That '70s Show Fans Have Drawn Their Attention To A Strange Food Detail
Even if you've never watched an episode, chances are you've at least heard of "That '70s Show." Bonnie Turner, Terry Turner, and Mark Brazill's series ran for eight seasons from 1998 to 2006 and became nothing short of a small screen classic in that time. Audiences grew to love the entire Point Place, Wisconsin gang and couldn't wait to see what kinds of '70s shenanigans they'd get up to next. Despite the skippable Season 8 sending off the series with a whimper, its television legacy endures as a new generation of audiences checks it out.
As it turns out, Netflix has taken notice of how much love "That '70s Show" continues to receive in the age of streaming. In response, the streamer greenlit the fan-exciting "That '90s Show," which will pick up in the titular decade and focus on the daughter of fan-favorites Eric Forman (Topher Grace) and Donna Pinciotti (Laura Prepon). To prepare for the sequel series and act upon the nostalgia its announcement has conjured up, some fans have elected to give "That '70s Show" a second look — an endeavor that has yielded some interesting discoveries.
One such peculiar find made by the "That '70s Show" community concerns the food on the show. Here's what all the buzz is about.
Why doesn't anyone finish their food on That '70s Show?
Behind all the comedy and drama, "That '70s Show" presents itself as a fun, fictionalized look at day-to-day life in the 1970s. As a result, we see our favorite characters doing any number of mundane things, though these activities are more or less vehicles for jokes or interactions needed to push the story along. One of the most common is eating — oftentimes at the Forman family dining room table. Although, Redditor u/Cool_Variety_2151 notes that during such moments, it's a bit strange that the characters don't have much more than a bite of their meal before they leave or the scene concludes.
If you give this phenomenon even the slightest bit of thought, it does seem odd in the context of a given scene. However, there's actually a good reason why "That '70s Show" actors don't finish their food every time they sit down for a meal. As explained by filmmaker and professional food stylist David Ma on TikTok, they and other actors practice "eat-acting," which is a way to feign eating in front of the camera, so they're not downing an entire breakfast, lunch, or dinner in every single take. Clever editing also maintains the illusion so actors don't have to swallow their food every time.
If you focus heavily on meal scenes on "That '70s Show," the characters not finishing their food can be a bit immersion-breaking. Then again, considering all that goes into a these portions of specific episodes, it makes sense why these sequences play out the way they do.