Beavis and Butt-Head Return in 2011 amidst 90s Revival

The 90's are back! If you need any proof - and I doubt you do - look no further than the 2011 reboot of the quintessential 1990's series Beavis and Butt-Head, set to grace a television screen near you on its much-hyped premiere date, Thursday Oct. 27.

B&B return at time when 90s nostalgia is blossoming. An October 12 article in the Wall Street Journal titled I Love the '90s declares that vintage clothing from fashion's least appreciated decade finally has its moment.

The article, which officially declares '90s vintage, notes that the fall 2011 collections are flooded with '90s references.

If you're starting to feel old, the Nick at Nite lineup now includes Friends, The Nanny, and Home Improvement. Pop up Video has returned to the VH1 lineup and a re-release of a 90's classic, The Lion King, pounced the competition with a #1 spot at the box office for two weeks in September.

Furthermore, the novelty store Spencer Gifts, a staple at shopping malls across America, recently reported a dramatic spike in the sales of Barney-related paraphernalia.

So, as we sit on our couches in our '90s flannels playing with our kitsch dinosaur toys and daydreaming about the glory days of yesteryear - it begins to make a whole lot of sense why two of the periods' biggest social critics, Beavis and Butt-Head, decided to cackle their way onto television screens once again.

I would call Mike Judge [the show's creator] every year MTV's Van Toffler told the New York Times Magazine. He stopped trying for a few years, but then a year ago it worked. It just hit me that pop culture missed Beavis and Butt-Head's point of view on life, Toffler said, and at the same time, we needed a way to get a male perspective back on MTV.

Many would argue that television has not only missed B&B's view, but has never been so ripe with fodder.

14 years after retiring the notorious duo, creator and voice actor Mike Judge finally agreed to bring the much loved - and much hated - show back to MTV.

Judge said he ended Beavis and Butt-Head back in 1997 because he was burnt out after producing about 200 15-minute cartoons (two per episode).

He went on to create the Fox comedy King of the Hill (which ended its 13-year run in 2010), along with a string of major motion pictures including Office Space, Idiocracy and Extract.

Now, Beavis and Butt-Head returns to TV to take on the next generation of trash.

These days, the television landscape is vastly different. In an era of South Park and Family Guy, don't expect B&B to represent everything that's wrong with the nation. In many ways, that torch has been passed.

B&B take aim largely at reality TV shows like MTV's Jersey Shore and 16 and Pregnant.

Ironically, attempts to poke fun at The Real World - the seminal 90s reality television show - didn't quite click during the show's first run. This time around, realty TV will be the main topic.

While reality TV has blessed us with a myriad of idiots to laugh at, the 2011 reboot of Beavis and Butt-Head could hardly be called an update.

Much remains unchanged. Beavis and Butt-head wear the same clothes (heavy-metal T-shirts), still (barely) attend Highland High, and still carry out the same routine (or lack thereof), commenting on the boob-tube with their deceptively acute commentary.

Many of the old characters, such as classmate Stewart and hippie teacher Mr. Van Dreesen, will be back, as will Beavis' alter ego, Cornholio.

The characters are no smarter, nor are they wiser than before. The format of the half-hour show also remains the same, with two vignettes in addition to interludes of the guys sitting on a dirty couch in a room that has holes in the wall, critiquing television. Even the production method of the animated series remains largely unchanged, though the colors are now produced digitally.

The layout of the show is not as original as it was back in the 90s. In a world full of Tosh.0, Watch What Happens, and Chelsea Lately, plenty of others are commenting on the wild world of reality television and pop culture memes. Yet, few could do it as sardonically and few could put it as bluntly as B&B did in the 90s.

As pop icons of the era, Beavis and Butt-Head represented the ethos of Generation X. They were slackers and shoe gazers. It's been said that Generation X is the most ignored, misunderstood, and disheartened generation America has ever seen, and B&B played into that.

Generation X is also the first generation to have instant access to the entire library of their pop culture history.

Will Beavis and Butt-Head click with a new generation? It's hard to say. But it couldn't have come at a better time.

The official Beavis and Butt-Head return date is Thursday Oct. 27 at 10/9c on MTV. Watch two of the promos below: