Posted on 11/02/2005 10:33:42 AM PST by Chi-townChief
In tonight's episode of Fox's "That '70s Show," almost everybody gets stoned. Again. That's how you can tell "That '70s Show" is still stuck in the spirit of the "Me Decade." If the characters were to live it up '80s-style, they'd all be snorting coke and wearing yellow Izods.
You can't really blame the writers of the show (7 p.m., WFLD-Channel 32) for holding off the "Decade of Greed." If you had to pick between living forever in the late '70s or the early '80s, the Carter years would be your winner. Politicians living in a state of red-baiting moneyism might opt for the go-go Reagan years. But they'd have to be high to make that margin call.
The late '70s was about mellowing out, getting laid and watching "MASH" and good movies. The early '80s was about buying stocks, lovingly conditioning the leather seats of your bitchin' Honda Prelude, and wearing argyle sweater vests. That's not even a fair fight.
That said, "That '70s Show" may have run its tie-dye course. It's been kind of an amusing sitcom. But tonight's hourlong eighth-season premiere is saddled with the chore of keeping the ensemble cast busy while making up for the exit of lead actor Topher Grace, who has played the pothead ringleader Eric.
With Eric gone as a regular character, distractions abound. Someone gets punched; someone dies; a stripper paints her toenails in the kitchen. The episode doesn't reek. I laughed two little laughs, chuckled twice and smiled three times. I kept count. Basically, an hour passes without incident.
Also, there is a serious logistical discrepancy. The mom, Kitty (Debra Jo Rupp), gets baked on buds, making her see walls rock as if they were storm-tossed ships. This is filmed funny. But she also thinks people's heads are super big, atop squiggly bodies. Methinks she dropped acid and PCP, too, because that is not a pot high, dudes. Get your drug interactions straight.
If "That '70s Show" is more quickly passing into the great hereafter of creativity, it deserves credit for having provided more humor than most sitcoms, and for being cast well. Some of the actors are making strides elsewhere.
*Grace is scheduled to play a villain in "Spider-Man 3," after turning in critically acclaimed performances in "Traffic" and "In Good Company."
*Ashton Kutcher -- who will appear this season in only some episodes, including tonight's -- hooked up with Demi Moore and made a name for himself, as himself, in MTV's prank-pulling "Punk'd." Then again, he was in the movies, "Dude, Where's My Car?" (eh), "Just Married" (chafe) and "Cheaper by the Dozen" (I think I'm gonna be sick).
*And Wilmer Valderrama presumably engaged in the steamier methods of animal husbandry with Lindsay Lohan when he was briefly her boyfriend, as noted wildly in the media for about five minutes, a million tabloid-years ago.
Maybe the show that made them stars and semi-stars will keep growing, like a sticky stalk of herb in a high schooler's closet. I wouldn't count on it. But better that than a mirror and a razor blade. The '80s can go binge-drink some bong water.
mailto:delfman@suntimes.com
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess that this writer was either not alive, or too young to understand what was going on, during the wretched Carter adminisration.
What a putz. I will say, though, the 70s beats the 80s hands down, but not because of Jimmy Carter or some pat defining of the decades. The 70s were just cooler.
All the ganja must have shorted out this writer's memory cells. The Carter years were a very bad time - for everybody.
The election of Ronald Reagan truly was "morning in America".
>>If you had to pick between living forever in the late '70s or the early '80s, the Carter years would be your winner.<<
Yeah, we all long for the days of long gas lines, inflation, a general malaise and being humiliated by Iran.
They thought it was the dawning of the Age of Aquarius but it lasted barely five years.
I can thank the '70s and P.J. O'Rourke for that.
We'll never see the likes of National Lampoon again.
The 70s were just cooler.
Oh yeah? Jazz shoes, Members Only jackets, Parachute pants, and those skinny little ties with the piano keys on them. Point, Set, Match, buddy!
Owl_Eagle
(If what I just wrote makes you sad or angry,
But...but...but... Disco! What a stupid article.
is the writer a moron?
The show is not really about being 'potheads' - it's just a sitcom set in the 70's. With one of the greatest tv dads ever - red foreman.
This year will hopefully be the last - last year was really pushing it.
Early 70s beat the heck out of the 80s.
Late 70s sucked. Carter had the country in terrible shape. It was so bad, I joined the Navy.
And 18% interest rates on first mortgages....
> The early '80s was about buying stocks, lovingly conditioning the leather seats of your bitchin' Honda Prelude, and wearing argyle sweater vests.
Where was this guy? The 80s were about President Reagan and winning the Cold War and emerging from the Carter malaise and the bitter national split of the 60s. The 80s were about optimism and the return of the American Spirit, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
Once a MeatHead, always a MeatHead!
While I love "That 70s Show" (especially bc of Laura Prepon) I'd definitely pick the 80s over the 70s-any day of the week!
The 80s were the decade of Reagan, big hair rock videos, Reagan, loud guitars, Reagan, funny teen comedies, Reagan, great TV sitcoms, Reagan...
Considering the show started in 1976, it should be 1982 by now on the show!!
Well, something went wrong in his life. Several decades later, Red moved to Detroit and briefly made a name for himself in the cocaine trade before getting arrested for killing a cop.
The 70s had those horrific leisure suits.
Once again the elites are "out of the mainstream!" If the Carter years were really so great, he would have gotten more than 9% of the electoral vote and carried more than 6 states in 1980!
It's always funny to see red foreman in a regular movie role.
I saw the original robocop years before that 70's show even came out, and I don't think I could go back and watch it again without thinking "hey, red foreman wouldn't do that!".
And bell bottoms and disco, and shag carpeting, and disco, and pet rocks, and disco.
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