That 70s Show appreciation thread

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by greelywinger, Jan 25, 2009.

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  1. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

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    F Is for Family is a lot deeper than Family Guy, and it actually gets very poignant and verging on emotional and horrible in some scenes. I'd call it very much a comedy/drama, dealing with sex, drugs, poverty, unemployment, politics, the culture clash, and a lot of other issues beyond sitcom jokes. And... no laugh track. But screamingly funny.



    I laughed my *** off watching these shows. The biggest disappointment for me was they only made six of them -- and it ends on a bit of a cliffhanger.
     
  2. musicfan37

    musicfan37 Senior Member

    I agree 100%! A big mistake.
     
  3. Gems-A-Bems

    Gems-A-Bems Forum Resident

    Location:
    The Duke City
    But when you're posting mere opinion here it isn't "we". That was my point.

    No, because when you asked if I had seen the show you mentioned, the show you had just mentioned was Third Rock, and I did reply that I had seen it.


    I realize that and that has never been an issue. What I did take issue with were claims without basis in fact or that were erroneous.
     
  4. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

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    Hollywood, USA
    Naaa, I meant exactly what I said. I was speaking on behalf of all of us who worked on the show. Everybody was bewildered to some degree at some of the weird turns the show had. You can draw comparisons to Happy Days, M*A*S*H, and other period shows where ultimately, they kind of forgot about the period and just were doing shows with modern actors in a pseudo-historical setting. I don't mind when it's a goof; another show I worked on that absolutely nobody watched was The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer, where it was a total send up of the Lincoln White House, all done for laughs (which was a huge misfire for Paramount TV). I actually thought it had some funny moments, but I understood why so many people hated it. But there were all kinds of modern expressions dropped in. 70s was afflicted by some of those problems towards the end, because it's so hard to maintain that kind of nostalgic feel for so long. It's not a horrible show, it's not a great show, but I'd say it was an OK show. I think like a lot of sitcoms, it lost something as the years went on, and the cast changes didn't help. But that's pretty standard for many shows. A few series -- I would count Seinfeld and Friends among them -- managed to endure for many years and kept the quality at a very, very high level.

    You should watch F Is for Family. Go watch that and I'll continue the conversation. Without that context, you can't grasp my point.

    Opinions aren't facts -- they're just opinions. If I told you the show was shot by the great Ron Browne (who was a very nice man who did great work), on 3-perf Kodak 35mm negative, those are facts. If I told you I thought the show was OK but not great, that's an opinion. Huge difference between the two. Many, many working members of the crew had opinions of the show, but they had nothing to do with facts or errors. Many armchair critics on the internet have access to a whole slew of opinions, but I try to put them in context and consider when the show or film was made, what mainstream critics thought, what I thought, and (if my fellow crewmembers worked on the film) what we thought of the show as a group. When you work on a thousand hours of TV, some of which became massive hits and some of which were forgotten flops, you eventually get a sense of what's good and what's not.

    At the same time, I'm the first to say there's a huge difference between the ability to recognize good and bad vs. actually creating a show on the page. And that takes real talent and skill. 70s Show was a show that benefitted from very good editing, and Tim Ryder and the other guys really did a good job, week after week. On multicam sitcoms, editing makes the difference between a mild giggle and a huge laugh. They deserve a lot of the credit for honing great performances out of the actors.
     
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  5. Spaghettiows

    Spaghettiows Forum Resident

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    I always wondered why the setting didn't start earlier in the 70s.

    I suspect that some network executive wanted the show to scream a cliched version of "70s!!" from the get-go, Disco, Leisure Suits, Star Wars, Pet Rocks, all of the trappings that happened in the second half of the decade. On top of that, they possibly wanted to separate the content as much as possible from the Vietnam era which was in a sense a leftover vestige of the 60s and a more difficult topic to tackle in a lighthearted, humorous vein.
     
  6. rockclassics

    rockclassics Senior Member

    Location:
    Mainline Florida
    I have an idea why they did not start earlier in the 70s. I think the idea was to follow the kids thru high school only. So they started in 76 and went thru 79. After they graduated there was talk of college for some and jobs for others.

    If they had started earlier in the 70s they would have had to either come up with a storyline prior to high school or after high school. Given the ages of the actors a storyline prior to high school would not have worked. Of course Jackie could have passed as a junior high student.

    For various reasons the last couple of seasons went down hill. I think part of this was due to having to change the storyline away from high school and toward what the kids would do afterwards.

    That's my theory.
     
  7. Mr. Grieves

    Mr. Grieves Forum Resident

    It contains probably the greatest Zeppelin parody band Lifted Riffs with their hit song Lick My Pickle :laugh:
     
  8. Gems-A-Bems

    Gems-A-Bems Forum Resident

    Location:
    The Duke City
    Really. So everyone involved thought the show should have instead started in 1970? All the writers thought their work was sloppy? All the showrunners thought their work was bad? Those are facts?

    No. Like it or not, you are only speaking for yourself here on this forum.


    Naaa, I think I will continue the conversation about the actual subject of this thread, which is That 70s Show.
     
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  9. MikaelaArsenault

    MikaelaArsenault Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Hampshire
    Does anyone have any favorite guest stars who appeared on the show?
     
  10. Mr. Grieves

    Mr. Grieves Forum Resident

    Having the great Lando Calrissian side with Eric on his obsession with Star Wars over the increasingly annoyed Donna was great, so Billy Dee Williams for me.

    Honorable mention for the Rock & Bruce Willis
     
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  11. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Hey, it's just about 2017, and I've added a new person for my Ignore list! I think that brings it up to 4.
     
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  12. swandown

    swandown Under Assistant West Coast Forum Resident

    Location:
    Portland, OR
    Billy Dee Williams was great. So was Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson (playing his actual father).
     
  13. Hexwood

    Hexwood Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    I've been rewatching That '70s Show since mid-November. I've just started season seven.

    My favourite characters are Kelso, Hyde, Fez, Kitty and Donna. Eric and Jackie grew on me as the show went on. I'm indifferent to Bob. He's just there most of the time. Red's funny, but his dickishness starts to grate after a while.

    She's tall, feisty, has a great body, listens to Led Zeppelin, and smokes weed.

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Jan 2, 2017
  14. MikaelaArsenault

    MikaelaArsenault Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Hampshire
    I was so excited when I found out yesterday that one of my uncles has Season 2 of That 70s Show.
     
  15. greelywinger

    greelywinger Osmondia Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dayton, Ohio USA
    Just started watching Season 8 on Netflix.
    Good to see Tommy Chong back as Leo.

    Darryl
     
  16. GlamorProfession

    GlamorProfession Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tejas
    one of my favorite episodes - thanksgiving season 1.

    unfortunately this clip doesn't show the full opening scene where Midge asks Kitty: "what's that pet name your mother-in-law calls you?" Kitty replies "whore" :biglaugh:

    then after Laurie's friend tells Eric that she sleeps practically in the nude, Eric tries to walk through the door behind her and gets the suitcases he's carrying knocked out of his hands. great stuff.


     
  17. GlamorProfession

    GlamorProfession Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tejas
    and Kitty being "a tad bit moody..."

     
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  18. MikaelaArsenault

    MikaelaArsenault Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Hampshire
    For those who have missed it, on IFC yesterday, The Keg episode was shown.
     
  19. Trashman

    Trashman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Wisconsin
    This was my theory too. It made sense that the show focused on the late 70s and followed the characters through their high school years. There was more material to mine from a cultural standpoint between '76 and '79, with some of the wackier fads appearing in that part of the decade. The Wikipedia section that covers the timeline of the series does a pretty good job explaining things.
     
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  20. Hexwood

    Hexwood Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Seth Green
    Betty White - Burt!!!
     
  21. GlamorProfession

    GlamorProfession Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tejas
    some good ones mentioned already. i'll add Marion Ross as Bernice Forman (Red's mom)
     
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  22. greelywinger

    greelywinger Osmondia Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dayton, Ohio USA
  23. greelywinger

    greelywinger Osmondia Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dayton, Ohio USA
  24. MikaelaArsenault

    MikaelaArsenault Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Hampshire
  25. greelywinger

    greelywinger Osmondia Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dayton, Ohio USA


    Darryl
     
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