That '70s Show
| That '70s Show | |
|---|---|
 That '70s Show logo | |
| Created by | Mark Brazill Bonnie Turner and 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 |
| No. of episodes | 200 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 22 minutes (approximate) |
| Original release | |
| Network | Fox Broadcasting Company |
| Release | August 23, 1998 – May 18, 2006 |
That '70s Show is an American television sitcom that centered on the lives of a group of teenagers living in Point Place, Wisconsin a fictional suburb of Milwaukee 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. It 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.
Series overview
The show follows the life of geeky 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.
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". The Circle is used to illustrate the teens' marijuana use, usually in Eric Forman's basement, with a few exceptions. As they discuss current situations, the camera moves around the circle to whoever is speaking. All the segments include nonsensical dialogue complete with deadpan humor.
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, almost always with opposite viewpoints.
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 (except Red) singing the theme song in the Circle. The eighth season was announced as the final season of the show on January 17, 2006.[1]
The Final Episode
The final episode aired 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. Template:Endspoiler
Timeline
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 up to the 21st episode of season 3, and then to 1978 the from the 22nd episode of season 3 to the end of the sixth season. 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 final episode took place on the last day of the decade, December 31, 1979, ending at midnight.
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 inspection sticker with the two-number year code--in this case, either "76", "77", "78" or "79" and, in the final episode, "80". The plate also appears at the end as the production logo for Carsey-Werner, also with the number code.
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 a 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.
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!
which differs slightly from Cheap Trick's version.
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.[2] 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."
The final line ("We're all alright!") is inspired by the chorus to the Cheap Trick song "Surrender"[citation needed]. Additionally, there's a sort of musical 'name-dropping' by Cheap Trick sprinkled throughout the theme song, including the main riff from Aerosmith's "Draw the Line" and nods to Alice Cooper, Slade, and other popular rock bands from the '70s.[citation needed]
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.Cite error: A
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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.
DVD releases
| Season | Ep # | Region 1 cover art | Region 1 release date | Region 2 cover art | Region 2 release date | Region 4 cover art | Region 4 release date | Additional information |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 25 | File:That70sshowseason1region1.jpg | October 26 2004 | File:That70sshowseason1region2.jpg | May 15 2005 | September 21 2005 (parts 1 and 2) May 24 2006 (complete) |
Bonus features include "Hello Wisconsin!" Season One Featurette, That '70s Tribute Show, Promo-Palooza. | |
| 2 | 26 | File:That70sshowseason2region1.jpg | April 19 2005 | File:That70sshowseason2region2.jpg | September 19 2005 | September 21 2005 (parts 1 and 2) May 24 2006 (complete) |
Bonus features include Audio Commentaries, 6 featurettes, That 70's Show Season 2 Overview. | |
| 3 | 25 | File:That70sshowseason3region1.jpg | November 15 2005 | File:That70sshowseason3region2.jpg | February 27 2006 | May 24 2006 | Bonus features include 18 intros, commentaries, That 70's Show Season 3 Overview. | |
| 4 | 27 | File:That70sshowseason4region1.jpg | May 9 2006 | File:That70sshowseason4region2.jpg | August 21 2006 | August 9 2006 | Bonus features include 4 David Trainer commentary tracks. | |
| 5 | 25 | File:That70sshowseason5region1.jpg | October 17 2006 | TBA | TBA | Bonus features include Episode promos, season 5 in 5 minutes featurette, 70's flashback on Wilmer Valderrama and Danny Masterson. | ||
| 6 | 25 | TBA 2007 | TBA | TBA | ||||
| 7 | 25 | TBA 2007 | TBA | TBA | ||||
| 8 | 22 | TBA 2008 | TBA | TBA |
Special guests
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
See also
Notes
External links
- Official website
- That '70s Show Ultimate Fansite
- That 70s Show at TV.com
- That '70s Central (Unofficial fansite)
- That '70s Show at IMDb