That 70’s Show: Season 6

DVD Reviews | Jun 16th, 2007

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Starring Topher Grace, Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher, Danny Masterson, Laura Prepon, Debra Jo Rupp, Kurtwood Smith, Don Stark, Wilmer Valderrama
Written By:
Directed By:
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Buy on Amazon.com link

At the risk of sounding like a bad high school senior class T-shirt: what a long, strange trip it’s been. And unfortunately, this brilliant sitcom began showing its age after six years of long, strange trips.

Don’t get me wrong. This season is still hilarious and still features all the wonderful characterizations we’ve grown to love. But the characters themselves are starting to slip into their own stereotypes a bit too much. For example, barely an episode goes by without hapless hero Eric Forman explicitly pointing out that he always takes a bad situation and makes it worse and then following through. And everyone seems to take the time to point out Kitty Forman’s drinking as often as possible. It’s almost like the writers lost faith in the audience to pick up on cues that weren’t so subtle to begin with, and they decided to pound it in everyone’s face like a hyperactive monkey wielding an out-of-control jackhammer that just won’t turn off.

But that’s my only major complaint for this season. There are a few interesting new storylines, such as Kelso’s accidental knocking-up of Shannon Elizabeth, or Eric and Donna renting a ridiculous tiny trailer to be their home after their wedding and there’s the rush to the wedding itself, including a failed bachelor party and a spur-of-the-moment bachelorette party. Through it all, the usual wacky hijinks and witty dialogue keep us interested in the goings-on of Point Place, Wisconsin.

(Just a random side note, as someone who lives in northern Illinois, it’s pretty cool to hear a sitcom reference places around here, rather than just taking place in big coastal cities, as seems to be the popular places these days. No, instead of the characters spending their time at a fabulous California beach or trendy New York coffeehouse, we have Kelso heading off to a police academy in Waukegan, and Donna considering college in Milwaukee. Ha! In your face, coastal losers! Ahem.)

Anyway, this season is where I had stopped watching the show’s original airings, due to other obligations, so I was delightfully surprised to find about 2/3 of the episodes were completely new to me. And there were plenty of fun surprises within the episodes themselves, such as a random cameo by Billy Dee Williams as a Star Wars loving preacher who incorrectly believes Eric and Donna to be virgins, or Dan Castellaneta as an immigration officer testing Fez’s marriage for a greencard.

So this DVD set features four discs in a delightfully super-slim package (two discs in each slim case, yay!), and thank goodness the days of the ridiculous endlessly-folding-out multi-DVD packaging seems to be over. Man, I hate those things. But anyway. Once again the weakest spot of the set is in the extras: there are a few director commentaries, some brief interviews with Debra Jo Rupp and Kurtwood Smith (Kitty and Red Forman), and a clip montage called “Season 6 in 6 Minutes”.

So all in all this is a good set of the show’s last really good season, and you should go out and buy it as soon as you can. Otherwise you’re a hoser, you… hoser.

Features:

Audio:
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital Stereo CC

Video:
Standard 1.33:1 Color

Subtitles:

Favorite Scenes: Fez trying to get some privacy to use the bathroom in the tiny trailer; the scenes in the early episodes featuring Jackie in a bikini (swoon); Kitty at the strip club
Rating: NR
Running Time: 545 minutes
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating: