"That 70's Show" A problem with television shows dealing with nostalgia is

[terrya]

that they have no basis whatsoever in reality.

[CanuckAmok]

1. I'm sorry...and other sitcoms do?!

hmmm...

[terrya]

2. I'm sorry I brought it up now. eom

[NightTrain]

5. ALL IN THE FAMILY sure as hell did.

That was, however, 30+ years ago. I daresay TV has gone through a lot of negative changes since then.

[CanuckAmok]

10. Agreed...I was thinking of the current crop:

Friends, 2 1/2 Men, etc.

[tcfrogs]

3. Of course not

It's somewhat of a guilty pleasure for me, though. There is certainly worse dreck on TV that 70's show.

[Blue Gardener]

4. Agreed

It's supposed to be based in Wisconsin, but I never see any snow, and the trees, bushes and grass are always green. Since Ashton Kutcher is from the Midwest (Iowa), you would think he would point that out to them. I know it's a small thing, but it's just kind of annoying.

[leftistagitator]

6. I've seen snow a few times, but not often enough to be realistic

Like when the Forman got his car stuck in the snow, and when they went out to that cabin in the woods. And when they stole the Christmas tree.

[jdsmith]

7. I'm not sure what you mean

But "That 70s Show" has been way off since its first couple of years. The problem, I think, is that it trots out anachronisms--there doesn't seem to be anyone on the writing staff who is as on top of teens' vocabulary as there is in the costume department (the clothes are, as they have always been, dead on). When a kid responds to another with a snotty little "Whatever," that reeks of today. Compare that with how "Happy Days" went really wrong (not that it ever seemed really right to me) once Rochie, Potsie, and Ralph all started wearing their hair down over their ears, seventies style. I wasn't around in the fifties, but I'm pretty sure that boys with long hair wouldn't have made it out of Milwaukee alive back then. And that's not even bringing up Chachi.

(BTW: Did everyone see Scott Baio at the Reagan funeral, West Coast version?)

[tritsofme]

8. I've only seen two episodes and they contradicted eachother

One had the father character going into a mad rant about Nixon being framed, and the other had him demanding to know from Gerald Ford why he pardoned Nixon.

That's enough for me.

[DarkPhenyx]

9. Nostalgia period...

...has no fucking basis in reality. I hope this isn't any news flash for anyone. Take, for example, this "Golden Age of America". When the fuck was it? Never existed! NEVER! Puh-lease. Nostalgia is for shit and only good to help you feel better when reality gets you down. Music has always sucked, TV has always been for shit, and politicians have always been lying greedy bastards.

Damn. Did I just say that out loud?

[King Of Paperboys]

11. Wow.

It's true. We've become our parents!

What the fuck did I do to get surrounded by crotchety fogeys?

[Deja Q]

12. I've seen the show... Very esoteric. When not wax nostalgic, they use

real life situations that 70s characters twiddle around - such as the father dude whining about how SuperMart is moving in to kill all the competition and so on...

[freetobegay]

13. Who cares!

All the guys are cute!

[Melsky]

14. Any tv sitcom

that I can think of requires a great deal of suspension of disbelief. Usually more than I can summon up.

[slackmaster]

15. They get some things right

The appliances, furnishings, clothing, cars, and some of the packaged foods (e.g. vintage Tab cans) are correct.

[CanuckAmok]

16. So basically it's a weekly Smithsonian exhibit.

So the costumes and the Art Department are bang-on...I agree the whole package isn't even close to attempting to think about being accurate.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

17. Nothing new

Back in the late 1950s, early 1960s, there was a 1920's nostalgia show called Margie. In that show, they didn't even get the fashions right, according to my mother, who was a child during the 1920s, because the women all had bouffant hairdos (as befits the 1959-1963 era), when in reality, 1920s women wore their hair close to the head, usually short and slicked down.

My mother hated that show.

[bagimin]

18. Do you mean " My Little Margie"......? .............

with Gail Storm?...and Zazu Pitts?.....or is this an acid flahback...

[UTUSN]

20. Hey! Those Are Two of My FAVORITE People

and are YOU THAT old???????????

[Lydia Leftcoast]

21. No, not "My Little Margie," which was earlier in the 1950s

and starred Gale Storm as Margie and Charles Farrell as her dad. (ZaSu Pitts wasn't in that series, but she was in a series with Gale Storm called "Oh, Susannah," which was about two women who worked on a cruise ship.)

Plain old "Margie" was about a teenager in the 1920s, and the opening theme song was an actual 1920s hit song called..."Margie."

"Margie,
I'm always thinking of you,
Margie, I'll tell the world I love you;
Don't forget your promise to me,
I have bought a home and ring and ev'ry thing, for Margie
You've been my inspiration,
Days are never blue:
After all is said and done,
There is really only one
Oh! Margie, Margie, it's you."

I don't know if you're talking to me, UTUSN, but yes, I am that old, a card-carrying member of the baby boomer generation.

[bagimin]

22. How the heck do you remember..

Charles Farrell ?.....god......he had a mustache...no?

[UTUSN]

19. Well, I Disliked "Cute Nazis" and Smart-alecked M.A.S.H.

just to make me TOTALLY unpopular at DU. And on FATHER's DAY to boot.