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Ladytex
Member
09-27-2001
| Monday, July 04, 2005 - 8:46 pm
I never heard of this before, but this article makes it sound hilarious! Time-Warped Reality Courtesy of 'The '70's House' (Monday, July 04 12:02 AM) By Beverly Foster Seinberg LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - No cordless phones. No Internet. Not a single iPod player. Like Greg and Marcia Brady, it's primitive as can be. In the two big-screen "Brady Bunch" movies, the Bradys were trapped in a time warp, living as if it were still the 1970s. MTV's new reality series "The '70s House," which premieres Tuesday, July 5, turns that concept a little sideways. Here, 12 young adults firmly planted in the 21st century, who think they're going to be on a "Real World"-type show, are transplanted to a house outfitted '70s-style: rotary phones, eight-track tapes, a handful of TV channels and no video game but Pong. The "what have I gotten myself into?" reaction kicks in as soon as each of them gets a glimpse of the home's interior ... and the show's host is a loud-jacketed game-show type named Bert Van Styles, played by stand-up comic Bil Dwyer. His perky co-host, Dawn (Natasha Leggero), is Fran Drescher without the Noo Yawk nasality. Dawn has the daunting task of telling the group that their cell phones, iPods and other modern techno-gadgets will be collected and locked up in the "2005 Closet," not to be seen again until their owners are eliminated from the game. This is especially traumatic for one contestant, who laments that his cell phone is "like my child. It has never left my bosom." Even their current-day hair products and makeup have got to go. But don't worry, Dawn reassures them; they'll be issued some Gee, Your Hair Smells Terrific! Then the clothes. Oh, the clothes. Jaws drop as Dawn introduces first the girls, then the guys, to their new polyester wardrobes. And we're not talking cool, retro outfits; we're talking tent dresses and plaid leisure suits. Very important rule: Watch your language. It's a pad, not a crib. And it's groovy, not awesome. And did we mention that every time a certain song plays over the intercom, all must drop what they're doing and immediately follow its order to "do the hustle"? It's a very Brady "Big Brother" but a little bit "Charlie's Angels" as well. The contestants receive their challenges -- and the news about who's in danger of being eliminated -- via speakerphone from a man known only as Oscar. The challenges are straight out of the polyester decade, too, but can be held in a modern setting. For example, in the premiere, the contestants play basketball -- in tight '70s uniforms -- against a skilled high-school team, with a crowd of very 21st-century teenagers laughing themselves silly in the bleachers. A later episode has them disco dancing in a hip-hop club, "which is totally mortifying" for them, according to Jessica Samet, senior vice president of series development at MTV. Incidentally, the group that scores the most points in the basketball game wins a special surprise: a fondue party. This is a foreign substance to these young folks, one of whom dubs it "fon-don't." Later, two contestants designated by unseen Oscar proceed to the elimination round: a game of Operation presided over by Dawn in a nurse's uniform straight out of a '70s adult movie. Both were sent there for inappropriate language; one said "awesome," and the other mentioned Botox. Challenges and elimination rounds will get wackier as the show progresses, according to Samet. The results of a quiz show on '70s history will tickle the funny bone of anyone who lived it. "Apparently the Iran hostage crisis took place in Canada," she says. "And Eisenhower was president in the '70s." Lots of '70s television icons show up to help with the challenges: Jimmie Walker ("Good Times") presides over another quiz show -- this one on '70s TV trivia -- while Erik Estrada ("CHiPs") hosts a '70s-style beauty pageant, and Deney Terrio ("Dance Fever") is in charge at the aforementioned disco-dancing contest. The lack of modern technology proves more inconvenient than you might expect. Rotary phones are easy to use, but what if you don't have anyone's number? That's one problem the participants face, Samet says; "all their phone numbers are stored in their cell phones." Nevertheless, she says, everyone was a good sport, and "they all had a good time with it," even the young woman who gained 10 pounds from eating too many TV dinners. Samet thinks "The '70s House" might even bring in some new viewers for the cable channel, if "people who were teenagers during the '70s or grew up during the '70s will watch it for nostalgia purposes." http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/tve_main/1,1002,271|95941|1|,00.html
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Kc103
Member
07-13-2004
| Monday, July 04, 2005 - 8:56 pm
I definitely plan on trying this one. Had my interest from the start as I'm a "veteran" of that era!! LOL Thanks for posting this info.
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Pamy
Member
01-02-2002
| Monday, July 04, 2005 - 10:08 pm
This sounds fun! I wonder why we haven't seen that much press about it...of course I rarely watch MTV and that is prolly where they have been advertising it LOL Thanks Lady!
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Theowl
Member
09-28-2000
| Monday, July 04, 2005 - 10:17 pm
Oh Man, this is Perfect!! I never heard of it either, but I LOVE the concept of it. I love the 70's, and I'd give anything to go back, but I think it's the age thing that is talking there. I can't wait to see this...it's going to be GROOVY!! 
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Twinkie
Member
09-24-2002
| Monday, July 04, 2005 - 10:40 pm
Since I was 19 in 1970 I think I'll really enjoy this. Ahhhh, the memories! Mostly ones my parents wished I hadn't made. LOL
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Whoami
Member
08-03-2001
| Monday, July 04, 2005 - 10:46 pm
I graduated in 1977, so this is right up my ally! Oh, this is going to be too much fun! Thanks for the heads up LT! I would have missed this for sure!
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Pamy
Member
01-02-2002
| Monday, July 04, 2005 - 10:51 pm
It starts tomarrow but at what time? I don't see it in my tvguide
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Meme9
Member
07-30-2001
| Monday, July 04, 2005 - 10:52 pm
Far out Dude! Interesting...very interesting. Its funny, I was trying to think of the something cool to say...but the 60's and the early 70's just kinda blend together for me. Couldn't remember what was 60's and what was 70's. How sad is that???? Sooooo forget the funny.
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Whoami
Member
08-03-2001
| Monday, July 04, 2005 - 11:00 pm
I know what ya mean Meme. I was going to post a peace sign, until it dawned on me that was more the 60's. Pamy, I checked it out on my DVR. It says its showing here (mountain time) at 8:30pm.
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Meme9
Member
07-30-2001
| Monday, July 04, 2005 - 11:04 pm
Thanks Whoami! That makes me feel so much better...it is good to have company.
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Jmm
Moderator
08-16-2002
| Monday, July 04, 2005 - 11:17 pm
Pamy, According to MTV's website it says 10:30 pm ET/PT. I don't know which are repeats but it also shows: date time Tue 07/05 10:30 PM Wed 07/06 6:00 PM Thu 07/07 12:00 AM Thu 07/07 12:00 PM Thu 07/07 11:00 PM Fri 07/08 1:00 PM Sat 07/09 12:00 AM Sat 07/09 3:00 PM Sat 07/09 7:00 PM Sat 07/09 10:30 PM Sun 07/10 2:00 AM Sun 07/10 12:00 PM Sun 07/10 5:00 PM Mon 07/11 3:00 PM Mon 07/11 8:30 PM
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Seamonkey
Member
09-07-2000
| Tuesday, July 05, 2005 - 12:23 am
It follows the new episode of RW Austin.. sounds great!
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Pamy
Member
01-02-2002
| Tuesday, July 05, 2005 - 4:12 am
Thanks Who and Jmm!!!
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Ladytex
Member
09-27-2001
| Tuesday, July 05, 2005 - 6:12 am
MTV's The 70s House debuts tonight MTV merges The Real World, Big Brother, and the PBS historical House shows with its new series The ’70s House. The series, which debuts tonight at 10:30 p.m. ET, takes “12 modern kids and force[s] them to live as though it were the 1970s.” But they aren’t just living, as two hosts—comics Bil Dwyer and Joe Schmo 2’s Natasha Leggero, who take on new names for some reason—will lead the cast in challenges that will send one home each week. Even though we’re jumping backwards a few decades, don’t expect the media to disappear. In fact, we should just call this House, because the cast is pretty open about its intentions. Cast member Peter Asencio told the New York Daily News, “I don’t really care about the prize, I just care about getting air time. This was a perfect opportunity. I’m trying to capitalize on the exposure.” He’s a class act who ended up in LA because the hot woman he met online and flew to LA to meet turned out to be a “5-2, 240-pound beast,” he says. Cast member Joey Mendicino is “an aspiring actor” who got on the show after “[h]is manager sent Mendicino on an audition for what turned out to be The ’70s House,” according to The Block News Alliance. Joey says he almost said no: “I would never have done reality. I was just very skeptical of it at first, but I talked with the people at MTV and this one was supposed to be different and unlike anything out there so far. I’m such an adventurer and I get into everything, so I was like, ‘Let me give it a try.’” Sadly, The Boston Globe says the series “opts to be nothing more than a very old visual joke stretched out to series length,” adding that “the show is poorly cast” and has no “instantly memorable characters.” Sorry, Joey and Peter. http://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/archives/other_shows/2005_Jul_05_the_70s_house
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Babyjaxmom
Member
10-20-2002
| Tuesday, July 05, 2005 - 9:31 am
This sounded hilarious . . . until I read that last paragraph from The Boston Globe. I graduated from high school in 1973, so I lived this series! My former sis-in-law still had her old rotary phone in the mid-80's. One of her little boy's friends was over and she told him to call his mother and see if it was okay to stay for dinner. A few minutes later, she asked him if he'd called yet. He was almost in tears when he told her, "But Mrs. ******, I don't know how to use that phone!" Poor little guy was used to the push buttons! May have to record this one and check it out. I'm glad MTV reruns things forever, cause my VCR's booked for tonight. Thanks for the heads-up, Ladytex!
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Seamonkey
Member
09-07-2000
| Tuesday, July 05, 2005 - 4:25 pm
Heck, the past Big Brother houseguest would have killed for a rotary phone if they could use it!! Or 13 channel TV..
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Kc103
Member
07-13-2004
| Tuesday, July 05, 2005 - 8:39 pm
So what did everyone think of this show tonight? I wasn't bowled over by it...but I'll give it another try next week. The challenge did bring back some fond memories of playing Operation though!
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Seamonkey
Member
09-07-2000
| Wednesday, July 06, 2005 - 2:46 am
I thought the hosts were a bit over the top manic and, frankly, some of that stuff didn't fit MY seventies.. of course I was married until May of 79, and working as a programmer/analyst and certainly by the end of the seventies we weren't wearing.. well I don't remember wearing much that looked like those clothes during the whole of the seventies! So the hosts annoyed me but the challenge of trying to fit the show's version of the seventies, heck, they should just go for it.. there are some great prizes. I do remember fondue
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Twinkie
Member
09-24-2002
| Wednesday, July 06, 2005 - 3:18 am
I remember going to a fondue restaurant back home. I'm also pretty sure I had a fondue set many years ago. Sea, I'm following you around the board. Well, I was anyway. I'm going to bed to read and hopefully go to sleep now. I've already been a bad girl here. See Adven's folder. MsBat's post drove me to it....or the devil made me do it.
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Pamy
Member
01-02-2002
| Wednesday, July 06, 2005 - 5:27 am
We STILL fondue!!! not the cheese one but the hot oil where you cook meat...also still have my chocolate fondue. I liked it, I think 30 min at one time is good though. I had a lot of things I saw on the show, that rouund phone..I cant remember what it was called but I remember wanting one soooo bad LOL
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Gidget
Member
07-28-2002
| Wednesday, July 06, 2005 - 5:52 am
i thought the clothes and decor were a bit over the top. but i enjoyed the hosts and guests and found the challenges refreshing compared to that other show where people live in a house. i thought it was interesting how many aquarians they chose to be in the house. aquarians naturally live in the future. i wonder if they considered that when selecting them.
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Ladytex
Member
09-27-2001
| Wednesday, July 06, 2005 - 6:07 am
I thought the show was hilarious. We watched it with 8 teenagers and their reactions were as funny or funnier than those on the program.
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Twinkie
Member
09-24-2002
| Wednesday, July 06, 2005 - 6:33 am
Gidget the aquarius thing was probably because the 70s was: "This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius". Pamy, princess phone? I begged until my parents got me one.
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Scout
Member
01-20-2005
| Wednesday, July 06, 2005 - 7:20 am
I liked parts of this show. I watched it with my teen-age son and we did laugh through many parts of it. Dawn, the host, was more than a little over-the-top, in my opinion. She sounded more like a surfer girl with the accent she was going for. I don't think she did much research into the 70's, or whoever coached her wasn't old enough to know what we really sounded like. But she had more of the "totally gnarly surfer dude" kind of speech, than anything else. I agree that the clothes, too, were over the top. Some of the styles people wore, but not for the most part. The dresses were especially bad. I hope they don't go the route where they are always put into humiliating positions. Making them dress like that and then come and be laughed at by an entire gym full of people did not seem funny at all to me. If they had signed up knowing they'd be doing these things, then I wouldn't have a problem with it. I know they can quit at anytime, but that's a lot of pressure when they know that so many people will be watching what they do.
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Wednesday, July 06, 2005 - 7:58 am
Pamy, we do the fondue with the oil too! My kids have always just loved it. I make different sauces to dip the meat in. It was okay. Nothing that great and nothing that bad. The woman host was starting to bug me. I really was watching for the clothes to see if it was anything I had worn. I have to say, some looked mighty familiar!
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