That 90's 70's Show

Now, I was born in 1973 and have only vague recollections of the 70's. 1979 is the first year I really remember. I recall Star Wars and Rocky, my bowl haircut, Eight is Enough and the Gong Show. Sunday night were my two favorite shows; Battlestar Galactica and 8:00, CHiPs at 9:00. But really, I'm a child of the 80's, right down to the day-glo and mullett.

So recently I started binge watching That 70's Show on Netflix. I haven't watched an episode since 2001 or so. What struck me back then, and now, is the zanyness of the whole show, its farcical fell. Its down right silly, and that's a good thing. The show was a bit of sensation at the time, and part of the whole 70's revival that happened 20 years

We have Red, the stern, old fashioned dad, Kitty the happy homemaking wife who wants everything to be just-so. Their son Eric is the main character we're supposed to follow. He's the glue that holds the friends together.

Eric and his childhood friends always reminded me of my friends and I. We had the same situation. We'd known each other since kindergarten, grew up on the same street together, began noticing that some of us were boys and some were girls and weren't the girls kind of interesting now? Where did those tits come from? We even had a Fez, ahhhh Antoine...

We have half a dozen teenage characters, Eric and Donna (the couple we root for), Hyde (already cynical at 17) Jackie and Kelso (one is stuck up, the other stupid) and Fez (exotic foreigner from some undisclosed country). These aren't the cool kids. In fact we barely hear about other kids, or even school. They're just friends and inseparable. I swear to god this was me, Kevin, Owen, Nicole, Jane, Meg and Antoine.

One of the things the directors did, and maybe its typical of all shows, is the way the darkness outside seems to hover in the background; at work, in the car, even in Eric Forman's basement. Its a cold world and these friends and family are all the characters have. This is interesting because the actual 70's were a cultural hell of bright colors. Go back and look at say, Threes Company. But we don't generally remember the 70's fondly, and this mood fits that memory.

Eric isn't cool, he's not funny. He's a show kid trying not to be noticed who uses self abasing sarcasm to cover that up. We all knew a stuck up pretty girl like Jackie. Donna is the girls next door. Danny Masterson as Hyde is interesting. As for Ashton Kutcher's portrayal of Kelso, well, I watch despite, not because.  We'll talk about those last two at another time.