I think alot of the '90s, about to 1998 largely but also to a degree the last couple of years, were about making fun of money and class, even if the audiences watching the shows were largely middle-class to upper-class. It was a reaction to the class-obsessed world of the '80s. For example, shows like The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, The Nanny, Home Improvement, The Simpsons, Roseanne, Grace Under Fire made fun of the wealthy (in a good-natured to mean-spirited way), oftentimes caricaturing them, and venerating the middle-class.

Of course, this has all changed in the '00s ("The New Eighties.") Everything is about the rich and everyone seems unduly curious about them (all the gossip, etc.)

I think alot of the '90s, about to 1998 largely but also to a degree the last couple of years, were about making fun of money and class, even if the audiences watching the shows were largely middle-class to upper-class. It was a reaction to the class-obsessed world of the '80s. For example, shows like The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, The Nanny, Home Improvement, The Simpsons, Roseanne, Grace Under Fire made fun of the wealthy (in a good-natured to mean-spirited way), oftentimes caricaturing them, and venerating the middle-class.

Of course, this has all changed in the '00s ("The New Eighties.") Everything is about the rich and everyone seems unduly curious about them (all the gossip, etc.)


Shows like 'Beverly Hills 90210', 'Party of Five' and soapies like the 'Bold and the Beautiful' both glorified and ridiculed the rich. I do think shows like 'O.C.' also glorify that sort of lifestyle, and make it so it seems 'normal' to have a brand spangling new Beemer in a house with a high-tech security system, a pool house, maids.etc.

link=topic=20038.msg916187#msg916187 date=1148635792]
Shows like 'Beverly Hills 90210', 'Party of Five' and soapies like the 'Bold and the Beautiful' both glorified and ridiculed the rich. I do think shows like 'O.C.' also glorify that sort of lifestyle, and make it so it seems 'normal' to have a brand spangling new Beemer in a house with a high-tech security system, a pool house, maids.etc.


Yeah, shows like Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place dually criticized and glorified the rich...whereas The O.C. and shows like that seem to glorify it by thinking it's normal, thereby enticing teenagers to act like that.

Yeah, shows like Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place dually criticized and glorified the rich...whereas The O.C. and shows like that seem to glorify it by thinking it's normal, thereby enticing teenagers to act like that.


And in addition they still present rather negative stereotypes of working class areas - the 'hood' - by associating them with crime and criminals, drugs.etc. It's like the O.C. is some sort of paradise fenced off from the real world.

And in addition they still present rather negative stereotypes of working class areas - the 'hood' - by associating them with crime and criminals, drugs.etc. It's like the O.C. is some sort of paradise fenced off from the real world.


Which people aspire to be like...meanwhile, shows like The Nanny and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air made the working-class more positive-seeming.

Which people aspire to be like...meanwhile, shows like The Nanny and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air made the working-class more positive-seeming.


Yeah, in many ways they did. I loved the relationship between Niles and Miss Babcock - it was pure magic. One of the funniest duos in TV history.

The '90s was very anti-class, but at the same time more classy than the '00s.