"I hate that show, okay? The have these commercials that you think are real, but they're not real. And then you wanna buy the stuff." - Jackie Burkhardt (Mila Kunis) on why she doesn't like "Saturday Night Live"
That '70s Show: Season One DVD Review
By A.J. Carson
Two of the most popular TV shows of the 1970s - Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley - were set twenty years earlier in the 1950s. Appropriately enough, twenty years later, Fox found a hit in That '70s Show, which took a nostalgic look back at the Disco Era. Like Happy Days, the series centers on a group of teenage friends in a smallish Midwestern town. In 1976, Eric Forman (Topher Grace) is a sixteen year-old high school student living in tiny Point Place, Wisconsin. He has a crush on his next door neighbor Donna (Laura Prepon), a down-to-earth beauty whom he has known since they were both toddlers. Although Eric is basically a smart kid, he sometimes does really dumb things, especially when he's hanging around with his goofy friends. Steven Hyde (Danny Masterson) is a low-achieving stoner who rejoices when he miraculously gets a C- on a test. Michael Kelso (Punk'd's Ashton Kutcher) is a horny moron who is constantly on the verge of breaking up with his spoiled girlfriend, Jackie (Mila Kunis). He can't quite commit to breaking up, though, because it would affect his sex life. Fez (Wilmer Valderrama) is a clueless exchange student who is naïve about American traditions and mores, except for those he's seen on TV or in the movies.
The friends hang around in Eric's basement rec room, where they try their best to avoid his parents: his mother, Kitty (Debra Jo Rupp), a sweet nurse, and his father, Red (Kurtwood Smith), an underemployed hothead. They also have an occasional run-in with Eric's slutty sister, Laurie (Lisa Robin Kelly), Donna's slowwitted father, Bob (Don Stark), and her spacey mother, Midge (Charlie's Angels' Tanya Roberts).
At its best, the series perfectly captures the horrors and joys of teen and family life. In "First Date," Eric and Donna go on their first real date to a fancy restaurant. First, Eric has to suffer the indignity of having his father take him shopping for an appropriate outfit. Afterwards, Red tells him to take care of the brown polyester sports jacket they purchased - it will have to last him through college. When Donna and Eric get into his Vista Cruiser to begin their date, their mothers begin to take snapshots like out-of-control paparazzi. This scene is a brilliant piece of physical comedy.
In another standout episode, Jackie fears that she is pregnant (thus ruining her dream of becoming a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader), and Donna decides to go on "The Pill." The episode achieves a smart balance between the sweet (Jackie's problem and its ultimate resolution) and the funny (the Formans find out about Donna's prescription and jump to conclusions about their son's sex life). The episode ends with another fine bit of slapstick involving Eric, Red, and a hose full of cold water. This same balancing act is found in "Prom Night." Eric and Donna encounter various roadblocks when they decide to consummate their relationship, finally deciding to wait until they are totally ready. The funny subplot involves the temporarily broken up Jackie and Kelso trying to make each other jealous at the prom. The two reunite on the dance floor in a touching final scene.
Marion Ross, who played the caring, saintly mother on Happy Days, makes several guest appearances as Red's bitter, chain smoking mother. In a perfect example of casting against type, Ross is incredibly funny as a mean old battle-axe. Her three appearances are among the show's highlights. Her first episode is "Sunday, Bloody Sunday." Grandma HATES her daughter-in-law, and while Kitty puts on a good face, the feeling is mutual. This latest visit, however, coincides with Kitty's attempts to give up smoking. Ross' heartless biddy nearly steals the show, but Rupp also shines as Kitty. Ross returns to make the holidays miserable for the family in "The Best Christmas Ever." Her final appearance - and I do mean final - comes in "Grandma's Dead," the title of which is pretty much self-explanatory.
The season's final two episodes, "Hyde Moves In" and "The Good Son," are also quite strong. When Hyde's mother abandons him, leaving him alone with no money in their filthy rental home, Kitty and Red decide to do the right thing and take him into their own home. These episodes do a great job of milking laughs from a seemingly unfunny situation and bringing heart to funny situations (as when Hyde says "Thanks, Mrs. Forman. You know, we never had waffles at my house. My mom always said a waffle iron is a luxury, like pillowcases or not getting hit.")
The entire cast is immensely likeable. Thanks to their booming film careers, Grace and Kutcher are the show's breakout stars. Grace has an accessible everyman quality that makes his character appealing even when he is doing something of which the audience might not approve. Kutcher is a gifted physical comedian. Watch "The Best Christmas Ever" to see him nearly fall on his ass while climbing over a sofa but miraculously turn the move into a dead-on character choice.
In addition to Ross, several other famous faces pop up through the season. The Partridge Family's Danny Bonaduce plays the manager of Fatso Burger in "Eric's Burger Job." The Brady Bunch's Jan, Eve Plumb, appears as Jackie's mom in "The Keg." Joseph Gordon-Levitt (3rd Rock From the Sun) has more than a passing interest in Eric in "Eric's Buddy." Mummy hunk and former wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson plays his own father (also a former wrestler) in "That Wrestling Show." Disco diva Gloria Gaynor sings her hit "I Will Survive" in "Prom Night." The X-Files supporting actor Mitch Pileggi plays Red's swinging Army buddy in "The Good Son." Katey Sagal (Married.with Children) occasionally turns up as Hyde's mom, and Laugh-In's Gary Owens can often be heard as an announcer in fake educational films.
Like Jell-O encased fruit or Waldorf salad, That '70s Show is somewhat of an acquired taste. While the show is often sweet, much of the humor derives from light stoner humor and mild sex jokes. At times, the show seems as if it is trying to be "naughty," yet it often comes across as quite tame. The studio audience, of course, doesn't seem to notice this. They whoop and holler at every opportunity, no matter how slight. This is annoying and manipulative, and some of the show's tender moments are diminished by excessive "AWWWWW."s on the soundtrack. One unusual (and welcome) aspect of the show's sex fixation is that for all of the sex talk, it is the teens' parents who get most of the action.
The twenty-five episodes that make up season one are divided onto four discs. The discs are housed in slim, clear keepcases. The front and back covers feature a trippy orange and lavender sunburst pattern. The front cover of each disc features a different pair of cast members dancing and cavorting. The back covers feature episode titles, airdates, writing and directing credits, and brief synopses. The interiors continue the sunburst designs with more cast photos. The DVD faces include photos of the same cast members found on the DVD covers. The four keepcases slide into a cardboard sleeve. The sunburst theme continues on the front of the sleeve.
The groovy DVD menus are like a live-action version of the DVD cases - after a smiley face races toward the screen, the cast members dance, jump, and cavort in front of a colorful sunburst design while a loop of the show's theme song plays. After choosing the "Episode Selection" menu, viewers can pick an individual episode or play all of the disc's episodes. The episodes are divided into chapters, but there are no scene selection menus.
