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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teens and early 20s; by the time they reach the big time, what they think is fresh and modern is actually 20 years out of date.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 and the Masters of
While television shows of the
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.
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{{examples}}
== [[Advertising]] ==
* Chuck E. Cheese kept running the ''same'' commercials from the early 1990s until ''very'' late in the 2000s. The new{{when}} ones are still just as [[Totally Radical]]. And Chuck is still in his not-fooling-anyone skater drag. Seriously, it's like watching Abe Vigoda play a surfer or something.
* The ''incredibly''
* The original [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=la6d5FafgTk Baby Bottle Pop] commercial, from ''1998'' mind you, looks like it's straight out of 1988.
* TV spots for the Brooklyn, NY area burger joint [http://www.rollnroaster.com Roll N Roaster] have run in a mostly unedited form for ''about forty years''. You can [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WReEx9a-fzg see it here.] Unfortunately, the waitstaff no longer wear berets.
* A 1995 commercial for Eggo Cinnamon Toast Waffles exemplifies this trope to a tee. In it, a kid suggests combining his school with a music video. What follows is a school with its kids dressed a decade out of date, wearing spandex and ridiculous amounts of hairspray. If the advertisers
== [[Comic Books]] ==
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* In ''[[Twilight (novel)|Twilight]]'', it appears that Bella lives in the early nineties where they don't have pop-up blockers yet. [[Justified Trope|Justified]], since she is also supposed to live in the town where time stood still. Even so, she could probably have brought some technology from Phoenix.
== [[Live
* Spoofed with the Robin Sparkles videos in ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'', which were supposedly from the mid-1990s [[Retraux|but look as if they were made in 1986]]. Robin explains that "[[The Eighties]] didn't come to [[Canada, Eh?|Canada]] until 1992."
* Shawn and Gus do this very self-consciously on ''[[Psych]]'', where it's obviously supposed to be an [[In-Universe]] character quirk (other characters often call them out on it), but in the [[High School Reunion]] episode, their reunion seemed to be playing an awful lot of 80s music, given that they graduated in 1995... (Though, in fairness, Gus organized the reunion, so it's not ''entirely'' implausible.)
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* Camden in ''[[My Name Is Earl]]'' seems to be stuck in the late 80's or early 90's, even though that time was at least 10–15 years before the start of the series.
* Many family [[Sit Com]]s, well into the early-90's (case in point: just about any TGIF show on ABC), continued to play into cultural tropes and stereotypes that were more-or-less obsolete by then. Such as the old "rock and roll teenager versus bitter/culturally-unaware parent" conflict of the 60's and early-70's. By the early 90's, most real life children had baby boomer parents who were every bit as "rockin'!" as they were.
* Inverted on ''[[M*A*S*H (television)|M*A*S*H]]''; while the show was set in the
* Done intentionally in ''[[Flight of the Conchords]]'', where all the media from New Zealand is several decades behind the times. Their technology is also several decades out of date, to the point that they are currently running TV ads for "the telephone."
* The premise of ''[[Portlandia]]'', as explained in the debut episode's first sketch, is that Portland, Oregon is still stuck in [[The Nineties]].
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* There's a trend for bands to mimic genres or other bands from past decades:
** In [[The Seventies]], Showaddywaddy and Darts playing [[The Fifties|fifties-style]] music in Britain.
** In [[The Eighties]], some
** In [[The Nineties]], many [[Grunge]] bands wanted to be [[Black Sabbath]].
** In the [[Turn of the Millennium]], many bands wanted to be [[Joy Division]] or Gang of Four.
== [[
* Pro wrestling is often said to always be about five years behind pop-culture wise, particularly WWF/E. Thus watching any old WWF programming until about 1995 always has a very 80's feel to it. The 90's didn't really start to kick in until the [[Attitude Era]]. In modern times, a lot of the haircuts (such as [[Edge]] and Dolph Ziggler) look like they've been time-warped from [[Eighties Hair|1984]]. One explanation might be that Vince McMahon, who has final say on ''everything'', is such a workaholic that he is very out of touch with modern pop culture. For example, in 1992 he had no idea that Razor Ramon was directly quoting ''[[Scarface]]'' as his gimmick.
* [[Shawn Michaels]] was a pretty good personification of this trope all through the 90's and the 00's, thanks to his hair, attire and ring music, which he never changed. [[Narm Charm|And everybody loved it.]]
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== [[Video Games]] ==
* ''[[Metal Gear]]''{{'}}s vision of [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]] (and even [[The Sixties]] and [[The Seventies]], to some extent) is mostly based on late Eighties sci-fi movies - things like ''[[Total Recall]]'', ''[[Max Headroom]]'' and ''[[Blade Runner]]''. The visual aesthetic, the fashionable clothes and body types (not to mention [[Eighties Hair|the hairstyles on the men]]), the politics, the themes, the [[Shout-Out
* The Phillips CD-I game ''[[Hotel Mario]]'' played a lot like a simple 80's arcade game. When [[The Angry Video Game Nerd]] reviewed it he said it would have been a better game if it had come out ten years earlier (it came out in 1994).
* Similarly, by many accounts ''[[Duke Nukem Forever]]'' could have been a fine game if it had actually come out when it was supposed to.
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* The ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' are still [[Totally Radical]], as well as bodacious, awesome, tubular and like, cowabunga, dude. This may be a [[Grandfather Clause]], though.
** Also, in more recent adaptations, Michelangelo is the only one who's still Totally Radical, and the others usually mock him for it.
* In an episode of ''[[The Grim Adventures of Billy
* ''[[Family Guy]]'' does this intentionally, as many of its gags are reliant on nostalgic pop culture references, particularly from the 1980s. For example, a gag in the episode "Big Man on Hippocampus" (which aired in 2010) has Richard Dawson as the current host of ''[[Family Feud]]'' (despite the fact that it's been 15 years since he left the show), [[John Hughes]] referenced at a rapid-fire pace, Macho Man Randy Savage cutting promos at live wrestling events, and O.J. Simpson's case treated like a current event. The fact that all of the high school scenes look like they're straight out of a '80s teen film might be intentional.
* ''[[Betty Boop]]'' was an [[Older Than Television]] example of this, being a flapper throughout [[The Thirties]] when flappers were more popular during [[The Roaring Twenties|the 20's]].
* The [[Disney Channel]]'s ''Disney BLAM'', which consists of scenes from [[Classic Disney Shorts]] dubbed over with a [[Totally Radical]] narration [[Don't Explain the Joke|explaining why each scene is funny]], seem to be made with the idea that it's still the early Nineties.
* ''[[Whatever Happened to... Robot Jones?]]'' does this seemingly intentionally, with an art style and musical sequences seemingly inspired from ''[[Schoolhouse Rock]]''. Episodes also feature
== Other Media ==▼
* Pick any feel good Christmas special out there, set anywhere near to the present day, in any supposed geographic area. In terms of scenery, dress, manners of speaking, and toys, you will immediately be transported to A: Mid
* Paintings by fantasy artist Larry Elmore almost always feature characters with [[Eighties Hair|1980s hairstyles]], even if said painting was created in the 1990s or 2000s.▼
== [[Real Life]] ==
* Take a look at your own grandparents.<ref>Assuming they're still alive. If they aren't, then look at yourself and your grandchildren, and replace "they" with "you" in this example.</ref> If they haven't gone completely casual for the sake of comfort (wearing sweatsuits, sweatshirts, etc,) then they probably dress about 20 years out of date. In [[The Eighties]], many grandmothers wore polyester dresses that looked more suited to [[The Fifties]] or [[The Sixties]]. The [[Disco Dan|aging Casanova who dons a polyester Disco suit]] (complete with chest medallions) before going out on a date is also a common image from media of that era. In the
▲* Take a look at your own grandparents. If they haven't gone completely casual for the sake of comfort (wearing sweatsuits, sweatshirts, etc,) then they probably dress about 20 years out of date. In [[The Eighties]], many grandmothers wore polyester dresses that looked more suited to [[The Fifties]] or [[The Sixties]]. The [[Disco Dan|aging Casanova who dons a polyester Disco suit]] (complete with chest medallions) before going out on a date is also a common image from media of that era. In the 1920's, it was common in movies to portray old women wearing clothing with long skirts that wouldn't have looked out of place in the 1890's. Before the age of television or the movies, fashions dispersed ''very'' slowly. It wasn't uncommon in Renaissance Europe for people out in the countryside to dress in fashions that were about 20 years behind the clothing worn by people at court.
▲== Other ==
▲* Pick any feel good Christmas special out there, set anywhere near to the present day, in any supposed geographic area. In terms of scenery, dress, manners of speaking, and toys, you will immediately be transported to A: Mid 1800's London a la Charles Dickens with carolers, long scarves, and lovable chimney sweeps, or B: 1950's New York City with picturesque store front windows to look in through and sidewalks to stroll down merrily, or C: 1950's New England with rolling hills, stone walls, and early snowfall for sledding or D: A combination of all 3.
▲* Paintings by fantasy artist Larry Elmore almost always feature characters with [[Eighties Hair|1980s hairstyles]], even if said painting was created in the 1990s or 2000s.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]▼
[[Category:Did Not Do the Research]]
[[Category:The New Tens]]
▲[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
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