“That ’70s Show”

Hello, and welcome to Questionable Nostalgia, where I, your humble idiot Daniel Marco, will be discussing shows and films that I used to love and now make me cringe.

First up on the docket is the sitcom “That ’70s Show,” which ran for eight seasons from 1998 to 2006. In all honesty, this was my absolute favorite TV show when I was in grade school. I recently tried to get back into it, and I have to say that it fell flat.

Its worst grievance is that is breaks my golden rule in all shows and movies: you can never have more than one excessively annoying character. “That ’70s Show” has not only one, but two of these: glitzy, hyper-maintenance Jackie, played by Mila Kunis, and the sexually confused foreign exchange student Fez, played by Wilmer Valderrama.

I don’t know how anyone can stand these two. As I re-watched the show, I don’t believe I laughed even once when either of these characters went through their comedy shticks, especially Fez, who has the same sexual jokes for seemingly the entire series. In addition, Ashton Kutcher’s turn as Michael Kelso can certainly wear thin at times, though at least he can occasionally be funny.

However, one of the areas where the show does hold up is the performance of Kurtwood Smith as Red Foreman. Seriously, this man is freaking hilarious. Whether he’s tearing his son Eric (Topher Grace) a new one or sarcastically reprimanding everyone in sight, he is consistently funny.

Another character that was my favorite as a kid and is still funny is Steven Hyde (Danny Masterson), mainly because of his scathing critiques of the other characters’ actions.

Unfortunately a show that I used to love so much I now see as a shoddily-written series that tries way too hard for cheap laughs and mostly fails to pull it off, often in awkward and cringe-worthy fashion, which makes me sad. I should’ve just never re-watched it and kept it in my memory banks where it was still perfect.