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
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.
The late 1970s was about "hit" films like:
Kramer vs. Kramer
Norma Rae
Starting Over
The China Syndrome
Chapter Two
The Rose
Coming Home
Same Time, Next Year
An Unmarried Woman
Interiors
Heaven Can Wait
Foul Play
California Suite
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
The early 1980s was about the death of Disco, the release of hostages, and the end of M*A*S*H.
It was also about the end of gas lines and the end of stagflation.
The show jumped the shark when they stopped doing anything except talking about their relationships. They should be in around 1981 if the continuity meant anything.
Hank Hill is a cooler tv dad. Yep.
Petronski's rule #3: those who use the term "redbaiting" are almost always socialists, if not worse.
PC goes back at least to the early 1970s hippy movement.
Punk was an uprising against the liberals' lockstep politics. Some people just wanted to laugh and listen to rock music and watch old horror movies.
Punk got co-opted soon enough.
I'm gonna say the late 1970s would have been a great time to have been a teenager while the 1980s would have been a great time to have been a recent college graduate.
In other words, 1960 would have been a great time to have been born! I was born nearly 9 years too late. Bummer.
It's all opinion!
Hair metal was great. Not too serious, good guitar, fun lyrics, and cheesy videos. Better than the "save the world" crap from the 60s or the "I-hate-myself" rock of the 90s.
Obviously the writer is a 70s guy not an 80s guy. The 80s - picture me, in "the pit," with LA hardcore punk being played on the stage, and somehow, miraculously, no dental damage, ever! LOL! ...
The Eighties had a lot of good music that was overlooked at the time-it really was a golden age for alternative music. As for movies, everything became a lot slicker, but there were still plenty of good flicks. Any decade that gave us Die Hard, Fatal Attraction, Ferris Beuller's Day Off, Back To The Future, Rambo Part II, Rocky III,andGhostbusters can't be all bad.
For TV, though, I'd have to say the 90's had better shows than either decade, with the exception of Hill Street Blues and Cheers.
And of course Eighties technology ruled!
One of my favorites!!
Don't forget lots of Aqua Net for the girls :)
To this day I love girls with "big" hair.
I loved being a teenager in the 80's.
But what about the formative years of the late '60s and early '70s? Was the author in grade school then, or what?
Hehe...I've seen your (recent, I presume) picture!! No complaints here! Your hair is still "big" compared to many women today.
An understatement if I ever heard one.
Totally agree ... but she needs to go back to being a redhead!
Red Foreman is the funniest guy on the whole show.
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