The 1990s

[VirginiaHamilton]

Consider this a spinoff of the 80s thread (or my way of not derailing it).

From the 80s thread:

I don't believe that the caving in began until the turn of the new millennium, as I do remember that there was plenty of opportunity in the late 90s to grow and prosper in career and standard of living. I say this because I'd started college in 1999 with the expectation that I'd soon be able to partake in the opportunities that many of my 20-something brethren had access to throughout the decade.

IMO, things went sour with the changing of the guard in the 2000s and the roadblocks that they placed forth - roadblocks that greatly affected the progress of certain (read: non-white) people.

Another reason why I remember the 90s fondly is because the sexual responsibility wasn't an unpopular stance to take. Safe sex was depicted as the cool route to take in popular culture, while fighting for reproductive rights wasn't treated as an afterthought or non-issue. These days, it's cool to "hook up" while nary a word is being said to educate people about sex. (And no, I don't consider "Teen Mom" to be a form of sex education, as I believe that it glorifies teen pregnancy - the likes of which we'd have never seen on 90s TV.)

[DRW50]

To me the caves Clinton was involved in to get a second term, and for his business ties, led to a lot of problems down the road. I'm sure people would argue about whether the "welfare reform" helped or hurt long term, but the deregulation he pushed has led to such a monopoly and corruption in cable and phone companies, helped lead to the Enron wipeouts, etc. The late 90s also saw the dot.com bubble which burst in 2001.

I agree that the media took safe sex far more seriously. Donna Shalala even participated in "soap summits" to help push condom use and responsible stories about AIDS and HIV and teen pregnancy in daytime.

I feel like there was a real chance at optimism and a way forward building in the first half of the decade, which was heavily damaged by the rise of Gingrich and Limbaugh, the "PC" moniker (which I hated then and still hate today, as "PC" now means any mild objection to any ugly bigotry or violence), and Clinton being unable to successfully sell controversial issues with the public.

[MissLlanviewPA]

When I think about growing up in the 90s (I was born in 1989), it's inevitable that a lot of my memories go back to one particular thing:

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Thank God for The '90s Are All That!

[allmc2008]

Thats one thing I like about the 90s!!

[MissLlanviewPA]

The Disney Channel was pretty decent back then, too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_70P4c1UVIY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkBkR5jb6u0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrM3BWxA_x8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7AGAw1PMoM

[MissLlanviewPA]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4YGU2i3hjo&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nu0Kn_bFzQY

[VirginiaHamilton]

I think that Clinton's inability to push forth said issues had a lot to do with his personal life taking center stage (or rather, the hypocrites, IMO, who thought it their duty to judge his leadership skills based on who sucked his dick). Do I believe that he wouldn't have run into a brick wall if that wasn't a factor? No, but I do think that the brick wall would've been easier to overcome.

Did Donna Shalala work with Bill Bell and Claire Labine when they were penning their HIV stories? If so, that explains a hell of a lot, as I wasn't aware of the backstage happenings at the time that I'd watched these on TV.

As for the 90s planting the seeds of the economical discord of the following decade? I'm of the opinion that while there were some aspects that weren't thought through (especially in regards to mortgage rate regulations), the bottom hadn't fallen out until the following regime followed through on their promise to take America back to the glory days of Reaganomics. Whether they fully succeeded at that is another debate for another time, but I fully believe that that's when, why, and where the sugar truly turned to sh!t.

MissLlanview, The Baby-Sitters Club had a show? (I was cable less while growing up.)

[MissLlanviewPA]

They sure did. It was actually on HBO from 1990-1992 originally, but I'll always remember it from watching the Disney Channel in the mid-late 90s, Saturdays and Sundays at 1:00 (with Flash Forward on at 1:30). Not that I was obsessed or anything .

The movie is good, too (I mean, Alex Mack as Dawn? That crazy bitch from the "This is your brain on Heroin" PSA as Mary Anne? Sissy Spacek's daughter as Kristy? Hell yes!), but whenever I read the books now (shut up, I still love them), it's always the TV version that I imagine when I think of what the girls would look like .

Jessica Prunell (Stacey on the TV show) wound up on One Saturday Morning later on. She's a lawyer now.

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[MissLlanviewPA]

They were showing these until at least 1993.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vI0UcUxzrQ

[MissLlanviewPA]

You're welcome, guys.

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[AdelaideCate007]

Its so funny that most people who grew up in America's memories involve Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel- we didn't even get those channels in Australia till I was almost too old to enjoy them. We had like Bananas in Pyjamas, Here's Humphrey, Argo's Cartoon Connection, Ocean Girl, and Hey Hey It's Saturday.

Most of my musical memories of that era involve Westlife and the Spice Girls.

The biggest event though was every year getting to go to the Royal Easter Show. Ride, fairy floss, and- the best part- show bags.

[DRW50]

I watched Bananas in Pajamas a few times. They tried to make it happen over here.

For some reason one of my defining memories of pop culture in the 90s is when Newt Gingrich went on Murphy Brown and Murphy said "Oh, Newtie," and played coy and cute. The show had already been mediocre to poor for a few years, but a show that had once had a fairly sharp wit and fearlessness essentially kissing up to the dream crusher was something that soured me for a long time.

[MissLlanviewPA]

I LOVED Bananas in Pajamas! I still have my old stuffed banana doll that sang the theme song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJkPWMaNaIM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVxThkqKUz0

[Ryan Chamberlain]

I barely ever watched Bananas In Pajamas. It came on at 6am here. I was lucky if I went to bed by 3am on Friday nights when I was a kid. I used it to stay up and watch Conan and old music videos. Ha!

I loved ABC's other Saturday morning shows though before they fudged it all up with the Disney stuff.

Cartoons like Bump In The Night and when they showed Land of the Lost. Oh, and when they still played Schoolhouse Rock!

I'm just a bill...yes, I'm only a bill...and I'm setting here on Capitol Hill!!!

I was more of a kid in the early-mid 90s. Come the late 90s I was developing my adult personality. I turned 13 in 2000.

Carl mentioned Murphy Brown. I adored that show. Mostly because my first TV crush was Miles Silverburg *ducks out of SON and hides* Actually, my first AIM screenname was a play on that name. I went by MilesSilverfish. LOL.

[MissLlanviewPA]

How could I forget to mention the Spice Girls? Of course as a blonde chick I'll always be Baby, LOL. One of my favorites is actually this one here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvBrxz7NAQY&feature=relmfu