The '70's Are Over - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

Mr. Television · 05-18-2006, 02:25 PM

Show and the '70s are both so over

BY DIANE WERTS
Newsday Staff Writer

May 17, 2006

The basement air remains hazy, Kelso's still stupid, no one knows where Fez is from, and we can't print the seven-letter word inevitably spit by derisive dad Red.

Some things never change.

But others do. And "That '70s Show" hasn't felt like That Cool Youth Sitcom for some time now. Its "kids" seem as if they ought to be raising teens of their own, or maybe joining parents Red and Kitty Foreman on that planned move to Florida. Their vintage fashions are now so far, far out, they're practically back in. Shag carpet, anyone?

Time may have been kind to the flashback stereotypes when Fox premiered the show in 1998, but we hit overload on that circa-1975 avocado green and harvest gold awhile back. Ditto the Jackie's-loose gags, water tower tumbles, World War II jibes (do younger viewers even get those?), and even the doper jokes. Hard to believe now, but the pilot episode's pot-smoking "circle" was hugely controversial at the time. How dare they!

How dare they, indeed. How dare they keep the machine cranking out '70s episodes when the time frame should be 1985 already. How dare they, after classic clown Ashton Kutcher (who played Kelso) departed, and rock-steady center Topher Grace (as Eric) left the show, and producers added Tommy Chong as Leo to overdo the doper thing. Then came Josh Meyers as Randy, who works with Leo at Hyde's record store. He resonates mostly as the modern equivalent of Beau De Labarre, the bland Southern stud somebody thought would juice "Welcome Back, Kotter" back in that '70s show's final season - when it, too, should have given up the ghost along with its ensemble's youth.

Nobody in TV wants to say goodbye to a (once) sharp thing, so they just keep it comin' till it's dull. This week's hourlong "'70s Show" finale recycles the same old comic riffs - out of love, one might say, especially during the several greatest-hits clip montages of Red's (Kurtwood Smith) foot-up-butt jokes, Kelso's stupidity-slaps, and those Eric-Donna flirtations imbued with such cool sweetness by Grace and Laura Prepon. But too many of those riffs feel revisited here to fill time. Pothead Hyde (Danny Masterson) actually "using sobriety as a crutch"? Oy vey, as they say in Wisconsin. (I've been there. They do.)

This double-shot finale - which is set on Dec. 31, 1979 - isn't much of an episode on its own, but it's not much of a wrap-up, either. It's just sort of there - which may, after all, be appropriate, considering its characters' lack of progress in life. Kutcher returns to revive kooky Kelso, which would feel welcome if it didn't serve to magnify the vacuum his departure left behind. The forever-referenced prospective visit home by Eric also presents mostly a reminder that things here aren't what they once were. And never could be again.

Except for Fez. Wilmer Valderrama is still inscrutably, adorably, spontaneously loopy. Love that guest visit from his proper British homeboy. Where the heck are they from?

05-18-2006, 02:25 PM	#1
Mr. Television 22 Years at Sitcoms Online Forum Icon Join Date: Jun 06, 2003 Location: Somewhere you're Not Posts: 62,128	The '70's Are Over Show and the '70s are both so over BY DIANE WERTS Newsday Staff Writer May 17, 2006 The basement air remains hazy, Kelso's still stupid, no one knows where Fez is from, and we can't print the seven-letter word inevitably spit by derisive dad Red. Some things never change. But others do. And "That '70s Show" hasn't felt like That Cool Youth Sitcom for some time now. Its "kids" seem as if they ought to be raising teens of their own, or maybe joining parents Red and Kitty Foreman on that planned move to Florida. Their vintage fashions are now so far, far out, they're practically back in. Shag carpet, anyone? Time may have been kind to the flashback stereotypes when Fox premiered the show in 1998, but we hit overload on that circa-1975 avocado green and harvest gold awhile back. Ditto the Jackie's-loose gags, water tower tumbles, World War II jibes (do younger viewers even get those?), and even the doper jokes. Hard to believe now, but the pilot episode's pot-smoking "circle" was hugely controversial at the time. How dare they! How dare they, indeed. How dare they keep the machine cranking out '70s episodes when the time frame should be 1985 already. How dare they, after classic clown Ashton Kutcher (who played Kelso) departed, and rock-steady center Topher Grace (as Eric) left the show, and producers added Tommy Chong as Leo to overdo the doper thing. Then came Josh Meyers as Randy, who works with Leo at Hyde's record store. He resonates mostly as the modern equivalent of Beau De Labarre, the bland Southern stud somebody thought would juice "Welcome Back, Kotter" back in that '70s show's final season - when it, too, should have given up the ghost along with its ensemble's youth. Nobody in TV wants to say goodbye to a (once) sharp thing, so they just keep it comin' till it's dull. This week's hourlong "'70s Show" finale recycles the same old comic riffs - out of love, one might say, especially during the several greatest-hits clip montages of Red's (Kurtwood Smith) foot-up-butt jokes, Kelso's stupidity-slaps, and those Eric-Donna flirtations imbued with such cool sweetness by Grace and Laura Prepon. But too many of those riffs feel revisited here to fill time. Pothead Hyde (Danny Masterson) actually "using sobriety as a crutch"? Oy vey, as they say in Wisconsin. (I've been there. They do.) This double-shot finale - which is set on Dec. 31, 1979 - isn't much of an episode on its own, but it's not much of a wrap-up, either. It's just sort of there - which may, after all, be appropriate, considering its characters' lack of progress in life. Kutcher returns to revive kooky Kelso, which would feel welcome if it didn't serve to magnify the vacuum his departure left behind. The forever-referenced prospective visit home by Eric also presents mostly a reminder that things here aren't what they once were. And never could be again. Except for Fez. Wilmer Valderrama is still inscrutably, adorably, spontaneously loopy. Love that guest visit from his proper British homeboy. Where the heck are they from?
	__________________ Sonny