"Nobody's Fun Anymore!" Was Lexi Featherston Right? Whatever Happened to Fun? | Pop Culture

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times... and without a doubt, 2020 is more than likely the worst of times for a lot of us. Not to say there hasn't been a lot of good to come out of quarantine life, but in the broad spectrum of things, there's a lot of bad. We're in the middle of a pandemic, it's an election year, political and racial tensions are high, murder hornets are running amuck and the world continues to lose some influential people - Kobe Bryant, Naya Rivera, Regis Philbin and Chadwick Boseman to name a few. "Let the good times roll" or "the good times are here to stay" are not the quotes I would use to describe our current state, but even before this "outbreak of bad," society seemed to be losing something... FUN!

I was flipping channels one day and landed on NatGeo's "About The 80's: The Decade That Made Us." This docuseries describes the 80's as a "decade of people, decisions and inventions that changed our future, told from the perspective of unknowing history makers who lived these iconic moments.

It was 10 years of nonstop glamour, unchecked excess, ruthless ambition and explosive technological innovation that combined to produce the historic changes and global events that made us who and what we are today." How do we get this back?

Before the current state of the world, pre-pandemic, it seemed as though everyone was so uptight about literally everything. I couldn't use a plastic straw in public without getting a dirty look. Where was the fun? Sure Millennials were traveling more than ever, festival life was a high-priority, but it didn't capture the same essence of the 80's, 90's, and dare I say, even the early aught's?

Trust me, never did I think that when I was listening to Eminem rapping and putting boy bands on blast while watching TRL would look back with nostalgia about the good ol' days.

Sure we have our fleeting moments of glamour and excess, we have to give Lady Gaga much of that credit for being a pop culture phenomenon and giving nods to her predecessors, but what about the rest of the time? Many of us have been rewatching old shows and turning to YouTube for clips of random occurrences in time we'd forgotten about until something triggered it. The VMAs aired last week complete with everyone cloaked in masks, social distancing, and a virtual audience. But leading up to it's airdate, MTV was re-airing past award shows and I stopped to watch the 1999 VMAs with host, Chris Rock and performances by Britney Spears, NSYNC, Eminem and Dr. Dre with Snoop Dogg, and Kid Rock with Run DMC and Aerosmith to name a few. Listening to Chris Rock's opening monologue, exclaiming that "Ricky Martin needs another hit like a crackhead needs another hit," and the lyrics of Kid Rock's "Bawitdaba" - "it don't even matter if your veins are punctured," I couldn't help, but think they would not be able to get away with this today.

So did Lexi Featherston have it right? Was nobody fun anymore? If you've seen the "Sex and the City" episode "Splat" which aired back in 2004, you know that moments before Lexi's demise she proclaimed that she was "so bored she could die," and then she did.

I, for one, believe we need to bring more levity back to life. Can we all just take it down a notch, put on some Prince and pop open a bottle of Dom? Is that so much to ask for?

How are we going to bring back the fun in 2020 and beyond?

Taking all suggestions in the comments below.