# Archer time-frame - most recent cultural reference? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 20, 2013, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archer-time-frame-most-recent-cultural-reference/650848 "2013-02-20T02:13:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archer-time-frame-most-recent-cultural-reference/650848/1 "2013-02-20T02:13:05Z")
We all know **Archer** tries to be ambiguous about when the show is taking place - older characters all discuss WW2, the sets, politics and cars are pre-1973 as far as I can tell, but they’ve got pocket cell phones instead of bricks and bags and Burt Reynolds is old enough to date Mallory when he should be Archer’s age. But what’s the most recent thing they’ve mentioned? I started wondering when Cheryl talked about the Voight-Kampff machines from **Blade Runner** (1982, and Cyril released a virus on a CD-ROM (1982). The guns and equipment on the space station referenced **Aliens** (1986), but I can’t recall anything more recent. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archer-time-frame-most-recent-cultural-reference/650848/2 "2013-02-20T02:28:10Z")
I wonder if this is going to be the same sort of running “gag” that the Simpsons have with “which state is Springfield in?” when the answer is obviously that there is too much contradictory information for there to be any “right” answer. ---
**Author:** ![Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ian_D.Bergkamp)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archer-time-frame-most-recent-cultural-reference/650848/3 "2013-02-20T02:46:28Z")
He calls karate “the Dane Cook of martial arts.” According to Wikipedia, Cook got his big break in 1998, so there’s that. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archer-time-frame-most-recent-cultural-reference/650848/4 "2013-02-20T03:13:56Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > I wonder if this is going to be the same sort of running “gag” that the Simpsons have with “which state is Springfield in?” when the answer is obviously that there is too much contradictory information for there to be any “right” answer. Nah, this is much more definite - it should be easy to assign a date to every reference made on the show, as done above. I’m not trying to identify the time the show takes place. . In “Lo Scandolo” when Lana’s talking about post-WW2 history, she asks Archer “What year do you think it is?” and he replies “That’s a good question.” They’re never gonna let that get nailed down. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archer-time-frame-most-recent-cultural-reference/650848/5 "2013-02-20T03:21:40Z")
Dane Cook breaking in the late 1990’s completely contradicts the reel-to-reel mainframes, green-screened console computers they use and all the cars they drive. They can’t ever let it get nailed down because they’ve loaded it with so much contradictory information that it can’t be happening in any particular year on Earth. It’s like saying they will never nail down which Springfield is in the Simpsons because it simply can’t be done. ---
**Author:** ![Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ian_D.Bergkamp)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archer-time-frame-most-recent-cultural-reference/650848/6 "2013-02-20T03:26:56Z")
If I understand the OP correctly, he (or she) isn’t trying to nail date the show’s time frame, which is admittedly impossible because it’s kept vague on purpose. Instead, the question is an objective one–what’s the most recent thing referenced on the show? That should be relatively easy to determine. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archer-time-frame-most-recent-cultural-reference/650848/7 "2013-02-20T03:31:12Z")
That’s true. I wasn’t really addressing the OP and I apologize for derailing it. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archer-time-frame-most-recent-cultural-reference/650848/8 "2013-02-20T03:31:27Z")
I’m pretty sure that one episode had Cyril spill a bunch of computer punch cards he’d spent all weekend organizing; in the next scene, Pam is texting on her cell phone. ---
**Author:** ![magnusblitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@magnusblitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magnusblitz)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archer-time-frame-most-recent-cultural-reference/650848/9 "2013-02-20T08:08:59Z")
Just going through the cultural references listed on the Archer wikia, and listing the ones that are 1990s or later: - “Training Day”: Archer refers to Dane Cook (1998) and Alanis Morrisette (1995) - “Killing Utne”: Archer refers to a 1994 REM song - “Blood Test”: Lana tells Cyril that “sex addiction isn’t a real disorder” and Cyril responds with “wait until the next DSM comes out”. One of the proposed additions in DSM-V is hypersexual disorder. Was proposed in 2010. - “Placebo Effect”: In a reversal here, Krieger guesses that Archer’s IV is filled with Zima, which stopped being produced in the US in 2008. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archer-time-frame-most-recent-cultural-reference/650848/10 "2013-02-20T08:19:12Z")
Archer referenced “the Rise of the Machines” a few episodes ago - the Terminator movie of that title having come out in 2003. ---
**Author:** ![Chipacabra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@Chipacabra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chipacabra)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archer-time-frame-most-recent-cultural-reference/650848/11 "2013-02-20T08:20:36Z")
Does the Bob’s Burgers reference count? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archer-time-frame-most-recent-cultural-reference/650848/12 "2013-02-21T16:20:18Z")
The show is most definitely set in the present day. They just fuck with your mind regarding certain details. The ‘look’ of the ISIS offices is clearly 1970s tech and 70s decor, the USSR still seems to exist (frequent mentioning of the KGB) etc. The creators just wanted to have a mix of old & new visuals. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archer-time-frame-most-recent-cultural-reference/650848/13 "2013-02-21T17:19:35Z")
“Does Internet Porn know you’re cheating on it”? Which could be from 1996 on, but I’d say really puts it closer to modern age. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2013, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archer-time-frame-most-recent-cultural-reference/650848/14 "2013-02-24T07:44:47Z")
In the most recent episode Mallory refered to Turkmenistan as being an independent country instead of part of the Soviet Union and reference it’s [insane dictator](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saparmurat_Niyazov) who [renamed](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaming_of_Turkmen_months_and_days_of_week,_2002) the months after himself. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2013, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archer-time-frame-most-recent-cultural-reference/650848/15 "2013-02-24T07:55:40Z")
Didn’t Archer’s manservant serve in WWI? Since I think pretty much every one of those vets is dead now, that argues for a time frame set further back. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2013, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archer-time-frame-most-recent-cultural-reference/650848/16 "2013-02-24T08:02:43Z")
This episode gave us when Archer was born. Mallory wasn’t around for his sixth birthday because she was overthrowing Arbenz, which happened in '54. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2013, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archer-time-frame-most-recent-cultural-reference/650848/17 "2013-02-24T09:54:06Z")
Well, when they actually _showed_ us Archer’s birth on the counter at Woodhouse’s bar in Tangiers, it was implied to have occurred during WWII. I guess “Anachronism Stew” is the best way to put it. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2013, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archer-time-frame-most-recent-cultural-reference/650848/18 "2013-02-24T14:42:23Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Well, when they actually _showed_ us Archer’s birth on the counter at Woodhouse’s bar in Tangiers, it was implied to have occurred during WWII. I thought that was just Mallory working a mission after WW2. When she killed the Italian prime minister in “Lo Scandolo,” wasn’t it was for him killing a possible baby-daddy during Operation Gladio? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2013, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archer-time-frame-most-recent-cultural-reference/650848/19 "2013-02-24T16:13:26Z")
It’s simple really. Sterling Archer is the same age as James Bond. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2013, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archer-time-frame-most-recent-cultural-reference/650848/20 "2013-02-24T21:11:45Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > It’s simple really. Sterling Archer is the same age as James Bond. And probably always will be, if liver failure or some particularly virulent STD don’t trip him up first. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archer-time-frame-most-recent-cultural-reference/650848.md?page=2)