Hangin' OutRewinding through the seminal teen flashback sitcom That '70s Show (1998-2006) and fast-forwarding to the 2023 reboot that looks in on the OG characters' kids, That '90s Show.
Updated January 17, 2023 2.9K votes 497 voters 212.3K views
Over 400 Ranker voters have come together to rank this list of Every Inaccuracy In The 'That '70s Show' Version Of The '70s
Voting Rules
Vote up the most amusing 1970s anachronisms.
Is That '70s Show historically accurate? Producing period pieces isn't easy, as any set decorator will tell you. Setting just the right tone for the decade portrayed involves a lot of secondhand shopping and visiting flea markets, estate sales, and thrift shops. Most of the time, the crew gets it right, but not always, and that's when viewers take notice. Sometimes, such anomalies can throw the viewer out of the story, and That '70s Show features its share of historical accuracy errors.
How accurate was That '70s Show? The series took place from 1976 to 1980, and the production went to great lengths to get everything right, from Hyde's fashionable concert tees to the show's 1970s-centric classic rock soundtrack. Still, a few things that slipped through the cracks were more relative to the time the show was made (from 1998 to 2006) than the decade in which it was supposed to take place.
In the decade the show took place, beer and soda cans had ring pull tabs, which were pulled off and discarded. They were sharp, dangerous, and polluted pretty much everywhere.
They were replaced in the late '70s with the design we use today, StaTabs (which stay attached to the can), but those weren't widely used until a few years later. On That '70s Show, the characters are always seen drinking from cans with StaTabs.
344 votes
2
426 VOTES
Characters Listen To Music That Wasn't Out At The Time
In an episode set in 1976, Hyde and Jackie dance to Abba's "Dancing Queen" from Abba's Greatest Hits, which was released that year. However, "Dancing Queen" was not released until a year later and is not on that greatest hits compilation.
In another episode, Journey's "Anyway You Want It" is playing, but that song wasn't released until 1980.
If you grew up in the "Me Decade," you may remember that Snack Packs were pudding and fruit-flavored gelatin snacks marketed to kids. When they hit the market in 1968, they came in aluminum cans with sharp lids that were too dangerous for little hands to open, so Hunt's revamped the can's design in the mid-'70s.
The Snack Packs in That '70s Show are in plastic containers, which weren't introduced to the public until 1984.
416 votes
4
442 VOTES
Characters Talk About A Six Flags That Doesn't Exist
In the 2002 episode "Everybody Loves Casey," the characters repeatedly refer to the theme park closest to them in Gurnee, Illinois, as "Six Flags." It was a Six Flags after 1984, but before that, it was a Marriott's Great America, which opened in 1976.
After changing hands, Great America became the seventh Six Flags park in the US.
442 votes
5
361 VOTES
Modern Cars Are Seen In The Background Of The Show's Intro
In the "once you see it, you can't unsee it" department, a repeated mistake occurs in the first few seconds of every show. Over eight seasons, the cast is seen in various places in their period-correct Vista Cruiser singing along to "In the Street," the show's theme song written by Chris Bell and Alex Chilton of Big Star in 1972.
The background, however, features an anachronism: a Land Rover and Ford Excursion that pass the family's car. Both models are from the 1990s.
361 votes
6
336 VOTES
Eric Forman Sleeps On Spider-Man Sheets From The '90s
Eric is a comic book/sci-fi fanatic who loves Star Wars and superheroes. He sleeps on Spider-Man sheets, which did exist in the timeframe of the show, but the sheets he uses were not made until the mid-'90s.
