# Big pop culture landmarks of this decade **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 8, 2009, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-pop-culture-landmarks-of-this-decade/492365 "2009-04-08T06:10:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-pop-culture-landmarks-of-this-decade/492365/41 "2009-04-08T20:34:50Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > I’d say TV changed pretty drastically this decade. Moving from single-episode plots to complex continuing stories on TV dramas (_The Wire, Lost, The Shield, Damages_) was the biggest thing I noticed (it may have started in the 90s - don’t remember when _The Sopranos_ came out - but it didn’t become ubiquitous until this decade. And _The Sopranos_ itself had plenty of single-episode story arcs). > > For sitcoms, this decade, for the most part, killed off the laugh track completely, and a couple shows (_Arrested Development, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia_) followed the dramas’ lead and went with continuing storylines (or at least subplots). There’s still plenty of archaic dreck (_Two and a Half Men, According to Jim_), but the best comedies of the 2000s can stand as among the best ever. But even the most successful comedy show like that aren’t getting the Friends/Frasier/Home Improvement/Seinfeld fame that they deserve. ---
**Author:** ![Leftorium](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Leftorium](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leftorium)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-pop-culture-landmarks-of-this-decade/492365/42 "2009-04-08T20:41:50Z")
Energy Drinks - didn’t really exist before 2000 and are now everywhere. In another direction Sex tapes, mainly celebrity sex tapes - started with Pam & Tommy, got taken to another level by Paris Hilton. Now it doesn’t even surprise people or impact them too negatively when a sex tape comes out. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-pop-culture-landmarks-of-this-decade/492365/43 "2009-04-08T20:43:16Z")
> [@Leftorium](#): > > Sex tapes, mainly celebrity sex tapes - started with Pam & Tommy, got taken to another level by Paris Hilton. Now it doesn’t even surprise people or impact them too negatively when a sex tape comes out. Hell, Tom Sizemore ended up in a situation where he was doing them professionally! Now THAT’S the modern equivalent of the old vaudeville proverb…“When you find yourself working burlesque, you’re washed up.” ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-pop-culture-landmarks-of-this-decade/492365/44 "2009-04-08T20:52:48Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > the only people are see sporting the “flatbiller” look are lame celebrities and it took me a few to realize that “lifted trucks” actually referred to trucks that had big wheels (right?). Wow, you haven’t seen teens in the “Inland Empire” in California. That lame look is _everywhere_. Don’t forget to leave the stickers on your hat, boys! ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-pop-culture-landmarks-of-this-decade/492365/45 "2009-04-08T22:28:36Z")
It will remembered as the _Girls Gone Wild_ decade. By comparison all else, including the wars and elections, fades to insignificance. ---
**Author:** ![mariposalabrown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ad7895/32.png) [@mariposalabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mariposalabrown)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-pop-culture-landmarks-of-this-decade/492365/46 "2009-04-08T23:49:00Z")
That flatbiller look also runs rampant in Texas, even at the country western bars. I actually agree on Girls Gone Wild. I graduated high school in 98, and just missed the sluttening. My friends and I would NEVER have pics of us on the toilet, or making that stupid kissyface while cupping our boobs. Sure we do some slutty stuff, but we definitely don’t put it up on myspace. The girls in the grade two below me sure do, though! ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-pop-culture-landmarks-of-this-decade/492365/47 "2009-04-09T02:03:58Z")
I would mention Sarah Palin, but I think the pop culture landmark is actually going to be Tina Fey’s impression of Sarah Palin much the way Chevy Chase’s Gerald Ford is more of a touchstone than Ford himself. ---
**Author:** ![Emmy2635](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/919ad9/32.png) [@Emmy2635](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emmy2635)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-pop-culture-landmarks-of-this-decade/492365/48 "2009-04-09T02:29:46Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > And we still haven’t **named** it! I mean, “the 00s” just sounds silly and “the 2000s” would apply to the whole 21st Century. And what are we going to call the coming decade? On XM radio, they are calling it the 2Ks. Like, “Music from the 80’s, 90’s, 2K’s and today.” They even have a station called Pop 2K. Weird. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-pop-culture-landmarks-of-this-decade/492365/49 "2009-04-09T04:12:31Z")
It probably doesn’t make an impression “pop culture-wise”, but I’ll always consider this to be the finest decade for film documentaries ever. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-pop-culture-landmarks-of-this-decade/492365/50 "2009-04-09T04:21:44Z")
anyone mentioned “Harry Potter” yet? ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-pop-culture-landmarks-of-this-decade/492365/51 "2009-04-09T05:34:20Z")
> [@well\_he\_s\_back](#): > > anyone mentioned “Harry Potter” yet? Hey, I don’t read every thread I post in either, but at least read the OP, or barring that do a ctrl+F. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-pop-culture-landmarks-of-this-decade/492365/52 "2009-04-09T06:53:28Z")
sorry Cisco, that was lazy of me. I should have said “I think the phenomenal popularity of the Harry Potter series will be a pop culture landmark of this decade also.” ---
**Author:** ![First\_Amongst\_Daves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/4491bb/32.png) [@First\_Amongst\_Daves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/First_Amongst_Daves)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-pop-culture-landmarks-of-this-decade/492365/53 "2009-04-09T08:20:36Z")
Definitely the return of the beard. I was looking at British comedian / male sex-symbol Russell Brand the other day. Hirsute is coming back. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-pop-culture-landmarks-of-this-decade/492365/54 "2009-04-09T16:48:07Z")
> [@well\_he\_s\_back](#): > > anyone mentioned “Harry Potter” yet? Harry Potter was already a phenomenon in the mid-1990s. It’s not exclusive to this decade. ---
**Author:** ![shy\_guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@shy\_guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shy_guy)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2009, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-pop-culture-landmarks-of-this-decade/492365/55 "2009-04-10T02:53:01Z")
> [@The New and Improved Superman](#): > > Harry Potter was already a phenomenon in the mid-1990s. It’s not exclusive to this decade. The first book wasn’t published until 1998 and the first movie wasn’t released until 2001. I’d call it a largely 00’s phenomenon. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2009, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-pop-culture-landmarks-of-this-decade/492365/56 "2009-04-10T14:43:06Z")
Harry Potter aside, the rise of tween culture and Twilight, Hillary Duff and Miley Cyrus will probably be remembered. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2009, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-pop-culture-landmarks-of-this-decade/492365/57 "2009-04-10T14:45:27Z")
I think of the decade as the “O’s”–from Oprah to Obama. Jukebox musicals were big. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2009, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-pop-culture-landmarks-of-this-decade/492365/58 "2009-04-10T14:53:22Z")
Will the The Passion Of The Christ be remembered? Some other suggestions in [this song by Kenny Rogers](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P66vQhUiMCA). ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2009, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-pop-culture-landmarks-of-this-decade/492365/59 "2009-04-10T14:55:44Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > Ipods and cell phones really took off. I would say the mobile phone really took off in the 1990s, here at least. By the 00s nearly every already had one. They got swankier ones but most people here had them by 1998 I reckon. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2009, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-pop-culture-landmarks-of-this-decade/492365/60 "2009-04-10T14:58:58Z")
I graduated high school in 2000, and cell phones weren’t too terribly common amongst my peers. Lots of people had them, sure, but they weren’t a status symbol or as pervasive as they are now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-pop-culture-landmarks-of-this-decade/492365.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-pop-culture-landmarks-of-this-decade/492365.md?page=4)