Way Waaaaaaay Up High

Hello again everyone! Since LOST is not coming back for nearly an entire pregnancy, and will more than likely give birth to a whole new set of mewling things to review and pish-posh about, I have decided to keep at reviewing things so I do not lose my touch, nor my incriminating blank stare at the television. For those of you who wished that I had a shorter leash, I’m not sorry to say that I don’t. So until I see the LOST “eye” again, I will be reviewing other television shows that I have been exposed to recently, and they will not exactly be the shows you expect.

This week we tackle a show that has already run the gamut, but still has a profound effect on everyone who watched it: That 70’s Show.

That 70’s Show was created in the mid-nineties by writer-producer team Bonnie and Terry Turner. They also worked with writer Mark Brazill. After trying to name the series after two The Who songs, one Traffic song, and then one Steely Dan song, the writing staff stopped pulling their hair out and simply decided to call it That 70’s Show. Being in the seventies was a huge element of the show in the beginning, as it provided a bold view of a decade stuffed to the brim with political events like Watergate and feminism; technological advances like the TV remote and Pong; and Star Wars, which gets its own line in this review.

Star Wars.

The seventies element didn’t last long however. Like all television shows, once That 70’s Show became highly-rated and the writers realized that they could have their marijuana and smoke it too, they lit up and kicked the seventies element so hard on its bare ass that a large red mark could be seen there as it fell from grace straight down to the bottom level of creativity known as “backdrop.” In addition to firing the seventies element, the writers also did away with any dramatic elements, making every storyline comedic from the second season on, even the most serious stuff.

The series is set in the fictional, run-under-your-desk-and-as

sume-the-Atom-bomb-position-because-it-will-always-save-you suburb town Point Place, Wisconsin. It follows the lives of 7 “average” teenagers; the Star Wars-loving, skinny “twizzler” Eric Forman; the goofy, not-so-smart ladies man Michael Kelso; high school cheerleader Jackie Burkhart; Eric’s feminist and non-girly girlfriend Donna Pinciotti; his laid back, drug-using best friend Steven Hyde; and the perverted but hilarious Fez, who is a foreign exchange student from a country that is never identified. In addition there are a slew of adults—Eric’s well-intentioned-but-never-shows-it father Red; his heart-of-gold, “don’t-forget-to-change-your-underwear” mother Kitty, and Donna’s parents, Midge and Bob Pinciotti, who can’t seem to face the fact that the 70’s will eventually end.

The show premiered in 1998 on the FOX network, and immediately caused controversy when the very first episode showed a scene of the four boys allegedly smoking marijuana in Eric’s basement. Teenage drug use was an element that the writers wanted to specifically address since…well, it’s teenagers in the fucking 70’s! What else was big in the teenage world then? “Well we wanted to write a show set in the 70’s that has to do with teenage dr---I mean…uh…that has to do with teenagers dealing with…the impact…of…the invention of Post-it notes.” Leave it to FOX to broadcast a show involving marijuana and sex but reject a show about teenage pregnancy and sex. That decision certainly sheds some light on what the network producers do in their downtime.

If it is one thing that That 70’s Show proves, it is this: character is EVERYTHING. This especially applies to sitcom. Plot, structure, and writing are important, but without strong characters, nothing can go anywhere. This duty mainly falls to the actors, but the writers must learn to use what their actors give them creatively; if an actor gives them something to expand on, their job is to take that and create something new and interesting, and then the actor can expand on that as well, creating a “leapfrog” momentum that continues to put the character into interesting situation after interesting situation. Sometimes when an actor decides to leave a show, it is because they feel as though their characters have run their course and no longer have anything substantial to contribute.

Well, if it is one thing That 70’s Show does not lack, it is apt actors and writers. The cast, who were a bunch of unknowns at the time they were given the roles, work brilliantly together, and make That 70’s Show a truly fun primetime sitcom. While they certainly embrace(d) the stereotypes their characters were written as, each of them possessed the talent to light a fire under the stereotypes’ asses in a way that was remembered by the audience. The acting was believable and straightforward, though Ashton Kutcher(Michael Kelso) gets points shot off for acting like himself all the time. What I loved most of all about it, though, is that it was subtle and well-balanced. Not even Kelso’s immense stupidity was overplayed too much, nor was Eric Forman’s nerdy-ness.

Character is definitely what made this show shine out amidst the clusterfuck of primetime. However, there is a huge part of the show that I personally believe is severely underrated. Normally, writers of television shows take a dunk on the structure of their show. One can always identify a well-thought out show by the number of recurring elements within the shows action. These elements can vary from lines of dialogue like Joey’s “whoa!” from Blossom or environments like Mr. Feeny’s classroom from Boy Meets World, which is one of the first places seen in that series and is the absolute last place seen at the end of it. It is usually within these elements that audiences begin to build strong connections with the show. That 70’s Show is a masterpiece of recurring elements. The show’s use of split-screens to juxtaposition two characters with the same problem, the characters’ dream sequences which depict their vivid imaginations, and the water tower sections that usually end with one of the kids falling off the tower--usually Kelso. All these elements add wonderful flavor, but the shows signature element is, by far, the Circle: scenes where characters would sit in Eric’s basement and engage in conversation, under the influence of drugs. The camera would swing around in a circle, stopping at every individual as he/she speaks. To create the effect of drugs, the producers used thick clouds of theatrical smoke and a wide-angle lens. To prevent clashes with the network, the writers made sure to avoid any visual appearance of marijuana, matches, and water pipes. If the drug has to be referred to at all, it was referred to as “stuff” or “stash.” This segment became critical to the show as a narrative technique to streamline the flow of dialogue, along with becoming one of the funniest segments in any episode, especially when one of the gang was awarded ‘the Stupid Helmet”. At the end of the seventh season, the kids were finally caught by Eric’s father.

My only problems with this show are nit-picky ones. For starters, the timeline takes a few tokes from a fat joint in that the series is supposed to take place from 1976-January 1st, 1980, yet there’s a Christmas and Thanksgiving episode in all 8 seasons. Then there’s the character of Jackie Burnhart, who I find entertaining and adorable, but she’s just…there. She doesn’t seem to do much. However, I have seen maybe two dozen assorted episodes of the show, so that statement can easily be retracted at a later point in time. My other problem is that I do not agree with the writer’s decision to split up the “power couple” Eric and Donna simply due to a long distance relationship.

That’s all though. While my sense of humor is broad, I can easily see why a good deal of people despise That 70’s Show but in the end I think that ends up being good for the show itself. It certainly was not afraid to stand out amongst the crowd, and is truly a well written and well structured piece of entertainment, as well as being one of the last great nineties sitcoms. However, my sympathies do go out to all those caring parents and police officers who lives were made more frustrating by the existence of this show.


Ironically enough, if you would like to watch this show, you can find reruns of it on ABC Family.

Ciao.