Editing Thirtysomething (section)

==Influences and cultural impact==
''Thirtysomething'' was influenced by the films ''[[Return of the Secaucus 7]]'' (1980) and ''[[The Big Chill (film)|The Big Chill]]'' (1983).<ref name=museum>{{cite web
|url=http://www.museum.tv/eotv/thirtysomethi.htm
|title=Thirtysomething
|access-date= 2008-05-07
|website=[[Museum of Broadcast Communications]]
}}</ref> The show reflected the [[angst]] felt by [[baby boomers]] and [[yuppies]] in the United States during the 1980s,<ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.ew.com/article/1990/05/04/why-were-still-watching-and-arguing-about-thirtysomething | title=Why we're still watching and arguing about ''thirtysomething''|work=EW|date=May 4, 1990}}</ref> such as the changing expectations related to [[masculinity]] and [[femininity]] introduced during the era of [[second-wave feminism]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Hanke|first1=Robert|title=Hegemonic Masculinity in thirtysomething|journal=Critical Studies in Mass Communication|date=September 1990|volume=7|issue=3|pages=231–248|doi=10.1080/15295039009360176}}</ref> It also introduced "a new kind of hour-long drama, a series that focused on the domestic and professional lives of a group of young urban professionals, a socio-economic category of increasing interest to the television industry [...] its stylistic and story-line innovations led critics to respect it for being 'as close to the level of an art form as weekly television ever gets,' as the ''New York Times'' put it."<ref name=museum/> During its four-year run, ''Thirtysomething'' "attracted a cult audience of viewers who strongly identified with one or more of its eight central characters, a circle of friends living in Philadelphia."<ref name=museum/> Even after its cancellation in 1991, it continued to influence television programming, "in everything from the look and sound of certain TV advertisements, to other series with feminine sensibilities and preoccupations with the transition from childhood to maturity (''[[Sisters (American TV series)|Sisters]]''), to situation comedies about groups of friends who talk all the time (''[[Seinfeld]]'')."<ref name=museum/>
The show also influenced the British television series ''[[Cold Feet]]'', which featured similar storylines and character types. The creator of ''Cold Feet'' wanted his show to be in the mould of successful American TV series like ''Thirtysomething'' and ''[[Frasier]]''.<ref>{{cite book|author=Smith, Rupert |date=2003| title=Cold Feet: The Complete Companion|location= London|publisher= Granada Media|page=6|isbn=0-233-00999-X}}</ref>

[[Susan Faludi]], in her bestseller [[Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women|''Backlash'']] (1991), argues that ''Thirtysomething'' often reinforced, rather than dismantled, gender stereotypes. She suggests that it exhibited a disdainful attitude toward single, working, and feminist women (Melissa, Ellyn, and Susannah) while at the same time "exalting homemakers" (Hope and Nancy).<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Heide|first1=Margaret J.|title=Mothering Ambivalence: The Treatment of Women's Gender Role Conflicts Over Work and Family on "thirtysomething"|journal=Women's Studies|date=1 April 1992|volume=21|issue=1|pages=103–117|doi=10.1080/00497878.1992.9978929|issn=0049-7878}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,316115,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070519120321/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,316115,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 19, 2007|title=Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women - EW.com|author=Susan Faludi|work=Entertainment Weekly's EW.com|access-date=August 9, 2015}}</ref> In this manner, the series was seen as "seemingly progressive but substantially conservative in its construction of reality."<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Loeb|first1=Jane Connelly|title=Rhetorical and Ideological Conservatism in thirtysomething|journal=Critical Studies in Mass Communication|date=1 September 1990|volume=7|issue=3|pages=249–260|doi=10.1080/15295039009360177|issn=0739-3180}}</ref>

===''Oxford English Dictionary''===
Almost immediately after the introduction of the show, the term "Thirtysomething" became a [[catchphrase]] used to designate [[baby boomer]]s in their thirties. This cultural shift was reinforced by the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'', which added "Thirtysomething" in 1993 (under the word "thirty") and defined the term as follows:

:Draft additions 1993 - n. [popularized as a catch-phrase by the U.S. television programme thirtysomething, first broadcast in 1987] colloq. (orig. U.S.) an undetermined age between thirty and forty; spec. applied to members of the ‘baby boom’ generation entering their thirties in the mid-1980s; also attrib. or as adj. phr. (hence, characteristic of the tastes and lifestyle of this group).<ref>{{cite news| url= http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/200888?rskey=oMtfpj&result=1#eid18574179 |work=Oxford English Dictionary|title=thirtysomething}}</ref>