That '80s Show & The Limits of Nostalgia

my video on that ad show is gone forever due to dumb [ __ ] syndrome so if you guys saw it and enjoyed it I'm real glad that you got to see it while it was up because I am not remaking it my bad all of the law detective determined that was a lot [Applause] [Music] the most recent season of stranger things garnered a lot of critical acclaim it was bolder and bigger and bloodier with Billy being the latest B to take an L the season was widely adored with many folks calling it the best one yet but not all the responses to season three were glowing a few critics didn't find it all that appealing some even thought it was the worst of the three and a lot of the gripes people have had with it have already been mentioned quite a bit hoppers an entirely new person Jonathan is rendered I need to say it useless no ash Knapp is easily the most talented child actor on the show Carney and they gave him jack [ __ ] to do another thing that came up quite a bit was how this season used in Soulja as a crutch now stranger things has always been a show that takes place during the 1980s it's not as if this only happened during the third season it's also known as if it's the first show that's ever taking place during a different time period nor is it the first time the world has been fixated in the previous decade there are a good chunk of movies made in the 70s that took place in the 50s and the 90s the 70s was still kind of popping we're not the first generation to have a bulging hard-on for previous decades and we won't be the last in the 2030s they'll be folks longing for the days of tick-tock and Disney live-action remakes story set in different time periods are simply that that alone isn't deep it's not sinister it's just part of the story the issue really only comes up when nostalgia becomes the main vehicle for storytelling but is no longer part of the story it is the story when we get too overly relying on some element from the past to get a reaction and the case of stranger things season 1 is a science fiction story that takes place in 1980s season 2 is a science fiction story that happens to take place during the 1980s season 3 is a 1980 science-fiction horror story about the 1980s remember the 1980s they were great in season 3 it feels like the 80s is a bigger character than it ever was it's a bigger character than Jonathan that's for sure having the time the story takes place and become bigger than the characters themselves leaves less room for the characters to become rounded out pop culture detective made a video about hopper and his strange turn in season 3 he didn't feel like Hopper he felt like a 1980s action hero kind of brash emotionally immature shoots first ask questions later his character the season is like an homage to the action years of the 1980s in a while that wouldn't be a problem if he started out this way the fact that he was so different previous seasons and does a lot of his character development because this version of hopper has forgotten how to express his feelings even though we just saw him doing exactly that at the end of the previous season it chooses the concept over the character in the end I was fine with stranger things 3 I didn't love it I didn't hate it but I began the whole concept over character thing reminded me of a show that did the exact same thing only much worse a show whose love for the 80's overshadowed things like character's story theme and everything else you can imagine a show whose reliance at the time it was set in ended up making it a show forgotten by time I show it I think we could all learn a valuable lesson from do you even remember that ad show no I didn't think so don't worry I'm gonna give you a nice long thick refresher but first I can't talk about that ad show without talking about the show that made it possible [Music] prior to that 70 show Bonnie and Terry Turner the husband-and-wife duo who conceptualized it at only one successful sitcom third Rock from the Sun followed a group of aliens sent down to earth to experience human life and report back to their home planet it starred John Lithgow Kristen Johnson French steward and Joseph gordon-levitt it marked the first time that the Turner's created a successful TV show that's not to say mind you that they didn't see any kind of success before this the two of them wrote episodes for SNL from the mid 80s to the mid 90s they were also the writers behind Coneheads Wayne's World one and two and Tommy Boy it was their success with third Rock however that really sealed the deal on their pitch for that 70 show third Rock ran from 1996 to 2001 it won five Emmy primetime Awards one Golden Globe and one SAG Award so there was really no reason for anyone to think that the next show the Turner's conceptualized wouldn't be a hit apparently the idea for that 70 show happened when the Turner slipped back on the event to the 70s and wondered how those events would look in the eyes of the average American teenager mark Brasil the consulting producer on 3rd rock eventually joined forces with the Turner's and the show started to develop the pilot episode was written there was a home for the program lined up at Fox and then the casting process commenced Topher Grace ashton kutcher laura Prepon mila kunis Wilmer Valderrama did you know the cast for a while there was no set title for the show it was shocked under a few names including teenage wasteland and The Kids Are Alright eventually after test audiences kept referring to it as that 70s show the name kind of stuck and we can probably put part of the blame for what happened with that 80 show on this little fact alone but we'll put up in that on August 23rd 1998 the pilot episode aired on Fox I can't find out the exact stats of how many people tuned in to this so we'll skip the numbers and go straight to the reviews which were waitwhat today that 70 show has looked back on fondly along with white living single and the office it's one of the sitcoms that managed to live on today in memes and astrology videos it became the second longest-running live-action comedy series on Fox and was the only Fox sitcom of 1998 to make it past 2000 and generally it's a show most people enjoy but if you were basing it from the very first reviews for the pilot episode you wouldn't guess that while not explicitly negative critics weren't that fond of it it was silly less silly than third rock but sillier than married with children it reduces the 70s to lava lamps and bell-bottoms it's a campy and goofier and clumsy version of The Brady Bunch revisiting the pilot again I can see where some of these grapes come up but if I'm being honest I didn't find the pilot for that 70s show to be entirely dependent on 70s nostalgia the exception of two jokes about permed in the hustle and a reference to the gas crisis you could easily change the cast wardrobe and it could feel more like a show set in the early 2000s as more episodes aired critics responded to it more positively the show would continue to get better before it got worse and it did it did get worse that happened the final season of That 70's Show is often regarded similarly to that ninth season of scrubs that being what who commissioned the show was and is still enjoyable for a lot of people it's a testament to the charisma of the cast and their chemistry with each other and the strength and some of their jokes that well the show never had high enough ratings to hit the Nielsen top 20 it did manage to live on for eight years after its initial premiere one of the few semi positive reviews for that pilot episode was from the New York Times stated that through the nostalgia the show was sweet and its appeal lied in the heart that it had basically although it had its issues it wasn't soulless when you ask someone today what they liked about that 70s show most answers have something to do with the characters with their relationship with each other how each of them made every situation entertaining it wasn't say the fact that it took place in the 1970s a few years into the success and popularity of that 70 Show studio execs wanted another hit TV show for the slot and they figured since that 70 show was doing so well what the world must have wanted was another decade based sitcom to get them hot and heavy and my research for this whole thing I've come across fans of that 80 show who have stated that it's unfair to compare the two but in my opinion it's really not the two shows aired on the same network at the same three executive producers and it was literally created because of that 70 show success there was even a change in the lineup of shows to promote that 80 show with a special called two decades of laughs and one night where that 80 show usually aired on Wednesdays the day after that 70 show the Box special had the two episodes played back-to-back hoping that they could essentially piggyback off the audience for that 70 show my point it is more than fair to compare the two and I'm gonna do a lot of that so yeah the details of that 80 show and its beginnings and its production are murky it's hard to find anything on what the casting process was like when auditions began all that Jeff and I'm privy to sharing videos like these so we'll skip all that a show is about a group of 20-somethings Glenn Howerton included trying to survive in a 1980s world on paper it sounds fine but lazy writing combined with stale stereotypes made for a pretty boring execution just to give you an idea I'd like to say that throughout the entirety of the first and second episode I did not laugh a single time the jokes do get better as the episodes go on don't get me wrong and there are a few jokes in there that actually got a laugh out of me there's a line you don't want to cross when you party and Rick snorted his but those moments were rare and the reaction of laughter don't worry situational comedy should not be where it doesn't help that the laughing track for many of the episodes is just mad excesses when did something funny happen I also noticed that a lot of the jokes for that 80's show especially in the pilot are set up in a way that makes the fact that it takes place during the 80s the punchline many times a reference to a tease pop culture is made and the existence of that reference in itself is the joke except you know like not a funny one being able to I was cutting my sweat shirts months before Flashdance and when the jokes aren't centered around the decade they sound like this okay you two cut it out or so help me I will turn this hot tub right around and we'll go home I thought it'd be fun to do with tally how many decade based punchlines yes I use that word very loosely we're in the pilot for that eighties show versus the pilot for that 70s show welcome to Reagan's America god bless your body where's your vinyl Ritchie section so when you go to the barber what do you ask for the Blue Lagoon I love you on Miami Vice Haiti it's dynasty shots you only do a shot when someone gets slapped hey is my nose bleeding no one can tell [Music] [Music] even so the jokes are not set up so that the seventies is the punchline to a joke when read says this it's not the perm that's funny it's my hustle was brought up the focal point of humor is not the dance itself but the fact that the kids are coming up with such a ridiculous scenario unlike that 80's show where the sound of an 80s song or the appearance of an 80s dance is cause for laughter and cheers and yes I know it's a laugh track audiences aren't really laughing at this but the laugh track is put in place by people behind the show meaning they thought those moments were Nick and that's just sad so I'm Punk deal with it but on the bright side the stale jokes were not lonely as they were kept plenty company by stale characters so a character is defined as a person in a story the key word there is person these are more like caricatures than actual people they're like if you decided to take a single treat and make a character out of it he's competitive she's aggressive he's contrarian she's kooky but I can't say that these single traits are the only thing driving these characters because stereotypes are at the wheel - he's the yuppie she's a punk he's a hipster she's a Material Girl just look at how June to stay defines herself just after she's first introduced so I'm hung deal with it is that her whole character that's really my biggest problem with this show the characters feel cheap and lazily written they don't start to come into their own until later episodes but that's not really the time to make a character interesting or stand out this is a song coming I know it's a sitcom and that sitcoms sin to look fairly safe in terms of cinematography but this show is so flat and dull there's no interesting editing choices no interesting camera movements no visual gags it just is and when you compare that to that 70 show where the pilot episode had this and the second episode had that and it was all followed by things like this and that and that it's especially disappointing the most interesting choice camera wise happens in the opening scene of the pilot where the cameras order floats around while two characters Cory and Sophia dance that Club Berlin one of the three main set pieces for the show it's not interesting in a good way mind you the subject of the scene isn't bad I just really have a problem with how it was executed there aren't many jokes that land and the whole thing feels kind of cheesy then right after that there is a joke about two businessmen checking to see if their noses are bleeding get it because cocaine because 80s did I mention that the theme for the show is we also have this consistent kind of consistent gag where a guy is yelling into his mobile phone and he's very excited because it's a mobile phone and it's funny because that is indeed a mobile phone and that shows how mobile phones looked in the 1980s oh my god going into the show I admittedly expected it to be absolutely abysmal and it pleases me to say that it wasn't absolutely abysmal episodes did get better and some jokes did start to land but ultimately it was just not a very enjoyable or even memorable experience [Music] so I watch that 80 shown multiple times and it still strikes me just how bland it is its biggest flaw isn't that it's horrid it's not so egregiously bad that I'm entertaining it's mere existence it's just so forgettable and it kind of puzzles me still how it could have gone so wrong there are a few things affecting the outcome the first and I think this is the most apparent is that you can't really make lightning strike in the same place twice this is sess of that 70 show was kind of like capturing lightning in a bottle I'm not trying to make it out to be some kind of spellbinding or flawless show but it's clear that its concept is one that like the ad show is fine on paper but not particularly exciting what made it come alive where are the jokes and the characters and the cast you played them and cast we would not have if for instance the Turner's never went to their kids school play and never saw Topher Grace on stage or if Mila Kunis didn't bend the truth about her age at the audition they may have had a completely different Jackie and that's the kind of thing you can't really recreate or can you [Music] nope nope you can't you can't fossil or I'm sorry guys great so there was an English 570 cher remake and it was terrible Americans couldn't do skins and the British couldn't do that 70 show I guess if we ignore the inbetweeners and skins and GracePoint and coupling we can pretend that the playing field is even now days like these the English that 70 show is I don't wanna mince words here it's really bad the characters in this show are tip or tap with the American versions but they don't work the same way or at all not just because the writers didn't seem to bother with changing the culture of the show or because the English accents for once are off-putting we shouldn't even need petrol man I heard about this bloke who invented a car that runs on water but because the actors in days like these approach the same characters in a very different way and it doesn't work quite as well James Carlton for instance the actor who plays Michael Maguire a parallel to Kelso plays the character as if he's dumb what's the problem with that Kelso wisdom true but in order to play a character you have to be able to at least to some degree understand them or empathize with them part of the reason Ashton Kutcher won the role of Kelso on his first attempt at acting the less was because when everyone else that the additions was playing Kelso as if he was dumb Ashton was playing him as if he was naive it's a small subtle difference but when you watch Ashton playing Kelso and then James Carlton playing the choir you can see why the difference works playing Kelso as naive makes him less of a caricature and more of a character what that ad show tried to do wasn't all that different from what days like these tried to do both shows were created not out of genuine artistic curiosity but out of well that show over there is doing really well so maybe if we did the same thing or something like it will do well too you sit down I'll get yours is that it I didn't know if you liked music Michael you don't want me to go to the concert is that's it no I didn't think you liked music Michael of course I like music you've seen the stickers on my pencil case I didn't invite you to the concert because I know you really don't like my friends did you know Michael don't tell our private conversations other people Michael we because I know you don't like my friends oh when did you tell them that no Michael don't tell other people our private conversations see we have to have our own private conversations Michael I think another element contributing to how it turned out is one of misunderstanding this is the one I always go back to and it's one that keeps reminding me but when M night Shyamalan - Sixth Sense hit theaters across the world a casual movie goer was just gassed at how good it was critics were admiring of Shyamalan skill and fans of cinema were sure that in him the film industry had another Hitchcock a risk-taking director an auteur of suspense and even today the Sixth Sense is still a pretty damn good movie as much as many of us myself included don't like kind of hate and Knights recent stuff it doesn't change the fact that the Sixth Sense is pretty dope [ __ ] yeah it's a ghost story but it's ultimately a story about communication loneliness grief loss and love and while all of that it's true the Sixth Sense isn't known solely for those elements the main takeaway from the film has been and sometimes still is that twist ending so now imagine your M night Shyamalan it's 1999 to 2000 and all you ever hear about is that [ __ ] twist and you think oh they liked the twist I'll do more of that then and why did we get there Amish the trees did it water is like acid to these aliens and these dog decided to infiltrate a planet made of mostly water but may the sixth sense good wasn't the twist I was just a bonus I could see the same thing sort of happening with something like that 70 show you had a name in the works for the show but everyone at test screenings kept calling it that 70 show so maybe when the takeaway should have been oh they like the jokes or oh they like the characters it became instead oh they like nostalgia let's do another decade basic calm but a new generation can be exposed to that an older generation who lived in that decade will feel an affinity for accept that didn't happen people saw through the gimmick with a TV show and they weren't interested the show initially premiered in January of 2002 and its cancellation was officially announced in May of that year just before the premiere of the final episode Sophia's depressed there are schools of thought not many regarding that ad show and it's an ability to find a large audience some people think it would have done just fine if they'd waited a few years or if they waited until after that seventies show and did some sort of spin-off instead or maybe even if they waited until say four years ago after all honest algebra T's and the 90s is pretty rampant nowadays I disagree though I don't think the show's potential was ruined by its timing or by the fact that it didn't have anything to do with that seventy show I don't think waiting a few years for the 80s to be even more in fashion would have done much either not of the quality of the show when his characters were still the same and the whole question of timing it for today instead of 2002 has rendered a moot point when you consider the quality and success of another sitcom that took place in the 1980s one that premiered a few years after that 80's show in 2005 you'll miss the one chance you have to make sure your voice is heard I know I'll have to do it stick it out just a little bit longer she's been mad at me before and she'll be mad at me again it's what she can do I'll be my mother anymore I like to return this child do you have the receipt sure do look take this to the cashier for your refund Everybody Hates Chris was a sitcom based loosely on Chris Fox adolescence growing up during the 80s in bed-stuy New York interestingly enough Chris Rock actually grew up during the 70's but he found that the 70s had already been parodied enough and he wanted to avoid unjust comparisons to that 70 show Everybody Hates Chris was really well received when it came out people thought the series was not only funny but that it was innovative and it wasn't afraid to take a few risks personally I [ __ ] love that show and when I think back to it or if I rewatched an episode I'm not harassed by glaring neon signs and spinning arrows telling me to just look at how 80s all of this is what stands out is the comedy and the stories and the characters as they should going back to the Talley thing I counted a whopping amount of 0 80s based punch lines in the Everybody Hates Chris pilot although Chris Rock based this on his childhood he didn't get lost in the allure of nostalgia porn he didn't have to wait until today for the 80s to be poppin I mean even if he did there'd be some people saying things like oh look another stranger things ripoff you know cuz stranger things invented the 80s all of the actors on that 80's show did a decent job for what they were given and they all had pretty good comedic timing Glenn Howerton went on to become a 5 star man Britney Daniel did a load of comedies including the classic way tricks and even on the show tensley Grimes and Eddie Shin were clearly giving it their all I don't want to blame the actors they did the best they could for what they were given it's me this really falls on the writers sure you can hide I used that word loosely too bad rating on a trauma like Riverdale you can hide it with things like musical numbers and shirtless guys and dramatic slow-motion but a sitcom is fairly simple the look of a traditional sitcom the feel of it the simplicity of it the almonds are in place for the jokes the characters and the stories to stand on their own that doesn't mean that if the genre in question isn't a comedy then you get off scot-free for writing flat characters in depending solely honest algid to kernel intrigue if there's any lesson to be learned from that 80's show it's that there is a limit to nostalgia around the time that that 70 show first debuted one review mentioned that the show's decision to capture the essence and joy of a decade that no one looked back on the Faunus was questionable at best although the 70s had its moment in the 90s there was still a good deal of people who didn't feel anything for the decade but the show still managed to stand on its own because instead of depending on nostalgia and dependent on strong writing and creativity that of course was the case up until later seasons when they decided to split up the only good couple on the show don't at me so if you're a writer and you're working on something regardless of whether that something is a period piece or not I think it's best to spend as much time flushing out your characters as your concept does in sumption work just because of the mind heist thing or because the Dominic cop is an interesting character just girlfight work because it's about a female boxer or because Diana Guzman is a pretty interesting character does Boys Over Flowers work because it's another love triangle or because coach Andy trick question [ __ ] Boys Over Flowers does not work and you know that an interesting concept will always be an interesting concept but without things like interesting characters that's all that will ever be so take your time with those things otherwise the concept you have much like Jonathan Byers in season 3 will kind of just be there also if you're writing a comedy it would help to you know make it funny maybe [Music] this is a song called ad

Channel: Yhara zayd

Views: 159,943

Rating: 4.9189363 out of 5

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Id: cpAeYQ5g5zU

Length: 26min 15sec (1575 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 04 2020