Classic TV Review: That '70s Show - "That '70s Pilot"

Season 1 - Episode 1
Originally Aired: August 23rd 1998, Fox (US)

The pilot episode of a show should set the scene, introduce the characters and give an idea of what is to come from the subsequent episodes. "That '70s Pilot" does exactly these things. It's my first time looking back at and reviewing a show I've watched from start to finish before and it's going to be interesting to see what I think of it this time around.

Naturally, the whole point of this show is that it's supposed to look dated. A show that started in the late nineties while set more than twenty years earlier means that it instantly becomes timeless. In fact the set design was fantastic right from the beginning. Despite not being around in the seventies myself, I, along with most of my contemparies have seen enough footage from the timeframe to know how accurate these sets are. 

The characters, which before I started this rewatch I thought would take a little while to get into, are pretty much instantly likeable. The six main teenagers (and it's amazing looking back on how young they all looked, Mila Kunis especially - she was genuinely 14 at the time of filming, but still) all immediately show the traits that stand with them through most of the series, while the adult characters, Red, Kitty, Bob and Midge all get enough time on screen to suggest that good characters were about to be born. 

The pilot also introduces elements that would become integral to the show for the entire run. The Vista Cruiser, which would remain Eric's car for seven seasons, the psychadelic scene transitions, and the iconic "circle" where a number of the main characters would sit (usually in a marijuana induces stupor) as the camera panned around 360 degrees. 

For the rest of the episodes, I'll look at the episode as if it was first run, but I thought it would be interesting to explore the pilot in a more retrospective way. I'm glad to see it stood the test of time, and it's not hard to see why That '70s Show became one of teh bigegst hit comedies of recent times.

****