That '70s Show
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Template:Infobox television That '70s Show is an American television sitcom centered on the lives of a group of teenagers living in the fictional town of Point Place, Wisconsin during the late 1970s. It debuted on August 23, 1998. Its final episode will air on May 18, 2006, the show's 200th episode total, ending the run at eight seasons. [1]
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About the show
The first working title for the Fox Network series was called Teenage Wasteland, before being changed to That '70s Show. Other names considered were The Kids Are Alright, Feelin' All Right, and Reeling in the Years. That '70s Show is one of the longest continuous running sitcoms for Fox in the U.S..
The show follows the life of geeky Everyman Eric Forman (Topher Grace) and his five teenaged friends: Donna Pinciotti (Laura Prepon), his feminist girlfriend and next-door neighbor; Steven Hyde (Danny Masterson), a rebellious hard-rocking stoner; Michael Kelso (Ashton Kutcher), a dim-witted narcissistic ladies man; Jackie Burkhart (Mila Kunis), a self-involved high school cheerleader overly preoccupied with wealth and status; and Fez (Wilmer Valderrama), the nicknamed goofy foreigner whose country of origin is ambiguous, and whose hormones are out of control; Fez's real name is felt to be unpronounceable to the other characters and so they rename him Fez (which stands for Foreign Exchange Student. (The spelling being poetic license)). Eric drives a 1969 Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser, a station wagon given to him by his father in the first episode. Image:That 70s Show Cast.jpg Image:That 70s Superfriends.jpg Other main characters include Red Forman (Kurtwood Smith), Eric's overbearing war veteran father, obsessed with making "...him a man, which he's not" (Red Forman: episode 421: Prank Day) and using the word "dumb-ass" frequently, and always threatening people to put his 'foot in your ass'; his overprotective menopausal mother, Kitty (Debra Jo Rupp), who is caught up in trying to be a fulltime mom and housewife, while maintaining a job as a nurse in a local hospital; and Laurie Forman (Lisa Robin Kelly, 1998-2001 and 2002-2003, and Christina Moore, 2004-2005), the promiscuous older sister who can do no wrong in the eyes of her father. The show also follows the relationship of Bob and Midge Pinciotti (Don Stark, Tanya Roberts), Donna's parents, both of whom are slow witted and easily influenced by the movements and fads of the '70s, which sometimes places stress on their marriage. Tommy Chong also appears as the recurring character of Leo, the stoner owner of the 'Foto Hut'.
The show has gained recognition for providing a bold retrospective to a decade full of political events and technological milestones that have dramatically shaped the world today. The show cleverly tackles the significant social phenomena of 1970s America: feminism, new attitudes towards sexuality, the economic hardships of recession, developing mistrust in the American government among blue collar workers, teenage recreational drug use, and developments in entertainment technology, from the TV remote (or "the clicker"), to Pong a video game.
Signature elements of That '70s Show includes surreal dream sequences to illustrate the various characters' vivid imagination, and the 360-degree scenes, also known as the Circle. The Circle are usually used to illustrate the teens' marijuana use in Eric Forman's basement. As they discuss any current situations, the camera moves around the circle to whoever is speaking.
The show was remade by the British ITV network as Days Like These using almost verbatim scripts with minor changes to cultural references. The show failed to attract an audience and was removed from the schedules after 10 of the 13 episodes had been broadcast. The remaining three episodes were shown in a later run of repeats.
After the failure of the UK remake, rival commercial terrestrial channel five started broadcasting the original show in primetime before moving it to a post 11pm timeslot.
Timeline
Image:Ericdonna.jpg Although the show has been on for over seven years, the timeline has been noticeably slowed. When the show first aired on August 23, 1998, the show was set in May 1976, and in the past seven seasons, only three years have gone by. The series was set in 1977 from the middle of its first season to the end of the third, and then in 1978 until the sixth season. Hyde had an 18th birthday in 1978, despite dialogue that suggests that he is older than Eric, who turned 17 in the second episode (which was in 1976). Eric also turned 18 in 1978, two years after turning 17. This, combined with the fact that new holiday-themed episodes run every year, means the sense of time on That '70s Show is loose at best. Currently, the show is vaguely set in "1979."
8th season changes
Eric Forman was written out the series following the seventh season finale, as the actor opted to pursue interests outside That '70s Show. Michael Kelso was written out in the fourth episode of season eight for the same reason. A new character by the name of Randy Pearson was introduced to take up the slack. The 8th season is the last season of the show. Ashton Kutcher came back for the first four episodes in Season 8 and the finale. He and Topher Grace will be back for the series finale, titled "That '70s Finale".
Several minor changes were made to the Red Forman and Leo characters in the 8th season. It is revealed that Leo, the aging hippie, whose full first name is Leonard, was a supply truck driver in WWII, who was decorated with a medal that "looked like a purple heart." Red, a fellow veteran (of both WWII and the Korean War) who in the past couldn't stand Leo, gains newfound respect for him. Collectively, they still have no respect for Bob's service in the National Guard.
Image:That70sShowSeason8Promo.jpg
Jumping the Shark
There is no real consensus as to when the show "jumped the shark" (and many fans maintain that the show has yet to) but many classic examples of jumping the shark occur in the show:
- Laurie Forman is written in and out of the show twice, the first time returning as the same actress and the second time as a different actress playing the same character.
- Midge Pinciotti is written out of the show.
- Donna dyes her trademark red hair blonde (her change in hair color was for another project, not for That '70s Show).
- Eric Forman (arguably the show's main character) is written out for season 8. He is not replaced directly, but a new character (Randy Pearson) comes in.
- Hyde accidentally marries a stripper in Las Vegas after contemplating asking Jackie to marry him.
- Another major character, Michael Kelso, was written out of the series four episodes into season 8.
- Ironically, in the episode "Jackie says Cheese", the character Fez visualizes how to one-up another foreign exchange student and daydreams that he is the Fonz jumping the shark. Another character comments that not only was that a bad plan, but it was also "the worst moment in television history".
Theme song
The show usually opens with the theme song, "In the Street," by Alex Chilton and Chris Bell of the band Big Star. It was initially sung by Todd Griffin, but beginning with the second season, the song was performed by the band Cheap Trick, whose version is referred to as "That '70s Song (In the Street)." The lyrics are as follows:
Hanging out, down the street
The same old thing, we did last week
Not a thing to do, but talk to you
We're all alright! We're all alright! Hello Wisconsin! </blockquote> The final line ("We're all alright!") is inspired by the chorus to the Cheap Trick song "Surrender." Danny Masterson, who plays Steven Hyde, yells "Hello, Wisconsin!" at the end of the theme song in the first season. In all other seasons, the line is yelled by Ashton Kutcher. In the first season, the lyrics were the same except that instead of shouting "We're all alright!" twice, they shout "Whoa yeah!"[edit]Trivia
[edit]Soundtracks
Several prominent songs from the decade can be heard on the series, and two soundtracks were released in 1999. The first is a collection of funk, soul and disco. The second is a collection of AOR songs.
[edit]That '70s Album: Jammin'
- Get Down Tonight - KC and the Sunshine Band
- Tell Me Something Good - Rufus
- Hot Pants - James Brown
- Fire - Ohio Players
- Jungle Boogie - Kool & the Gang
- Play that Funky Music - Wild Cherry
- Fight the Power - Isley Brothers
- Pick Up the Pieces - The Average White Band
- Respect Yourself - The Staple Singers
- Rock the Boat - Hues Corporation
- When Will I See You Again - The Three Degrees
- So Very Hard to Go - Tower of Power
- The Rubberband Man - The Spinners
[edit]That '70s Album: Rockin'
- That '70s Song (In the Streets) - Cheap Trick
- I Want You to Want Me - Cheap Trick
- Black Betty - Ram Jam
- Radar Love - Golden Earring
- Funk #49 - James Gang
- Saturday Night Special - Lynyrd Skynyrd
- Let It Ride - Bachman Turner Overdrive
- Hold Your Head Up - Argent
- Cities on Flame With Rock & Roll - Blue Öyster Cult
- Hey Baby - Ted Nugent
- Under My Wheels - Alice Cooper
- Celluloid Heroes - The Kinks
- The Wall Street Shuffle - 10cc
- September Gurls - Big Star
[edit]Special guests
[edit]Crew
- Mark Brazill - Creator/Executive producer
- Bonnie Turner - Creator/Executive producer
- Terry Turner - Creator/Executive producer
- Marcy Carsey - Executive producer
- Jackie Filgo - Executive producer
- Jeff Filgo - Executive producer
- Caryn Mandabach - Executive producer
- Tom Werner - Executive producer
[edit]See also
[edit]External links
- Official website
- That 70s Show at TV.com
- That '70s Central (Unofficial fansite)de:Die wilden Siebziger
es:That '70s Show fr:That '70s Show he:מופע שנות ה-70 jbo:That '70s Show nl:That '70s Show no:That '70s Show pl:Różowe lata siedemdziesiąte pt:That '70s Show sr:Веселе седамдесете sv:That '70s Show
