Michelle Tanner returned to her cozy San Franciscan home with a new friend: a fish named Martin. She won him at a carnival and now had the responsibility of taking care of him. Joey Gladstone mentioned to Michelle that she needs to keep Martin clean, and Michelle took that the wrong way. She prepared a bubble bath for Martin.
When Joey saw Michelle in the bathroom by herself, he said, “Michelle, you can’t take a bath by yourself!”
She turned to him and replied, “I’m not taking a bath, Martin is.”
This scene is from Full House, a popular show in the 90s that ran from 1987 to 1995. According to senior Kimmy Durkin, it was her favorite show.
“It was really funny, and I guess it really captured what growing up in the 90s was like,” Durkin said. “I watched [Full House] like six out of the seven days of the week.”
In an Oracle-conducted survey asking what students’ favorite TV shows were in the 90s, the most common responses were shows from Arthur and Spongebob, to Drake and Josh and Lizzie McGuire.
While shows like this are still on, they aren’t played as much as they used to be. According to freshman Kaley Mulhern, these new shows are not as good as the ones she grew up with.
“Now you go on Nickelodeon or Disney Channel and other channels, and they are all like Dog with a Blog,” Mulhern said. “Like what is this?”
For South students, toys and overall activiies were an important part of evolving as a kid. Mulhern touched on the fact tag was the best game and that dolls were a must-have for girls in the 90s.
“[Barbies] were really fun to play with,” Mulhern said. “You could dress them up and do their hair.”
It’s been 13 years since the 90s ended, and according to freshman Isabela Galarza, life couldn’t be more different.
“Toys used to be so simple and fun, and now it’s like if you don’t have technology or really expensive things then it’s boring, in a way,” Galarza said. “Back then you could have fun with anything you had, but now it’s like you have to have something big to have fun.”
Mulhern spoke of other things that she has seen change, such as clothing style and people’s attitudes.
“People were nicer and they could get away with so much more, and now there are so many rules,” Mulhern said.
Durkin agrees with the same principles as Mulhern but observes that technology has greatly improved since just over ten years ago.
“Children these days have it easy,” Durkin said. “[They] have their own iPads and play their games on them, [including] a baby I have babysat [who] knows how to unlock an iPhone. Things now are much more modernized.”
Back in the 90s, toys like Candyland and tag were popular, according to an Oracle- conducted survey.
On behalf of things that she misses from her childhood, Durkin brought up a key aspect of being a 90s kid: the music.
“[The] music was very catchy and was always stuck in my head,” Durkin said. “Backstreet Boys, The Spice Girls [and] NSYNC’ [were my favorites].”
According to Galarza, she misses the ease of growing up in a different decade.
“I really miss how peaceful it used to be because now it’s like some places around the world are very dangerous and there’s a lot of violence,” Galarza said. “I missed how it used to be so easy to walk around […] Things were safe.”
