America's Funniest President: Mo Udall Presidency & Beyond
- Thread starter CountDVB
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Margaret Loesch in OTL was the president and CEO of Marvel Productions during the 80s. I'm guessing she stays on at Nick and basically butterflies Fox Kids out of recognition, since she might not switch ITTL. Nick probably ends up with some sort of adaptation of Super Sentai and boom, they have Power Rangers alongside Marvel as well.
Not necessarily. Metro-Fox would be looking to start their own kids' programming block not unlike how Fox of OTL did so and it's likely that Loesch would jump ship if she can get a better deal, which she may be able to.
So we'd have MetroKids instead of Fox Kids. Metro-Fox may also change their name at some point.
Curious who'd take Carter's place at State when he eventually steps down from that post.
We’ll have to wait and see though in the meanwhile, he rejoined when Askew asked him too. Helps keep consistency and he’s doing a good job.
As in for 1980, 1984 or 1988 since we do have some good electoral maps here
If you haven't mentioned them already, any plans for alternate versions of Joe Biden and Mitch McConnell?
Hmmm, how’s Michael Jackson ITTL? Did John Lennon still get shot?
McConnell doesn't get much into politics and I have a plan for Biden upon closer thought.
Mostly the same though the healthcare thing will affect him soon. John Lennon pobably still gets shot
1990 Overview
1990 Overview
1990 heralded the beginning of a shift of the global dynamics as well as matters over domestically. With the Warsaw Pact all but gone, eyes now turned to the Soviet Union if it could survive all the way to the new millenium. While stronger than expected because of its reformed economy, the ethnic clashes from within threatened to caust it to start falling apart and influencing other nations. The Baltics all but left the nation and the Armenians and Azerbaijani were at one another's throats. The Soviets' neighbors kept watching the whole ordeal with interesting, wondering how to benefit. The Eastern European nations that left already the Warsaw Pact were being welcomed into the fold and the question over to accept them into the growing European Economic Community. Meanwhile in the Caucasus, the war between the Armenians and the Azerbaijani along with the tensions of the minorities within the Georgian SSR would be dragging the attention of others, starting with Turkey's growing support of the Azerbaijani. At the same time, it would also seem like a new era of peace was just around the corner. The "Jerusalem and Gaza Agreement" made finally provided closure onto that question and folk began moving on with their lives there. Gaza would have their autonomy in Israel while Jerusalem would be shared over with the world as an international city. Israel's population was divided on the subject matter, but they wouldn't have to worry as much about hostile neighbors, barring Syria. South Africa was making some massive and positive strives with more to be expected in the future. The two Germanies would finally reunite after weeks of hard work and discussion, further signifying it was the end of the Cold War. The question just remained what would happen with the Soviet Union. Would it collapse into conflict, dissolve peacefully or would Gorbachev find a way to reform the nation politically? This question would also weigh on China's mind as well, especially since both nations have reportedly been struggling with hardliners regarding their reforms and that this tension may achieve a boiling point. This combined with the question on Korean reunification have become prominent discussion points over for China. The Middle East would also gain concern as speculation noted the rise of Baathist activity in the region with some economists noting potential economic shocks regarding the oil trade.
Within the United States itself, many changes were oncoming with the start of the new decade. The 1990 census reflected the changing demographic, including an increase in new Americans from the Middle East, likely because of the immigration from the troubles there, which some speculate may increase in the future. The Republicans have begun making some modest gains in Congress this year from a combination of new more moderate candidates and some of the old guard retiring, but the Democrats maintain their stronghold. One a more prominent note, new gains have surprisingly been made by a new party: the United Citizens' Party. Touting themselves as a new centrist party, the UCP and the Unizens provided a third option for those who did not fit within the current Democrat paradigm, but also did not trust or fit well with the Republicans. A few of the Unizen representatives made their way into Congress as well as local ballots and many were wondering if a Unizen presidential candidate would be seen in the future. The Askew Administration meanwhile has taken a more active presence in foreign affairs as a result of much of the new international activity going on in the world. Of course, this did not mean they neglected issues at home. Education was becoming a bigger focus with a new generation being born and beyond more funds being put in as a result of the new land value tax and increased revenue, there was also in distribution of funds, focusing on inner city schools as well as revisiting the issue on bussing over to help kids. There was also on the structure of curriculums, well-being of the students and pay of the teachers, the latter having gotten a boost thanks to the efforts of the Askew administration and teachers' unions. Infrastructure development continued as the new trends were becoming standard practice while also looking into routes for it and beginning of many public transportation networks opening up across various states, some pushing further to lure young adults to settle in and start families in the area.
1990 meanwhile also heralded a shift in pop culture. Pop music, the genre that dominated over in the 1990s, would take a crippling hit with the scandal that Milli Vanilli lip-synched their music, revealing them to be phonies in the eyes of many young people. This along with similar scandals, such as how Black Box and C&C Music Factory had hired models to lip sync Martha Wash's vocals on their tracks without crediting her led to the end of the pop music boom of the 1980s. This would break open the gates and would make it a free-for-all for what genre was to dominate the tests of the young. Hip-hop & rap began rising over into prominence while a second wave of punk and related genres like the 2nd riot grrl wave would also rise up and grunge would enter the fold. Environmentalism, the end of the Cold War, the further conflicts of third wave feminism and other issues became prime fodder for singers. Hip-hop and rap would get a special boost in particular thanks to 1990's Do The Right Thing, having won the 1990 Acadmey Best Picture Award and Drama after a large number of support from within the film community. A film or joint as Lee preferred calling it showing racial tensions and how a blazing day brought all of it into an explosion of violence and anger. Spike Lee noted a surprising difficulty in making the film came because of how much changed in the 1980s, such as the end of the hardline approach to drugs, the increased focus on peaceful resolution and a willingness and effort to tackle the deep racial discrepency and issues plaguing the African-American community. Nonetheless, he felt it was still needed. The film became associated with the song "Fight the Power" by Private Enemy* (the name coming from the frustration at large private businesses that the band felt was suffocating people, especially with the Big Tobacco and Exxon cases), with the song itself referring to the dangers of abuse of power. It also gained an element of anti-gentrification (an element alluded to the in the film as a later addition). Despite the controversy and the violence, it helped propel Spike Lee into mainstream awareness and would be planning his next film after a bit of time off, reportedly a film on the life of Malcolm X.
Other films that did plenty well were Total Recall, Back to the Future III and Home Alone, while animation would provide with Rescuerers Down Under and even a new Ghibli film with Kiki's Delivery Service. However, many did note that it was a tough time for Hollywood due to the scandals and lawsuits regarding various high profile name regarding abuse, sexual harassment and systemic problems there. This would have rammification as people began to wonder if places outside of Hollywood could become prominent film locations, with some seeing opportunity there for future business. In other news, Metro-Fox Media would rename itself over in 1990s, now calling itself MetroCentury Media. This rebranding comes over with the release of their new channel, MCB, short for MetroCentury Broadcasting, which would air the first regular Simpsons episode with "Bart the Genius" along with forming their own bloc for children known as MetroKids. Additionally, one major television show of prominence would be Twin Peaks due to its strange and surreal charm capturing the imaginations of people. Comics books would see a large change as Marvel would finish up releasing the first of their line since their reboot a couple years prior, them finally catching up with what DC had done in terms of a new Marvel universe over for the Brass Age of Comic Books. Meanwhile, video games would see a large shift as in Japan, the "Super Famicon" would come out and begin heralding the rise of the next generation of video game consoles, especially with the growing age of the audience.
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*= Yup, Public Enemy is called Private Enemy ITTL
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