Jokes about shoulder pads only go so far

By FIONA RAE

Maybe the old saying "If you can remember the 60s you weren't there" is true, because American television has skipped over the 60s entirely and gone from Happy Days to That 70s Show and now That 80s Show, missing the free love era entirely.

Maybe it's the drugs (although they get stoned in That 70s Show, they never take acid), maybe it's the free love or, more likely, the creators of That 80s Show (who also produce That 70s Show) probably thought there was bigger audience nostalgia for Madonna hairdos and Reaganomics.

To make sure all the bases are covered, they have included an "alternative" music sort of guy (he likes Black Flag) who is the everyman voice of reason in a sea of Boy George or Gordon Gecko lookalikes.

That guy is Corey who, for That 70s Show viewers, is the Eric character. There's also his best friend, the suit-and-tie wearing Republican, Roger; Corey's sister, Katie; his ex-girlfriend who is now keen on Katie (apparently being bisexual was a big thing in the 80s); his divorced Dad who runs a marketing firm and his boss at the record store, Margaret, an ex-groupie who seems to have slept with every 60s rock band.

Corey's love interest is the wannabe punk Tuesday, although the pair's love-hate banter doesn't exactly scintillate: "So what do you ask for when you go to the hairdresser's - the Blue Lagoon?"

"What do you ask for - the stegosaurus?"

The writers plainly made out a list with every 80s thing that they could think of and then constructed jokes the size of Joan Collins' shoulder pads.

After tonight's pilot it's hard to see what else they're going to do, because they managed to cram in just about every reference: cocaine, Reagan, Dynasty (actually the funniest part - three of them play a Dynasty drinking game), Miami Vice, Lionel Ritchie and Pat Benatar - do we really need to revisit this stuff?

The best of it is record store owner Margaret, played by Margaret Smith, a real-life comedian whose deadpan delivery is a nice foil for the kids.

She seems to have taken a leaf from the book of the irascible record shop assistant in High Fidelity, however, telling yet another Madonna look-alike to go away after she asks where the Lionel Ritchie section is.

Tinsley Grimes is also a stand-out as Corey's sister, the not-as-stupid-as-she-looks Katie. There's at least the faint possibility that the character has a couple of extra layers underneath the leg warmers.

As befits the more complex times, the characters are struggling with corporate life versus the arts and the more (and confusing) choices that are available to them. There's a germ of a good show in here, but only when they stop laying it on with a trowel.

* That 80s Show, TV 2, 8pm