Nonsense. Cultural history transferrence is a thing, I did not have to have watched Gilligan’s Island or the Honeymooners to get the references in every 80s tv show, it became clear from the context and its own meta joke.
So no, just like a GenX-er did not need to have been a Baby Boomer to undestand the “One of these days Alice, Bang! Zoom! Straight to the moon!” reference, a Gen Z-er can quite easily get references about Gen X series from the frequency and context they encounter them.
Not to mention, streaming services are just about everywhere. If you look at the right time, sometimes you can even find entire seasons of shows on YouTube.
Do some of the people from older generations commenting suddenly forget about the rest of the internet or what? Lol
Some of us also have parents who collect DVD, CDs, Blu-Rays and more. I find it hard to believe that an entire generation would just be unaware especially with how all over the place media is
I can confirm this. I am a huge fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000. I am Gen X. They were self-described “post-boomer(s).” I didn’t get some of the references to pop culture older than me, but often the delivery made it funny anyway. And people much younger than me who love the show feel the same way.
My mom (border of gen x and boomer) explained all the references to me when I was a kid watching Futurama for the first time. Honestly, Futurama and seeking out information related to the references (either my parents would tell me or I’d look it up in the 2010s when I really started having access to the internet) is probably the biggest way I learned about past culture. At this point I’m explaining the references to my kid but he really is just so far removed from it. Because they’re from like 4 generations ago and have been referenced so much since. Still interesting but I do feel like it, “hits different” as the teens say.