This article is about the decade starting at the beginning of 2000 and ending at the end of 2009. For the century or millennium starting in 2000 (or technically 2001), see the links below.
The 2000sdecade refers to the years from 2000 to 2009, inclusive. Informally, it can also include a few years at the end of the preceding decade or the beginning of the following decade. Many people feel that the 2000s is no different culturally from the 1990s, or actually began during the late 1990s, most likely around the year 1998 in a pop-cultural sense. Others believe it pop culturally began right on target in 2000 or around 2002. Some also state that the decade (and, the 21st Century) also began in a symbolic way after the 9/11 attacks, although this would be considered by many to be a pessimistic opinion.
So far, the 2000s has been marked generally with an escalation of the social issues of the 1990s, which included the rise of terrorism, the rapid, exponential expansion of economic globalization on an unprecedented scale, the rapid expansion of communications and telecommunications with mobile phones and the Internet, international pop culture, and an extraordinary rapid rate of increase of stress for the public in most nations.
In North America, Europe, and the Middle East, most major political developments in the 2000s revolved around the War on Terrorism and the conflict in Iraq. Elsewhere, the major theme has been the rapid development of Asia's economic and political potential, with China, experiencing immense ecomonic growth, moving toward the status of a regional power and billion-consumer market. India, along with many other developing countries are also growing rapidly, began integrating itself into the world economy.
A trend connecting economic and political events in North America, Asia and the Middle East is the rapidly increasing demand for fossil fuels, which, along with fewer new petroleum finds, greater extraction costs (see peak oil), and political turmoil, saw the price of gas and oil soar ~500% between 2000 and 2005.
Names of the decade
In contrast to the decades from 1920 to 1999, which are called "The Twenties", "The Nineties", and the like; the '00s have had no universally-accepted name. Some refer to the decade as "The Two Thousands", but many find that usage awkward and incorrect for a number of reasons, most notably the fact that, formally, the "Two Thousands" (that is, years whose spoken name begins with the words "two thousand") will last for a thousand years and not just the ten years of the "00" decade. Written in numeral form, the decade can be written either as the "2000s" or as the "'00s". But looking for a name that has the same "feel" as 'The Nineties' or 'The Fifties' has been problematic, especially in the United States.
In the rest of the English-speaking world "The Noughties" and "The Noughts" have come to be the most widely recognized and accepted terms.[1] The term "Noughties" has been adopted by the BBC,[2] and while the term may not be quite universal, there is no other term so widely recognized. Probably the only reason that the term "Noughties" has not been completely accepted world wide is the fact that, in the United States (where usage of "naught"—meaning 'zero'—has never been ubiquitous), there is some confusion by those who assume erroneously that the term has something to do with the adjective "naughty".
This decade has occasionally been termed, in historical contexts, as the "turn of the century". But this term—just as when it was used in the early 20th century—does not clearly refer to a precise 10-year period, and indeed, originally carried the connotation of being the last years of a century. The somewhat less wan expression, "turn of the millenium", shares this ambiguity of meaning.
Other proposed names have been almost innumerable. In the US, "the zeroes", "double-aughts", "2K's", "uh-ohs", "zoogs", "ozies", "abs", and "tweens" have all been put forward, as has the term "Tommies" [from Turn Of the Millenium] in the UK. But these other suggestions usually represent the wishes of individuals, and do not generally represent any burgeoning consensus.
The United Nations General Assembly declared the decade of 2000-2009 as the "International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World."[3]
September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on New York's World Trade Center and Virginia's Pentagon killing almost 3000 people. A resultant change in stance towards international terrorism (See New Era and War on Terror) has ripple effects on the USA's foreign policy and military strategy.
United States expands international influence, in particular in the Middle East. The US also holds a number of war games pertaining to the Strait of Taiwan in preparation for a possible war with the People's Republic of China over a Taiwanese secession. China and Russia display a strategic relationship during a simulated "humanitarian" crisis in the same region during Peace Mission 2005.
In America, as the Baby Boomers get set for retirement, Generation X begins to step up into political power, signified by the election of Illinois senator Barack Obama. Generation X grew in pop culture with the 1980s and 1990s.
The world's view of the United States changes in the 2000s, particularly due to the interventionist policies of the Bush administration. Other issues such as Hurricane Katrina, NSA warrantless surveillance controversy, and the Iraq War cause a polarisation in many American's views of George Bush's presidency. In late 2005 and early 2006, some Democrat politicians begin to consider calling for an impeachment inquiry into Bush's actions.
Extreme political polarization in the United States leads to a rigid geopolitical divide between Red States and Blue States. Families are often bitterly split over political issues, and the youth are more invested in politics than at almost any other time in American history. Animosity reaches such levels that that in some quarters there is somewhat-serious discussion of secession and even the possibility of a civil war. (http://www.pointlesswasteoftime.com/civilwar.html)
The euro becomes legal tender in twelve European Union countries in 2002. It is the largest monetary union in history. The euro eases trade in the Eurozone.
The US dominance over the world economy continues, but economically rising nations and organizations like China and the European Union show signs of becoming contending world powers.
Significant oil price rises. Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline opens on 25 May2005, potentially removing the dependence of the United States and other Western nations on Middle Eastern oil.
The 1990s stock market boom ends in Mid-March to Early September of 2000-2001, due to 9/11 and the tech-bubble burst.
Post-9/11 Recession from 2001-early 2003.
General Motors and Ford lose market share to Japanese Makes such as Toyota and Honda in the US. This trend of General Motors and Ford losing market share to Honda and Toyota started around 1998 in the US and still continues in 2006.
A huge jump in broadband internet usage, from 6% of U.S. internet users in June, 2000 to what one study predicts will be 62% by 2010. Digital music sales rise, accounting for 6% of all music sales in 2005.
Digital cameras become very popular due to rapid decreases in size and cost while photo resolution steadily increases. Sales of film reel cameras diminish greatly as a result.
Google search engine increases trafficability of the internet and "to Google" becomes a verb.
Blogs, portals, and wikis become common electronic dissemination methods for professionals, amateurs, and businesses to conduct knowledge management.
Wikipedia began and grew rapidly, becoming the largest encyclopedia and most well known wiki in the world.
DVDs replace VCR technology as the common standard at video stores.
Due to the major success of broadband Internet connections, Voice over IP begins to gain popularity as a replacement for traditional telephone lines. Major telecommunications carriers begin converting their networks from TDM to VoIP.
Wireless networks become commonplace in homes, education institutes and urban public spaces.
LASIK eye surgery becomes popular as costs and potential risk decreases and results further improve.
OLED (Organic light-emitting diode) technology revolutionizes display technology, making it possible to "print" screens on everyday objects.
Home automation and home robotics become popular in North America; iRobot's "Roomba" is the most successful domestic robot and has sold 1.2 million units.
GPS (Global Positioning System) becomes very popular especially in the tracking of items or people, and the use in cars. Games that utilize the system, such as geocaching, emerge and become popular.
RFID (Radio Frequency ID) becomes widely used in retail giants such as Wal-Mart, as a way to track items and automate stocking and keeping track of items.
DVRs (Digital Video Recorders), typified by TiVo, allow consumers to modify content they watch on TV, and to record TV programs and watch them later, leading to problems as consumers can fast-forward through commercials, making them useless.
Self-serve kiosks become very widely available, used for all kinds of shopping, airplane boarding passes, hotel check-ins, fast food, and car rental.
Emerging use of robotics, especially telerobotics in medicine, particularly for surgery.
Many more computers and other technologies incorporated into vehicles such as Xenon HID headlights, GPS, DVD players, self-diagnosing systems, advanced pre-collision safety systems, memory systems for car settings, back-up sensors and cameras, in-car media systems, MP3 player compatibility, USB drive compatibility, keyless start and entry, satellite radio, voice-activation, cellphone connectivity, adaptive headlights, HUD (Head-Up-Display), infrared cameras, and Onstar (on GM models).
Xbox 360 and other next-generation systems revolutionize the videogame industry in 2005-2006 with photo-realistic graphics, a virtual online gaming world, and interoperability with other digital devices.
The entire videogame industry's profits surpassed the movie industry's in 2004.
The tech bubble burst for the most part in late 2000 and after three years of negative growth the market began its rebound in 2003 and has continued to see moderate growth through 2006.
Videophones are cheap and abundant, yet even by mid-decade, they had not received much attention.
Most cellphone carriers offer video viewing services, internet services, and some offer full music downloads, such as Sprint in 2005. This leads to an almost saturation of cell phone ownership among the public and a decline in the use and locations of payphones.
Science
Astrophysicists studying the universe confirm its age at 13.7 billion years, discover that it will most likely expand forever without limit, and conclude that only 4% of the universe's contents are ordinary matter (the other 96% being still-mysterious dark matter and dark energy).
Controversy over Intelligent Design theory, of which opponents claim is simply disguised Creationism and proponents claim is valid scientific theory
Many Kuiper Belt objects discovered claiming to be a "Tenth Planet", including Quaoar and Sedna, sparking debate over what should and should not be classified as a planetary object.
Culture and religion
The vast proliferation of information technology and digital media leads to many cultural paradigm shifts as people grapple with information overload. Millennials (Generation Y) are commonly thought of as adept at, or even socially dependent on, these technological developments.
Reality television becomes a well-established sector of the television programming industry for most of the early 2000s, switching to more traditional programming starting in the year 2004. Nightly news broadcasts continue to lose viewership to 24-hour internet and cable news broadcasts. Changing television habits that involve increased use of the internet, telephone, and video games and the preponderance of TiVo make marketers rethink the paradigm of the 30-second TV ad. Viral marketing, and product placement within reality television shows and movies are some increasingly used alternatives. Spam is used as an alternative, irritating many.
Same-sex marriage becomes a major cultural issue in developed countries. In 2001, the Netherlands becomes the first country to allow gay couples to wed. This is followed by Belgium in 2003, and by Canada, Spain, and South Africa in 2005. In 2004, Massachusetts becomes the first U.S. state to permit same-sex marriage.
Researchers note that the younger generations are continually beginning to avoid the political labels of liberal and conservative, as they find them confusing. Most young people that can vote or are reaching voting age (18 in the United States) identify as Independents. They are also a rather religious generation. A large chunk of this population are being called "religious centrists," because of their religious outlooks on life and opposition to abortion. Same-sex marriage is a moral issue more and more of these young people see differently than conservative Christian fundamentalists, favoring extending important legal and civil rights to their gay families and friends. These young people also strongly favor strong personal liberties (libertarian policy), pro-environmental laws (green policy) and/or universal health care.
In August 2002 over 18,000 French die in a heatwave coinciding with the summer holidays when the bulk of France's medical and aged care staff are off-duty. Other spikes in mortality amongst the aged and infirm occur across Europe.
Underage consumption of alcohol under supervision of a parent or legal guardian is legalized in many states in the US in early 2005.
Bird flu spreads through South East Asia; countries begin preparing for a potential bird flu epidemic, fearing that it could mutate into a form that could transfer easily from person to person and kill millions of people. Bird flu spreads rapidly into Europe in October 2005.
Criticism of Vladimir Putin's governmental policies and reforms mount and a backlash of Soviet-nostalgia occurs in Russia.
On August 29, 2005Hurricane Katrina strikes southeastern Louisiana, U.S., with winds up to 200 mph, killing more than 1,400 people and devastating the city New Orleans and the Mississippi coast, making this hurricane one of the deadliest hurricanes in known World History. People and life later return to New Orleans, but many analysts expect that New Orleans will never return to its prior state.
A major earthquake in Kashmir kills close to 80,000 people on October 8, 2005, devastating Kashmir and forcing the mass evacuation of mountain towns as winter approaches.
The 2005 Atlantic Basin Hurricane Season becomes the most active on record. First use of the Greek naming system after traditional names exhausted.
Trends and Fashion
Fashion
Fashion becomes less grungy and more excessive, as the wearing of flannel by people under 30 declines and tighter fitting jeans become more commonplace. The "Baggy Jean" craze of the 1990s begins to fade in during the mid '00s.
In the United States, long hair for teenage boys and young men becomes very popular. Shoulder-length hair for young males has become much more mainstream, and is no longer considered just a "skater" and "hick" fashion.
1980s fashion revival: For girls and women large/clunky jewerly, originally popular in the 1980s and early 1990s, return to style circa 2002. Upturned collars on tennis shirts become popular among the youth as well. Some boys begin to wear pink, and the mohawk makes a comeback, becoming more mainstream and less of a generic trend, as it was during the 1990s. Wearing high-heeled boots, specifically tucking one's slacks into them, becomes a popular trend among young women -- which was also a popular trend during the '80s.
Pinstriped button up shirts, blazers, and layers of brightly colored sweaters are popular styles of fashion among young males. The trend was made popular by artists such as Usher and Kanye West in the mid 00's.
Straight Hair on women still remains fashionable in the 00's as it did in the 90's. However, the shoulder-lengthhairstyle ala donned Rachel-cut from the TV show Friends that dominated the 90's is replaced by women growing their hair out to their back section of their body, sometimes as far down as their buttocks, as they did in the 1970s. The "bun" hairstyle of the late 1990s and young adults style circa 2004 in most urban areas, but in some rural areas it still remains in style.
The late '90s popularity of thongunderwear amoung female teens and women declines by the middle of the '00s. Larger undergarments, such as "boy shorts", make a comeback.
Trucker hats, usually made by the Von Dutch company and commonly worn by celebrities such as Ashton Kutcher, become popular in 2003. But the trend quickly falls out of favor.
Urban/Gangsta/Thug and Punk/Goth/Emo become more or less mainstream and are the major fashion and music trends of the '00s.
Wearing baseball caps backwards, common in the 1980s and 1990s, falls out of style in favor of wearing them sideways or forwards until about 2005 when major celebrities, such as the ones on the American Chopper Show bring that trend back into fashion once again.
Fad diets such as Atkins and low carb diets are popular during the early '00s, but fall out of favor circa 2004 in favor of diets heavy in whole grain foods.
Slang words and catch phrases used often in 2000s America include "Retarded", "Fugly", "Manufactured" "Gay", "Crunk", "Wanksta", "Rad", "Whateva", "That's Hot!", "Totally", "Metro", "Tight", "Ill", "Ditty", "Git-R-Dun", "Sick", "Eh-oh", "BOO-YA!", "Pure", and "Werd up"/"word up" Many of them have roots from the 1980s and 1990s, such as the word "totally" and "rad". 1990s hip hop slang such as the word "yo", "da bomb", and "buzz kill" still remains popular in the middle 2000s.
Cell phones become prevalent with teenagers and often a fashion statement as opposed to a preppie toy or a tool primarily for adults and businesspeople. Payphone use and locations decline dramatically because of this.
MP3 players such as the iPod become very common as they become more powerful and easier to use.
Interracial dating and relationships become more common in the US. Interracial couples on television and movies in all manner of gender and racial scenarios become fairly common. It also becomes more (though not yet universally) accepted, helped by the emergence of famous children from interracial marriages, such as Mariah Carey, Derek Jeter, Lenny Kravitz and Johnny Damon (Amer-Asian).
A very strong nostalgia for the 1980s emerges, and as a result many things from the '80s are "brought back" and certain aspects of the decade become cool again such as certain music styles and certain fashions (such as large earrings). Nonetheless, the kinship of the '00s with the 1990s (specifically the late '90s) prevents a complete acceptance of the '80s.
Poker becomes a craze, as many Americans are enticed by online poker rooms and games with their friends and neighbors. The World Series of Poker aired on ESPN becomes a huge success.
Emo goes from being a small subculture in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s to becoming mainstream and fusing with pop-punk and Post-Hardcore, beginning around 2000 but especially later in the decade. Emo pop becomes mainstream circa 2004.
Cyberpunk culture becomes more relevant as the world now is at an almost futuristic level of technology and the 9/11 attacks create a post-apocalyptic atmosphere.
Teenagers with non-heterosexual sexual orientations begin to come out earlier in their lives in a tense society that can either be welcoming or alienating.
Former 1980'sheartthrobTom Cruise oddly morphs something of a joke in the middle of this decade, with people often talking about his rants on Scientology and his peculiar romance with the younger Katie Holmes.
Europe
In Eastern Germany and other ex-Communist countries was for a short time a growth in nostalgia for former Communist times (Ostalgie)(2002).
Because of the Afghanistan and the Iraq War and the politic of president Bush. there is a growing anti-Americanism, especially in Western Europe.
From early in the decade, mobile phones are a necessary accessory, even for the majority of children as young as 10 years old. Ownership approaches 100% of the population in most Western European countries.
Fashion and cosmetic surgery become more mainstream; an increase in interest is most notable in men, influenced by fashion-conscious "celebrities" such as David Beckham.
Chav culture in the United Kingdom becomes a significant fashion/lifestyle choice, especially amongst those in the working class.
Some styles of the 1990s remain strong and even trendy, except for a few such as the girl and boy bands/teen pop of the late '90s that declined in popularity during the early part of the '00s. Most of this can be attributed to the critcism of the genre's "fakeness" and "shallowness" and the growing up of its fanbase. Several artists of the era (i.e. Britney Spears) still maintain a strong media presence in the '00s, but make more headlines for their lives rather than their music. The teen pop genre morphes into a more adult-oriented sound. Artists such as Kelly Clarkson gain favor circa 2002. "Disney" and "Nickelodeon" artists such as Hilary Duff, Lindsay Lohan, Aly & AJ, The Veronicas, Hope Partlow and Jesse McCartney who have more of alternative pop-rock sound become popular during the middle part of the decade, arguably keeping the teen pop era alive within the niche of children and teens who watch such networks.
PopR&B continues to be popular. Artist such as Usher, Beyonce and Alicia Keys are all popular mainstream R&B artist in the 00's.. The style is sometimes fueled by combination with Rap or hip Hop beats. . Pop R&B, along with Hip Hop, dominates mainstream music in the mid '00s. Neo-soul is also popular during the early part of the decade.
Pop country slips in mainstream popularity in the early 2000s, due partly to the public retirement of Garth Brooks. However, the upper part of the Billboard album charts generally has many country albums, including some that go more than double platinum, indicating that the genre has a strong niche in the music industry. The genre grows during the mid 2000's from artists such as Carrie Underwood, who became the first American Idol winner to go into country instead of Pop or R&B.
Dance music (house, techno, drum'n'bass) becomes mainstream.
Ethnic music is mainstream for most of the early to mid '00s, especially in the rise of Reggaeton in late 2005-early 2006.
Sales of CD's in 2005 in the US decline drastically from the teen-pop era of the late 1990's. Some people who grew up listening to 1970's, 1980's, or even 1990's music claim the music industry is going for a younger audience in the 2000's that it has in decades past which might be leading to this drop in record sales. However, Music IndustryExecutives claim the drop in CD sales is due to Napster, and ipod.
Electro, as well as music that combines it with House becomes mainstream in the dance music scene in the middle of the decade, replacing the mainstream of more jazzy and latin influenced sounds from the beginning of the decade
The Chinese metal scene is disrupted by the SARS scare in 2003
Film
In the USA:
Movie remakes and sequels hit an all-time high, in contrast to purely original scripts. Also, many movies based on old TV shows and novels become more popular in Hollywood.
Depressed ticket sales throughout the decade due to general lack of quality films and decline of the general moviegoing experience, as movie theaters keep ticket prices high and increase the duration of advertisements before movies, in some cases going as long as 30 minutes. Other trends emerge, such as the decreasing cost and increasing size of quality home theater displays along with the availability mail-based movie rental services, most notably Netflix, which offered an unlimited number of DVD rentals for a fixed price per month. Movie executives attempted to place some of the blame on online piracy due to the advent of BitTorrent, however its effect has been disputed, as some claim that those who download these movies would not have paid to see them in the first place.
Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, comic book movies, and the new Star Wars movie sagas dominate the box office. The high profitability of these films arguably has much to do with the lack of investment and quality in newer and more original films in the 2000s as opposed to decades like the 1980s and 1990s.
The Matrix very influential on special effect styles (ie: 'bullet-time', dramatic effects in slow motion).
"R" rated films are released at their lowest prevalence since the 1960s, reflecting a post-Columbine American society which increasingly lacks tolerance of violent films. While certain exceptions such as Kill Bill are made in protest of this development and in tribute to the overly violent kung-fu and action films of the 1970s, most action films of the 2000s are largely bloodless.
East Hollywood High School becomes the first public film-oriented charter high school in the world.
Independent films start to emerge as a more popular medium. Major film corporations had or created independent divisions; such as Fox Searchlight and Warner Independent, which saw the popularity of independent (Garden State, Napoleon Dynamite) as well as art-house and foreign film increase.
Disney abandons traditional 2D animation altogether in 2005, with Home on the Range being the last Disney movie with any 2D animation. Disney releases two non-Pixar-produced 3D films (Valiant in the US and Chicken Little) in 2005. Also, in 2006Pixar became a part of Disney, furthering the company's transition into the 3D era, although a return to two-dimensional animation films may not be out of the question under the studio's new management. In 2009, 2-D animation may be the center for almost all animated features in Disney once again.
Brokeback Mountain, a movie about two gay shepherds, is considered controversial by some conservative Americans. Director Lee Ang receives Academy Award in 2006. Many parodies appeared on the Internet during early 2006.
The Internet becomes a major source of all types of media, from music to movies, thanks to file-sharing P2P programs such as KaZaA and Grokster. The debate continues over the ethics of file-sharing.
As people become more used to the Internet during this decade it begins to be spelled lower-cased, called simply "the internet" or "internet" as opposed to "Internet" or "The Internet" which were used almost exclusively during the 1990s
The diverse and spontaneous nature of the internet allows an internet culture to form. Online projects such as hamsterdance, EBaum's World and Homestar Runner become international trends within short periods of time due to word of mouth on and off the web, with little or no promotion required from their creators. Some music acts, such as Arctic Monkeys and Posse of Two became well-known almost entirely from the use of the internet.
Legal music download services such as iTunes and the re-designed Napster open up a new market of digital downloading and becomes the number 1 music swapping program of all time.
Television and Internet begin to merge as networks start streaming shows online.
Craigslist.org, a popular online classified site, saps over 50 million dollars a year from newspaper revenues, with a staff of only 16 people in San Francisco.
Re-cut trailers become popular in the mid-2000s, largely due to the many parody trailers of Brokeback Mountain during the 2005-2006 winter. Popular examples include "Brokeback to the Future", Lazy Brokeback, and the Sleepless in Seattle trailer cut into a horror movie.
Social networking programs Myspace, Xanga, Facebook, and MyYearbook become extremely popular among teens and twenty-somethings, inspiring others to share and trade personal information via online. These sites, in particular Myspace are critisized by many for safety concerns such as their use by pedophiles to exploit children.
Video games
Next Generation Consoles: The first batch of "next-generation" home consoles are released at the turn of the new millennium featuring larger production values, more realistic graphics, and consoles with built-in multimedia such as DVD and a hard drive. Sony Playstation 2 (2000), Nintendo Gamecube (2001), and the Microsoft Xbox (2001) are the three main contenders in the ever raging console wars.
The Sims, released in fall of 2000 for PC, along with its expansions becomes the best selling video game of all time. The Sims 2, released in 2004 become almost as popular.
Sega in 2001 drops out the home console market after the Dreamcast (1999) fails to regain lost marketshare from the 1990s.
Nintendo releases the Game Boy Advance (GBA) in 2001, a 32-bit handheld system. A redesign of the GBA dubbed Game Boy Advance SP (GBASP) was released in 2003 introducing flip-top design and a frontlit screen. Another even smaller version of the GBA was released as the Game Boy micro in 2005. The GBA line is still the best selling handheld system today.
Gamers who were kids in the 1980s and 1990s are now adults. The average age for video game players rises into the mid to late 20s as videogames become mainstream global entertainment.
Grand Theft Auto series sparks a fad of Mature rated videogames based on including gang warfare, drug use, senseless violence and pornography into the gameplay or more commonly just the storyline. The controversy is followed by mothers, lawmakers and activists (such as Jack Thompson) pushing an agenda to ban the sale of Mature rated games to minors.
Console gaming officially hits the Internet with Xbox Live. Introducing widespread use of voice-chat via headset and requiring broadband Internet connection for "no-lag" gameplay.
Sequels become the more prominent as popular franchises begin releasing new versions every year along with spin-offs. This flooding of the market is similar to what was happening before the video game crash of 1983.
Nintendo releases the Nintendo DS in late 2004 featuring dual screens, a touch screen, built-in mic and Wi-fi, and flip top design. The system's innovation allowed for new gameplay strengthening many genres such as simulation, platform, and puzzle games.
Sony releases the PSP (PlayStation Portable) in early 2005, a handheld gaming console with many multimedia features and sharp graphics to compete with the Nintendo DS and the still popular GameBoy Advance.
Around 2006 a new wave of consoles appears: Nintendo chooses to focus on innovation with new controller design for their 5th home console, Wii (expected 2006), while the MicrosoftXbox 360 (2005) and the SonyPlaystation 3 (expected 2006) have sharper HDTV ready graphics, multi-media and more integrated online features.
Reality TV shows, such as The Apprentice, Survivor, and The Amazing Race have become extremely popular, beginning in the year 2000. The rise of "Reality" to the main networks was one of the first trends that differentiated 2000s television from that of the 1990s. As early as the second season (2001-2002) of Reality TV some fans of the genre began to tire of the trend.
Medical TV shows, which rose to popularity in the mid-1990s with ER, are in vogue, along with crime shows.
Rise of media violence, sex, and language decreases with the 2004 Janet Jackson incident at the Super Bowl. The FCC made their censorship rules more conservative at this point.
The animated TV series South Park is popular among a large minority, especially around the opening of the decade. Its major attraction, a blatant disregard for political correctness, is also a repulsion for many.
The Nineties sitcom Friends ends in 2004 in a similar fashion to the end of Cheers in 1993.
Nickelodeon nearly abandons the live-action shows it had in the 1980s and 1990s in favor of Nicktoons. This ends towards the middle of the decade, as the network adds live-action fare such as Drake & Josh (2004-), Unfabulous (2004-), and Zoey 101 (2005-). In addition, the network begins to skew to a younger audience than in previous years, cancelling programs popular among teenagers, such as Invader Zim and As Told By Ginger, in favor of programs for younger adolescents, such as All Grown Up, Unfabulous, and Zoey 101.
Disney Channel shifts from classic Disney programming to live-action shows in late 1990s and early 2000s (see Zoog Disney), while turning towards original cartoons beginning in 2000 with The Proud Family(2001-2005), The Weekenders (2000-2004) and later Kim Possible (2002-2005). Disney might bring backs it's classic feel around the time this decade closes as many of the popular teen actors and singers reach adulthood. Disney Channel might also release an "Disney Classics" which plays classic Disney shorts, movies, and old Disney Channel originals that were aired before the year 2000.
The Simpsons remains incredibly popular throughout the 2000s along with several other animated sitcoms and Family Guy returns with new episodes in May of 2005 after a 3-year cancellation.
The tradition of afterschool and Saturday morning cartoon lineups in syndication all but disappears. They are considered redundant in light of the Cartoon Network.
24-Hour Cable News Channels began to surpass the major broadcast networks as the main source for obtaining news on television. Fox News led the cable market with such programs as The O'Reilly Factor and On the Record with Greta Van Susteren while CNN, with CNN Headline News, and MSNBC attempted to compete with such programs as Anderson Cooper 360, Nancy Grace, Hardball with Chris Matthews, and Countdown with Keith Olbermann. Trends indicated that viewers appear to prefer to get their news from sources that reinforce their opinions rather than seek out information that challenges these opinions. The trend of cable news channels overtaking broadcast networks in news coincided with the retirements of Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather from the anchor desks at the evening news programs of NBC and CBS respectively along with the death of ABC NewsWorld News Tonight anchor Peter Jennings in 2005. Cable News anchors and reporters gain fan followings on the Internet though most are due to physical appearance and sex appeal rather than journalistic abilities or delivery of the news. Notable examples of this trend include Rudi Bakhtiar, Laurie Dhue, Robin Meade, and Juliet Huddy spawning such terms as Newsbabe and Infobabe.
Increasing use of satellite radio. By 2006, XM claim 6 million subscribers and Sirius claim 3 million.
Daytime Talk Shows, though still a staple of programming on broadcast television tend to lose influence on society, especially so-called controversial "Trash TV" talk shows, which almost disappear from the airwaves except for The Jerry Springer Show and Maury after being a staple of programming in the 1990s. Perennial daytime talk icon Oprah Winfrey remains at the top of the ratings and most daytime talk shows are oriented towards interviews with entertainers rather than discussions of personal and controversial subjects compared to the 1980s and the 1990s.
In place of period dramas, many new drama series were broadcast which were expensively produced and adopted some American styles. Popular shows included Doctor Who, Spooks, Hustle and Waking the Dead.
Digital Television allowed for greater choice when watching major sports events such as the Olympic Games and Wimbledon Tennis.
Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) gained popularity; by 2004 most new radio sets sold in the UK were capable of receiving DAB signals. Many new specialist radio stations are almost exclusively broadcast via DAB.
Baseball in the United States undergoes controversy and Congressional scrutiny due to steroids; stars such as Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire, ranked #1 and #2 in single-season home runs, are suspected to have used steroids, while others such as Jason Giambi and Rafael Palmeiro are confirmed to have been using the drugs.
Football continues to become more popular; Superbowl XL becomes the second most watched television event in history.
Beach volleyball becomes an increasingly popular sport worldwide, establishing its first generation of superstars and branching out into large inland cities.
Football (known as "soccer" to Americans), particularly British, begins to gain popularity amongst North Americans.
