very 1996 hair and move to something more late 90's/Y2K era, but it'd be fun if they did. Especially since Justin Hartley was/is very, very guilty of these looks:

 

I think the only role I've seen Justin in where his hair is very neatly combed and dark brown was his character on an episode of Cold Case, where he plays a preppy 1980's serial rapist. He does seem to be laying off the bleach now though.

I seriously wonder how much spiking/bedhead gel this guy has used in the past 20 years. LOL. I mean, I will give it to him though- it's a pretty flattering look on him and I don't blame him for sticking to it. It kind of reminds me of how Rebecca basically kept her hair in some variation of Farrah Fawcett hair from about 1980 to 1998.

[topanga]

11 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

I seriously wonder how much spiking/bedhead gel this guy has used in the past 20 years. LOL. I mean, I will give it to him though- it's a pretty flattering look on him and I don't blame him for sticking to it

He’s always been cute, but I find Justin more handsome now than he was back then. Less gel, perhaps? In any event, he looked a bit like an asshole frat boy surfer when he was younger. He was still adorable, though. 

[methodwriter85]

12 hours ago, topanga said:

He’s always been cute, but I find Justin more handsome now than he was back then. Less gel, perhaps? In any event, he looked a bit like an asshole frat boy surfer when he was younger. He was still adorable, though. 

He dialed down on the spiking gel and bleach for sure. I do think his hair is probably naturally full of cowlicks and his hair kind of naturally does that anyway. His hair texture is probably similar to Jake McDorman's. (I still remember this poster about how meticulously messy Jake's hair was on the Limitless boards- like wondering if there's debate by the stylists about which cowlick goes where. LOL.)

I do think the short, spiky look would be super-flattering on Logan Schroyer and it would be super-spot on for 1999-2002 but I'm not sure how much longer they want to cling to mid-90's flashbacks on the show. (We might see a lot of travel between 1995 and 1998 on the show, although it's going to start to really be pushing it for them to keep playing 15.) I'm kind of assuming that Teen Big 3 will play them into their early 20's at least. I sure as hell can't see Sterling K. Brown being dressed up like he's 19 in 1999.

I'd laugh if they give Hannah's Kate the Mandy Moore's circa 2003 flippy bob:

I do remember a lot of women going for bobs at one point in the 2000's, before it seemed like everybody was going straight back to extensions for super-long hippy hair.

Edited February 15, 2018 by methodwriter85

[methodwriter85]

Saved by the Bell was a perfect Gen Y reference. I had a friend who was born in 1979 that told me he had his first "stirrings" by watching the Go For It aerobic sequence. LOL.

[Violetgoblin6]

38 minutes ago, methodwriter85 said:

Saved by the Bell was a perfect Gen Y reference. I had a friend who was born in 1979 that told me he had his first "stirrings" by watching the Go For It aerobic sequence. LOL.

Yup! Although the actors in it are my age! Gen X. Tiffani and I are 2 months apart (I got told I looked like Kelly Kapowski in high school, I wish!) And so is Mario. And he never ages! I think Tori Spelling (she was in it) is a 1973 girl. 

[Nijntje]

Those Corelle coffee mugs that Rebecca and Randall were using at the beginning of the episode are from the same pattern of dishes that my family had when I was growing up. We used them from the mid-90s to maybe 2010. 

[methodwriter85]

I do like that post-Jack, Rebecca's hair is kind of flatter but still with the layers. That feels more late 90's to me than the do they had her wearing in the Super Bowl 98 episode.

Edited October 6, 2018 by methodwriter85

[methodwriter85]

Aww. Another Saved by the Bell reference. I was too young when I was watching the show to crush on Zach, but MPG is still quite the attractive fellow.

I didn't find Rebecca's outfit to be that off for 1966-ish. I googled 1966 high school and came up with this:

This looks pretty similar to Rebecca's look for '66. And Rebecca's backstory is that she comes from a conservative WASP family. I doubt her mom would have let her dress like Twiggy.

One thing I thought was interesting about studying yearbooks from the mid/late 1960's (I'm a volunteer at a museum) is that kids stayed pretty conservative even up through 1968. You don't really start seeing the hippie style creeping in until about 1970, and becoming ubiquitous around 1972-1973. And nobody did the mod thing at all. I don't think the schools would have allowed it. The most hip thing I saw in a 1968 yearbook was a guy wearing a nehru jacket.

Edited October 15, 2018 by methodwriter85