FR even ripped it for the fund raisers.
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
Mama mia thatsa nice meataballa.
I remember the late '70s being about my ABCs... you old fart! =)
Pretty much the only reason to watch that show.
Well I certainly don't watch it for Mr. Demi Moore...
Amen! THAT's the 80s I'm talking about!
FR even ripped it for the fund raisers.
You have got to be kidding.
Since I passed through my late teens, into adulthood under Jimmah Cahtah's helm...My recall was a lot of people wandering around how to get out from under his ineptitude. The general feeling was hopelessness, frustration and anger. No optimism towards the future.
Jeez! People were even excited in 1979 about the Chevrolet Citation! Now that is desperation!!
Fox put out "That 80's show" and it failed miserably... Not that it has anything to do with this article...just sayin
Red Foreman is a union lacky however if you saw the show about Pres. Ford coming to town... Red disrupted the town hall asking why he pardoned Nixon...
ROFL, from even the nostalgia sites I've been on not to mention the occasional off-topic discussions in places like this, the 80s would win - NEVER MIND putting it in terms of "Reagan" or "Carter"!!! ROFL
No way dude. The 70s rule.
Allegedly that was cuz they focused more on the nostalgia aspect rather than actually having stories.
I've only heard that, cuz these are not the kind of shows I like to watch.
There was lots of cocaine use and abuse in the hedonistic 1970s. There was more greed in the 1990s than in the 1980s.
Liberal talking points signifying nothing.
While I was out of touch culturally with the 80s, and therefore my view is slanted, I would say the 70s definitely had better movies and music. Hollywood was highly creative; there was a sophistication yet at the same time an artistic integrity and moral voice.
However . . . in all other respects I absolutely hated the 70s. Besides their being a bleak period in my personal life, I felt the rage and frustration all around me. Everyone was bored and depressed. The 80s seemed like the light at the end of the tunnel, politically and economically. (Personally, things got better, too.)
The 80s, though, (& 90s) seemed far more decadent, with a glamour and very hard edge. The culture grew increasingly sterile; I watched a decline in the movies & music starting around 1982. I truly think that now Hollywood is dying.
No, Rap hardly led the charts. It may have really started then but it was still mostly fringe stuff.
http://www.80sxchange.com/80s_charts/1985.htm
As was "metal" and "hair" and all that other so-called music. Hair and metal bands did not rule, either. Never did, never will. Too bad so many people on the 'net can't see that. http://www.angelfire.com/wa2/heepsplace/revisionism.html
"I'll buy that for a dollar!" ...
The only reason the '80s were "greedy" is cuz the Evil Reagan was not only "head of it all" (despite having to fight a Lib Congress), but very popular.
As for the '70s, yes and no, but they were no worse overall than the late '60s (which is usually what we think of when we say "'60s"). IMO the '70s takes all the heat for and by what the '60s hippies actually did. The '60s hippies were the TRUE "me" generation, the "Mother of all Selfish Generations". ;-)
Part of the problem was they had actors/actresses playing teenagers in the 1980's who were themselves teenagers in the 1980's 15 years ago.
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