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The Nineties - General Discussion


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I have thought about the episodes. Here are my predictions (in no particular order) based on what they've done with the previous decades mini-series.

1. Television (because they've always done television)

2. Music (because they've always done music)

3. Geo-Politics in the Post-Cold War world (it's kind of a catch-all for foriegn policy)

4. The Clintons (Bill Clinton was president for most of the decade)

5. Computers/The Internet (they did an episode on this during 1980s, but I feel like enough changed between 1990-2000 to merit revisiting the topic)

6. Celebrity Culture and the Media (This is where you cover O.J Simpson and the death of Princess Diana)

7. The Economy

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No air date yet, but I have started to see ads for it. Keep in mind, it's CNN. They will preempt the original programming for just about anything. They have already pulled the last two documentary series (History of Comedy and Soundtracks) without getting through the entire series. It's a shame because the original documentary series are fantastic.  

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On June 10, 2017 at 9:34 PM, Eureka said:

The 60s-80s showed up on Netflix so I'll probably just wait for that. No interruptions.

I'm not sure they would release it on Netflix before the entire series aired on CNN. It would be awesome if they just gave up on airing it on a regular schedule and put it on Netflix. 

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13 hours ago, Sarah 103 said:

I'm not sure they would release it on Netflix before the entire series aired on CNN. It would be awesome if they just gave up on airing it on a regular schedule and put it on Netflix. 

Probably not. But I can wait.

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On July 6, 2017 at 4:26 AM, andromeda331 said:

I hope its better then the Eighties was. They did a good job with the other decades hopefully they'll go back to that.

I'm curious, what didn't you like about the Eighties series? What did you think they left out, spent too much time on, or didn't get the importance of? 

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5 minutes ago, Sarah 103 said:

I'm curious, what didn't you like about the Eighties series? What did you think they left out, spent too much time on, or didn't get the importance of? 

I'm not @andromeda331, but they spent too much time giving Ronald Reagan a tongue bath; didn't give enough time to the AIDS crisis, or that politically, George H. Bush was president. When you watch the Sixties and Seventies, you can see how much research went into it, whereas the Eighties, it was so superficial, had a slap dash feel to it and laziness. At least for me.

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1 hour ago, Sarah 103 said:

I'm curious, what didn't you like about the Eighties series? What did you think they left out, spent too much time on, or didn't get the importance of? 

 

1 hour ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

I'm not @andromeda331, but they spent too much time giving Ronald Reagan a tongue bath; didn't give enough time to the AIDS crisis, or that politically, George H. Bush was president. When you watch the Sixties and Seventies, you can see how much research went into it, whereas the Eighties, it was so superficial, had a slap dash feel to it and laziness. At least for me.

This pretty much covers it.  Compared to the Sixties and Seventies they didn't research the Eighties that well. It felt really slapped together. They spent way too much time gushing about Ronald Reagan and not a lot of time on other things like the AIDs crisis. This was huge in the 80s it spread so fast, so many died, and the government was really slow to respond. The Berlin Wall coming down should have been much better too. 

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(edited)

Getting ready to feel old as I watch with my 16 year old. Just like the 80s (and 70s), history to him, reliving my life to me.

Edited by Eureka
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I thought that The Nineties got off to a more promising start tonight than The Eighties did.  One of my problems with The Eighties TV episode was that it didn't feel like they put the story of TV in quite as good of a social context as they did in The Sixties and especially The Seventies.  But with The Nineties, I felt as though they got back on track with at least trying to contextualize the themes (such as the segment on LGBT representation, the impacts of programming choices on African-American viewers, or why OJ coincided with the rise of corporate infotainment).  I assume that they will address the Murphy Brown dustup with Quayle on a future politics segment, and I might have mentioned the rise of news magazines, but it didn't otherwise feel like they missed a lot.

The one thing that I will say is that I'm not sure that I learned any new information.  I was an avid follower of the TV industry for awhile in my teens and into college (late 90s, early 2000s), and so I kind of knew everything that they talked about on this show.  Like, 5 minutes on the late night wars aren't going to give me any new information that I didn't get from reading a ton about it and watching The Late Shift.  I think the whole series is probably going to be like this for me, though.  Living the history is going to result in a different viewing experience than, for example, watching the "Watergate" episode of The Seventies and learning a ton.

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(edited)

First: what's so special about this decade that CNN had some kind of party/dress up leading to the premiere with Brooke Baldwin? Second: this gets TWO hours, while the pop culture for the previous three only got one?!

Too much time on NBC shows, and the Tonight show War; CBS and ABC barely got any mentions. Full House was unnecessary as it was a show that premiered in the 80's. And CBS? Well there was that 'end of an era' when Dallas ended! ABC had Family Matters, Step by Step. The Urkel implosion! CNN had a mini interview with Jaleel talking about playing Urkel when promoting/hyping the premiere on FB, but nothing with him, or frankly, any of the actors from the influential/popular shows? 90210 only gets one minute? I have to say, even with more time, they still didn't manage to give a well rounded show about pop culture.  Though it did better than the 80's did. Still, MTV-Real World wasn't the only show that addressed AIDS/HIV. General Hospital did FANFUCKINGTASTIC job with it-Stone getting AIDS and dying, and unknowingly giving Robin, who was 16, HIV. Kimberly McCullough, who still plays Robin whenever she visits the show, is alive, has two children now (Robin, that is),  could have been approached to talk about this story line.

Much better than the last decade, but still lacking compared to the Sixties and Seventies! I wish they'd used the question of why Clinton didn't inhale when he was on Arsenio!

And Will and Grace barely got enough time!

On a side note, I did love the promos for the History of Comedy with Sean Hayes interrupting Don Lemon! Lemon is SUCH a good sport! And I ??at the shade Hayes threw at CNN for their multiple and unending preemptions during History of Comedy.

They better Fucking give TWO hours next Sunday, and they better not spend 90% of it on the Lewinsky scandal.

ETA-at least Original Recipe Law & Order got some love! I was getting irritated that they were talking about all these shows that made an impact, but didn't mention this one. And thank you that it got more than 2 minutes!

Edited by GHScorpiosRule
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4 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

First: what's so special about this decade that CNN had some kind of party/dress up leading to the premiere with Brooke Baldwin? Second: this gets TWO hours, while the pop culture for the previous three only got one?!

The episode on the 1980s also had a two hour episode on TV. 

9 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

On a side note, I did love the promos for the History of Comedy with Sean Hayes interrupting Don Lemon! Lemon is SUCH a good sport! And I ??at the shade Hayes threw at CNN for their multiple and unending preemptions during History of Comedy.

Agreed, that promo was fantastic. 

Overall I liked the episode, but I felt it could have been better organized. Blossom should have been included in the segment on family shows or in the segment on teen shows. Freaks and Geeks should have been discussed right after My So-Called Life. They should have done one coherent segment on HBO and cable instead of alternating between cable and network for no apparent reason. I also would have been okay if they contrasted network and cable (here's how cable handled topic X, here's how network handled topic X,) instead of constantly bouncing back and forth between them. I also didn't like the random shout-outs where they just showed a few seconds of a clip for the sake of having it included. They should have spent more time on The Daily Show because that became a real cultural force for over a decade. 

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21 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Still, MTV-Real World wasn't the only show that addressed AIDS/HIV. General Hospital did FANFUCKINGTASTIC job with it-Stone getting AIDS and dying, and unknowingly giving Robin, who was 16, HIV.

GH really did do a good job with that storyline.  ER also did a great job with an HIV storyline with Jeannie getting HIV from her philandering husband that they didn't mention, either, even though they did spend a "long" time covering that show.

But I think that overall, this episode focusing on the real-world (pun unintended, but I'll leave it) impacts of someone in the LGBT community bringing new understanding of the issue to a wide audience was a fair way to go in a limited amount of time.

They did spend a lot of time of NBC, but what NBC was doing in the early-to-mid-90s was enormously significant to the pop culture landscape: Seinfeld, Friends, Cheers, Frasier, Fresh Prince and ER had more lasting entertainment impacts on what permeated the entertainment zeitgeist and what imitators made it to air than the TGIF shows (ultimately), even though I was for sure a TGIF devotee and will always have a soft spot for Full HouseFamily Matters and Step by Step and the rest.  And the late show wars were a huge reshaping of an entire programming segment that had been solely in NBC's court for 30 years.

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(edited)

LOVED the History of Comedy promo! Glad they're acknowledging how they got interrupted. Hee.

This first episode was ok. Made me nostalgic for all the shows I grew up with.

Loved how the one episode they mentioned of Fresh Prince was the one where Carlton and Will got racially profiled by cops. Carlton broke my heart in that last scene where he asked Phil if was normal for a cop topple over a driver that was just going under the speed limit.

And Phil's response: "I asked myself the same question the first time got pulled over."

Edited by Spartan Girl
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3 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

LOVED the History of Comedy promo! Glad they're acknowledging how they got interrupted. Hee.

This first episode was ok. Made me nostalgic for all the shows I grew up with.

Loved how the one episode they mentioned of Fresh Prince was the one where Carlton and Will got racially profiled by cops. Carlton broke my heart in that last scene where he asked Phil if was normal for a cop topple over a driver that was just going under the speed limit.

And Phil's response: "I asked myself the same question the first time got pulled over."

I remembered that episode like it was yesterday. Carlton broke my heart too.  This episode was okay, they didn't organize it too well. as Sarah 103 pointed out Freaks and Geeks should have been discussed after My So Called Life, they really seemed to jump around and at the end they tacked on a bunch of shows. I was surprised that Murphy Brown wasn't mentioned either I thought it would come up too given its run in Dan Quayle, I was surprised General Hospital wasn't mentioned with their AIDs story or the fact the decline of soaps began in the 90s (often blamed on the OJ Simpson trial). Or mentioning news magazines. I know they "only" had two hours but they really could have organized and filled it better. 

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I  may be biased since I got tired of the show years ago, but did they have to spend the first 20 minutes (sure seemed that long) on The Simpsons? Especially since that show started in the Eighties and already had a segment in The Eighties. It ran all through the Naughts, too, will there be another 20 minutes of Simpsons when CNN does the 2000's?

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I enjoyed watching the episode - a great trip down memory lane - but it seemed that there were a lot of themes they were trying to address and just didn't have time to flesh them all out. A two part series would have served them better.

I was glad to see them mention the increase of African American tv shows during the 90s; I had totally forgotten about Roc.  Arsenio Hall's show was fun to watch; I'll always remember the episode President Clinton played the saxophone.

Surprised that Blossom, Doogie Howser, M.D. and Boy Meets World didn't get more attention in the teen shows segment. Also, where was Melrose Place (the original), and Party of Five for the teen/young adult crowd?

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Ahhh....my youth (middle school, high school and part of undergrad)!!!  The fact that the 90s is now nostalgia makes me feel a little...old.  And the mention of SATC made me realize that I'm closer to Samantha's age (first season, anyway) than the other girls!!!

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(edited)

Well...shit. Next week is only an hour long. I'm really looking forward to it because I remember when Clinton was running, there was a...new energy and yes, hope, for my generation. My only wish is that they only spend two minutes on the Lewinsky matter. I don't want to see any clips of that Bawa interview where Lewinsky referred to Clinton as her "sexual soulmate."?

But back to last night-why didn't they talk about Clueless?  Or will there be a night for Hollywood movies? I expect them to bring up Philadelphia for sure. And Ghost! Beauty & The Beast!!!

I swear, they had a year and still it was sloppy and choppy!???

Edited by GHScorpiosRule
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5 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Well...shit. Next week is only an hour long. I'm really looking forward to

it because I remember when Clinton was running, there was a...new energy and yes, hope, for my generation. My only wish is that they only spend two minutes on the Lewinsky matter. I don't want to see any clips of that Bawa interview where Lewinsky referred to Clinton as her "sexual soulmate."?

But back to last night-why didn't they talk about Clueless?  Or will there be a night for Hollywood movies? I expect them to bring up Philadelphia for sure. And Ghost! Beauty & The Beast!!!

I swear, they had a year and still it was sloppy and choppy!???

It was only TV shows in the first episode. Hopefully there will be a movie there were a lot of good movies in the 90s.  I agree about Lewinsky, yes please don't spend forever on it. 

Edited by andromeda331
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They better Fucking give TWO hours next Sunday, and they better not spend 90% of it on the Lewinsky scandal.

I think they probably will spend a lot of time on it, as it is a major scandal for the decade.

 

I liked this episode, but I do feel like they rushed stuff at the end, mainly the teen and kids stuff (of course that's what I remember from the 90's).  I was happy that ST: Voyager got mentioned (even if it was one second)

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18 hours ago, blueray said:

I think they probably will spend a lot of time on it, as it is a major scandal for the decade.

 

I liked this episode, but I do feel like they rushed stuff at the end, mainly the teen and kids stuff (of course that's what I remember from the 90's).  I was happy that ST: Voyager got mentioned (even if it was one second)

ST: Voyager was mentioned. Was Xena mentioned?

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28 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Nope. Neither was Hercules. ?

Too much time wasted on Simpsons.

Damn. Xena and Lucy Lawless were big in the 90s. Most watched syndicated show even beating Baywatch. Hercules also beat Baywatch at times. I bet Baywatch was mentioned. 

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14 minutes ago, rcc said:

Damn. Xena and Lucy Lawless were big in the 90s. Most watched syndicated show even beating Baywatch. Hercules also beat Baywatch at times. I bet Baywatch was mentioned. 

Nope. They didn't mention or show Baywatch, either!

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28 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Nope. They didn't mention or show Baywatch, either!

I guess they didn't care about syndicated shows.

Thanks for the response.

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(edited)
On July 13, 2017 at 6:03 PM, GHScorpiosRule said:

Nope. They didn't mention or show Baywatch, either!

They mentioned Baywatch. The end of the episode was a clip from Friends where Joey and Chandler were watching Baywatch. 

On July 12, 2017 at 10:12 PM, blueray said:

I liked this episode, but I do feel like they rushed stuff at the end, mainly the teen and kids stuff (of course that's what I remember from the 90's). 

I wish they had used the TGIF wholesome shows as a contrast to the darker teen shows like My So Called Life and Freaks and Geeks. They could have even split it into what older siblings were watching vs. what younger siblings were watching. 

Edited by Sarah 103
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18 hours ago, Sarah 103 said:

They mentioned Baywatch. The end of the episode was a clip from Friends where Joey and Chandler were watching Baywatch. 

I don't count that. If they had talked about how it premiered on NBC, only to get tanked after the first season, and then picked up in syndication-which have it its success and following, then I would consider it being mentioned. How it was nothing but music videos with hot bodies, heh.?

OR how they neglected to mention JAG and again, how NBC dropped it, CBS picked it up, where it lasted for nine years and was successful. I would have loved to hear from Bellisario, David James Elliot, Alan M. Jackson, Catherine Bell, Patrick Labyorteaux about playing Navy and Marine lawyers.

But that's just me.

Edited by GHScorpiosRule
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On July 13, 2017 at 5:18 PM, GHScorpiosRule said:

Too much time wasted on Simpsons.

Which is also an excellent summation of Fox keeping it on the air when it should have been cancelled at least 10 years ago.

Edited by Spartan Girl
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51 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

I really did not need the ominous foreshadowing of the 2016 election, show.

I know, right? He was such a non-entity that my brain forgot what he said. Current 45 that is.

As much as I enjoyed tonight's episode, and thanks be to the TV GODS that I we were spared that interview with Lewinsky that I was worried might be aired. I won't lie-I got a nice laugh at Clinton's "good one" when Blitzer asked if Clinton wanted to say anything to Lewinsky or her family. And he refused to say anything.????

That said, Bush Senior was also President for the first two years of the decade and CNN should have shown us more of that and not made tonight all about Clinton.  And I say this as someone who loves Clinton and wasn't a fan of Bush.

And every time I saw Newt's face and heard his words, all I could think and yell was LIAR! LIAR!! ? on ?!!!!!! Not to mention the GALLING hypocrisy. 

But I got teary-eyed at seeing the good journalists who are no longer with us: Jennings, Russert, Ifil.??

Edited by GHScorpiosRule
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I wasn't expecting the entire episode to be about Clinton, but I guess since he was President for 8 of the years, that's almost the entire decade. I wonder where we were in the 2016 election when they put this episode together?

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I really wasn't expecting to be all Clinton either. I thought there would be something about Bush Senior's presidency too. He was president for two years of that decade and things did happen during his presidency. I'm not fan but it was weirdly left out of the 80s and now the 90s too?   

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5 hours ago, GaT said:

I wasn't expecting the entire episode to be about Clinton, but I guess since he was President for 8 of the years, that's almost the entire decade. I wonder where we were in the 2016 election when they put this episode together?

I was thinking the same thing on both counts. At one point I even said to the tv (and for DS16's benefit), "oh you ain't seen nothing yet!" Lol. I was impressed though that they got 40 minutes in before starting on the Lewinsky stuff.

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11 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

I really did not need the ominous foreshadowing of the 2016 election, show.

The clip at the end of the show mentioning Trump running in 2000 as an independent was fascinating.

The episode provided a good summary of all the Clinton scandals & how Clinton was able to maneuver around the GOP when Newt Gingrich took over as Speaker.

4 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

I really wasn't expecting to be all Clinton either. I thought there would be something about Bush Senior's presidency too. He was president for two years of that decade and things did happen during his presidency. I'm not fan but it was weirdly left out of the 80s and now the 90s too?   

They completely forgot about Bush Sr's handling of the First Gulf War & Ross Perot for the 1992 election. I suppose the theme was Clinton & not politics in the 1990s.

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1 hour ago, oakville said:

They completely forgot about Bush Sr's handling of the First Gulf War & Ross Perot for the 1992 election. I suppose the theme was Clinton & not politics in the 1990s.

Which just smacks of laziness to me. In The Sixties we got all politics, which included both Kennedy and Johnson terms; in The Seventies, same, plus Nixon, Ford and Carter.

What? Did the producers think that Clinton was the only game in town during the Nineties?? It's not giving those that are interested in this series, the whole picture. It's as if they only want to focus on the scandals and highlights instead of everything that was happening. I'm finding it difficult to believe that these are the same folks who put so much thought and research in the first two seasons, and just said "Fuck it," for last season, and also this season so far.?

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