That 70s Show

If Happy Days sent 1970s viewers on a nostalgic trip to the tranquil 1950s, That '70s Show did likewise for audiences of the late 20th century and the new millennium. The difference was that it parodied a decade that saw energy crises, the resignation of a president, and the end of a bitter war. (The 1970s also brought us Pet Rocks, bell-bottoms, the Ford Pinto and disco music.) But the show’s core cast and its emphasis on love and friendship transcended all decades. And more often than not – especially in the early years – it was actually funny.

That '70s Show was created by husband-and-wife team Terry and Bonnie Turner (who also developed 3rd Rock from the Sun and wrote the screenplays for Wayne’s World and The Brady Bunch Movie); their fascination with the decade inspired this series.

Eric Forman (Topher Grace) was a nice, if slightly geeky, high school junior who hung out with his friends in the rural town of Point Place, Wisconsin, circa 1976. Among them were next-door neighbour Donna Pinciotti (Laura Prepon), the sensible redhead secretly in love with Eric; Steve Hyde (Danny Masterson), a smart-aleck wannabe hippie with a strong belief in government conspiracies; and hunky but clueless Michael Kelso (Ashton Kutcher), who was dating upscale, spoiled, and snobby Jackie Burkhardt (Mila Kunis). Also part of the gang was Fez (Wilmer Valderrama), a foreign exchange student from an unnamed country who had an inexplicable way with the ladies.

Eric lived in a typical suburban home with his parents. Stern and rather humourless Red Forman (Kurtwood Smith) was working part-time at the fast-growing Price Mart discount store after being laid off from the town’s main manufacturing plant. His wife Kitty (Debra Jo Rupp) was a slightly off-centre mum and part-time nurse. Also living at home was Red and Kitty’s college-age daughter Laurie (Lisa Robin Kelly), a young woman of dubious sexual virtue who never passed up an opportunity to get Eric into trouble. Red owned a Japanese Toyota Corolla – like many Americans, purchased in response to the energy crisis of a few years earlier. Eric ended up driving the family’s other car – a large, gas-guzzling Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser station wagon. He and his friends typically hung out around the Vista Cruiser or in the Forman basement, which featured old furniture, an avocado-green Maytag washer-dryer, and a back door. It proved to be the perfect spot to sneak a few “tokes” of pot.

Speaking of marijuana, the premiere episode of That '70s Show caused controversy when it aired on 23 August 1998: the teens were seen drinking beer and smoking weed. (Fox kept the scenes intact but aired an anti-drug public service announcement afterwards.) There were plenty of other symbols of the '70s too – from the garish fashions to the short-lived fads of the era. But as the series progressed, it delved more deeply into personal and romantic complications. Eric finally realised Donna was smitten with him; the two “made love” but were caught by their parents. (They later broke up but remained friends.) Kelso and Jackie’s relationship ended when Kelso started sleeping with Laurie; Jackie later decided she was in love with Hyde – who could barely stand her. And so the drama unfolded. At one point, Hyde worked at a photo developing store, where his boss was played by none other than Tommy Chong of Cheech & Chong fame – the ultimate stoner icon of the 1970s.

That '70s Show helped propel Ashton Kutcher to fame; he went on to star in several hit films, including the moronic Dude, Where’s My Car? He also became a successful television mogul as host and creator of the MTV reality show Punk’d and the WB’s brains-versus-beauty series Beauty and the Geek. The comedy proved popular with younger audiences, and Fox used the series strategically – either to compete with programmes on rival networks or as a reliable fallback when new shows bombed.

The 2005–06 season was the final one for That '70s Show – which by then had shifted into the more conservative 1980s. (Its best-known stars, Topher Grace and Ashton Kutcher, were no longer regulars.) But the show wasn’t renamed That '80s Show. That’s because the Turners had actually created a separate comedy titled That '80s Show, centred on a group of older young adults immersed in Culture Club, MTV, and the stereotypes of the era – including a regular bisexual female character. Launched in January 2002, That '80s Show failed to live up to its parent series and did not return for a second season.

The show’s theme song, In the Street (retitled That '70s Song), was written by Alex Chilton and Chris Bell, and performed by the band Big Star.

Powered by nostalgia, That '70s Show managed to be breezy, light-hearted fun with a likable group of characters set against a decade both strange and silly. Yes, the show became hokier and more clichéd in its later years – but then again, so did the 1970s.