Yeah, that's really a vibe in most 90s media. I was rewatching Fresh Prince of Bel-Air a few years ago, and the way the show, through the character of Hilary, portrays causes like environmentalism and animal rights as naive idealism for clueless people is so quintessentially 90s. Basically saying ”lol, look at these kooks who care about these minor imperfections, don't they realize how good we have it now?”.

I have to say the show tackled some heavy subject matter like cop racism in a way I didn't really remember from my original watching years ago.

Being a communist is being cursed with the knowledge that there's truly no such thing as a throwaway line

The throw away lines give a much better insight into general vibes and attitudes of the time than the overall plot or ideas pushed directly by the show.

X-Files is the most 90s show ever and serves as the perfect encapsulation of the end of history but from the POV of a not super partisan dumbguy who is still conspiracy pilled. Matt and Felix had a great discussion on it save for the random tangent about modern tv. They described Carter like an enlightened surfer dude, can't see the forest for the trees, but sees the forest when everyone else is saying trees don't exist. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoPUL_t8yUk

Like the show has Unit 731 as a prominent plot point and something the US not only took ideas from but, like in real life, kept from facing war crimes trials. The show unambiguously shows the US as not dominated by singular personalities or even ideas, we are the hegemon and all the moves us is the machine of neoliberalism. If aliens are in charge or not does not seem to actually matter much, if we control them or they usdoesn't either.

There is something wonderfully honest about the show. It sucks that the relaunches could never find their footing. I think part of it is X-Files works best in that end of history mindset and era. The best continuation from what I hear was the season 10 comics which more or less carry on right from the series heyday.

Ive been watching malcolm in the middle and yeah the 90s do just seem like they really were a fever dream for everybody involved.

I've been watching Walker, Texas Ranger in preparation for my podcast Talker, Texas Wanger

And you aren't kidding, 90's TV is a hoot

This episode I just watched was basically Die Hard in a two story hotel during a hurricane except there was a paraplegic woman in a wheelchair who wanted to blow her brains out because she couldn't golf anymore

She regains her love of life by helping Walker kill an escaped convict by ramming him with her wheelchair

They didn't realise that the Soviet Union was the only reason the US was pumping money into Space exploration.

Have no source about this, but the welfare state and the quality of live of the first world, was also because they had to show how living under capitalism was better, but once they didn't had to keep the facade, they went back to any benefit the working class got from the capitalists and this is why now everyone is broke except billionaires.

yeah, s having those takes is unsurprising but the usian chauvanism from two people with ongoing experience of how corrupt the system is got a laugh

the Gender Bender episode in season 1 has Scully say some transphobic shit at the end, and combined with her always trying to explain away the weird experiences and toe the department line makes her consistently unlikeable

They really thought the US was funding space research because they cared about human progress.

Unfortunately many people nowadays still think this. They are the same people that think the Olympics aren’t a nationalistic display of dominance.

For what it’s worth tho, I love x-files.

One that's aged pretty well is Babylon 5. The show's creator also wrote like 95% of the episodes. He was much more cynical and suspicious of "end of history" narratives than most showrunners of the era. I wouldn't dream of spoiling the plot details. But let's just say that his opinions about fascism and fascists are crystal clear: "must be stopped by any means necessary" and "shoot them early and often" respectively.

There's a lesser known 90's show called The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. that I remember being pretty weird but good. It's been awhile since I've seen it, so not sure how well it has aged, but I was thinking of checking it out again. Some other 90s shows to check out:

• Tales from the Crypt
• Tribeca (this won awards but for some reason has been totally forgotten and is difficult to find)
• My So Called Life
• Freaks and Geeks
• Eerie, Indiana
• Quantum Leap
• Daria (I still really love this one)
• The Maxx (dark, but good imo)
• Liquid Television
• Sliders (this one is kinda garbage but still hilarious)
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer
• VIP (ok this is trash but I liked it for some reason)
• Parker Lewis Can't Lose
• Todd McFarlane's Spawn (the series, not the movie)

Me sabotaging the space shuttle

(because the space shuttle was a huge piece of shit)

So, you are saying the International Space Station is absolutely crawling with extraterrestrials, and that is the real reason the astronauts can't come home?

Thinking the same. :mulder-sunflower-seeds:

Or maybe it was sabotaged by people who hate technology.

I feel like this is less an end of history thing and more a 200 year running denial to realize the luddites were entirely correct

I'm up to season 6 and boy does that stuff not stop

X-Files used to give me terrible nightmares 😞

have you gotten to the episode with the stretchy person who is stealing organs? that one still haunts me, and I haven't seen it since the first time it aired

I was way too stoned and/or drunk in the 90s to give you a proper answer, sorry.

They also take a trip to a parallel universe "San Diego" that is a lush rainforest in season 1.