I just finished watching “That ’70s Show,” and I feel like people around me don’t talk about it as much as other shows like “Friends” or “How I Met Your Mother” or “The Big Bang Theory.” I have friends who fangirl about how awesome these shows are (especially Friends with the reboot thing happening on HBO’s platform). But should I dare say this, I think I finally found A BETTER SHOW than “Friends.” Before you take it to heart (MUAHAHAHAHA), you might want to check this show out to know what you’re missing. Maybe, you might end up watching clips from this on your FB and Instagram feeds. AND YOU WILL LOVE IT.

I will try to “review” the show as I write. But the primary purpose is to introduce this show to you. And if I do write a lot (as I usually do without realizing my flow), it’s because I probably can’t shut up about how passionate I am about the show. I’m sure as hell I’m going to be randomly jumping around aspects of the show. Format? Structure? Hmm. Anyway, let’s just jump into it.

The show revolves around Eric (Topher Grace), his friends - Donna (Laura Prepon, also known for her appearance in ‘Orange Is The New Black’) who is the girl next door and childhood best friend of Eric, Hyde the ‘degenerate’ (who’s played by Danny Masterson), Kelso, the innocent dumb one (played very aptly by Ashton Kutcher), Jackie the control freak, the rich spoilt girl and the ‘bitch’ (who’s played by Mila Kunis), and Fez, the Foreign Exchange Student (FES) that’s spelled ‘Fez’ (played by Wilmer Valderrama), and family (Kitty and Red Forman, played by Debra Jo Rupp and Kurtwood Smith respectively) that live in a fictional Point Place, Wisconsin, in the years 1976 to 1979. The show had various working titles, but the official one finally came about when the creators heard someone from the studio audience say, “I loved that show about the ’70s”. It was as simple as that. The show has a lot of elements from the 70s - teenage years, Star Wars, underage drinking, drug use, sexual attitudes, the recession in the ’70s, and the (mis)trust in the American government. I think the creators did an excellent job of giving the feel of the ’70s. The people in the show even dressed like it was from back in the old days, that it looked very uncomfortable, but I guess that was what was the fashion back then. I especially love the fact that the show was sound-tracked with some of the greatest hits from the time. The show did a great job showing how the ’70s saw the rise of rock music, and how they hated disco (so much that they made a bonfire out of disco records in an episode!).

One iconic element of the show was ‘The Circle.’ It’s the part of the show where the kids smoked up and talked about nothing related to the storyline. There is no mention of marijuana by the characters. No one was shown smoking. There was no display of related items like a bong or rolling paper or whatever, but one could infer from the smoke in the room. Usually, when somebody calls for a celebration or has to sit down to think of a way to do something, the scene cuts to The Circle, and it never disappointed. I personally enjoy the company of people when they are high because it’s just so much fun listening to their nonsense and watching their absurd yet funny behavior.

I think one of the reasons why I really enjoy the show more than Friends is because of the age of the characters. They’re finishing high school and moving on to their adult life. I can relate more to this show than the other I listed at the start because I’m around this age too. I loved seeing Eric getting his Vista Cruiser, like the time when I started driving around with my friends. I loved seeing him getting into a relationship with his long time best friend and experiencing the various changes in the dynamic of the relationship. How they used to just sit in the basement and engage in their antics. I’ve experienced similar things in my life too. I’m in my early 20s, and I’m equally clueless about life.

An interesting thing to note here is how it was not a priority to step into college right away. Instead, people work a few jobs first, like how Eric worked at a burger house, Donna worked at a radio station, and Fez worked at the DMV and the hair salon. Hyde doesn’t look like he’ll ever go to college. Donna seems like the girl who will go out elsewhere in the world and explore. Around the ’70s was when the sexual revolution and the Equal Rights Amendment came about, so feminism was still on the rise.

To be able to drink, and to have had sex, was the ‘coming of age’ story. That’s when they became ‘adults.’ Somewhere, that thought is still present with the youngsters of today. Heck, the first episode starts with Eric stealing beer from the house party. As the show progresses, the male characters do make it a point to tell the world when “they’ve become a man.”

I just realized I missed out on some elements of the show. Their scene transitions had psychedelic backgrounds! That was indeed a thing at the time, and you might be interested to know that psychedelics made Dr. Strange a hit with comic fans. The dream sequences were parodies of fads and films of the time. Did I mention Star Wars was a big thing? TV Remote and VCR was a new thing back then, can you believe it? And Cable TV was also new in the ’70s!

(Just in case you wanted to know what I’m talking about. Dr. Strange did have psychedelics. Check it out!)

The influence of music from the ’70s is evident in the show. The show, from Season 5, had their episode names as song titles. Led Zeppelin in S5, The Who in S6, The Rolling Stones in S7, and Queen in S8. Thanks to this show, I’m currently listening to a playlist with all the tracks featured in the show. I am starting to realize I’m getting old, because not only do I enjoy 2000s music more than the current one but somewhere, I enjoy ’70s music even more now. (You Should Be Dancing, YEAH!). How can you not fall in love with the music of that day!

BTW, If you’ve seen the above image in memes with superb burns, you should know that this came from Kelso in the show. I loved it when I came across the episode, because it hit me then, that years after I had seen this meme, I saw the origin of it. I’m not saying this is the origin of ‘burn’ itself, but then Kelso made it sound amazing, that’s for sure.

Eric and Donna’s relationship was a massive thing in the show. I ship Eric + Donna. If I dare say, I think Eric and Donna are much, much better than Ross and Rachel. This post isn’t to attack ‘Friends’ lol I really like ‘Friends’ too, but then you can’t disagree with the fact that Ross-Rachel got toxic at times, and that relationship can only last on a TV show where the audience really wanted them back together (or can it otherwise?). I relate way more to this because they grow together and get along very well. The best friend dynamic is one of the best things about this. It makes me believe even more than the person you do get together with should be your best friend first. They also have their on and offs, but then who wouldn’t write that for generating some television ratings? It’s lovely to see them grow together and face the challenges that come at the start of adulthood. It’s worth noting that at that time, long-distance wasn’t as easy as it can be today. They would not have phones, the internet was just coming up too, and writing letters wasn’t dead just yet. The show does well with showing the progression of technology at that time, making me realize that we’ve come so far as a species.

Now, time for some of the not so good things about the show. Things might get repetitive after 3-4 seasons when some of the jokes that the friends have on each other sound overused. The writers did have a struggle for the mid-seasons when they had to stretch the timeline of a year or two together. In the end, Kelso (Ashton Kutcher) and Eric (Topher Grace) go away because the actors had other commitments (for instance, Topher went away to shoot for SpiderMan-3, and I think he did well being the cocky Venom). Season 8 for me became more about the rest of the main characters than the story line. By then, I was already in love with the show. But I’m not unaware of the fact that Season 8 didn’t do as well as the rest of the show. Kelso and Eric were such good characters that the gap that they created was evident at times. I missed Kelso’s stupidity and Eric’s smartass dialogues. The actors did so well in their roles that they were missed. They do come back for the finale, though, and the closing is appropriate, as it ends on the New Year’s Eve of 1979. The show’s final moments are the first few seconds of 1980.

The best thing about this show is that it was shot from the late ’90s. So if a show like that was made today, it would be “That ’90s Show” or maybe even “That 2000’s Show”. At the time, such a concept was very refreshing for TV, that the studio audience accepted it immediately when the pilot was aired. Even the actors felt like they were on to something big because they got along well since the pilot.

It’s very easy to watch this show. One can put it on and not worry about thinking so much while getting immersed. Even if there’s a significant moment in the story, it is handled in a comedic manner. The show was apparently so good that there was an attempt to make a British version of it, and a spinoff series called “That ’80s Show”. They didn’t work out as well, though. But I think even if the writers modified it well enough, it wouldn’t match up to this show. I doubt one can try to copy what an excellent foreign boy Fez was, the hippie and rebel that Hyde was, or the tomboy Donna was, or what an annoying character Jackie was. And here, I must say, Mila Kunis did it so well, she made me hate Jackie at times. Reminds me of ‘Shut Up Meg!’

I do realize I went on and about quite randomly talking about this show. But I think if I go on more, I might reveal way more than I should. The point is, this show is fucking great! And I feel like people don’t talk about it as much as other shows. I’m sure this show has enough fans to acknowledge my sentiments, but I think if I share this with you all, and if you end up watching the show, I hope I got you started.

Oh, what would it be like to live in the 70s! And what a show, that one about the 70s!