That '70s Show
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| That '70s Show | |
|---|---|
 That '70s Show logo </small> | |
| Genre | Comedy (sitcom) |
| Running time | 22 minutes (approximate) |
| Creator(s) | Mark Brazill Bonnie Turner Terry Turner |
| Starring | Topher Grace (1998-2005) Mila Kunis Ashton Kutcher (1998-2005) Danny Masterson Laura Prepon Wilmer Valderrama Debra Jo Rupp Kurtwood Smith Tanya Roberts (1998-2001) Don Stark Lisa Robin Kelly (1998-2001) Tommy Chong (2001-2002, 2005-2006) Josh Meyers (2005-2006) |
| Country of origin | USA |
| Original channel | Fox Broadcasting Company |
| Original run | August 23, 1998–May 18, 2006 |
| No. of episodes | 200 (plus four specials) |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
That '70s Show is an American television sitcom that centers on the lives of a group of teenagers living in Point Place, Wisconsin, a fictional suburb of either Kenosha, Wisconsin<ref>The gang goes to a disco in Kenosha; Midge Pinciotti takes a class at the (fictitious) Kenosha Community College.</ref> or Green Bay, Wisconsin,<ref name="that70sshowfaqs"/> from May 17, 1976 to December 31,1979. It debuted on August 23, 1998 and its final episode aired May 18, 2006. Its eight-season run and 200 episode total makes it the second longest-running live action sitcom for the FOX network, after Married... with Children. That '70s Show proved to be a launching pad for the film careers of all of its young stars, unknowns at the time they were hired.
The show remains in syndication on the FX Network in the United States.
Contents |
[edit] Series overview
The show follows the life of teenager Eric Forman (Topher Grace) and his five teenage 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 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).
In this group, various relationships are explored, the main focus being between Eric and Donna, who share the roles as the more responsible couple of the group, evident in such episodes as "Dine and Dash". This stands in sharp contrast to the on-again, off-again relationship between Kelso and Jackie, in which both are usually portrayed as being obsessed with each other, despite instances when they argue and deny their love just to spite one another. In both relationships, the couples would often disagree, only to learn to tolerate their differences. Jackie would eventually move on to Hyde, and later Fez as the series progressed.
Other main characters include Red Forman (Kurtwood Smith), Eric's overbearing war veteran father, 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, 2003-2005), Eric's older sister, whose promiscuity is the brunt of many jokes by the six teenagers. The show also followed the relationship of Midge and Bob Pinciotti (Tanya Roberts and Don Stark), 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 frequently appeared as the recurring character of Leo, the hippie owner of the Foto Hut.
[edit] Eighth season changes
Eric Forman and Michael Kelso were written out of the series following the seventh season finale, as both Topher Grace and Ashton Kutcher opted to pursue interests outside That '70s Show. While Kelso would make several appearances before moving to Chicago, a new character by the name of Randy Pearson, played by Josh Meyers, was introduced to take Eric Forman's place. Other long-time characters such as Leo would return with more prominent roles to fill the gap. The show's signature intro with the cast in Eric's Vista Cruiser was also changed, with each character singing the theme song in the Circle, with the exception of Red, who glares at the camera. The eighth season was announced as the final season of the show on January 17, 2006.<ref>That '70s Show packs it in.</ref>
[edit] The Final Episode
The final episode was filmed on February 17, 2006.<ref>That '70s Show episode guide (under "next tapings").</ref> It originally aired on May 18, 2006, culminating in a two-episode special and commentary, and drawing in an estimated 9.3 million viewers[citation needed]. It was later rerun by FOX on August 3 and FX on September 26.
As the series concluded, the Formans decide not to move to Florida and sell their home (after Kitty gives a sentimental tour of the house to a prospective buyer with the TV camera as the buyer's POV allowing viewers to see the enclosed layout of the first floor).
Hyde gives up old habits, but returns to them shortly. Fez and Jackie start dating. Hyde's father gives him ownership of the record store. The episode also featured the return of Eric and Kelso. Donna prepares to finally leave Point Place to attend college, but stays to wait for Eric, with whom she may have gotten back together.
The reunited group of friends enjoy flashbacks from past years such as Hyde punching Kelso in the arm, and Red's numerous threats of shoving his foot up people's asses.
The episode ends at the stroke of midnight on New Years Eve 1979. The gang smokes out one last time before the new decade in the basement and walk upstairs to join the parents. At the 3-2-1 countdown to 1980, we see the license plate with the producers' names showing an "80" sticker in the lower right hand corner of the plate, as opposed to 76/77/78/79.
The final credits shown were the same used in the pilot with the teenage cast driving in the Vista Cruiser singing along to "Hello, It's Me!" by Todd Rundgren.
[edit] Elements of the Show
The show 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 tackled 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, political figures such as Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, teenage recreational drug use, and developments in entertainment technology, from the TV remote ("the clicker"), to Pong, a video game.
Signature elements of That '70s Show include surreal, sometimes elaborate, dream sequences to illustrate various characters' vivid imaginations, some of which include references or parodies of fads or films of the time, such as Star Wars and Grease, and the 360-degree scenes, also known as "the Circle" (seen above). The Circle is used to illustrate the teens' marijuana use, usually in Eric Forman's basement. All the segments include nonsensical dialogue complete with deadpan humor. Of note, no actual smoking is shown in these scenes; instead, smoke is visible in the background and foreground. However, as the series progressed and the teens matured, the actual smoking became less and less frequent, and often times they would merely sit in a circle to discuss issues in their lives.
Other elements include the use of split screen, which involves two characters talking to each other about the same topic (often relationships) as two other people with foil viewpoints: almost disturbingly similar but differing in a few major key points for comic effect.
[edit] Timeline
Image:That70sShowSeason8Promo.jpg Due to the show's long run, the timeline was noticeably slowed. The show was set in May 1976 upon its premiere on August 23, 1998. After twelve episodes of the first season (as well as episode 23, "Grandma's Dead", due to its being aired out of production order), the series transitioned to 1977, where it remained up to the episode "Fez Dates Donna" of season 3, and then to 1978 from the episode "Eric's Drunken Tattoo" of season 3 to the episode "Christmas" of the sixth season. From the episode "I'm a Boy" of season 6 through season 8, the episodes take place in 1979. Hyde had an 18th birthday in 1978, despite dialogue that suggests that he is older than Eric, who turned 17 in episode 2, "Eric's Birthday", (which was in 1976). Eric then turned 18 in episode 131, "Magic Bus" in 1978, two years after turning 17. This, combined with the fact that there were holiday-themed episodes each season, meant the sense of time on That '70s Show was loose at best. M*A*S*H, which aired for eleven years despite the Korean War only lasting three years, also used this formula.
The year is determined in the last scene of the opening credits, which reveals a close-up of a Wisconsin license plate that reads the names of the creators and the sticker with the two-digit year — in this case, either "76", "77", "78" or "79" and, in the final episode, "80".<ref>The year stickers for Wisconsin plates are issued for the upcoming twelve months; e.g., a sticker for "80" would be issued in 1979.</ref> The plate also appears at the end as the production logo for Carsey-Werner, also with the year. The license plate technique was adapted from the TV series L.A. Law.
[edit] British Remake
In 1999, 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 later re-runs.
After the failure of the UK remake, rival commercial terrestrial Five started broadcasting the original show in primetime before moving it to a post 11pm timeslot.
The American version of the show is currently shown on Trouble and Paramount Comedy in the UK and Ireland, and RTÉ Two and Channel 6 in Ireland.
[edit] 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!
According to the official That '70s Show website, Steven Hyde yells "Hello Wisconsin!" during the first season, with Robin Zander, lead singer for Cheap Trick, shouting the line in every season afterwards.<ref name="that70sshowfaqs">That 70s Show.com FAQs.</ref> The lyrics were also slightly different during the first season, with instead of "We're all alright!" being shouted twice, "Whooa yeah!" is heard, and the lyric "but talk to you" is instead "but time to lose."
Alternate holiday versions of the theme song were arranged for Halloween and Christmas specials, using organ music and bells, respectively.
[edit] Trivia
- The first working title for the series was 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.<ref name="that70sshowfaqs"/>
- Promotional material for the show describes the fictional town of Point Place as being a suburb of Green Bay. However, references within the show to real Wisconsin locations are inconsistent, often indicating that Point Place is in southeastern Wisconsin near Kenosha.
- Although the show is set in the 1970s, there are many anachronisms.
- Billy Dee Williams, who played Lando Calrissian in the original Star Wars films, appeared in one episode as a relationship pastor who called Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope the "finest film of our time." However, this was the only movie from the original trilogy that he did not star in, as well as the only Star Wars film that was released during the show's timeline.
- This was the only FOX sitcom of the 1998-1999 television season not to be cancelled after its first year.
- That '70s Show was filmed at Stage 2 in CBS Studio Center in Los Angeles.
- That '70s Show is one of four successful sitcoms that carry the tradition of being produced two decades later than the setting in which the show takes place. That '70s Show takes place in the 1970s and was produced in the 1990s. Others shows include The Wonder Years which was produced in the 1980s and depict the 1960s, Happy Days began production in the 1970's and depicts the 1950s and Everybody Hates Chris which began production in the 2000's and depicts the 1980s.
- In earlier episodes, the cast would occasionally break character and laugh while in the Circle. This is especially notable in the pilot, which is pointed out by Danny Masterson in the special The Final Goodbye.
- The FOX drama House coincidentally also features a character named "Eric Foreman". House debuted in 2004 — while Topher Grace was still on That '70s Show — meaning that for one season FOX aired two unrelated shows featuring two unrelated characters having the same name.
- The Water Tower set was also used in the episode "Dust in the Wind" of Grounded for Life, in which Ashton Kutcher guest starred.
- For Seasons 5–8, episodes were titled after song names from various 1970s-era rock bands. All fifth season episodes are named after songs by Led Zeppelin, all sixth season titles are The Who songs, all seventh season titles are The Rolling Stones songs and, except for the finale, all eighth season titles are Queen songs.
- Besides the pilot episode, David Trainer has directed all of the episodes for the shows eight season run. Terry Hughes was the one who directed the pilot
[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] DVD releases
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[edit] Notable 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
| That '70s Show |
|---|
| Characters |
| Jackie Burkhart | Fez | Eric Forman | Kitty Forman | Laurie Forman | Red Forman | Steven Hyde | Casey Kelso | Michael Kelso | Leo | Randy Pearson | Midge and Bob Pinciotti | Donna Pinciotti | Recurring characters |
| Other topics |
| List of episodes | Point Place | That '80s Show |
[edit] Notes
<references/>
[edit] External links
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Categories: Articles with unsourced statements | Wikipedia list cleanup | That '70s Show | Fox network shows | Sitcoms | 1990s TV shows in the United States | 2000s TV shows in the United States | TV shows that use Descriptive Video Service | Period piece TV series | Seven Network shows | 1970s retro movement | Television shows set in Wisconsin
