[1] The series focuses on a group of baby boomers in their thirties who live in Philadelphia, and how they handle the lifestyle that dominated American culture during the 1980s given their involvement in the early 1970s counterculture as young adults.
[12] The show reflected the angst felt by baby boomers and yuppies in the United States during the 1980s,[13] such as the changing expectations related to masculinity and femininity introduced during the era of second-wave feminism.
[14] It also introduced "a new kind of hour-long drama, a series that focused on the domestic and professional lives of a group of young urban professionals, a socio-economic category of increasing interest to the television industry [...] its stylistic and story-line innovations led critics to respect it for being 'as close to the level of an art form as weekly television ever gets,' as the New York Times put it.
"[12] During its four-year run, Thirtysomething "attracted a cult audience of viewers who strongly identified with one or more of its eight central characters, a circle of friends living in Philadelphia.
"[12] Even after its cancellation in 1991, it continued to influence television programming, "in everything from the look and sound of certain TV advertisements, to other series with feminine sensibilities and preoccupations with the transition from childhood to maturity (Sisters), to situation comedies about groups of friends who talk all the time (Seinfeld).
"[12] The show also influenced the British television series Cold Feet, which featured similar storylines and character types.
The creator of Cold Feet wanted his show to be in the mould of successful American TV series like Thirtysomething and Frasier.
She suggests that it exhibited a disdainful attitude toward single, working, and feminist women (Melissa, Ellyn, and Susannah) while at the same time "exalting homemakers" (Hope and Nancy).
[25] Over the next few weeks, Odette Annable was cast as Janey Steadman and Patrick Fugit and Auden Thornton as Ethan and Brittany Weston.