I attended college in NYC in the 80s and then moved around the country as a television reporter in the 90s. In the 80s, the AIDS and crack epidemics were rampant. Reagan was president and the disparity between rich and poor was defined in the trickle down economy, eliminating much of the middle class and fueling the stock market and self-absorbed yuppies. In the 90s, McDonald's super-sized nearly everything they served, followed by other fast food chains and we ate it up. Bigger was better. For example, McMansions with 3 car garages? Pop culture exploded and "Friends," was a huge hit. Television showrunners wouldn't create a show about six white twenty-somethings living in a unrealistically priced apartment in NYC today. (Although the recent 20th anniversary show was a success.) The news in Miami, where I worked reported on nearly everything that happened in the Cuban community, almost completely ignoring the equally large Haitian diaspora.