| Red Forman | |
|---|---|
| That '70s Show character | |
| First appearance | That '70s Pilot |
| Last appearance | That '70s Finale |
| Created by | Mark Brazill |
| Portrayed by | Kurtwood Smith Corey Landis (Young Red) |
| Information | |
| Nickname(s) | Red, Hardass, Sir, Boss, Whitey, Pop, Dad, Mr. Formanelli, the Grinch |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Retired: World War II veteran Korean War veteran Former: Auto parts factory supervisor Department store supervisor Muffler shop owner |
| Family | Albert Forman (father, deceased) Bernice Forman (mother, deceased) Marty Forman (brother) Jerry Forman (brother) |
| Spouse(s) | Kitty Forman |
| Children | Laurie Forman (daughter, with Kitty) Eric Forman (son, with Kitty) |
| Relatives | Burt Sigurdson (father-in-law) Bea Sigurdson (mother-in-law) Fez (former son-in-law) |
| Nationality | American |
Reginald Albert "Red" Forman[1] (Born December 7, 1927) is a fictional character on the Fox sitcom That '70s Show, portrayed by Kurtwood Smith.
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Red is one of the classic archetypes of the "grumpy man". Red's hobbies include working with his power tools, drinking beer, watching television (especially sports events involving Wisconsin teams), reading the newspaper, hunting, and fishing. In general Red enjoys being left alone, and doesn't care that he has few real friends besides Kitty and sometimes Bob. Except for when it comes to his wife, Red is usually shown to be a misanthrope.[2] He dislikes talking to his neighbors, the Pinciottis, because he might end up having to spend time with them, something which happens more than he would like. Red also enjoys killing things, such as every new batch of squirrels that appears in the spring, and the chipmunks who steal the tomatoes Kitty grows in the garden. He is left-handed, as seen in the episode, "Streaking." Red often goes away on solo fishing trips when he is very angry. Eric once noted that Red found gutting worms on a hook to be very therapeutic.
Red has very specific ideas about what men can and cannot do, believing that they should keep their emotions bottled up and be skilled at physical sports like hunting, martial arts and football. He does not think they should hug or express "love" for each other;[2] he once warned Eric that if Eric told him he loved him, Red's heart would explode. He also has a hard time expressing his own emotions except when he is angry. When he was grateful to Eric for staying home to help support the family after his heart attack and Kitty's menopause, he ordered Eric to go out and mow the lawn, adding awkwardly that "the...lawn...thank you for staying home."
He never graduated from high school, or at least was called to duty before he got a chance to. He once stated to Eric saying, "My senior year, I was in Okinawa driving a gunboat and being shot at by Japanese snipers, so if you count the Japanese soldiers as my friends and the gunboat as my car, then yes I had some pretty good times."
As evidenced from a Halloween special, Red was not always the "grumpy old man" he seems to be; in the early years of his and Kitty's marriage, Red was an immature man-child who spent most of his free time finding a hundred and one different ways to drink beer and would even dress up for Halloween. When he found out that Kitty was pregnant, he seemingly changed overnight, renouncing his childish ways and vowing to become a better person for his children. He also makes a lot of "foot in your ass" comments. This is also the time where he "invented"/discovered the term dumbass, when saying that his friend Frank "he's an ass, and he's dumb, he's a...dumbass", upon saying "dumbass", a bright white light shines over him and an angelic chorus is heard.
Red served in the United States Navy during World War II and the Korean War. In the episode "Jackie Bags Hyde," the insignia on Red's Naval jacket shows that he achieved the rank of Chief Petty Officer as a Boatswain's Mate, although Young Red was wearing a Machinist's Mate insignia in the episode "Backstage Pass". Also during season eight in the episode "Long Way" Red is seen wearing a submarine warfare pin but this is not mentioned in any of his previous naval service. Red often tells of his stories from his days during the war, such as how he was wounded by shrapnel and his destroyer sank in the Pacific. His experiences from the war can often be attributed to his "grumpy man" personality. Throughout the series it is stated that Red served in the naval battle of Guadalcanal where his destroyer was sunk by the Japanese, the battle of Iwo Jima, the only time he ever literally "shoved his foot up a man's ass" and the battle of Okinawa where he was driving a gunboat around the island getting shot at by Japanese snipers.
Red met Kitty at a USO dance in 1953. Young and impetuous, he and a Navy buddy dropped their pants, showing shorts that read "Hello, Ladies" just as a younger, drunken Kitty was heading out; she bumped into Red as he was bent over. Slightly embarrassed, Red immediately corrected his pants and pulled Kitty to her feet, and fell in love with her at first sight. They married in 1954.[3] Years later they both had trouble remembering it, with Red insisting he punched out a Marine who was being overly rude to Kitty, but Kitty denied that. She claimed they met on a date when Red was actually on active duty. Later when they both had a drink, the memory came back, and they both agreed to tell Eric the punching out a Marine story if he ever asked, and to not mention Kitty drinking but instead say she was reading to the blind.
Red's mother Bernice Forman (Marion Ross in a guest starring role) appeared in four episodes early on in the series. She was a cantankerous old woman who constantly insulted and criticized Kitty. It turns out that when Red was younger he was dating a very wealthy woman but fell in love with Kitty and married her instead. Grandma Forman never forgave Kitty for this. In the episode rightly titled "Grandma's Dead", Eric yelled at Bernice for not treating his mother well saying, "I don't think being nice for one day would kill you". Consequently, and in an ironic fashion, she dropped dead. A guilt ridden Eric discloses this to his father, who finds humor in the irony, and teases his son by saying "that could only happen to you". We learn in this episode that "Red" is actually a nickname rather than Red's proper name (which is never revealed in the series), when Red says of his mother, "You know, she was the first one to call me Red".
Red is a diehard fan of the Green Bay Packers, and also supports the Milwaukee Bucks and the Milwaukee Brewers. His devotion to the Packers is matched only by his hatred of the team's NFL rivals and their fans. In one episode, Red was able to accept the homosexuality of his new neighbors (played by Brady Bunch stars Barry Williams and Christopher Knight), only to have their budding friendship turn into passionate hatred when he found out the neighbors were Minnesota Vikings fans. The joke was that Red's loathing had nothing to do with their sexual orientation, but rather the NFL team they supported. In another episode, while attending his first Packers game at Lambeau Field, he gave Eric money to go buy a souvenir, only to buy a Walter Payton jersey, much to the disdain of the Packers fans (and, of course, Red) in the stadium. The team Payton played for, the Chicago Bears, are the archrivals of the Packers.
In the fourth season, Red purchases a Corvette. He stated on numerous occasions that he had wanted one his whole life. In "The Good Son" he claims that he would have bought one, but he ended up with "two kids instead".[4] While on a trip, he designed a complex system to see if Eric stole it over the weekend. Eric succeeds in fooling Red, until Red starts the car and the radio station Eric listened to was heard by both of them. He has possession of the car until the fifth season, when he sells it thinking Kitty is pregnant.
At the beginning of the series, Red worked at a local auto parts plant, although his hours were being slashed from the start. After the plant's closure, he worked as a salesman in his neighbor Bob Pinciotti's store. After the store faced competition from the fictional "Price Mart", Red and Eric took jobs at Price Mart, although Red didn't approve of Eric working there. Red also got offered a job by a friend from the War, Bull. But after finding out he and his wife were swingers, on one of their own wife-swapping parties, Red stated that 'Bull wasn't the same man anymore who took shrap-metal during the War' and so didn't take the job. After recovering from a heart attack in the fifth season, Red decided to open up his own muffler shop in the seventh season, called "Forman and Son", despite Eric not working there. In season eight, he retired, and thought about moving to Florida, but decided against it because Kitty didn't want to leave their home.[5]
Red has two brothers. His brother Jerry is mentioned by Bernice in "Sunday Bloody Sunday." She says that Jerry has a Lincoln and is very wealthy. Red's other brother is named Marty whom Red dislikes because he is a hippie and is very "in touch with his feelings". Marty was in the episode "Grandma's Dead." Marty offered to pay for Bernice's funeral in full. Red seems to be a Protestant—probably Lutheran, given the family's location in the midwest and Swedish background—based on the fact he attends the same church as Kitty (which appears to be Protestant, but no denomination is mentioned), however he is fairly non-religious due to his "Heart-to-heart talk with God when [his] Destroyer went down," which he believes is enough (though on numerous occasions, Kitty forced him to Church for one reason or another).
Though Red is overbearing, old-fashioned, and tends to play favorites, he is still a good father, a loving husband, and overall a kind person at heart. He and his wife are the owners of a Wiener Dog, named Schottzie. It was revealed in the episode "Eric's Depression" that Red has at least partial Irish ancestry.
Red apparently has poor people skills, despite having an average smile and being able to fake kindness if he needed to. When Red is not angry or "typical," he is usually proud, where his best people skills shine out. Red managed to improve his skills during his time working for Bob, but later, when Bob brings it up in the seventh season Red claims they never really improved (this is when he is angry at Bob and may not be true).
Red's personality was based on the creators' father. Kurtwood Smith stated that his portrayal of Red was inspired by his stepfather.[6]
Red's health has been the subject of humor on occasion. In the third and sixth seasons, he is briefly put on a diet that requires him to cut out red meat among other foods that he generally likes and, in stereotypical sitcom fashion, he is forced to eat "healthy" food that is good for him but tastes like garbage. On both occasions, he defied the diet by eating "real food" behind Kitty's back. When faced with mush, he comments "This isn't food - this is what food eats!" When faced with his diet in the sixth season, after his heart attack upon learning Laurie had married Fez (he has a problem with foreigners, a possible result of his time spent in the military), he throws the list of what he can't have away, explaining to Kitty that if he had known what he would be asked to give up, "I would have walked straight into that bright light and never looked back!"
At one point, shortly after finding out that Eric and Donna were engaged, Red went fishing to calm down, and comes back with the surprising news that he is proud of Eric for his initiative in moving away and becoming engaged, and even more so for his standing up to Red by insisting on marrying Donna despite Red's disapproval. A surprised Kitty and an overjoyed Eric listen while Red agrees to pay for both the wedding and Eric's college fund. He also shakes Eric's hand, proudly telling his son that he is now a man and he has his blessing. After his heart attack, which prompts Eric to stay home, Red's attitude towards Eric does a complete reversal, and Red goes back to calling his son "dumbass," presumably due to his disappointment in Eric's failure to live up to his expectations yet again, although he told Eric that he was proud of him for deciding to stay and help the family instead of leaving for college. This reversal could be due to Eric leaving Donna at the altar and subsequently spending a year doing nothing, or the producers use of a "Reset Button" to get the status quo back.
For the first few seasons of the series' run, Red is established as a blue collar conservative. He made a joke at Nixon's expense in the first season and, in a pivotal moment, expressed disdain for Gerald Ford (when allowed to ask President Ford a question he said "I have a question for you, Jerry: how the hell could you pardon Nixon?") in front of the entire town. However, without precedent, later seasons portrayed him to be a staunch Republican, who became angry when Eric made an anti-Nixon joke in the fifth season, which Eric tried to cover by replying "Nixon was framed and Kennedy was a commie." It is likely that, like many Republican voters in the 70s, Red was disappointed in Nixon and Ford, but afterwards leaned back to supporting the Republican Party. In addition, many Nixon supporters felt that pardoning Nixon was akin to admitting he was guilty.
Red feels strongly about the founding principles of the American government, owing to his service in the Navy as a Boatswain's Mate. He also tries to live up to what are generally considered American "family values:" hard work, devotion to his family, and being faithful to his wife. He is disgusted by swinger sex clubs (which he considers immoral) and political corruption (on hearing that Jackie's wealthy father may be able to bribe his way out of jail, an appalled Red mutters "I'm so glad I took a piece of shrapnel to make that possible.")
Red also dislikes foreigners, which is the main reason he doesn't see eye-to-eye with Fez. One episode (Hunting) saw him taking offense at Fez's remark of "Not everything in the Constitution makes sense". However, Red's bigotry stems not from racism but nationalism; he dislikes anyone and anything not from America. In fact out of everyone in his family he was the most comfortable and casual when Hyde's biological father William Barnett (an African-American) came to his house. He once described Canada and France as "lesser countries," and was upset to find that his daughter Laurie's room had posters of "foreign cars" on her bedroom walls after Hyde moved into it, and generally refers to the rest of the world as "Not America." Along with Canada and France, Red also dislikes Germany, Japan and Great Britain, and though not explicitly stated, Italy (for their role in World War II). He also seems bitter about America not winning the Vietnam War, claiming "We didn't lose the war, it was a tie." In one episode while Hyde was stating a conspiracy theory about the government putting tracking devices in their brains, Red patriotically replied "Without our government, you’d be stuck in Siberia now, sucking the juice from a rotten commie potato. Let me tell you something. If the U.S. Government decides to stick a tracking device up your ass, you say, "Thank You. And God bless America!" Red also shows a tolerant attitude toward homosexuality.
In general Red doesn't like Eric's friends hanging out in his home. One of his favorite phrases to describe Eric and his friends is "dumbass". He also threatens the teens that he will put his "foot in your ass". His antagonism towards the teenagers is because Red prefers peace and quiet, believing that since he has worked hard and raised his children, he deserves time to himself and with Kitty. With regards to his neighbors, Bob and Midge Pinciotti, it is indicated that Red used to enjoy their friendship before they started to get involved "into every fad there is". Even though he feels that Bob is a "good neighbor and a good friend", he gets easily annoyed in Bob's presence.
He is a tough, no-nonsense father and tends to favor his daughter Laurie (Lisa Robin Kelly & Christina Moore) and foster son Hyde (Danny Masterson) over his son Eric (Topher Grace), whom he considers soft, skinny, twitchy, and wimpy. He always sees Laurie as "a giant apple" instead of the mean-spirited, promiscuous person she truly is, but becomes wiser to her in the second season after finding out she lied to him about moving in with a friend when she was really living with a young man. In one episode Kitty asks Red why he is so tough on Eric, only to have Red respond "The same reason my old man was so tough on me," indicating that he went through a similar childhood to Eric's. Though Red often puts his own son down because he wants him to "be a man like himself," it cannot be denied that Eric is merely a younger version of his father in the sense that both have a very dry sense of humor and tend to be the sanest persons in their respective circles of friends. On a couple of occasions in season one, Red showed Eric affection. When the two returned from a wrestling match, they wrestled for a bit before Red gave Eric a hug. Later on, when Red's mother died, Red called Eric over for a hug with him and Kitty in a family moment. In the final episode of season seven, as Eric was leaving for Africa, Red had a real heart-to-heart with Eric, in which he admitted he loved him and that he would miss him, culminating in a hug between father and son. In the Season 8 premiere, Kitty tried to get Red to say something nice for Eric on the tape recorder. Red consistently refused and appeared to revel in Eric being gone. However, when Kitty questioned his feelings on the matter, Red admitted that he honestly missed Eric. (Unbeknownst to Red, though, Kitty secretly recorded him saying this.)
Most of the time, Red treats Eric's friend Hyde (Danny Masterson), who moved in with the Formans' at the end of the first season, better than he treats his own son; perhaps this is because Red thinks Hyde is a better example of what a real young man should be, despite Hyde's anti-authority attitude. Red also shows appreciation to Hyde for his mechanical skills, evident from when he opened his own muffler store. Hyde quickly assembled muffler displays, while Eric was putting up decorations. Also, Red often more readily has heart-to-hearts with Hyde, rather than Eric. When Hyde was arrested for possession of marijuana (which had actually belonged to Jackie), he wanted to throw Hyde out, but eventually let him stay. Hyde assumed the Forman's would want him to move out on his eighteenth birthday because all of Hyde's relatives had to move out of their places when they were eighteen. Red told Hyde that he needed to stay at the Forman's house so he would not end up like his relatives (who were either dead, in jail, or "pumping gas").
On the other hand, a few instances have shown that Red still cares about Eric, and it is clear that Red's being hard on him is Red's way of trying to toughen Eric up to prepare him for the real world (he once stated that, as Eric's father, it was his job to make Eric a man, "which he's not"). Red once told Eric, "I love you," but he was drugged after a visit to the dentist. After Eric later said it back and some awkwardness ensued, Red said that you should only say that when you're drunk, dying, or in trouble – "Otherwise, it's just a given."
Like Kitty, Red is often forced to act as a parental figure for Eric's friends Kelso (Ashton Kutcher), Fez (Wilmer Valderrama), Jackie (Mila Kunis), Hyde (Danny Masterson), and Donna (Laura Prepon), albeit reluctantly. He usually only helps out at Kitty's insistence or simply to get the teens out of his house. Red actually likes Donna, mostly because he thinks that if Eric has a son with her he will be good at sports and both freely and cheerily admits she is too good for his own son, and also that if Eric and Donna get married Eric will leave the house. Red has a low opinion of Kelso and Fez, calling Kelso a "moronic pretty-boy" and referring to Fez as the "foreign kid," and sometimes by the generic names of "Haji," "Sabu," "Ali Baba," or "Anwar." However, he has bonded with them both a few times throughout the series. Early on, Red stated that Jackie is his favorite out of all of Eric's friends. He says unlike the others, she is "not useless" because she perfectly held a flashlight for him while he worked on his car, while Eric was incapable of this simple task. Jackie has hugged Red on few occasions, at least half of which he returned.
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