I just finished watching the entire series of "That '70s Show" and I have to say that this show, in retrospect, isn't very funny, much less worth owning. It's a show better watched episodically and only in the context of where it was originally shown on TV beside other, much better shows, than straight through on its own as it is available now on DVD. While I'm sure that sounds incredibly obvious, I, perhaps wrongly, can't help but compare this show to "Friends," which is very similar albeit a much more successful and funnier sitcom.
I stuck through watching "That '70s Show" in its entirety to see what the characters would amount to and because I enjoyed Eric and Donna's relationship. Their relationship seemed the one interesting and believable aspect to the entire show and as if it would actually develop and go onto something, moving the show out of the Forman residence. Alas, it seems like due to the producers not knowing how long the show would run for, which cast members would leave, the show as a whole suffers, failing to deliver on any of the relationships or allowing any sort of drama to move the show forward: we're essentially stuck in the Forman's basement for eight years.
From Season 5 onward we begin to tire of the characters and their limited dynamics, giving rise to a genuine doubt that these characters will make any sort of worthwhile return for us. Everything begins to go downhill from this point onward when we fail to invest in the characters.
In the midst of the degeneration of the show's plot and its comedy, the show begins to lose direction and flounders with bad writing, awful jokes and pointless episodes that lack so greatly as to make the last couple seasons not worth the time, despite some surprise guest appearances. By the last season, its two funniest and vital characters absent (Eric and Kelso), it's apparent that the show is running on fumes and it finally stalls out completely with a carelessly and poorly construed finale that is both disappointing and abrupt.
All in all, I feel the show's best moments are in its initial seasons where the personalities and settings are novel and fresh and there seems to be potential. This show lasted for eight seasons due to its great cast and production but could have gone longer and not lost cast members had the writers been more daring and cared more about the characters. Granted, I can see how this show was hard to write as it was primarily about very similar white kids in a remote location with nothing to do, but I guess it's on the creators of the show for setting themselves up for such a challenging premise.
Nonetheless, the show is what it is.
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