When VH1 began their I Love The 80s goldmine a few years ago, I have to say that I was on board. I’m not sure that I’m considered a child of the 80s by people who lived through the entire decade, but it was fun looking back at old toys and TV shows that spilled into the 90s and made a lasting impression on me, in addition to understanding part of my childhood. (Like the part about why my mom crimped my hair as a 5-year-old in 1992 when clearly crimping was cool ten years before that.)
To target a new audience, VH1 came out with I Love The 70s. It was somewhat enjoyable, and this time they brought in a few new players to analyze nuggets of pop culture so that people tuning in could yell, “Oh my God, I totally forgot about that [toy/song/show/movie/fad/cultural event/time we didn't know about the Internet and life was so simple and fun]!” Then came I Love The 90s, which gave kids my age a reason to watch VH1 (before the premieres of such gems as Flavor of Love and Hogan Knows Best) and bitch about the Spice Girls breaking up. Those I Love shows were followed by a landslide of sequel shows to capitalize on this nostalgia: I Love The 70s Volume 2, I Love The 80s Strikes Back, I Love the 80s 3-D (seriously), and I Love The 90s Part Deux. And NOW, we have the opportunity to be nostalgic about things that were still happening. Best Week Ever features TV and news clips followed by snarky commentary from regular VH1 comedians every Friday night.
Now, we can reminisce about the 00’s (what are we calling this decade, anyway?) with VH1’s I Love The New Milennium, which premiered tonight at 9 PM with the year 2000. So far, they have just reminded me about shows that are still running new episodes (Survivor, CSI, etc.), songs that are still played on the radio, Razor scooters that are still widely ridden by youngsters, events that still impact our lives (the 2000 election) and items that still irritate the hell out of me (see image above). I am now able to think about and watch things that I see daily when I’m not actually seeing them.
Couldn’t we at least waited until this decade was over? I’m waiting for the premiere of I Loved The Last Hour. I’ll also be waiting for Michael Ian Black to get a career outside of making fun of the last 35 years of American culture.
