One of the things I like best about Rifftrax...

[Teaflax]

It seems like they're falling into the same trap that they made such an effort of avoiding on MST3K.

I disagree about the characterization. There are plennnnty of time- and location-specific and at the very least semi-obscure jokes in pretty much every episode of MST3K.

From Space Mutiny (cribbing from DAP's annotated episodes): Roland Gift, Gwen Stefani, Jonathan Winters, Billie Holiday, DX7, Pat Riley, Armand Assante, Paco Rabanne, Melissa Manchester, 2001, Debbie Reynolds, Kenner, Calgon, John Waters, Susan Powter, Surge, Robbie Robertson, Zubaz, Macarena, Wicca, Tupperware, Mother Angelica, The New Monkees, Gopher from The Love Boat, Grandpa from The Munsters, Herbie/Hermy the misfit elf, Billie Jean King, Rick Springfield, Starburst, The Thompson Twins, Wang Chung, Metracal, Annie Sprinkle, Nick and Nora Charles, Jack Kevorkian, The Monster Mash, Lord of the Dance, Martin Short's character Ed Grimley, Roddy McDowall, Mitch Gaylord, Blitzen,  Clement Moore's poem A Visit from Saint Nicholas, ISO 9001 certification, Shelley Duvall, Pantene Pro-V, Metamucil, Lance Kerwin, Mitch Miller, Vanilla Ice, The Honeymooners, Pac-Man, The Commodores, Rick Astley, Morgan Fairchild, Phil Collins, The Poseidon Adventure, Rawhide, Oakridge Boys, Dolph Lundgren, Larraine Newman, Kitaro, Zantac, Spider-Man (TV series), The Three Stooges, Ben Hur, Wacky Races, Toro, Days of Thunder, Fuzzy Zoeller, Lee Trevino, Survivor (the band), Guy Pringle, Flashdance, Journey, Corey Hart.

Now, I figure general common knowledge should get you at least half of the above, another quarter for having a basic grasp of general US Pop Culture, but that leaves 25% that's either very obscure, specialized or time-specific.

I wouldn't want it any other way, myself.

[6079SmithW]

I'm guessing in 10 years the Federline jokes will be funny because he'll be an extremely obscure pop-culture footnote, so they'll work on a Family Guy kind of level.

Eh. Family Guy deals in extremely obvious and common-place cultural references, and tend also to divorce them more or less from any jokes. So the comparison is kind doubtful, quite apart from the insult of comparing the intelligence and wit of The Riffers to the low-brow, pandering dumb-guy humor of FG.

My point was not that they're particularly like Family Guy, it's that extremely dated pop culture references eventually become funny again.