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REVIEW:
That 70's Show
Written
By Rick Ellis
I have to
admit that--unlike a lot of my fellow baby boomers--I'm not obsessed
with my past. I don'tlisten to classic rock, I don't fondly remember
The Brady Bunch, when I go to a party you won't find me
huddled in somecorner recounting my first G.I. Joe or that "Rock-em,
Sock-emRobot" game that my Mom shoud have never given away.
There's nothing
wrong with nostalgia, but I prefer to live in the present. Maybe
because it makes me feel younger, or maybe because I grew up in
Southern Indiana and spent a lot of time reading dead German philosophers.
In other words, I wasn't exactly the typical Midwestern kid.
But I still
have a lot of fond memories of growing up, and I was reminded
of all of them watching the debut of Fox's newest sitcom: That
70's Show.
The show was
created by 3rd Rock From The Sun's Bonnie and Terry Turner,
and In Living Color's Mark Brazill. And it's goofy, innocent
and more than a little precious. But most of all, it's funny.
The show is
set in Wisconsin and revolves around Eric Foreman (Topher Grace),
who is 17 and obsessing about the same things that all boys that
age thought about: beer, a car of his own, and girls. And generally
in that order. He's a good kid, but he's still trying to break
the apron strings from his parents Red and Kitty (Kurtwood Smith
and Debra Jo Rupp).
His best friend
is his next-door neighbor Donna Pincotti (Laura Prepon), whose
lanky looks remind you of a corn-fed Nikki Coxx. She steals the
show with a charm and humor that may be a little too much for
any 17-year-old to actually possess. While she may be a wonderful
girl, she's saddled with a couple of parents who are trying WAY
too hard to be "hip." Bob (Don Stark) and Midge (Tanya Roberts)
are the butt of a lot of jokes, including a running gag about
Bob's new afro, which looks bad in that way that was only possible
in the seventies.
The plot itself
is fairly lightweight, but certainly gets the job done. The kids
try and steal some beers from the adult's party, they drive Eric's
new/old station wagon to Milwaukee without telling their parents
so they can see Todd Rundgren, their hunky friend Kelso (Ashton
Kutcher) would like to break up with Jackie, but she keeps him
totally hormonally enslaved...it doesn't sound like much on paper,
but there were a lot of good laughs and some cute moments. And
it all ends with Eric and Donna's first kiss, while they lay across
the hood of Eric's car after the concert.
That 70's
Show does a good job of recreating what it was like to grow
up in the Midwest back then. And for whatever reason, the show
feels more contemporary than I would have thought possible.
Maybe it's
because that for all the changes in society, kids still worry
about the same things: getting high, getting lucky and getting
around.
Critics have
made a big deal of a brief scene where it's apparent that the
teens are getting high while playing cards. Somehow, this is made
to seem as if the producers are encouraging drug use. But it's
hard to imagine how you could portray growing up back then without
mentioning pot--anymore than you could do a show about growing
up in the nineties without mentioning street violence. It's just
a part of the tapestry.
In the end,
the pilot was a good start. The trick now is to open the show
up and have fun with the premise, making the show not about the
time, but about the people.
And one last
ironic note. The theme song for the show may not be familiar to
you, but it's a remake of a tune that was released in the early
seventies. The tune, "In The Street," was originally recorded
by BIG STAR, a band which was a huge favorite of critics, but
whose albums were overlooked at the time. But they've been recently
re-released on CD, and I would recommend picking one up. The band,
led by two ex-members of the Box-Tops, sound like the unholy alliance
of the Beatles and Led Zeppelin. Loud and soft, melodic and powerful.
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