‘That ’70s Show’ stirs up nostalgia
Sitcom that launched many careers turns 20
Talk about 20/20 hindsight: Thursday marks the 20th anniversary of the premiere of “That ’70s Show,” a sitcom that itself looked back 20 years to the up-and-down 1970s.
The Fox series launched on Aug. 23, 1998, introducing viewers to a basement confab of Wisconsin highschoolers whose crazy conversations, rotating romances and awkward adventures – often accented with wafting pot smoke – made them a staple with viewers for eight seasons.
The youthful stars – Topher Grace (“BlacKk Klansman”), Laura Prepon (“Orange Is the New Black”), Mila Kunis (“The Spy Who Dumped Me”), Ashton Kutcher (“Two and a Half Men”), Wilmer Valderrama (“NCIS”) and Danny Masterson (“The Ranch”) – all graduated to successful entertainment careers. Kunis and Kutcher, whose characters were in a relationship on the show, later married in real life and now have two children.
Kurtwood Smith (Amazon’s “Patriot”), who played cantankerous Red Forman, the father of Eric (Grace) and husband of Kitty (Debra Jo Rupp, “This Is Us”), reminisces about the show’s lasting appeal.
Where there’s smoke, there’s ganja
“That ’70s Show” ingeniously incorporated marijuana, a more controversial topic 20 years ago than today, into its milieu. The network wouldn’t allow the teens to be seen smoking marijuana, so the show created a weed friendly vibe with wisps of smoke and an innovative and appropriately disorienting camera technique: a 360-degree sweep of high teens sitting in what became known as “The Circle.”
“It was ingenious. Obviously, the kids were smoking pot and getting high, but they didn’t want to show that,” Smith says. “You saw smoke but never saw anybody smoking. The camera turning like that gave the feel of them being high without having to (show) that.”
Teen nostalgia for young adults
The series was set mid-decade in the ’70s, with President Richard Nixon’s resignation, the energy crisis and other real events available as historical references and joke fodder aimed at viewers who grew up in that decade.
It was a precursor to current and recent comedies anchored in past decades, including the 1980s (“The Goldbergs,” “GLOW”) and 1990s (“Fresh Off the Boat,” “Everything Sucks!”), that appeal to the youthful longings of an adult audience. Ironically, Smith thinks that setting the show in the past keeps it from seeming old.
“It was out of date to begin with. It’s not going to be dated, because it’s always been a period piece and was treated as such,” he says. “You could watch it at any time in the future and it will still make sense.”
Fans, Smith would enjoy a reunion
For Smith, who’s planning dinner soon with Grace and recently attended a play starring Rupp, the biggest “’70s Show” get-together so far came when he made guest appearances on Netflix’s “The Ranch,” which starred Kutcher and Masterson (who was dropped from the show in 2017 in the wake of sexual-assault allegations that he has denied) and included a director, producer and props workers from “That ’70s Show.”
“Because of Ashton and Mila being married, Mila was around. It was great fun getting to see her and those babies. Amazing!” he said. “It really was like a school reunion.”
The idea of an original-cast revival appeals to him, but nothing’s planned.
“I have people ask me about it all the time,” he says. However, “I don’t think, given everybody’s schedule, that would happen. I think a lot of us would be in favor of that, but I can’t speak for everyone.”