( CNN ) -- If every generation has a moment where they adopt a rose-colored perspective of the people and pop culture of its past , the 20-somethings had their turn in 2011 . Those who came of age in the '80s and '90s now span the demographic that 's exiting college or creeping into their 30s . As they do so , various cultural outlets are recreating or referencing the TV shows , movies , fashion and music on which they were raised . This year , we were reacquainted with the staccato giggles of the animated `` Beavis and Butt-Head , '' which returned to MTV after originally appearing on the network from 1993 to 1997 . And then , in perhaps the biggest TV flashback , was TeenNick 's weekly late-night block of programming , `` The '90s Are All That . '' At the box office , 1994 's `` The Lion King '' was re-released in 3-D in September , and we can now expect 1991 's `` Beauty and the Beast '' and 1989 's `` The Little Mermaid '' to be theatrically re-released in 3-D as well . It 's the same deal with James Cameron 's 1997 blockbuster `` Titanic , '' which will also be back in theaters in 3-D in the spring . Not to mention `` The Muppets '' being dusted off for another theatrical jaunt this year , courtesy of `` How I Met Your Mother '' star Jason Segel ( a series that thrives on the theme of nostalgia and looking back ) . This year was kind to the musicians of the '90s , as NKOTBSB -- the supergroup made up of New Kids on the Block and the Backstreet Boys -- pulled in $ 40 million with their tour , according to the Hollywood Reporter . And if that was n't enough , the very depiction of '90s whimsy , Lisa Frank , has added clothing to its swath of school supplies . Of course , they 'd be remiss to not have adult sizes . It seems that while the kids have grown up , a lot of the culture that surrounds them has n't . 'You sort of want to relive your youth ' `` Trends tend to be really cyclical , but we 're also in the Facebook generation , and these are the people who are the most visible online and have the biggest presence , '' said Robyn Ross , staff editor for TVGuide.com . `` As you come out of college and you 're looking for a job , you 're looking back at your childhood as the days when you did n't have to work and did n't have to think about a career ; that 's the perfect time to be nostalgic . You sort of want to relive your youth . '' This theory could be especially applicable now , as young Americans are trying to navigate the murky waters of the economy and their future prospects . According to the U.S. Census Bureau , the proportion of young adults living at home with parents has increased between 2005 and 2011 with 19 % of men ages 25-34 living with parents these days as compared with 14 % in 2005 . For women , that shift went from 8 % to 10 % in the same time frame . It would n't be surprising if everyone wanted to go back to when Mayim Bialik was just `` Blossom '' instead of `` The Big Bang Theory 's '' Amy Farrah Fowler . And to that extent , `` executives are capitalizing on that , '' says TVGuide.com 's Ross . Indeed , Nickelodeon 's TeenNick launched its '90s programming block in response to consumer demand . ( A tagline on its website reads : `` Remember when life did n't suck ? '' ) Keith Dawkins , senior vice president and general manager of Nicktoons and TeenNick , recalled that it was about a year or so ago that execs first noticed the longing for programs that emerged in the early-to-mid-'90s such as `` Doug , '' `` Clarissa Explains It All , '' `` Kenan and Kel '' and `` All That . '' Today 's social media calls for the 1990s . `` We really started to notice digitally on social media sites -- Facebook , Twitter , various video based sites -- that there was this chatter and noise by fans that they wanted their '90s Nickelodeon back , '' Dawkins said . `` There was even a Facebook page that was , ' I want my '90s Nickelodeon back . ' `` Coupled with an army of interns in the same age range who could `` put a face '' to the online fans -- which Dawkins said they estimated to be some 15 million strong -- executives at the channel decided to go with it . When the programming block bowed on July 25 at midnight , placed at that time period to indicate that this was for the adults who remembered the shows and not necessarily kids , it was a hit . Ratings for that 12 a.m.-2 a.m. time period , which was on a Monday , were around 500 % higher in the 18-34 demographic , according to a statement from the network . When these adults were kids , the expansive cable market we know today was just beginning to grow , and here they were at 7 , 8 , and 9 years of age with an entire network just for them , Dawkins said . `` This '90s Nickelodeon thing -- it 's not just about the shows , '' he concluded . `` It 's about the environment , the packaging , and everything that was going on at that time . They view Nickelodeon [ of the '90s ] as the golden age , because they 're so deeply emotionally connected to that time period . '' Stars of yesteryear come back for second round . That strong emotional tie could also explain why , as TVGuide.com 's Ross points out , some stars of the '90s are getting back into the spotlight . ( And then , you also have to acknowledge that it has n't been quite long enough for them to have fallen that far from our radar in the first place . ) In addition to Bialik on CBS ' `` Big Bang Theory , '' there 's her former `` Blossom '' co-star Joey Lawrence , who has starred on ABC Family 's `` Melissa and Joey '' with `` Clarissa Explains It All '' and `` Sabrina , the Teenage Witch '' star Melissa Joan Hart since 2010 . James Van Der Beek , he of `` Dawson 's Creek '' fame , is expected to appear on ABC 's `` Do n't Trust the B**** in Apartment 23 '' in 2012 in a role that essentially has him playing himself . Even an event such as when Jonathan Taylor Thomas turned 30 this fall can cause the Internet to pause long enough to have a sustained fan-girl swoon , recalling crushes on the `` JTT '' of Tim Allen 's '90s sitcom `` Home Improvement . '' `` Fans are watching these [ shows ] because they 're also remembering what they were like when they grew up watching them , '' Ross said . The actors themselves are `` sort of playing on that , very successfully . '' If it seems odd that we 're wistful for that which does n't feel quite that long ago , recall that : ( a ) more than 20 years have indeed passed since 1990 , and ( b ) it could be because not a lot has changed . Is nostalgia crimping creativity today ? `` Digital technology has made it so much easier to access the past . You can YouTube almost any video , TV clip , or just the sound . It 's used almost as an audio library , '' said Simon Reynolds , author of `` Retromania . '' `` Young people today know vastly more in terms of the history of music than I would have at their age , because I could n't access it -- there were limits . Cassettes cost money . Now , you can listen to virtually anything for nothing , if you 're willing to download illegally . You can school yourself on the whole history of music on YouTube . ... It 's not so much about finding new things , but about finding old things that are new to you. `` Awareness and understanding of history is not a bad thing ( far from it ) , and neither is being able to creatively use prior cultural events to help fuel new creations . But , Reynolds believes , our innovation seems to have comparatively slowed . `` [ In ] previous decades in pop culture , like the '60s and the '90s , there was a lot of emphasis on the new , on looking forward to the future , on innovation and change , '' he says . `` The '60s was crazy for everything new and breaking tradition , and in the '90s there was n't that as to the extent of the '60s , but there was information technology and a lot of things that seemed very new . And , they were both periods that were relatively economically prosperous . '' But in the past decade , he suggests that forward-thinking view `` seems to have really died away in culture , except with things like phones and personal communication technology . I think that 's one of the reasons why people are so obsessed with Steve Jobs , because he was the one bringing the science fiction future into everyday life. `` Although it 's arguable that the `` mash-up '' or the `` remix , '' by which one would take references from pop culture of the past and reinterpret it for the present , is the innovation of today , Reynolds is n't buying it . `` So much pop culture has become archived in such an accessible way , you have young people who are nostalgic for things long before they were born , '' he said . `` I think that 's a bleak view , if that 's the future , that culture will just keep recycling and recycling . Everything will get very familiar , at a certain point . People can do it very creatively , but I think at a certain point , things will seem kind of stale , and people would 've seen it all before . '' And yet , judging from the positive reaction consumers have had to the culture of their childhood being surfaced once again , having seen it all before seems to be exactly the way we want it .
This year reacquainted us with plenty of ' 90s hits . At the box office , Disney 's ` ` The Lion King '' was re - released in 3-D in September . Nickelodeon 's TeenNick launched its ' 90s programming block in response to popular demand . It seems that while the kids have grown up , a lot of the culture that surrounds them has n't .