Surfin' That '00s Show

By James Poniewozik

It might seem odd that a nostalgia sitcom should embrace new media. But after viewing last Monday's debut of Behind the Scenes at That '70s Show--billed by producer Carsey-Werner as "the first-ever weekly Internet streaming series for a network show" (whew!)--it made sense. The jumpy video, the garbled audio (over a 56.6K modem), the thrown-together interviews with the Fox hit's stars--the infant days of TV must have been like this. It was enough to make one nostalgic for today.

Behind's highly qualified claim of being first is iffy: UPN's new drama The Beat and NBC's recently expired Homicide have both run webisodes. But in a sense, Behind (at www.that70sshow.com is more in tune with the dot-commerce age, because it's more ad than drama. Aimed at young Web surfers, the smart, saucy sitcom's natural audience, it's really a child of the ingenious Internet marketing for The Blair Witch Project. It was promoted entirely online--in part through Microsoft's MSN website--and the 10-minute episode, with hard-hitting information about the characters' period hairstyles, is strictly fan-club stuff. There's the all-empowering Web for you: why rely on Entertainment Tonight when you can do your own puff pieces!

But Carsey-Werner, which says Behind tripled traffic to the '70s site, doesn't claim this is art. At the end of the webcast, Kurtwood Smith, with the wonderful take-no-crap gruffness of his character Red Forman, reminded us of its purpose: "Tune in to your Fox station for That '70s Show. Not this Behind the Scenes. The real thing." No confusion about that.

--By James Poniewozik