Although I am sure there are many, the one that concerns me is a map of Canada.
If no one else saw the show tonight (I know it was a rerun), the four lads from Wisconsin are Up North buying beer, get caught by the Mounties, played by Dave Thomas and Joe Flaherty, and spend the rest of the episode being questioned in the RCMP outpost. Just as things look their worst, Kelso jumps up and starts singing “O Canada,” whereupon the Mounties brush a tear away and let the guys go.
But when Kelso jumped up, I noticed a map of Canada behind him, and would swear on a stack of…books that it showed the boundaries between the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, which as we all know, was created in 1999.
Now, do I need new glasses, or have I actually found one of those silly little anachronisms that becomes absolutely mindless trivia somewhere down the line? And did someone actually bother recording this episode so they could read this, and then watch? Somehow, I doubt that. Thanx for any observations on the matter…I miss home.
[sub]And I know it’s a rather run-on and wordy question. I had something very concise and well thought out written, then Netscape pulled an “illegal operation” on me and shut down. Bastards.[/sub]
Whoa. Screwy. The thread title was supposed to read “Anachronisms in “That 70’s Show.”” I have absolutely no idea what happened there. My most sincere and humble apologies.
vB is not a friend to double quotation marks in titles. To get them to appear (along with the text they enclosed), you needed to double the double quotes: ““The 70s Show””
Can’t help with the question; I haven’t had a working TV in three or four years.
To answer your question, yes you spotted an anachronism.
I got called at the library where I work because someone wanted to know how many stars should be on the U.S. flag in a dramatization of the Lincoln-Douglas debates. The woman calling thought it should be about 46.
Oh… I haven’t been able to watch that show, because it is so anachronistic that I can’t suspend my disbelief long enough. It’s just so… nineties. (Sort of like how “That '50s Show” with Ron Howard defined the '70s.)
I wouldn’t mind seeing the episode with Joe Flaherty & Dave Thomas, though… SCTV does make me nostalgic for that decade.
Thanks tomndebb, I noticed someone else did the same thing in another thread last night…at least I’m not the only one.
Larry…can’t say I’ll ever be nostalgic for the decade, but I do miss SCTV. Unfortunately, Thomas and Flaherty were not at their best. I’m trying to figure out whether or not they didn’t care, or if the script deliberately hindered them. The “eh’s” were very forced, and seemed to have been placed in the script in places where Americans were sure to have noticed them instead of where they would come up naturally.
BobT; did you see the show? Or are you confirming that Nunavut was created in 1999? I’m hoping someone saw the same map and can confirm that my eyes weren’t playing tricks.
Were I looking to pick nits with this episode, I’d focus less on time and more on place. If the fictional town of Point Place is somewhere south of Milwaukee, near Kenosha (as has been pretty well established by references to real SE WI spots and a spur-of-the-moment trip the gang took to Chicago), then it would be about a ten hour drive up to the Canadian border. In the same episode, the girls made two trips to Sheboygan and back in one night – that would amount to about eight hours on the road!
And of course the characters are never dressed properly for a Wisconsin winter, or even a Wisconsin autumn, but that’s another story.
My GF and I were watching “That 70’s Show” last night, and while we really aren’t old enough (or all that well versed in Canadian geography) to spot the anacronisms, we got to wondering where they get all those vintage props of the little everyday things? The big things – furniture, lamps dinnerware, etc. – heck, I could find at the local thrift store. But where for example does one go about finding a circa-1978 Cheeto’s bag? Or howabout the avacado green plastic laundry baskets with the Mike Douglas Show-esque glurby flower patterns moulded into them? Howabout a 70’s era can of “Tab” cola?
Is there someplace in Hollywood warehousing this crap? Could they, as we speak, be meticulously cataloging pets.com sock puppets and Furby’s and those crappy Old Navy “Performance Fleese” vests?
While we’re on the discussion about anachonisms in this woefully unfunny sitcom, it bothers me for the same reason a lot of other current TV shows and films set in the 70s bother me… EVERYTHING IS TOO DAMN BRIGHT! Do you remember everyone wearing bright purple and green in the 70s? No? That’s because:
A) Colour-safe detergent wasn’t in common use yet. Not even sure if it EXISTED yet
and
B) The most popular colours in the 70s were friggin’ EARTH TONES!
If I see one more TV show where there’s some 70s guy with purple and green stripes and he ISN’T Bootsy Collins, I think I’m going to go hunt down all the TV executives with a bazooka.
My wife and I hate this show. The only reason we watch is to point out the anachronisms, and it comes on right after the Seinfeld reruns while we’re eating dinner (I’ve gotta get a life).
Anyway, I didn’t watch long enough to notice the map in the show last night. But we did notice the inconsistency in the story about the trip to Canada to buy beer (they’re in Wisconsin, for God’s sake) and the travel times.
The other one I thought was particularly funny was Tommy Chong talking about how he had been to Canada before during “Nam”. Since the Viet Nam war didn’t end until 1975, I figured that it should be called “That Very Late 70’s Show” and we can hope that they’ll run out of the decade before to long.
Also, what really bugs me about the show is the 90’s language being spouted off in the 70’s. I guess you had to be there.
Oh, and buy the way Arken. I had a purple and yellow stiped shirt in the early 70’s that I thought was the height of fashion, and if I remember correctly striped pants were popular also. I don’t think the earthtones caught on until the late 70’s. We were still wearing the hippie style as late as 1974 or 1975.
Reflecting on all of this, I don’t think the show is written for people who were actually there.
Considering I remember a very-well publicised ‘Star Wars’ episode of ‘That 70s Show’ it must take place no earlier than the summer of 1977 which is when Star Wars made its debut.
I guess that makes me wonder if in a year or two they’ll change the name to ‘That 80s Show’ and suddenly it will be filled with stupid 80s anachronisms.
IMDB reports one anachronism in That 70’s Show goofs: the issue of Playboy the boys are flipping through is bound. In the 70’s they were stapled. Big deal.
In an early episode, the coca-cola bottles sport a label that wasn’t introduced until the 1990’s. It was corrected in subsequent episodes
Jackie lip gloss glitter Lipsmacker wasn’t around in the 1970’s
I’ve also heard that some of the music on the show is out of time, but I have no specifics.
Apparently someone on the show is trying to ensure that props are appropriate for the time, but what do you expect from a sitcom targeted at the teenagers of today? Of course it’s going to represent a combination of today’s lingo with the most glaringly obvious and exaggerated aspects of the 1970’s. It’s not a documentary.
By the way, Star Wars is not an anachronism. The show’s first episode was set in 1976. One tv season later, the show is in 1977 when Star Wars premieres.
Why don’t they go whole-hog and just run up a proposal for “That Early 2000s Show,” to debut later this year? Wacky jokes about Elian and Monica and the Bush election! Ah, memories . . .
