Growing up in the 2000s fucked my brain hard. The sexism, homophobia and racism coupled with the free-range parenting that was simultaneously neglectful while gaslighting everyone into thinking that it was too coddling, and an internet that simply did not give a fuck who it traumatized. All topped off with a resurgence of Western jingoism from the “war in terror”.
The only good thing about that period was some of the videogames were okay I guess but only if you avoid ANYTHING remotely military flavoured. A lot of shit outside of Nintendo was afraid of colour and everything was that washed out brown. Just a miserable time. Everyone was so uncreative and the world had some fucked up Southpark brainworms.
Most of the mainstream TV of that era was astonishingly shitty and mean-spirited. I was really into watching 24, which in retrospect is one of the worst television shows to ever shoot out of a cathode ray tube.
Everyone at that time was out there debating whether we torture and/or the moral ramifications and 24 just rips off the veil and shows Jack GoodGuy successfully torture a guy for intelligence.
I actually have really fond memories of 24. My mom and I would make some solid snacks and watch it each week cause we both thought it was really funny. She’s not much of a jokester, especially compared to me and my dad, we can’t get through a paragraph without a joke and while basically a socdem out of being a decent person, she has never expressed any political thought on anything more than annissue by issue basis. Somehow this show was our mystery science theatre. We miffed hard on that show. I only remember characters by the nicknames we gave them. I’d never ever rewatch it now u less my mom wanted to do another round when I’d go visit for that, but I had a blast with that show as a kid when it aired. It’s so fucking stupid in every way possible. It’d such a weird thing to be a memorable bonding experience with my mom and the first time I enjoyed making fun of a bad shoe or movie with someone cause that is generally not her at all, but something about this show did it.
I’m glad you found some positive enjoyment out of it. Thinking about my other comment about Halo LAN multiplayer, I think the key thing that we loved about these experiences was that we spent time with our loved ones and friends, and in particular were joking and laughing with them.