I’ve got to be perfectly honest – when That ’70s Show was on the air, I never watched it. It wasn’t until two or three years ago that I caught some re-runs and went, “Holy crapballs, this show is freaking amazing.”
I knew about it, of course. I’ve had a massive, raging crush on Topher Grace since Win a Date with Tad Hamilton. (Topher, you could do so much better than Kate Bosworth. Can I interest you in, say, me?) When he doesn’t have his haircut that makes him look like an eight year old, he still makes my stomach do funny fluttery things. But I never felt the need to watch the show. What a dumb premise, I thought. A show about people in the ’70s? How do you pitch that to studio executives? I can just see a bunch of nervous, eager writers lining up and going, “Look, we’ve got this idea for a show about a bunch of kids in the ’70s. And we will call it… That ’70s Show.” If I was an executive, I would have laughed in their faces and kicked them out of my office.
This is why I am not an executive.
There is no reason why this show should be good. It’s predictable, kitschy, and inflicted upon the world Ashton Kutcher. But there’s something about it that makes it utterly perfect to just sit and marathon the entire day on YouTube when you really don’t want to do anything else. It’s easy, it’s light, and I’m sorry, Fez is kind of hilarious, even if he did date Lindsay Lohan. I could watch the Red and Kitty show for hours. I don’t even mind the stupid circles and weird and cheesy transition clips! Or laugh track! It’s a freaking miracle!
I think the single greatest thing about this show was the Jackie/Hyde relationship. I mean, the seasons before those two crazy kids hooked up weren’t bad, but when they were together the show was pure magic (and when they broke up, the show jumped the shark. Fast). They were so perfect together with their opposites attract, love-to-hate-you, old married couple routine.
And then there’s Fez. Oh, Fez. He’s my sister’s absolute favorite character, and he might be mine too. I honestly am kind of awed that Wilmer Valderrama had the acting chops to pull off this character, since his work since this show has mostly comprised of Yo Mama.
And of course there’s my love, Topher Grace. Mmmm. BaCON.
Was anyone else a fan of That ’70s Show?
Clacked by Julia Hass 
on Jul 22, 2009 @ 18:04 EST5EDT
I am pretty much in the exact same boat as you (except for the Topher Grace crush). I didn’t get into the show until I had a lot of time to pass in college about 3 years ago. It’s an easy watch and all the characters are likable in various ways.
While I wouldn’t say the show was bad after Hyde and Jackie broke up, it definitely hurt Hyde’s character once he started trying to get Jackie back. The last season was terrible, though, and I immediately change the channel whenever I see Eric’s replacement character on screen.
I watched its original run on german television and then stuck with it until the end via the Internet. The first five years were solid, then they should’ve just put a lid on it. In the end it all pretty much was just a Scientology gig and I hated it for that. You can pretty much walk over to “Punk’d” and find out who the real cool guys on the show are. Kutcher, Valderama, Grace.
Anyway, I have the “Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!” Soundtrack lying next to me while writing this so go figure how much I like that movie. It’s a damn shame there isn’t a german dubbed DVD out, it’s such a great date movie.
Oh and just FYI, if you haven’t seen “He’s just not into you” yet, check out who from WaDwTH is in that one and watch how much guys like that movie because 75% of it consists of guys behaving like assholes and getting away with it while in the end all the girls get what they want with most likely 99% of the guys watching that movie not getting what just happened *snicker* Which makes it the ultimate date movie ;-)
But I digress. I was totally in love with Laura Prepon and the whole Eric/Donna storyline for three solid years, couldn’t wait to see the next episode. It was must-see-tv for me on saturdays on RTL at 14:00 (that’s RTL Television and 2pm for you guys on the other side of the pond).
Thanks for reminding me of this great show Julia :-)
(and yes of course I always have an agenda when I comment here, sorry for that ;-) )
Loved the show’s early years, Eric and Donna, Jackie and Hyde, and you do yourself a disservice if you do not see Topher Grace with Quaid and Helgenberger in In Good Company.
Loved this show during the early years. The music was awesome.
Kelso, Hide, Donna, Jackie, Eric , Red and Kitty and …the Fez !! Cool characters.
I love the show. I grew up in the ‘70s myself, so I could totally relate. Although, I wasn’t a pothead, so I didn’t relay identify with all the getting stoned scenes and situations. I love that Eric was such a Star Wars geek – and that he was so serious about it that you couldn’t even joke about it. I also really liked Fez… made me remember the “foreign kids” (Exchange Students) that we had in my high school.
I loved the clothes, the fashions, the fads… all the accurate home décor and the Vista Cruiser with that little sun roof strip. I was a great show and brought back a ton of great memories.
I actually wrote a book awhile back about growing up in the ‘70s. I wrote all about all the things that we all grew up with. I was even going to call it “That ‘70s Book”, but Carsey-Warner wasn’t too keen on letting me do this, so I called it “My ‘70s Book”. It explores all of the fun times, fashions, music, toys etc. we had growing up. You can read all about it here. https://www.my70sbook.com.