Honestly those are probably from the early 2000s, not the 90s.

Used to think the pure bleak version was always better, but @river182 is right about needing that sliver of hope sometimes. A totally dark story can just make people shut down and miss the point. Now I see both ways can be honest, depending on who's watching.

Backstage at my old community theater, we went with orange for anything that made noise, purple for paperwork, and plain brown for the heavy set pieces. That system got us through more than one unexpected blackout without a total meltdown.