Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block has been showing old episodes of "Saved by the Bell." It's a departure for an animated network to show live action programming, especially such a crappy show, but after thinking about it for a minute, it makes perfect sense.

My generation has more than a few things to apologize for, like emo, but we've also been partially involved with humor's slow turn from genuine comedy to self-aware pseudo-irony. Everyone my age saw every episode of "Saved by the Bell" growing up; it was unavoidable. And no one likes the show, but everyone "likes" it. It's an awful, unfunny show, but it's such a part of the culture of our youth that references to Zack Morris' brick phone are still perfectly understandable and acceptable.

This is why it makes sense for Adult Swim to air a few episodes of the show. Most of their programming aims for my demographic with absurd characters, and it usually works. And what better way to bring in more falsely jaded twentysomethings than by rerunning the crappy show they grew up with and already love to mock?