I'll watch it, as I tend to favor NatGeo's material, but questioning the quality of all future decades in the perception of humanity as a sales-point (or whatever that is in TV terms) is dinkish and demoralizing. Even if they actually really consider that decade as "the last great" one, how is the attitude they're projecting going to help matters? I suppose the question mark leaves some room for optimism though.

The displayed pop culture icons have little to do with the downfall of future decades as much as our poor standing within the context of nature and preserving what balance is left on this wet rock hurling through space. I will admit some belief that the negative pop culture of the time since (Jersey Shore, Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, et al.) can stifle human interaction with not only other humans and dull the senses to the big picture in general while indulging their viewers in pseudo-superiority, but those that succumb to such things would likely be distracted by other happenings of stupidity and outrageous drama anyway.

What the subtitle truly reflects is the passing of icons and beliefs of our generation's childhoods, some kind of televised memorial, in an attempt to hold on to pieces of ourselves we feel we're losing. But we never lose those pieces completely, they become part of the "nurturing" that makes us who we are. This changing of the guard (or aging, as some may call it) is a drawn out and scary process. The older we get, the more difficult change is to accept. If this era was so great anyway, how is the outlook of the future so bleak only around 15 years immediately following it? Did the 90's have nothing to do with today and our future? Is my perception of time less linear than everyone else's?

Humanity: "The 90's are gone. That's it, it's over. There's nothing left for us now but to grow old and die; just like social security, we will outlive our usefulness."

Or, more likely, it's just a doubt-injected rehash of "I Love The 90's."

I'm probably overthinking it all, but jeez, that concept is just such a heavy load. I'll watch it anyway, so they'll benefit regardless of my opinion.

I agree. I just hope a whole generation doesn't have to fall flat on its face for the following one to learn their lesson.

Then again, maybe human adaptability will win out in the end, as it tends to have done. I really can't see the evolutionary benefits of fostering impatience and dulling imaginations though.

As for teenagers, I think they have a long-standing collective history of testing limits (aka perceived stupidty) in that adolescent realm between childhood and adulthood (reality) while trying to find their identity and place in the world. I believe that some will always make it through that transition, even if the ratio diminishes with the modern era of seemingly ubiquitous distractions. It's that much-harped idea of our technology outgrowing our ethics... but as in many cases throughout human history, we may just have to learn the "hard way."