Television

’80s given their due

By David Bianculli
New York Daily News
01-23-2002

Deja vu of an era almost too recent to qualify as nostalgia is the force driving That ’80s Show, the Fox sitcom being launched tonight at 7. Set in San Diego in 1984, it is the spiritual sister series of That ’70s Show, but with an entirely different cast, a focus on characters in their early 20s rather than late teens, and a California rather than Wisconsin sensibility. Otherwise, co-creators and co-executive producers Linda Wallem, Terry Turner and Mark Brazill are relying on, and copying almost lazily and slavishly, the successful formula from their That ’70s Show. There are cartoonish parents and authority figures, slackers and hustlers, fast women and slow young men — and a studio audience that seems to enjoy every second of it. Viewers at home won’t be so reliably or constantly entertained, but there is enough spark in That ’80s Show to generate knowing smiles, if not the belly laughs and gasps and screams heard on the soundtrack. The music certainly helps. If you’re of the right age to hear the Talking Heads’ “Once in a Lifetime” or Pat Benatar’s “Love Is a Battlefield” and visualize the accompanying music-video images from the early days of MTV, then portions of That ’80s Show will work. It also helps that, in this cast of new characters, some of the players establish themselves quickly and memorably. One is Margaret Smith, as the older and acerbic manager of a vinyl record store named Permanent Record (think Jack Black’s attitude-filled store clerk from High Fidelity); when a youngster comes in asking for a Miles Davis LP, she sizes him up and says dismissively, “You’re not ready.” Other cast members include Glenn Howerton as Corey, the wanna-be musician and other Permanent Record clerk; Tinsley Grimes as his bubbly sister Katie, who dresses like early Madonna; Geoff Pierson as their divorced father, who dresses like early Miami Vice; and Brittany Daniel as Sophia, Corey’s bisexual ex-girlfriend, who now is flirting with his sister Katie. Eddie Shin also is featured, as Corey’s friend, an Alex Keaton type. They drink wine coolers and “Dynasty” shots, sing “Close to You” and hope for better things. So do I when it comes to TV shows — but unlike most sitcoms this season, That ’80s Show isn’t that bad. Official That 80s show site: www.that80sshow.tv