Growing up in the 1990s still feels like five minutes ago, except suddenly it's the stuff of history.
Literally. My six-year-old came home to say she had to find a themed costume 'History Day' at school. The theme? The 1990s. I've never felt so old.
On one level, it doesn't feel like much has changed since my formative years.
There are no jetpacks or flying cards in 2022 despite sci-fi's best guesses, but with a glut of recent dramas rehashing the history, notably Impeachment: An American Crime Story and Pose, suddenly curtains, double denim and the advent of the world wide web are back front and centre.
The latest TV series to return to this time period is Pam and Tommy, which launched this week to much fanfare on Disney Plus, highlighting one of the most infamous celebrity scandals of the 1990s.
Pamela Anderson was the ingenue star of Baywatch, famed for running very slowly along the shoreline in the iconic red bikini.
Tommy Lee was the drummer of heavy metal band Motley Crue, famed for heavy drinking and wild partying.
The pair met on New Year's Eve in idyllic, hedonistic Mexico and were married four days later.
But even more of a tabloid scandal than their surprise marriage was the sex tape the couple recorded privately during their honeymoon, which was later stolen and distributed across the world thanks to people being able to buy it easily on illegal VHS tapes from this new-fangled thing called the internet.
The eight part series is pitched as a quirky comedy drama that explores the real story of what happened to the couple, the man who stole the tape and everyone involved in what happened next.
With such awkward subject matter, embracing the chaos that ensues as being at points darkly funny is a big ask.
Not just because nowadays what happened would probably be classed as revenge porn and involve jail time for the men who made millions from a private moment but also the domestic violence that saw the titular couple's marriage crack under the strain.
With such a conflict between subject and tone Pam and Tommy doesn't quite hit the right note.
There is so much in the series that is actually brilliant.
The transformations of both Lily James and Sebastian Stan as the eponymous couple are jaw-droppingly accurate, and they both give nuanced performances - with James in particular able to make Anderson much more than the pop-culture stereotype she has been for decades.
The writing and direction is at points funny, with I, Tonya director Craig Gillespie hitting a similar tone in the three episodes he directed as in the ice skating dramedy he previously worked on with Stan.
There's a solid supporting cast including Seth Rogen as the embittered carpenter who steals the tape and sets in motion everything that follows with the help of the ever-brilliant bewhiskered Nick Offerman's Uncle Miltie.
Meanwhile the soundtrack is worthy of its retro Spotify playlist, the outfits are glorious and the reminder of some of the more ludicrous elements of life in the 1990s in terms of tech and tradition alike are very fun.
But none of this counts for anything when the main premise of the series is so very flawed.
In the 1990s a private moment between a consenting adult couple was unleashed on the world without them having any say in it.
Both of them became notorious. Pamela Anderson in particular became the punchline of rude jokes across the world while men made millions from her.
She had no choice. No agency. No dignity.
It was clearly traumatic for her - even the show Pam and Tommy itself shows the ramifications.
So why have Disney Plus, Gillespie et al made this show, without Anderson's consent?
We like to think, 30 years on, that society is less misogynistic. That women have more say over their lives.
In the case of the Impeachment series, which showed so brutally how Monica Lewinsky was treated by the press, politicians and the then-President alike, the former intern herself took a producing role.
This allowed her to put her side across and - one assumes - gave her a sense of finally getting her say and some of the financial benefit of revisiting the story once more.
But that's not the case here. Pamela Anderson did not take part in the series. She actively said she didn't want it to happen.
And yet here she is. Again. With people hijacking her sexuality and story for their own ends and, yes, to profit from it whether she wants them to or not.
And that means that despite the elements of the series that are notable, exceptional even, this is an uncomfortable watch that feels, ultimately pointless and actually a bit mean spirited.
Just because you can do something doesn't mean that you should.
* Pam and Tommy airs on Disney Plus. The first three episodes went live this week and the rest of the series will be released every Wednesday.
