I'd say 90s, although it is both considering it ran 4 years into this decade with massive ratings.  It just is more meaningful I think to the mid 90s.

'90s

90s

90's

Unlike, say Seinfeld or to a lesser extent, Mad About You, I never really got into Friends (it was okay, I watched it here and there, but just didn't "latch" onto it) so I can't pick out exact details of what might've pointed it to each decade.

However, from what I do know, I'd say it seemed more mid 90's. The young 30-somethings - who were kinda teen-ish, certainly early 20's - hanging out together did have an "it's the 90's" feel to it. Seems to fit in more with the climate of 90210 than Reality TV.

Unlike, say Seinfeld or to a lesser extent, Mad About You, I never really got into Friends (it was okay, I watched it here and there, but just didn't "latch" onto it) so I can't pick out exact details of what might've pointed it to each decade.

However, from what I do know, I'd say it seemed more mid 90's. The young 30-somethings - who were kinda teen-ish, certainly early 20's - hanging out together did have an "it's the 90's" feel to it. Seems to fit in more with the climate of 90210 than Reality TV.


True. One thing I remember about the 90s (well not directly, mostly reinforced from what I've heard) is that people were proud it was the 90s.  More than in any other decade, I think, people thought about what year/decade it was in the 90s.
Even as early as 1990, people said "it's the 90s now", but it wasn't until 92 or so that peole said "It's not the 80s anymore".

To the point, while 90s fashion and to quite a lesser extent music are pretty similar to today, TV is completely different except for the Animated Sitcom and medical shows.  When "Survivor" came on and Boy Meets World was cancelled in 2000 I'd say we entered a new era for TV.

Actually, I'm surprised there wasn't a huge drop in TV ratings during the Net boom of the mid 90s.