It's tasteless, tacky - and true to life

No, it's not your glasses. The set of That '70s Show really is that ugly. But hey, at least it's frighteningly evocative.

On the CBS lot in Studio City, California, they take the "Me Decade" thing rather seriously. But the 70s television timewarp is about more than showcasing groovy geegaws and shagadelica.

"This is a middle-class family attempting to be stylish with the money that they have," explains production designer Garvin Eddy. "They have teardrop lamps. They have an organ. They have National Geographic. And for some reason, they have a built-in bar. This is what Middle America was all about."

Fortunately, taste, like time, marches on. "There was huge confusion in the 70s about what cool was," says Wilmer Valderrama (who plays Fez). And set decorator Tara Stephenson adds: "The scary part is, there's even more ugly stuff out there."

The basement: "I feel like I'm in a garage sale," observes Ashton Kutcher (Kelso). Behold the grubby sofa (which had to be taped up after an arm collapsed), the trippy hanging lamp ($150 at an LA collectibles store) and the ELO poster.

While the cast often relaxes here between scenes, Danny Masterson has a beef about the white chair that his character, Hyde, favours. "It's the most uncomfortable thing ever," he sighs.

The pile of goodies under the stairwell isn't merely set dressing. The gang plays with the View-Master and pulls out board games like Monopoly during downtime.

As for that ratty six-string, "Ashton always tries to impress us with his guitar playing," says Valderrama.

Topher Grace (Eric Forman) adds, "He's like, 'Guess this song ... Stairway to Heaven!"'

The living room: The hardest part about recreating the classic 70s living room wasn't tracking down an old set of World Book Encyclopedias or even fishing for the mounted blue marlin. It was procuring the shag carpet around the stairwell.

"We actually had to have a mill make it because we couldn't find shag carpeting this long," says Eddy. "It cost between $US8000 and $10,000 [$18,000 and $22,000] because we had to have a whole run of it made."

And if you think that gold sofa is bold now, consider this: the former set decorator turned the fabric inside out because the original pattern was even louder. Wow, man.

The kitchen: "This is the room that's supposed to wake you up," says Eddy, "and, oh boy, does it wake you up. You don't want to meditate in here." Or act, for that matter.

"You're blinded everywhere you look," insists Debra Jo Rupp (Kitty). "You're trying to remember your lines and you find yourself staring at the cheese-grater lights."

Worse yet, she says, are the olfactory emissions of the non-functioning refrigerator. "I'm at the fridge and the director will say, 'Take some orange juice out.' And I'll go, 'Does that entail opening the fridge?' I can't do it. That odour could knock you dead."

- AGENCIES