Oh I loved Ellen in the 90s too! And was similarly gutted when it got cancelled. I used to love her interplay with Bruce Campbell when his character bought the bookstore and became her boss. I was a huge Campbell fan so it was a real treat for him to suddenly turn up as a recurring character. I used to look forward to those eps
I didn't get into the second sitcom she did so much though. I'd have loved a couple more series of the original.
Re: the cold war -
I suspect that had more resonance for you guys than it did for us generally, but the fear of nuclear armagedon was a big thing here too. I remember lying awake at night about that. When I was a little kid, saying my prayers at night (yes, I know, don't laugh) along with asking God to make sure my family were safe, i'd also pray that there wouldn;t be a nuclear war - but I was so convinced it would eventually happen I included a caveat: that if there had to be a nuclear war could it be after I'd grown up and any children I had grew up and any children they had grew up...