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It's 1976, and 17 year old Eric Forman (Topher Grace) has high hopes
that his parents Red (Kurtwood Smith) and Kitty (Debra Jo Rupp) will let
him use the car so he can take his friends he usually does weed in the
basements with - neighbour girl and almost-girlfriend Donna (Laura
Prepon), dim-witted but attractive Kelso (Ashton Kutcher), Kelso's bossy
girlfriend Jackie (Mila Kunis), blunt Hyde (Danny Masterson), and exchange
student Fez (Wilmer Valderrama) - to a concert one state over. And
eventually, almost against all hope, Red grants him permission, but only
if he doesn't cross city limits. Of course, Eric still takes his friends
to the concert not only out of town but out of state, but on the way the
car breaks down, the battery's blown, and since the youngsters neither
have the money nor can they call their parents without fearing
consequences, they have to agree to the car mechanic's conditions for a
new battery, give him two concert tickets - which is two of the group
can't go, and it's ultimately Kelso and Jackie, the latter because
everybody's tired of her, the former so he can finally break up with her -
but it only leads to them having sex in the car. The ending has Eric and
Donna kissing for the first time, leading to the very predictable
will-they-or-won't-they situation for episodes to come - until they will
of course ... Not That '70s Show was never the
perfect sitcom, it was in fact pretty predictable, was a bit too full of
caricatures instead of characters, and in 1998 the sitcom format with
canned laughter and all was already on its (extended) way out. But it was
also an endearing show, as it hit high on the nostalgia factor, got the
'70s vibe right - and the slighty antiquated format and a bit too
tried-and-true play right into that -, and the leads are all very decent,
got their characters down and would develop great chemistry - though
that's not yet that apparent in the pilot as they seem to still trying to
find into their roles. In other words, no masterpiece but still very
watchable.
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