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 can appreciate some of metal. But it's just too *noisy* for me (never mind alot of gruesome stuff).
I don't get much into the "growling" type or the "death-metal" lyrics. I like "clean" sounding metal, the more melodic stuff. More into the mainstream metal and hard rock-anything from Maiden to Poison and in-between. I do like Slayer, though. If you listen to their lyrics they're actually a quite conservative band. "Silent Scream" is a song that is against abortion.
I'm actually amazed by some of the poignancy of some of the love ballads. They don't always sound great (to me) right off the bat, but at least the lyrics are pretty nice, sometimes. Not like rap where we are only "bitches" and only good for "doing", then slap her around.
There's some great metal "power ballads" then some crappy ones.
Good ones:
Every Rose Has its Thorn - Poison
Alone Again - Dokken
Don't Close Your Eyes - Kix
Here I Go Again - Whitesnake
Still Loving You - Scorpions
Wasted Time - Skid Row
Warrant - I Saw Red
Metallica - Nothing Else Matters (some might argue the "balladness" of this but Hetfield himself says it is)
Bad ones:
When the Children Cry - White Lion
Is This Love - Whitesnake
Honestly - Stryper (but I love Stryper's heavier stuff-there ballads were WAY too sappy)
I'll Be There For You - Bon Jovi
Guns n Roses - Patience
To Be With You - Mr. Big
True but even as a blonde she is yummy.
Yeah, Cut my teeth on Bruebeck,Jerry Mulligan,K.K.Winding Etal.. At the Old Blackhawk in San Francisco (Turk & Hyde)
During the mid-fifties.
These guys used to Jam after hours in Golden Gate Park.
The Greatest Moment (For me at least) was a session at 4:00AM one warm summer night between Gene Ammond and
Paul Desmond. The number one Alto Sax and Boss Tenor himself. Absolute Magic. Never forgot that.
Has anybody noticed that 80s movies had a lot more sex and cussing than today's films (PG-13 or so)?
I have been shocked looking back at 80s films at how much nudity was shown and how often characters said F this and F that.
It makes today's films look conservative in comparison.
I second that.
Let's not forget eyeliner, fishnets, hairspray, and zippers on everything. The 80s was the best decade for music, attitude, and fashion, and with the exception of the 90s, the 70s was the worst.
I am glad my college has finally put cable in the rooms so I can watch Night Court sometimes. I loved that 80s sitcom.
Back when sitcoms actually had creative situations and plot lines with stuff happening that did not fit the normal mold.
Seinfeld was frankly the last sitcom that had any bone of creativity to it. Now they are all the same in terms of the same old boring story week after week.
There was a girl who attended my school that was her clone. It was hard to concentrate in class.
I think I see your point, though. There hasn't lately been a comedy in-line with the teen movie 'Porky's' partial nudity gagfest. I don't believe that National Lampoon could even exist today with it's continual references to underage sexual molestation, highly overt racism, exploitive humor, and illicit drugs. That's what made it so great.
Either society has advanced or we're reverted. I can't tell which anymore.
My late wife was a tall, gorgeous redhead as well. With beautiful blue eyes.
300 or Imperial? (My car ID sensor is rusty the last few years.)
Either way, way cool.
This guy used to write for the Las Vegas Review Journal as a music critic. He was downright hateful when he reviewed a country concert. His contempt went way beyond a dislike of the music.
Elfman is a very hateful dude. I don't miss him in my local rag one bit.
That's the way I remember it too. Penthouse and Oui were really rank back when I was a young teenager in the late 70's. Maybe I just got older and more jaded, but it was never the same after the ascent of Ed Meese. Haven't read anything wilder than Playboy in many years.
I liked the music better in the seventies.
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