I was watching an episode of Roseanne that aired in January 1989 (which means it was filmed in late 1988) where Becky talks about refusing to dissect a frog in her biology class, and Roseanne says she's proud because Becky did "the hip thing, the 90s thing." Were people already in the 90s mindset in 1988?

Roseanne, which ran from 1988 to 1997, actually makes several references to it being "the 90s now" throughout its run. Another one I can think of is a 1990 Halloween episode where DJ wanted to dress as a witch for Halloween, which worries Dan who complains to Roseanne that "witches are girls," to which Roseanne quips "This is the 90s, Dan, witches are women!"

Were people already in the 90s mindset in 1988?


90s mindset? I think they had nothing more than the number '9' 'in mind'. Things changed so fast even withing the 90s, so how should they have known what the 90s will really be like?

It just seemed strange that Roseanne (or the writers) would say "its the 90s thing" in 1988, like they were getting ahead of themselves.

It just seemed strange that Roseanne (or the writers) would say "its the 90s thing" in 1988, like they were getting ahead of themselves.


It probably was a joke. Or, they were simply thinking ahead, like for example in the 90s it was common to talk about doing things the '21st century way' even though it wasn't the 21st century yet. I've always thought the whole 'it's the 90s now' thing was an incredibly 80s thing to say ironically. People in the late 90s didn't care nearly as much if something was dated by a couple years but that attitude was still prevalent in the early 90s it seems.

There's also a joke in Heathers, which was filmed in 1988, about something being 'so 1987'. I think that whole "so last year" thing was pretty typical of the 80s, trends in fashion have changed quite a bit more slowly since then. For example, I could wear clothes from the early 2000s and people would think I was a little bit daggy, but I doubt they'd even open their mouths behind my backs. On the other hand, imagine wearing clothes from 1978 in 1989, you'd be laughed out of the room!

I think once technology really started to change fast, people started caring less about their clothes.

It just seemed strange that Roseanne (or the writers) would say "its the 90s thing" in 1988, like they were getting ahead of themselves.


Thats very strange  can you link a clip of this.  Maybe they were hoping that episode would air in 1990

It probably was a joke. Or, they were simply thinking ahead, like for example in the 90s it was common to talk about doing things the '21st century way' even though it wasn't the 21st century yet. I've always thought the whole 'it's the 90s now' thing was an incredibly 80s thing to say ironically. People in the late 90s didn't care nearly as much if something was dated by a couple years but that attitude was still prevalent in the early 90s it seems.

There's also a joke in Heathers, which was filmed in 1988, about something being 'so 1987'. I think that whole "so last year" thing was pretty typical of the 80s, trends in fashion have changed quite a bit more slowly since then. For example, I could wear clothes from the early 2000s and people would think I was a little bit daggy, but I doubt they'd even open their mouths behind my backs. On the other hand, imagine wearing clothes from 1978 in 1989, you'd be laughed out of the room!

I think once technology really started to change fast, people started caring less about their clothes.



A big example of this is how in late 1997  fashion got all shiny and  y2k ish. If you watch the puff daddy video from 97 you will notice hes wearing like shiny suits in a fish eye lens.

Thats very strange  can you link a clip of this.  Maybe they were hoping that episode would air in 1990


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4i2qtoNNp8

About 3 minutes in: "instead, you did the right thing, the hip thing, the now thing, the happening thing, the '90s thing"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4i2qtoNNp8

About 3 minutes in: "instead, you did the right thing, the hip thing, the now thing, the happening thing, the '90s thing"



r u sure this was in 88

The episode aired January 24, 1989, so I'm assuming it was filmed at least a couple months in advance in late 1988.

It probably was a joke. Or, they were simply thinking ahead, like for example in the 90s it was common to talk about doing things the '21st century way' even though it wasn't the 21st century yet. I've always thought the whole 'it's the 90s now' thing was an incredibly 80s thing to say ironically. People in the late 90s didn't care nearly as much if something was dated by a couple years but that attitude was still prevalent in the early 90s it seems.

There's also a joke in Heathers, which was filmed in 1988, about something being 'so 1987'. I think that whole "so last year" thing was pretty typical of the 80s, trends in fashion have changed quite a bit more slowly since then. For example, I could wear clothes from the early 2000s and people would think I was a little bit daggy, but I doubt they'd even open their mouths behind my backs. On the other hand, imagine wearing clothes from 1978 in 1989, you'd be laughed out of the room!

I think once technology really started to change fast, people started caring less about their clothes.


I don't know about the "casual" fashion trends in the '80s changing very rapidly, other than some females wearing more fluffy, teased hair(in the later part)the '80s nearly from beginning to end basically seems like jeans, sneakers, t shirts, and sweaters.

The '70s fashion trends were dated by the late '80s because some of it was so "far out", crazy pattern schemes on shirts and pants, PLAID PANTS, bell bottoms, platform shoes, but quite a few '70s fashion trends lasted well into the '80s, like huge collars, feather hair(it even seem more prominent in the early '80s), I've seen quite a few people wearing afros even in the late '80s from pics and films.

The episode aired January 24, 1989, so I'm assuming it was filmed at least a couple months in advance in late 1988.


Maybe they included sentences like that to make the show look a bit more recent in the 90s... for reruns etc.
I mean, the 80s were nearly over when it was produced and it must have been pretty obvious that more people will watch it later!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TP_Qr9Oiw04

or how about when on Seinfeld, Jerry mentions the millenium in an 1997/8 episode about Kramer's Millenium Party?