On Eric’s Buddy: I’m probably not explaining myself all that clearly here, but isn’t in possible that in-universe, Eric hadn’t really thought about how he would feel if he found out someone he knew was gay so the way he reacted isn’t the way he thought he would react (ie “stop being friends now that I know he’s gay” versus “Oh, you’re gay? Oh, right.” Basically maybe Eric didn’t think he’d react that way because he never thought “one of my friends turns out to be gay” would happen to him.
Yes, as a woman of colour I personally wouldn’t want to live in the 1970s but AFAIK there was a little more equality then than in (say) the 50s. I especially liked the nice touch of references to the women’s liberation movement and the rise of modern feminism.
They used “Wisconsin” as a generic backdrop just to establish something the unwashed masses outside of the major urban areas of the east coast and L.A. could identify with, much like the Simpsons Springfield. The first few seasons were the best for 70s nostalgia. The main relationship of the show, between Eric and Donna, seems kind of phony as the series continued because not many chess club geeks are romantically inclined enough to go steady for the duration of their high school years.
(I had a boyfriend for a short time in high school, late '60’s, gayer than a Prada spring frock. He was from one of the town families who’d been there forever though, so no one picked on him.)
I always liked Kelso. He was not only cute, but sweet. I always thought he and Rose Nyland on Golden Girls could be related, life for them was pretty much sunny and bright.
My favorite was the episode where Red was disgusted by something that Eric did and Kitty defended him. My next favorite one was where the made a topical 70’s reference that no one born after that era would understand.
On a more serious note: why does it seem as though in every episode long after Eric and Donna get together, one of the problems is “Eric does something insensitive and he and Donna fight and then they make up”. Speaking hypothetically if I were in Donna’s place I wouldn’t put up with constantly having arguments with my hypothetical boyfriend and then making up. Plus it just makes it so obvious that the scriptwriters were short of ideas.
Another note, this time on historical accuracy: I discussed this show with another one of my history teachers once (not the one whose voice sounds like DJR) and she said that although the show is funny, it’s not historically accurate. She also made a remark about people who smoked pot back then probably not remembering it.
Also, when I was in Year 9 I took compulsory Australian history including a section on the 70s… now that there was a British remake of T7S I’m wondering what the hypothetical Australian take would be like.
Here are some ideas:
*Point Place would still be a regional/rural town
*Eric’s friends would still be hanging out in his basement
*Red would call everybody a dumbarse
*Donna would probably face ethnic prejudice due to being Italian
*Don’t know if Eric would still have a Vista Cruiser
*Hyde’s biological father might be Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander
Any other Australian Dopers had the same thought?
