GOOD-BYE WISCONSIN!

This coming Thursday, the television world bids farewell to that 70's Show, and I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, I watched an episode from this season and it was a struggle to say the least.

The new character "Randy" was supposed to fill the void of Eric after he left for Africa and that just should not have happened. Plus Kelso was also gone, and the tell tale signs were beginning to become glaringly obvious that this show was on its last legs. So in that vain, I am glad they are finally putting an end to the great run this show has had.

At the same time, it's always kind of sad to see a show that has had such a great run finally go off the air. I guess the people involved in the show can hold their heads high because it was not cancelled, they went out on their terms. This is just my personal opinion, I think in the grand scheme of things 'That 70's Show' was one of the best comedies in the past 20 years, and also its greatness has been overlooked and underrated since its inception in 1998. I think I have the reason why.

When you take a look at the best 'sitcoms' over the past 10 years the overwhelming majority have all been geared to an older audience. (IE Friends, Will and Grace, Seinfeld, Everybody Love Raymond, Frasier) Now all of these shows don't get me wrong are great shows, and deserve all of the credit and praise in the world. But it attracted for the most part an older audience lets say for an easy range 25-49. These shows in turn pulled in massive ratings for their respective networks which equated into the longevity of each show. I guess the two go hand in hand.

When you take a look at 'That 70's Show', it was more of a 'niche' show when it first started. It was about a group of teenagers which had the decade of the 70's as its backdrop. It obviously wasn't about the 70's, as the situations and problems they faced could have happened in most decades. The show was obviously geared towards a younger audience like 18-25 year olds. Now most shows geared towards a younger audience are usually axed in their infancy despite their popularity. (IE My So Called Life, Undeclared, Freaks and Geeks) So I think its a testament to the show itself that it not only survived that, but ended up having such a great run and was geared to, and attracted a much younger audience.

Should it deserved to be mentioned in the same breath as Seinfeld, Friends, or Frasier? I'd have to be honest and say probably not, but then again I think you would have it in the top ten comedies from the past 20 years. 8 Years is a huge span for any show, and I think the fact that it was a sitcom, it deserves extra points because writing a sitcom is much more difficult than other shows.

So this Thursday May 18th at 8pm, I am definitely going to check it out for one last time.