BY JOHN KIESEWETTER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
It's groovy, man.
There's no better word to describe That '70s Show premiering today (8:30 p.m., Channels 19, 45), a month before about three dozen other new TV series.
It's one of the best new fall comedies, which can't be said about Fox's predictable Holding the Baby sitcom also debuting today (7:30 p.m., Channels 19, 45).
Think of That '70s Show as Happy Days in bell-bottoms and leisure suits.
Producers Bonnie and Terry Turner (3rd Rock from the Sun, The Brady Bunch Movie, Wayne's World) take us back to those wonder years of smile buttons, streaking, lava lamps and Farrah Fawcett posters.
Back when M*A*S*H and Charlie's Angels were Top 10 shows, Rocky or Carrie drove us to the drive-ins, and Gerald Ford was stumbling around the Oval Office.
Back when the Rolling Stones, Neil Sedaka, Donna Summer, the Who and the Carpenters all had hit records. Back to the days they still made records -- and eight-track tapes.
Play that funky music!
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FALL LINEUP
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Here's a week-by-week look at the TV season roll-out:
Today: Fox's Holding the Baby (7:30 p.m., Channels 19, 45), and That '70s Show (8:30 p.m.).
Aug. 30-Sept. 5: Paxson Communications' Pax TV, the seventh commercial network, debuts noon Aug. 31 on TCI and InterMedia cable here.
Sept. 6-12: Costello and Living in Captivity (both Fox).
Sept. 13-19: The Army Show (WB), Hollywood Squares (syndicated), Roseanne Show (syndicated), Judge Joe Brown (syndicated), season premieres for Ally McBeal, Beverly Hills 90210, Party of Five (all Fox), 20/20 (ABC), Wayans Bros., Jamie Foxx, For Your Love and Steve Harvey (all WB).
Sept. 20-26: Debuts for 16 new prime-time shows, Donny & Marie (syndicated), plus season premieres for most returning series.
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That's what Eric Foreman (Topher Grace) and his friends do while cruising their tiny Wisconsin town in his dad's gas-guzzling Vista Cruiser station wagon.
In the premiere, the kids defy their parents and drive Dad's dinosaur Oldsmobile to Milwaukee to see Todd Rundgren sing "Hello, It's Me."
They also experiment with marijuana, though Fox executives hasten to say That '70s Show won't be reefer madness every week. "This is not a series about drugs. It's a small part of a pilot that's designed to honestly depict the 1970s," says Peter Roth, Fox Entertainment Group president.
"Drug intake was a part of the fabric of what took place in the '70s. To sweep it under the carpet and pretend it doesn't exist is pandering to the audience, not being honest. In no way are we suggesting that we are endorsing or glamorizing the usage of drugs," he says. subhed:Facing reality body:
The dope cloud hung over a Fox press conference last month promoting the sitcom, which many TV critics consider one of the top five shows new this fall.
"If we had done a show that was strictly about the clothes and hair, it would be a very empty show," says Terry Turner, who compares the hilarious high times scene in the sitcom to the laughs from Archie Bunker's racism on All In The Family or the cynical anti-war comments by hard-drinking M*A*S*H surgeons.
"We would be criticized if we ignored it, and criticized if we did," Bonnie Turner says.
Drugs will be portrayed as "not necessarily a cool thing to do, and definitely not the best thing to do," Mr. Turner says.
Drugs may be out, but sex and rock 'n' roll are cool for the gang hanging out in Eric's basement, while their partying parents do "The Hustle" upstairs.
Dig it:
- Eric Foreman ogles the cleavage of his sexy neighbor (former Charlie's Angel Tanya Roberts).
- Donna Pinciotti (Laura Prepon), the tomboy neighbor, discovers she's "hooked on a feeling" over Eric, her best friend.
- Michael Kelso (Ashton Kutcher) gives up his Rundgren concert ticket -- "He's no Frampton" -- to make out in the back of the station wagon with his control-freak girlfriend, Jackie Burkhardt (Mila Kunis).
- Steve Hyde (Danny Masterson) sits around Eric's basement plunking his guitar and yammering about various conspiracy theories, like the "phony" gas crisis.
Eric's strict father (Kurtwood Smith) and daffy mother (Debra Jo Rupp) have some of the best lines in the show.
When a perplexed parent asks how to deal with increasingly rebellious teens, Red Foreman declares: "I say we torture them with plenty of pointless rules and advice."
As Eric pulls out of the driveway, Red tells his wife the kids are probably headed out of town.
"Are you sure?" Kitty asks.
"Of course," he replies. "I told them not to."
Everything clicks with That '70s Show except the title. Producers originally wanted to use "Teenage Wasteland" or "The Kids Are Alright" a lyric and song tile, respectively, from The Who, but Pete Townsend wouldn't sell the rights.
"Reelin' in the Years" (song by Steely Dan) and "Feelin' Alright" (song by Dave Mason) also were considered. But test audiences kept saying they'd watch "that '70s show" again.
"They called it that for so long, that we started to say it ourselves," Mr. Turner says. "Finally, we just gave up."
Watch tonight, and you'll probably say you'd watch That '70s Show again, too. It's far out, man.
John Kiesewetter is Enquirer TV/radio critic. Write him at 312 Elm St., Cincinnati, 45202.