rdfs:comment
| - The twenty-to-thirty-year lag between reality and TV-land. Shows that first ran in The Nineties often reminisced The Seventies, shows in The Eighties carry a lot of cultural baggage from The Sixties, shows that first ran in The Seventies hearken back to The Fifties, and shows in The Fifties and The Sixties had its nostalgic setups between The Gay Nineties and The Roaring Twenties. At the start of the 21st century, this can be seen in how some works seem to suggest that they took place in The Eighties when they are supposed to be set in the present-day or a little earlier. In such settings, the "cool kids" still rap and skateboard and the lingo is still Totally Radical (even in cases where it was not relevant to begin with). In many cases, it's clear that someone Did Not Do the Research.
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abstract
| - The twenty-to-thirty-year lag between reality and TV-land. Shows that first ran in The Nineties often reminisced The Seventies, shows in The Eighties carry a lot of cultural baggage from The Sixties, shows that first ran in The Seventies hearken back to The Fifties, and shows in The Fifties and The Sixties had its nostalgic setups between The Gay Nineties and The Roaring Twenties. At the start of the 21st century, this can be seen in how some works seem to suggest that they took place in The Eighties when they are supposed to be set in the present-day or a little earlier. In such settings, the "cool kids" still rap and skateboard and the lingo is still Totally Radical (even in cases where it was not relevant to begin with). In many cases, it's clear that someone Did Not Do the Research. It happens because TV writers tend to be busiest in their late 30s and early 40s, and (like everyone else) their tastes and preferences were formed in their teens and early 20s; by the time they reach the big time, what they think is fresh and modern is actually 20 years out of date. This is closely related to the fact that such franchises as Transformers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and He Man are getting revamped ~20 years after the peaks of their popularity; in fact, G.I. Joe the Rise of Cobra (2009) was a revival of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero from the 1980s, which was, in turn, a revamp of the original Joes from the 1960s. While television shows of the 90's, 2000's and 2010's are generally better at portraying their respective time periods than shows from the 50's-80's (no doubt, due to how much more easily information started getting around during the late-80's/early-90's), they still aren't without their fair share of dated slang and cultural tropes. Modern-day kid shows, in particular, still seem to fall victim to this. Even though information about modern-day kid culture is quite easy to obtain now, with all the books and websites devoted to it (not to mention networks like Nickelodeon). See also Pac-Man Fever and Popularity Polynomial. Contrast Present Day Past, Anachronism Stew, and Purely Aesthetic Era. Disco Dan is a character who personifies this trope. Examples of Two Decades Behind include:
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