"I Love the '70s" (2003) TV series

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Release Date:

18 August 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Documentary

Plot Keywords:

Nostalgia | 1970s | Number In Title

Cast

John Amos	...	Himself
Loni Anderson	...	Herself
Tom Arnold	...	Himself
Sebastian Bach	...	Himself
Bob Balaban	...	Himself
Alec Baldwin	...	Himself
Jillian Barberie	...	Herself
Bob Barker	...	Himself
Drew Barrymore	...	Herself
Garcelle Beauvais	...	Herself (as Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon)
Fred Berry	...	Himself (as Fred 'Rerun' Berry)
Lewis Black	...	Himself
Michael Ian Black	...	Himself
Linda Blair	...	Herself
Todd Bridges	...	Himself
Robin Byrd	...	Herself
Nancy Carell	...	Herself (as Nancy Walls)
Karen Carpenter	...	Herself (archive footage)
Richard Carpenter	...	Himself (archive footage)
Lynda Carter	...	Herself
David Cassidy	...	Himself
Ellen Cleghorne	...	Herself
Didi Conn	...	Herself
Jeff Corwin	...	Himself
Anthony 'Treach' Criss	...	Himself (as Treach)
Molly Culver	...	Herself
Bo Derek	...	Herself
Cameron Diaz	...	Herself
Simon Doonan	...	Himself
Paul Doucette	...	Himself
Bil Dwyer	...	Himself
Rich Eisen	...	Himself
Erik Estrada	...	Himself
Dannah Feinglass	...	Herself
Miguel Ferrer	...	Himself
Lou Ferrigno	...	Himself
Greg Fitzsimmons	...	Himself
Dave Foley	...	Himself
Jorja Fox	...	Herself
Kim France	...	Herself
Doug E. Fresh	...	Himself
Jim Gaffigan	...	Himself
Leif Garrett	...	Himself
Kyle Gass	...	Himself
Peri Gilpin	...	Herself
Annabelle Gurwitch	...	Herself
Luis Guzmán	...	Himself
Sammy Hagar	...	Himself
Tom Hamilton	...	Himself
Rachael Harris	...	Herself
Tony Hawk	...	Himself
Isaac Hayes	...	Himself
Leslie Hope	...	Herself
Mark Hoppus	...	Himself
Scott Ian	...	Himself
Rick James	...	Himself
Ron Jeremy	...	Himself
Penn Jillette	...	Himself
Randy Jones	...	Himself
Nick Lachey	...	Himself
Bruce Lee	...	Lee (archive footage)
Carol Leifer	...	Herself
Lucy Liu	...	Herself
Donal Logue	...	Himself
George Lopez	...	Himself
Loni Love	...	Herself
Stephen Lynch	...	Himself
Justina Machado	...	Herself
Michael Madsen	...	Himself
Marilyn Manson	...	Himself
Constance Marie	...	Herself
Cheech Marin	...	Himself
Ziggy Marley	...	Himself
Benito Martinez	...	Himself
Edwin McCain	...	Himself
Darryl McDaniels	...	Himself
Kevin McDonald	...	Himself
Mark McKinney	...	Himself
Anne Meara	...	Herself
Bret Michaels	...	Himself
Leon Mobley	...	Himself
Colin Mochrie	...	Himself
Pat Monahan	...	Himself
Demi Moore	...	Herself
Jason Mraz	...	Himself
Sharon Osbourne	...	Herself
Ron Palillo	...	Himself
Joe Perry	...	Himself
Liz Phair	...	Herself
Lisa Marie Presley	...	Herself
Megyn Price	...	Herself
Greg Proops	...	Himself
Rachel Quaintance	...	Herself
Lionel Richie	...	Himself
Mo Rocca	...	Himself
Vin Rock	...	Himself (as Vinnie)
Nile Rodgers	...	Himself
Tracee Ellis Ross	...	Herself
David Lee Roth	...	Himself
Kelly Rowland	...	Herself
Jill Scott	...	Herself
Stuart Scott	...	Himself
Robert Shields	...	Himself
Pauly Shore	...	Himself
Mitch Silpa	...	Himself
Kurtwood Smith	...	Himself
Dee Snider	...	Himself
Kevin Sorbo	...	Himself
Hal Sparks	...	Himself
Joel Stein	...	Himself
Fisher Stevens	...	Himself
Jerry Stiller	...	Himself
Jeff Stilson	...	Himself
Teller	...	Himself
Rob Thomas	...	Himself
Ahmir-Khalib Thompson	...	Himself (as ?uestlove)
Tariq Trotter	...	Himself
Uncle Kracker	...	Himself
David Wain	...	Himself
George Wallace	...	Himself
Steven Weber	...	Himself
Kevin Weisman	...	Himself
Maggie Wheeler	...	Herself
Steve Whitmire	...	Kermit the Frog
Victor Williams	...	Himself
Dean Winters	...	Himself
Bernadette Yao	...	Herself
Rob Zombie	...	Himself

Runtime:

USA:60 min (10 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:TV-14

Company:

MTV Networks

Quotes:

Hal Sparks: My pet rock attacked my little brother, and we had it euthanized.

Movie Connections:

Features "The Mod Squad" (1968)

Left something to be desired...

VH1 scored a hit with "I Love The '80s." It was funny, accurate, covered a wide range of subjects, kept a good pace, and it had a lot of interesting comments from people who knew what they were talking about. The latter point is the very thing that I feel "I Love the '70s." was lacking.

The majority of the people making their comments on the 1970s were from people who were not even 10 years old by the time the 70s were over! Drew Barrymore, for instance, was only alive for 5 years of the 1970s. Kelly Rowland of Destiny's Child wasn't even born until 1981! How do these people have any credibility what-so-ever when talking about the 1970s? And the worst part is that their lines, this time around, are clearly scripted and therefore totally unoriginal and not credible at all.

These children of the 80s are talking about the 70s in such a nostalgic manner that you'd think they were 20 years older than they actually are. Hal Sparks was born in 1971, and yet in the 1971 (I believe it was 71, perhaps 72, but that's all just semantics and completely besides the point) episode he was reminiscing about the introduction of the waterbed and talking about how it turned out to be such a miserable invention as if he were there and fully developed to remember it actually happening. The point is, the man was anywhere from not even born yet, to a maximum of 2 years old when these events were going on... And I'm supposed to think his opinion on the subject is credible? I may as well talk to a middle schooler about the 1960s.

In addition to these (in my opinion serious) quibbles, I would also say that the jokes were lackluster, the humor was minimal, the picture quality was annoying (all of the old commercials and ads were so grainy that it was almost intolerable to look at...only the clips of films here have held up the test of time in the visibility department, in my opinion), the pacing was just too rapid and there was far too much coverage of topics that I just personally did not find interesting. There should have been a far greater emphasis on the ways in which music evolved and all sorts of new genres were created throughout the course of the 1970s, and less emphasis on TV commercials, crappy consumer products, political BS, and little "Do you remember this?" garbage... Why not show the stuff that succeeded and is loved to this day, not what failed and is completely useless to speak of unless good, witty jokes are associated with them (which, I felt, were not, in this series). More music and film coverage and the ways that both media were revolutionized, expanded upon, and experimented with throughout the 70s would have been welcome.

Overall, I'd say that "I Love the 70's" left a lot to be desired. And that's a shame, because - dammit - I love the 70s!