That '70s Show

That '70s Show
Series intertitle
Format	Sitcom
Created by	Bonnie Turner Terry Turner Mark Brazill
Starring	Topher Grace Mila Kunis Ashton Kutcher Danny Masterson Laura Prepon Wilmer Valderrama Josh Meyers (Season 8) Debra Jo Rupp Kurtwood Smith Tanya Roberts Don Stark Lisa Robin Kelly Tommy Chong
Opening theme	"That '70s Song" performed by Todd Griffin (season 1), Cheap Trick (season 2–8) & Ben Vaughn, written by Alex Chilton and Chris Bell
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	8
No. of episodes	200 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Caryn Mandabach
Location(s)	Point Place, Wisconsin
Running time	22 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	Fox
Picture format	NTSC (480i)
Audio format	Stereo
Original run	August 23, 1998 (1998-08-23) – May 18, 2006 (2006-05-18)
Status	Ended

That '70s Show is an American television sitcom that centers on the lives of a group of teenage friends living in the fictional suburban town of Point Place, Wisconsin, from May 17, 1976 to December 31, 1979.^[1] It debuted on the FOX television network. The series first aired on August 23, 1998 and ran for eight consecutive seasons, concluding with the 200th episode on May 18, 2006. The show was a launching pad for the film careers of some of its stars, who were mostly unknown at the time they were cast.

The main teenage cast was Topher Grace, Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher, Danny Masterson, Laura Prepon, and Wilmer Valderrama. During the eighth and final season, Josh Meyers was added after Grace and Kutcher departed.

Cast

Kids

Topher Grace as Eric Forman (seasons 1–7; guest stars, season 8): The show's protagonist and male lead. Eric is a nice guy, generally geeky, physically weak, and somewhat clumsy. He is a smart-aleck with a fast wit and a deadpan sense of humor. He convinces his parents to let his best friend Hyde move in with them, making Hyde like a brother. His father, Red, is always hard on him. Eric is in a relationship with his longtime love and neighbor Donna Pinciotti. He decides to become a teacher after high school, and he leaves the series at the end of the seventh season to teach in Africa. He does not appear during the final season (but is mentioned in every episode) until the end of the series finale.

Mila Kunis as Jackie Burkhart: The youngest member of the group, Jackie starts the series as the pretty, rich, spoiled, selfish, conceited, and annoying immature girl. She likes to give thoughtless and superficial advice, which occasionally turns out to be correct. As the series progresses, she strays from her self-centered ways and becomes sweeter. Partly as a result of these changes, she and Donna become better friends. By the end of the series, Jackie has dated most of the males in the group: Kelso, Hyde, and Fez.

Ashton Kutcher as Michael Kelso (seasons 1–7; recurring, season 8): The dim-witted pretty boy of the group who wants to coast through life on his good looks. He spends most of the series in a relationship with the equally vapid Jackie. His best friend is Fez. He fathers a baby girl named Betsy during season seven. He attempts to become a police officer but gets kicked out of the police academy because he does just about everything wrong. He gets a job as a security guard at a nightclub in Chicago, and he leaves the series during the eighth and final season. He only appears in five episodes during season eight, including the series finale.

Danny Masterson as Steven Hyde: Eric's best friend and the anti-establishment member of the group. By the end of season one, the Formans allow Hyde to move in after he was abandoned by his mother, making him a foster brother to Eric. Hyde, like Eric, has a witty, blunt, and sarcastic sense of humor. Although rebellious, he is also smart, and the other group members often ask for his advice. Although Hyde dates Jackie for three seasons, in the final season he marries an exotic dancer named Samantha. Hyde later discovers Samantha was still married when she married him. As Donna points out in "My Fairy King", that means Hyde and Samantha are not legally married. In the seventh season, Hyde meets his biological father (William Barnett, played by Tim Reid), a wealthy African-American businessman (making Hyde, who was presumed to be Caucasian, biracial). Barnett, who owns a chain of record stores, makes Hyde first the manager, and later the owner, of the Point Place store.

Laura Prepon as Donna Pinciotti: Eric's longtime girlfriend (and briefly fiancée). Donna is intelligent, good-looking, and a feminist. Although she doesn't agree with what Jackie stands for in the beginning of the series, they soon become good friends. Donna is in a relationship with Eric for seven seasons (despite their break-up during Season 4). She begins a brief romance with Randy during the final season and quickly ends it. She rekindles her relationship with Eric at the end of the show's finale.

Wilmer Valderrama as Fez: The foreign exchange student of the group. His secret country of origin is one of the longest running gags on the show. He is sweet, friendly, perverted, gullible, and rather odd. He enjoys eating candy, drinking beer, and looking at pornography. His best friend is Kelso, and he shares a "younger brother" type relationship with Hyde and Eric. Initially, he has a lot of trouble getting attention from girls but during the eighth season he becomes a ladies' man. He has been in love with Jackie throughout the series but his love was never reciprocated until the eighth season when they become a couple.

Josh Meyers as Randy Pearson (season 8): The newest member of the group who is introduced in season eight. Randy appears laid back, gentle, polite, and a ladies man, although later many of his flaws surface. He forms a friendship with Red after showing him how good he is at fixing things. Hyde, Jackie, Donna, and Kelso accept him, but Fez does not. Josh dates Donna for the majority of season eight, but she eventually breaks up with him.

Lisa Robin Kelly as Laurie Forman (seasons 1–3; recurring, season 5): Eric's beautiful but evil older sister. Laurie is very promiscuous, often seen with different men, mainly Eric's friend Kelso, who cheats on his girlfriend Jackie. Eric, Hyde, and Donna often mock her promiscuity. She leaves the series during the third season but returns in a recurring role during season five. In season six, she is portrayed by a different actress, Christina Moore.

Adults

Debra Jo Rupp as Kitty Forman: Red's wife, Eric's and Laurie's mother, and Hyde's adopted mother. Kitty is a cheerful, doting mother, but can also be assertive when pushed. Despite being a nurse, she is a smoker and drinks a lot. Her major mood swings are usually attributed to menopause. She is also a good mother figure to Eric's friends.

Kurtwood Smith as Red Forman: Kitty's husband, Eric's and Laurie's father, and Hyde's adopted father. Red is a Navy combat veteran, having served in World War II and the Korean War. Despite his mean exterior, Red occasionally displays a soft side. His hobbies include working with his power tools, drinking beer, watching television, reading the newspaper, hunting, and fishing.

Tanya Roberts as Midge Pinciotti (seasons 1–3; recurring, seasons 6–7): Bob's wife, Donna's mother, and Kitty's best friend. Midge was the sexy neighborhood mom Eric and his male friends fantasized about when coming of age. Although often dim-witted, she is also a kind-hearted woman who develops feminist ideals. She and Bob divorce when she is written out of the series after the third season. She returns during the sixth and seventh seasons in a recurring role where she and Bob almost reunite.

Don Stark as Bob Pinciotti: Midge's husband, Donna's father. Bob often brags about his service in the National Guard, which invariably irritates Red. Bob is also known for walking around his house with his robe wide open and no underwear. He eats constantly, even in bed. Bob is almost always in a good mood and is a ladies' man.

Tommy Chong as Leo Chingkwake (seasons 4, 8; recurring, seasons 2–3, 7): A hippie, and the owner of a Foto Hut at which Hyde once worked. Leo often puts play before work and maintains an easy-going attitude in most things, business included. He disappears from the series after season four but is later referenced in season five's "The Battle of Evermore" when the gang goes on a mission to find him. He returns in season seven and remains on the series until the show's end. In season 8, he gets a new job working for Hyde at Grooves.

Elements of the show

The Seventies

The show tackled social issues of the 1970s such as feminism, sexual attitudes, the reaction of the Greatest Generation to their burgeoning influence, the economic hardships of recession, mistrust of the American government by blue-collar workers, and teenage drug use. The series also highlighted developments in the entertainment industry, including the television remote ("the clicker"), the video game Pong, and Eric's obsession with Star Wars.

Beginning with the second season, the show focused less on the socio-political aspects of the story. For example, the dynamic of the relationship between Eric and Donna was altered in later seasons to more closely resemble the relationships of other "power couples" on teen dramas. Likewise, the first season of the show featured a recurring, more dramatic storyline in which the Formans were in danger of losing their home due to Red's hours being cut back at the auto parts plant where he worked. Storylines in later seasons were generally presented more comically and less dramatically.

The show also featured guest-starring actors from 1970s TV shows, such as Betty White and Mary Tyler Moore (The Mary Tyler Moore Show); Tim Reid and Howard Hesseman (WKRP in Cincinnati); Barry Williams and Christopher Knight (The Brady Bunch); Tom Bosley and Marion Ross (Happy Days); and Danny Bonaduce (The Partridge Family).

Beginning with season 5, each episode in the season is named after a song by a rock band that was famous in the '70s: Led Zeppelin (season 5), The Who (Season 6), The Rolling Stones (season 7), and Queen (season 8).

Split screens

One common device in the show is to depict a split screen in which two pairs of characters speak. One character is usually seeking advice on a problem with a character in the second pairing, and the other character advises them. Although the conversations appear to mirror each other, the device ends as the characters come to entirely different conclusions. It is most often used for the couples of the show, with each member of the couple being advised on the relationship in a different fashion. For example, Donna and Eric consult Jackie and Kelso for advice on attending a drive-in; as the scene closes, Kelso offers to accompany them, but Eric rejects the idea, while Donna asks Jackie to accompany them, and Jackie agrees. The split screens were rarely used in the later seasons of the series.

Dream sequences

The show includes character daydream sequences, some of which refer to or parody fads and films of the time, such as Star Wars, Rocky, and Grease.

The character picturing the dream sometimes also narrates it, but regardless, the other characters present see the same dream. In the episode "Stone Cold Crazy", Jackie mentioned she liked the song playing in Fez's dream sequence. The sequences are usually introduced by a wobbling screen transition. Sometimes, the transition is absent when the characters who imagine the scene believe they are real (for example, Eric's dream about Donna in "Eric's Birthday" or Jackie's dream about Hyde proposing in "It's All Over Now").

In the 100th episode, "That '70s Musical", all singing scenes were Fez's dream sequences.

The Circle

The Circle was used primarily to illustrate the teens' cannabis use, usually in Eric Forman's basement. The scene shown is the final scene of the series (Note Donna's blonde hair, Hyde's mustache, and Kelso's short hair.)

In The Circle, a group of characters, usually the teenagers, sit in a circle (generally in Eric's basement room, though occasionally elsewhere), as the camera slowly spins, stopping at each character as he or she speaks. It was usually apparent that the characters were under the influence of marijuana. Thick clouds of smoke and an extreme wide-angle lens added to the "drug-induced" feel, although the audience never saw anyone actually smoking the drug. Also, there were no visible drug-related paraphernalia like matches, water pipes, or cigarette papers. Characters never spoke the word "marijuana" (except in one episode "Reefer Madness") or any slang equivalent. However, in the episode "Bye-Bye Basement", Theo (Leo's cousin) refers to "weed"; in "The Relapse", Kelso tells Fez that the concrete wall behind the gym is used mostly for "smoking weed and beating up freshmen"; in "Ski Trip", Kitty asks Eric why he is taking so much oregano to Jackie's ski lodge; and in another episode, Red, referring to Eric, exclaims, "That kid's on dope!" More common references to marijuana were vaguer terms like "stuff" or "stash". A gimmick related to The Circle and the marijuana smoking was Eric watching the kitchen wall moving erratically, although this technique was also used to show that Eric was drunk.

As the series progressed, The Circle became one of the series' recurring features. The only four episodes where the whole gang is in The Circle are "Class Picture", "I'm A Boy", "Substitute" and in the series finale. Also, the entire gang (except Eric and Kelso) appears in The Circle during the opening credits of season 8.

The Stupid Helmet

The Stupid Helmet refers to an old Green Bay Packers helmet that a character is forced to wear after having done something deemed stupid by the rest of the gang. Eric had to wear it when he said he wanted to propose to Donna, and Fez wore it when he started banging his head on the table after helping Kelso keep Jackie. The helmet can be seen in the Forman basement on a shelf behind the cast. When the series concluded in 2006, Kelso took the helmet with him. The last one up the staircase had to call Red a "dumbass", something he always called the kids. Since Kelso was the last one, he grabbed the helmet.

The Water Tower

In many episodes the teenaged characters are often hanging out on the water tower. At the end of several water tower segments, at least one character falls off (usually Kelso). When Charlie fell off in season 8, he died, and the water tower was renamed in his honor. After Charlie's death, Kelso fell off again but survived, leading him to believe he was "invincible". In the episode "Water Tower", the gang painted a marijuana leaf on the tower, but it looked more like a green hand giving the finger. Kelso was known to fall off the water tower once in every grade since middle school.

Scene changes

Scene changes or scene transitions featured the characters doing something in front of a colorful, psychedelic, lava lamp-like background. They sometimes included the mirror image of the character doing the same thing.

In the first season, scene changes were typically still images of faces from the 1970s with only the mouth moving (à la Conan O'Brien's "Fake Celebrity Interviews") using Syncro-Vox, usually yelling, in a rock form, "Yeahhh!" or something similar (ex. Farrah Fawcett saying "Yeah!" or Richard Nixon saying "Are you ready to rock and roll?").

In early seasons, the scene changes often showed no people, just black backgrounds with a colorful object (such as a ball, balloon, or flowers) exploding, replicating, deflating, or bouncing around. Sometimes they would be visuals of lava lamps with the show's logo plummeting to the bottom of the screen in front of it. Another typical early season scene transition would show a picture of an animal, person (sometimes a popular person of the decade, like Farrah Fawcett), or object singing "ohh baby baby baby ohhh" in a Robert Plant-style voice.

The Vista Cruiser

Many of the show's episodes featured Eric and the rest of the kids in or around Eric's "Aztec Gold" 1969 Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser, handed down to Eric by Red. For the first seven seasons of the show, the show's introduction showed the cast inside the Vista Cruiser.

The show's pronunciation of "Vista Cruiser," with emphasis on "Cruiser", conflicted with the pronunciation of author George Plimpton in the Oldsmobile television advertisement for the 1969 Vista Cruiser, where he pronounced the two words with the emphasis on "Vista."^[2]

That particular station wagon was bought by Wilmer Valderrama at the show's conclusion from Carsey-Warner for US$500.

In August 2009, the show's Vista Cruiser was named third-greatest television car ever by MSN Autos.^[3]

Running gags

In one of the show's major running gags, Red often threatens to punish Eric with many variations of "kicking your ass." For example, in "Kitty and Eric's Night Out", Red mistakenly thinks Eric offended Kitty, so Red says, "I swear I'll kick his ass!" In "Eric's Hot Cousin", Eric tries to get out of something by claiming he's sleepwalking, and Red says, "And I'm about to be sleepkicking your ass." Sometimes Red uses it for someone other than Eric. For example, in "Street Fighting Man", someone sees a fellow wearing a Bears jersey at a Packer game, and Red says, "Let's all get together and kick his ass!"

Another running gag is Fez's country of origin, which is never revealed. Sometimes, Fez is about to disclose where he's from, or at least hint at it, but something happens to prevent him from doing so, like someone entering the room in "Stolen Car", or Fez rambling in "Love of My Life".

Another gag is the use of the word "burn", a term used by a character after something bad or offensive happened at another character's expense. According to Kelso in "Dine and Dash", a burn consists of two elements: "You didn't see it coming, parts of it really hurt."

Timeline

The creators had wanted the show to have a 1970s "feel" from the beginning, and so opted to set the series later in the decade, when trends and political ideologies had become firmly established and disseminated. The idea that the duration of the series would carry socio-political undertones also necessitated a chain of social events which could influence the characters, Thus, 1976 was chosen, which allowed episodes set within a short time frame to address streaking, the Equal Rights Amendment, the 1973 Oil Crisis, the presidencies of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, all of which were culturally influential events that occurred in the earlier years of the 1970s. The shift to 1977 during the last half of the first season also allowed the inclusion of a Star Wars episode (20), as its premiere airing roughly coincided with the box office debut of A New Hope at that time known just as "Star Wars".

Throughout the first two seasons, episodes opened with title cards show the season/month and year (example: Late Spring, 1977 or June 1977). These, however, were eventually abandoned after season 2, with few subsequent episodes using them. However, they were used again in the final episode, showing "December 31st, 1979 10:45 a.m." From the premiere onward, the episode's year could be determined by the registration tags on Eric's Vista Cruiser at the end of the opening and closing credits. The final episode's closing credits showed an "80" year tag.

The show was set in May 1976 in the August 23, 1998 premiere. After twelve episodes, the series transitioned to 1977. The 23rd episode, "Grandma's Dead", was also set in 1976, because it was supposed to be the season finale of Season 1. The show remained in 1977 for the next two seasons. Near the end of the third season, the series transitioned to 1978 until early in the sixth season. The remaining episodes took place in 1979, and the series finale abruptly ends during a New Year's Eve party as the characters reach "one" during a countdown to January 1, 1980.

The show's unexpected longevity (it was the only series to debut on Fox in 1998 to survive cancellation) combined with the first season jump to 1977 necessitated a slow-down of the series' time line. Over time this proved problematic from a narrative standpoint, as nearly every year featured a Thanksgiving and/or Christmas episode, and the teen-aged actors playing high-school student characters all aged into their mid-twenties by the time their characters graduated high school after five seasons (except Mila Kunis, who was not quite 20). As the series time line sped up and slowed down with more rapidity near the series' climax, the time line necessitated that several major events depicted as having occurred months apart would have in fact happened within weeks or even days of one another.

8th Season and series finale

The character of Eric Forman was written out of the series at the end of the "seventh season, as Topher Grace desired to move on with his career. Ashton Kutcher was demoted to a recurring guest role when he also chose to depart following the seventh season due to scheduling conflicts with his role in The Guardian. However, Kelso hadn't been written out yet; so to give better closure to the character, Kutcher appeared in the first four episodes of the eighth season (credited as a special guest star) and later returned for the finale. Tommy Chong (who began reappearing by late Season 7 after a long absence) became a regular again to help fill Kelso's job as group idiot. Jackie and Hyde became the show's new central characters focusing on their relationships and jobs (Jackie with Fez and Hyde with Samantha). Eric was originally supposed to be replaced by his new friend Charlie, played by Bret Harrison, who proved fairly popular with audiences, but the character was killed off after Harrison was offered a lead role in the series The Loop. A new character named Randy Pearson, played by Josh Meyers, was introduced to take Eric's place but was not received well by fans and critics. Another new character, Samantha, a stripper played by Judy Tylor, was added as Hyde's wife for nine episodes. Both Eric and Kelso returned for the series' final episode, though Grace's role was uncredited. The location of the show's introduction was also changed from the Vista Cruiser to The Circle.

The eighth season was announced as the final season of the show on January 17, 2006,^[4] and That '70s Finale was filmed a month later on February 17, 2006, first airing on May 18, 2006.^[5]

Syndication

The show's reruns are broadcast worldwide on both local stations and cable networks, including The CW, TeenNick (first three seasons only), ABC Family, MyNetwork TV, FX (ending its run in August 2010), Comedy Central, TV Land TVTropolis, My 50 Chicago and Fox.

Remakes

British remake

In 1999, the show was remade by the British ITV network as Days Like These using almost verbatim scripts with minor changes to cultural references.^[6] The show failed to attract an audience and was removed from the schedules after 10 of the 13 episodes were broadcast. The remaining three episodes were shown in later reruns.

Chilean remake

In early 2009, the channel Chilevision broadcast a remake of the show by Ross Film named Mis Años Grosos (My Great Years). The show initially did not receive high ratings, and before filming the second season, the main actor died in an accident. There has been no news since about continuing the show.

International broadcasts of US version

Country	Channel	Notes	Foreign title
Australia	7Two and 111 Hits	Weeknights at 7p.m & Tuesdays from 7p.m – 9:30p.m on 7Two and 7:30 Weeknights, 12:30–2:00 p.m. Weekend afternoons, 7:30–8:30 p.m. Sunday nights on 111 Hits
Albania
Asia	Star World	First started airing in 2000, Monday nights from 8:00–8:30 p.m. Occasionally replaced by other series.	That '70s Show
Belgium	2BE	Subtitled to Dutch. The show aired on a Flemish channel which was also available in Wallonia (also subtitled to Dutch, but the native language in Wallonia is French).	That '70s Show
Bosnia and Herzegovina	OBN		Lude 70 (Crazy '70s)
Brazil	Rede Bandeirantes, Sony	Dubbed in Brazilian Portuguese in Band and subtitled in Sony	De Volta aos Anos 70 (Back to 70s) in Band, and original name in Sony
Bulgaria	All episodes shown on GTV, repeats on bTV Comedy HBO Comedy	February 13, 2008. All seasons dubbed in Bulgarian. January 4, 2010. Subtitled.	Шеметни години (Dizzy Years) Ах, 70-те! (Ah, the '70s!)
Canada	VRAK.TV	Dubbed in French	70
Canada	Fox, Global TV, CH	As the US television station FOX is available in Canada, Canadians were able to watch the series for its entire run on that network. In addition, seasons 1–7 aired on Global TV, while season 8 aired on Global-owned CH. It also aired on latenight on Global in markets where CH isn't available.
Canada	TVtropolis
Colombia	Sony Entertainment Television		That '70s Show
Croatia	Nova TV		Lude sedamdesete (Crazy 70s)
Czech Republic	HBO Comedy	Premiere in January, 2010. Planned all 8 seasons. Dubbed in Czech.	Zlata sedmdesata (Golden 70s)
Denmark	TV2 Zulu		Dengang i 70'erne (Back then in the '70s)
Egypt	Super Comedy
Estonia	ETV		Kuumad seitsmekümnendad (The Hot '70s)
Finland	Nelonen, TV Viisi		'70s Show
France	France 2	First aired in September 5, 1999. All seasons aired. Dubbed in French
France	Comédie!
France	NRJ12 Dubbed in French
Germany	Kabel 1, RTL		Die wilden Siebziger (The Wild '70s)
Hungary	HBO Comedy		Azok a 70-es évek – show (That '70s – show)
India	Star World		That '70s Show
Ireland	RTÉ Two, Channel 6, Comedy Central, MTV
Israel	yes stars Comedy (on yes) HOT3, Bip, VOD (on HOT)		מופע שנות ה-70 (The '70s Show)
Latin America	Sony Entertainment Television	Including Brazil	That '70s Show
Macedonia	Sitel		Ludi 70ti (Crazy '70s)
Mexico	Sony Entertainment Television, Canal 5		El show de los '70
Mexico	The N		That '70s show
Middle East	MBC4, dubai channel ONE , SHOWtime comedy channel	Subtitled to Arabic, aired several times in the region
Montenegro	Atlas TV		Vesele sedamdesete (Happy '70s)
Netherlands	Comedy Central	Show has been running since April 30, 2007, reruns until present, subtitled in Dutch.	That '70s show
New Zealand	TV 2	Now airing on rival station TV3 & the BOX (see below)
New Zealand	TV3	First Run. Now occasionally rerun.
New Zealand	the BOX	Re-runs
Norway	NRK2, TV2	The first three seasons was broadcasted by NRK2 under its Norwegian title, re-runs and additional seasons later aired on TV2 with the original English title	Et 70-tallsshow (A '70s show) – Random episodes in no particular order running from 2008-today on Viasat 4.
Pakistan	Star World		That '70s Show
Peru	Sony Entertainment Television, currently airs on Animax	Subtitled in Spanish	That '70s Show
Philippines	Associated Broadcasting Company, Jack TV	ABC 5 (now TV5) aired Season 1 in 2002 (not in order), Jack TV began airing all eight seasons in 2006.
Poland	Polsat HBO Comedy		Różowe lata siedemdziesiąte (The Pink '70s)
Portugal	TVI		Que loucura de família (What a crazy family)
Romania	Naţional TV HBO Comedy		www.rebelii.70
Serbia	B92 HBO Comedy		Vesele sedamdesete (Cheerful '70s)
Slovakia	Markíza	Aired first four seasons dubbed in Slovak.	Tie roky 70
Slovenia	Kanal A	All seasons aired.	Oh, ta sedemdeseta (Oh, that 70s)
South Africa	M-net	All seasons aired	That '70s Show
Spain	Paramount Comedy, Antena.neox and Localia		Aquellos Maravillosos 70 (Those Wonderful 70s)
Sweden	TV4		That '70s Show
Thailand	True Series Star World		That '70s Show
Turkey	TV8, ComedySmart
UK	Trouble, Paramount Comedy, Virgin 1, MTV One, MTV R Bravo 2, VH1, Channel 5, Living Loves	MTV R and Living Loves only shows Seasons 1,2 & 6.
Venezuela	Televen Sony Entertainment Television

Theme song

The show usually opens with the theme song, "In the Street", by Alex Chilton and Chris Bell of the band Big Star. It was initially sung by Todd Griffin, but beginning with the second season, the song was performed by the band Cheap Trick, whose version is referred to as "That '70s Song (In the Street)". Cheap Trick ends the song in a very '70s, "Cheap Trick" fashion that is reminiscent of their hit song "Surrender" (1978). "Surrender" ends with the band repeating "We're all all right", same as the theme song. In a Rolling Stone magazine article in 2000, Chilton thought it was ironic that he is paid $70 in royalties each time the show is aired.^[7]

According to theThat '70s Show website, during the first season, at the end of the opening song, Danny Masterson (Steven Hyde) yells "Hello Wisconsin!". From the second season onward, Robin Zander (lead singer for Cheap Trick) took over this job. Alternate holiday versions of the theme song were arranged for Halloween, Christmas and musical specials, using organ music and bells, respectively.

Opening credits

Opening credits for Seasons 1–7 showed some of the cast driving in Eric's car singing the theme song together. At the end is a shot of the license plate showing the current year the episode was taking place in in the bottom right corner. After Topher Grace and Ashton Kutcher left the series, the opening credits for Season 8 showed a close up shot of the actors singing a line of the theme song in The Circle. (Example: Mila Kunis, "Hanging Out..."; Danny Masterson, "Down the Street"). The only actors to not say or do anything in the new opening credits were Kurtwood Smith and Tommy Chong with the exception of the first episode of season 8 when Chong sings the last "We're all alright". Smith looks at the camera frowning and rolls his eyes. Chong looks around the room, confused (probably in response to hearing "Hello, Wisconsin!").

Soundtracks

Several prominent songs from the decade can be heard on the series, and two soundtracks were released in 1999. The first is a collection of funk, soul and disco. The second is a collection of Album-oriented rock songs.

• That '70s Album (Jammin')
• That '70s Album (Rockin')

American ratings

DVD releases

See also

• Days Like These
• That '70s Finale
• That '80s Show
• List of That '70s Show episodes
• List of recurring characters of That '70s Show
• Point Place
• List of awards and nominations received by That '70s Show

References

External links

• That '70s Show at the Internet Movie Database
• That '70s Show at TV.com