That '70s Show

Along with reruns of "Seinfeld", of course, and maybe some "Friends" reruns.

We all know the plot by now: life in the 70s. My mom says that some of the characters actually remind her of people she knew when she was in high school then.

Lots of great pokes at the decade here, from disco to streaking to Star Wars to Charlie's Angels (and yet no jokes about TV's "M*A*S*H"), and all the usual coming of age jokes (men VS women). The beautiful red haired, deep voiced, 5-foot-10-inch Laura Prepon, who plays Donna (and was also the main reason I started watching this show), is probably the most normal character on the show (the only time she ever really got colorfully bent out of shape about something was when she found another woman's underwear in Eric's car, which is understandable for any woman, only to find out that her mom and dad were back there one night) with Topher Grace's Eric in second place. Danny Masterson is great as the dead pan conspiracy theorist Hyde. I don't see what's so great about Ashton Kutcher, but I will give him credit for giving his all in the role of the male bimbo, same to Mila Kunis (who's finally making the transition from simply cute to actually being beautiful) as the self-absorbed Jackie and Wilmer Valderamma (or however you spell his name) as Fez. However, this show has ruined my ability to enjoy the 1987 hit "Robocop" because I've come to enjoy Kurtwood Smith so much in the role of Eric's cranky dad Red Foreman that I can't stand to see him as the evil Clarence Boddicker who helps mutilate Peter Weller's Murphy in "Robocop". It's a shame they had to replace Lisa Robin Kelly as Lori, even though the new actress Christina Moore is prettier.

I will say this though: the show has now exhausted and run all good ideas, and yet it's still more endearing than TV's "M*A*S*H". Here's the rule for watching the reruns: if Donna's mom Midge (former Bond girl Tanya Roberts, who rallied a few other former Bond girls together for an episode) is there, you're good. However, if Eric and Donna have broken up, change the channel immediately (it's just not right, those two not being together) or if Donna is sporting blonde hair, or if Eric and Kelso just aren't there at all, also change the channel. The fifth season shows where Jackie starts dating Hyde are pretty much reliable. But all in all, it's a great watch, certainly a lot better than current "Friends" and "The Simpsons".

I didn't start to watch "That '70s show" until about a year or so ago and I sure wish that I would have started tuning in a lot earlier. This series is really funny, really different, and has an amazing cast.

In my opinion, this is one of the best casts assembled in a long time. Everybody makes me laugh (especially Eric and Fez). All of the characters are likable and each actor puts in that little something each week that is needed to make a television series survive. Topher Grace is really great and I still can't believe that he didn't have any acting experience prior to this show. That's one of the best things about this show - all of the actors really had no acting gigs and just fell into the roles immediately.

The writers are extremely funny. Although the writing is simple at times, it's unpredictable the next, and that's what I like. Each episode has good scenarios/plots and always makes me laugh.

Everything about it is good and it's not the same as all of the other shows that are currently on TV. It stands out with an excellent cast (and an excellent theme song. That thing gets stuck in my head so easily.) I like the seventies, I like this show, but was "That '80s Show" really necessary?

This is a really funny show indeed. The script is good and never fails to deliver new ideas. After seven seasons, the show hasn't got boring and that credits must go to the writers. There are some very interesting and funny characters like Red Forman, Fez or regular guest characters like Leo. The actors are quite good, especially Danny Masterson or Wilmer Valderrama (he got a fabulous accent) or Debra Jo Rupp. At first Mila Kunis was really bad but she got better as the show advanced. It is good that the story advanced really well along these seasons. And I like the way they capture the '70s atmosphere, like through the references of the movies or music.

And the title song rocks.

Unlike the 70s sitcom it sometimes mocks (Happy Days), this show has no peaks and valleys, and never "jumped the shark". It's just a rock solid, funny show and has been for the duration of its run (so far). I have watched just about every episode since the beginning, and have never been let down. It's an extremely underrated show which could reach ledgendary status if it runs for a few more years. Everyone in the cast is very funny and endearing in their own way. The best thing is that they never stray from the original characterizations. And you never doubt for a minute that you're back in the seventies, unlike Happy Days, which was set in the 50s yet much of the cast (Scott Baio anyone?) sported contemporary haircuts. This show is a gem. Watch. You won't be disappointed.

Over the years, we've seen a lot of preposterous things done by writers when the show just had to go on no matter what, keeping "8 Simple Rules" going after John Ritter died comes to mind, but this is probably the first time I cared. The idea of having "That 70's Show" without Eric or to a lesser extent Kelso is ridiculous. They tried to cover it up with a comeback of Leo and increasingly outrageous story lines, but it always felt like why bother when you don't have a main character anymore. It just didn't really connect, it was a bunch of unrelated stuff happening that most of the time wasn't even funny. The last season felt like the season too much for every single character, simply because Eric used to take a lot of screen time and now we'd be smashed in the face by how stale and repetitive the rest of the characters were. Focusing on the gimmick that is Fez was thoroughly uninteresting and the character would simply stop working, because the whole deal was that he'd say something weird from out of nowhere, and you can't say stuff from out of nowhere when every second line is yours. They also brought in the standard cousin Oliver, only this time it just wasn't a kid. Whenever you heard somebody knock on the door, you started praying it wasn't Randy, please let it not be Randy. The deal with Randy was that he'd do really awful jokes, usually as Red would say, smiling like an ass and totally screwing up delivery and Donna would be in stitches. I think more than half of the last season was Donna pretending to be amused. The problems had started earlier though: what once was a truly great show with an equally great concept that for once wasn't about a dysfunctional family slowly got into the territory of soap opera. Everybody started being in love with everybody, emotional scenes were dragged out at nausea, with just one usually lame joke placed somewhere to divert attention that we were watching "As The World Turns". I'm guessing this was character development, but come on that was written almost as clumsily as the moral lessons from "Family Matters". To be fair, the last episode, also because it had a cameo by Topher Grace (a cameo in his own show), was really good, even if not that funny either.

By the way, yet more criticism on Season 8: what the hell was with the opening theme? Not only did they use the same joke twice (a character not singing), Fez scared the hell out of me. Dude, don't open your eyes that far. But the first five seasons or so,among the best comedy ever broadcast.