Should the Nick era be considered, "the third generation?"
 

You know how Pokemon separates its eras by different generations? And how right now Pokemon is on its 5th generation of both games and anime?

Should we consider the Nick era the, "third generation" of the TMNT franchise?

It basically is the third generation.

if you only count the animated series, yes.

yup third generation now, woot woot, lets go for a 4th!

I consider the first generation the entire Mirage comic run up to the early 90's, the original cartoon, the first 3 movies, and the original toyline.

I would tend to agree with this since Next Mutation failed to bring the Turtles' popularity back into public perception. 2K3 was able to do that, although not to the heights of the original phenomenon.

I'd call it the 4th, personally.

1st - Early Mirage days

2nd - Late volume 1, volume 2, volume 3, Fred Wolf 'toon, Movies, Archie, etc

3rd - Volume 4, Tales volume 2, 4kids 'toon, Munroe's TMNT

4th - Nick show, Paramount movie, IDW comics

1st - First wave of comics, games, movies, animation, and merch (1984-1996ish)

2nd - Second wave of comics, games, movies, animation, and merch (2001-2009)

3rd - The upcoming wave of comics, movies, games, animation, and merch (2011 onward)

That's how I see it. Sure, it could be split into four generations, but I like the simplicity of my timeline better.

that works for me

Yeah, that more or less works.