That '80s Show aired from January until May 2002 on FOX.
San Diego in 1984 ( incidentally the year I graduated high school) was the setting for this comedy, a nostalgia-fest filled with music, styles, and language of the 1980s and obviously inspired by That '70s Show. Twenty-two-year-old Corey Howard ( Glenn Howerton) lived at home with his bubbly younger sister Katie ( Tinsley Grimes), and their father R.T. ( Geoff Pierson), an incredibly square marketing executive who had divorced their mother two years earlier. Uncertain about his future, Corey was biding his time working for Margaret ( Margaret Smith), a burned-out 1960s hippie at Permanent Record, a local record store. His co-worker was Tuesday ( Chyler Leigh), a rude, leather-jacketed, spiked-hair punk rocker. Of course they were attracted to each other. They dated, and although she got skittish when he started talking about a "relationship," their affair got pretty serious. Sophia ( Brittany Daniel) was Corey's beautiful former girlfriend, who had broken up with him after deciding she was bisexual and who kept trying unsuccessfully, to tempt naive Katie into a lesbian fling Her biggest impediment was Owen ( Josh Braaten), Katie's incredibly straight navy boyfriend, Corey's friend Roger ( Eddie Chin), a Reagan conservative with the hots for Sophia, also lived with the Howards. In February he was fired because of a marketing idea he had gotten from R.T., who owned a mail-order fitness company that sold the gut wacker. After R.T. gave Sophia a job with his company, she started maneuvering to gain more control.
The executive producers were Marcy Casey and Tom Werner.
A Review from The New York Times
TELEVISION REVIEW; Remembering a Decade That Never Went Away
By NEIL GENZLINGER
Published: January 23, 2002
Maybe it's just too soon.
''That 80's Show'' arrives tonight on Fox, seeming a little more strained, a little less confident than its forebear, ''That 70's Show.'' The new sitcom revisits the Reagan decade, specifically San Diego in 1984, following a quintet of young adults and their older but not necessarily wiser enablers.
At the center of things are Corey (Glenn Howerton) and Katie (Tinsley Grimes), a brother and sister who live with their father (Geoff Pierson). Among them and their acquaintances, most of the obligatory types are represented: racial minorities, bisexuals, slackers, suits, punks. Artifacts from the time period are sprinkled about like heavy-handed product placements in a film. Power ties, motivational tapes, the television show ''Dynasty,'' the phrase ''Where's the beef?'' and more make appearances in the opening episode.
If the pilot is any indication, ''That 80's Show'' will have its moments, as you'd expect from the pedigrees of its numerous producers, whose credits include ''Third Rock From the Sun'' and ''Roseanne.'' The best bits occur in the record store where Corey works. His boss, played hilariously by Margaret Smith, is a master of wry put-downs and seems not to care whether they cost her business. ''Do you have any Miles Davis?'' a young customer asks. Her answer: ''You're not ready.''
But for every inspired moment, there's one that seems desperate. The pilot contains not one, not two, but four cheesy breast-related jokes, as if the writers somehow think that it's still news that they can get away with such material in prime time. And at one point Katie is compelled to sing along with ''Love Is a Battlefield,'' pretending that a wine cooler bottle is a microphone, an image so clichéd that it ought to be permanently retired from sitcomland along with air-guitar playing.
Beyond the uneven writing, there's the issue of whether the 1980's are really eligible for revisiting, since they've never quite disappeared. In the pilot, much is made of a punk hairdo sported by Tuesday (Chyler Leigh), Corey's co-worker at the record store. Yes, the hair is outlandish, but subway riders in 2002 see stuff almost as garish every day.
So the premise of ''That 80's Show'' may be too weak to sustain the project. A telltale sign: Ms. Smith's character likes to hold forth about the wild days of her youth.
A show that looks back on the 80's has its characters look back on the 60's and 70's? It seems, somehow, like a show that's not very sure of itself.
THAT 80'S SHOW
Fox, tonight at 8
Created by Terry Turner, Mark Brazill and Linda Wallem; directed by David Trainer; produced by Carsey-Werner-Mandabach; executive produced by Mr. Turner, Mr. Brazill, Ms. Wallem, Christine Zander, Marcy Carsey, Tom Werner and Caryn Mandabach.
WITH: Glenn Howerton (Corey), Tinsley Grimes (Katie), Eddie Shin (Roger), Chyler Leigh (Tuesday), Brittany Daniel (Sophia), Geoff Pierson (R. T.) and Margaret Smith (Margaret).
An Article from Entertainment Weekly
Behind the Scenes
Trickle-Down TV
Fox heads into the next generation with its Reaganomic new sitcom
By Dan Snierson
Flashback: summer 1998. EW asks Terry Turner, cocreator of the new Fox sitcom ''That '70s Show,'' what will happen four years from now, when his 1976-set series hits decade's end. He pauses thoughtfully. ''I guess,'' he finally quips, ''it's going to become 'That '80s Show.'''
That was a pretty good joke, apparently. In case you haven't checked your current TV listings, Fox is about to unveil a splashy family comedy named -- hold on to your Rubik's Cubes -- ''That '80s Show.'' Set in 1984 amidst a not-so-quiet riot of Reaganomics and huge hair, the series introduces a fresh batch of time-warped troopers: altruistic musician Corey (Glenn Howerton); his dippy sis, Katie (Tinsley Grimes); his faux-hip single dad, RT (Geoff Pierson); his materialistic Republican bud/car salesman, Roger (Eddie Shin); his biting record-store boss, Margaret (Margaret Smith); his defensive punk rock coworker, Tuesday (Chyler Leigh); and his bombshell ex-girlfriend, Sophia (''Sweet Valley High'''s Brittany Daniel), who enjoys diff'rent strokes from all sorts of folks, if you catch our bisexual drift.
Just don't expect to see any totally awesome drop-bys from '''70s'' dudes Kelso and Fez in white ''Miami Vice'' jackets with pushed-up sleeves, because -- guess what? -- this isn't a spin-off! Although Fox asked the producers more than a year ago if they wanted to conjure up a new series starring a '''70s'' character, they wound up selling the network on an unrelated next-generation comedy involving twentysomething friends immersed in club culture (and Culture Club). ''You're out of college, now you're an adult, it's the '80s, let's go!'' is how Linda Wallem, who created the show with fellow '''70s'' exec producers Turner and Mark Brazill, describes it. ''That's what we found interesting and that's where these characters are. The decade is telling them, 'You better grow up and ride the wave now,' as opposed to the '70s, where it's like, 'Well, just stay in the basement and behave.' In the '80s, there's more room for experimentation.''
She's not kidding. In addition to the bisexual angle (Sophia pursues her ex's sister in the first few episodes), the show will make cheeky references to classic '80s indulgences, including cocaine use. ''Every time anyone's in a bathroom, you're going to hear tapping and chopping somewhere in a stall,'' says Turner. ''Because that's all I heard in the '80s when I went into the bathroom.'' But Turner pledges that the main characters won't be doing any sampling, the way the '''70s'' kids did with the wacky weed. In fact, the '''80s'' folks insist their show will be as different from the Me Decade series as Wang Chung is from Cheech & Chong. ''It's inevitable that people are going to compare the shows,'' says Daniel. ''They can compare all they want.... The only thing similar about the two shows is that we have a couple of the same words in our title and the same creators.''
For sure, but then why go with a name that practically begs for comparisons? ''The network loved 'That '80s Show,''' answers Wallem. ''To be honest, we really didn't want to call it that because we thought it would be confusing.'' And maybe a bit daunting. ''I think that if it brings people to the show, we'd better deliver when they get there,'' says Turner. ''It does put some pressure on us.'' Fox Entertainment president Gail Berman -- who's still interested in a '''70s'' spin-off -- sees the name game in a different black light: ''I'd rather look at it as an opportunity for the audience as a point of entry. It conjures up certain things, and then we take it from there.'' And if that doesn't work? They can always try changing the title to something really rad like...''That Hot Bisexual Chick Show.''
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