Despite what the name would suggest, "That '70s Show" was a show about people that just took place in the '70s. In referenced the culture, the politics of the time, but the plots and humor all came from the characters, or at least primarily did.
"That '80s Show" on the other hand focused too much on the era it was set in. The jokes didn't come from the characters or even the situations they found themselves in.
Instead the jokes all centered on the '80s: "Look, I have an enormous cell phone that costs too much and only gives me five minutes of talk time on the battery." Let's face it, jokes like that aren't really funny to begin with and get old very, VERY fast.
Not only that, but you really can't even write a sitcom worthy plot around them.
And on top of that, the '80s kind of really sucked.
So what you have here is a sitcom about a decade that ignores its cast and banks entirely on the decade it's set in to carry the show. The result is kind of an epic fail.
"That '80s Show" on the other hand focused too much on the era it was set in. The jokes didn't come from the characters or even the situations they found themselves in.
Instead the jokes all centered on the '80s: "Look, I have an enormous cell phone that costs too much and only gives me five minutes of talk time on the battery." Let's face it, jokes like that aren't really funny to begin with and get old very, VERY fast.
Not only that, but you really can't even write a sitcom worthy plot around them.
And on top of that, the '80s kind of really sucked.
So what you have here is a sitcom about a decade that ignores its cast and banks entirely on the decade it's set in to carry the show. The result is kind of an epic fail.