Background (mostly for non-UKians): Here in the UK we have had a mini-rash of nostalgia "reality TV" programmes, in which the participants live in a fantastically realistic mock-up of a certain time and/or situation. Cheap TV, rather dodgy pseudo-science, but quite entertaining. So, we had "Victorian House" (a family had to live as if in the Victorian era) , then "1940s House" (a family had to live as if in the 1940s, with food rationing, nightly bomb raids etc.), "The Trench" (some men had to live in a mock-up of a First World War trench with bomb noises but no real bombs, and mud and bad food, but no actual death or trenchfoot) and most recently "Edwardian Country House" (a family lived in fabulous luxury in a grand house, as if in about 1910. Other people got to be the servants, and slave for them for about 3 months).Anyway my idea is a similar concept, but based in the 1970s, and aimed primarily at children. How they will marvel at the lack of rap music, PlayStations, CDs, the Internet, duvets, lycra, cellphones, avocados, and TV remote controls! See their amazement at the laughably small number of TV channels and the bizarre shape of Chopper bikes!Well, you get the idea.-- hippo, Jun 10 2002 'That 70's Show!' http://www.pmpnetwork.com/that70sshow/Like this with non-actors? [FarmerJohn, Jun 11 2002, last modified Oct 21 2004] (?) K-Tel Record Selector http://homepage.mac...ecord_Selector.htmlThe definitive '70s artifact? [waugsqueke, Jun 11 2002] (??) Top Trumps http://www.geocitie...field/toptrumps.jpgExamples from the two packs I purchased recently. [hippo, Jun 12 2002, last modified Oct 05 2004] (?) Life on Mars http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/lifeonmars/Pretty good new Police drama set in 1973, with a twist. [hippo, Jan 26 2006] (?) MTVs The 70s House http://www.mtv.com/..._house/series.jhtmlnow baked [Cube, Jan 27 2006] Electric Dreams - 30 years of technological time travel http://www.bbc.co.u...cdreams/about.shtmlGot more fully baked recently with extensions into the 80's and 90's [The_Saint, Nov 27 2009] they do not have to wear the clothes? shirley. that would be cruel.-- po, Jun 10 2002 Adam & Joe did a running sketch of 'The 1980s House', where all food was cooked in a sandwich toaster, all drinks run through a soda stream, and the father drove off to work each day on his Sinclair C5.
Personally I prefer the idea of a 1960s house, where they put LSD into the water supply in a student houseshare and see how they manage with an old record player and an early Pink Floyd album.-- -alx, Jun 10 2002 Would they have to have green shag carpeting and olive furniture? That would be totally un-groovy, man. And don't call me 'Shirley.'-- RayfordSteele, Jun 11 2002 [alx] - With LSD in the water supply, early Pink Floyd albums would probably make a lot of sense ("Mmmm - Piper at the Gates of Dawn... Yeah").Interesting 70's anomaly I just noticed - we didn't have avocados, but we did have "Avocado Green" bathroom suites...-- hippo, Jun 11 2002 OK, dude - hit the record button on the reel-to-reel deck!"Number 9, Number 9... scrrrrreeeeeaaaaaahhhwwwwuuurrrrrrrpppp Turn me on Dead Man"-- thumbwax, Jun 11 2002 Ouch! You are hitting most of my nostalgic buttons here. "I make hand-dipped candles for a living." "If the [Vietnam] war isn't over by the time I'm 18, I'm going to go to Canada!" Now stop it this instant. Over, do you hear me, DONE!
BTW, saw a genuine chopper on the street yesterday. Man the guy looked like a primitive primate hanging from those high-up handlebars, with that huge throbbing engine propelling him along. Mind you, I used to dream about building a chopper, back when my primary transportation was a 90 cc Honda of an exceptionally clapped-out nature.-- Dog Ed, Jun 11 2002 you do realise you're all showing your age?-- sappho, Jun 11 2002 There is an old saying:Old age and treachery uhhhhh... man, this is some righteous weed - what is it - Colombian Gold?-- thumbwax, Jun 11 2002 curly wurly's. wagon wheels. milky bars, & flurescent drinks "too orangey for crows".-- mymus, Jun 11 2002 The show would have to be called "Reelin' in the Years." Lots of string art, Z-brick and K-Tel Record Selectors.-- waugsqueke, Jun 11 2002 Fishbone. I still have childhood photos of myself with collars that would still be wider than my shoulders. They were brown.-- dare99, Jun 11 2002 thumb, it always sounded more like "deadman" than "dead man" to me.
dare99, collars? I had *hair* wider than my shoulders! (well, almost)
And then, of course, will come the day when we say, "What about a 2000s* house? That would be bissile. Nouviously bissile."
* What term will we use to refer to the decade between 2000 and 2010?-- beauxeault, Jun 11 2002 I understand this decade is being referred to already as the noughties (pronounced 'naughties').
Why would kids need playstations and such when they'd have Pong and Top Trumps to keep them perfectly amused?-- Guy Fox, Jun 11 2002 Judging by my crappy brown shag carpet and goldenrod coloured chairs, I already live in 1970's house.
I really need a job. At Ikea.-- mighty_cheese, Jun 11 2002 I guess I'm lucky that I only spent 11 months in the 1970s. On the other hand, that didn't stop my parents from dressing me in some truly shameful outfits through much of the 1980s, which is hardly going to be remembered as a decade of good taste either.-- -alx, Jun 11 2002 Just out of curiosity, were there any years between 1959 and 198x that *had* good taste in fashion? On the other hand, judging by where we came from, the 80's were a huge improvement. Thank God I'm too young to remember most of the 70's.
I *do* wish that using our modern stereo systems required some amount of needle-placement skill, though. I rather enjoyed that challenge as a child.-- RayfordSteele, Jun 11 2002 Really? You Brits are living in the Naughties? <jealous>
Over here in the U.S., when forced to answer the question, people usually refer to the current decade as "the zeros". Because, you know, we've all been having such a wonderful time, what with a second Bush in the White House and hijacked planes crashing into our cities and long waits at the airports and all ...
To hell with the educational value, to hell with the kids ... build your 1970's House, and I'LL live there.
Nouviously bissile, man.-- 1percent, Jun 11 2002 ...with "Butterflies" and "The Good Life" playing on the telly.[Guy Fox] I just bought some packs of Top Trumps at a jumble sale and I've got "Gunfight" (1970's arcade game) for MacMAME (arcade machine emulator) playing on my iMac, so I'm most of the way there.[RayfordSteele] My "modern stereo system" *does* require some needle-placement skill (and needle-picking-up skill too, as it doesn't lift the needle off at the end of the record). A real 70's turntable would have "linear tracking".-- hippo, Jun 12 2002 [hippo]. Cool. The original Top Trumps are still the best. The new ones these days have piss-ant *educational* statistics, not like the good old days when things were measured in terms of power, danger and raw fear. Ah, yes. I remember the Dragster deck I had so well, although I still think the Horror deck was the best.-- Guy Fox, Jun 12 2002 yep, there were 2 different horror packs that could be combined. & a rare superhero's pack which was also excellent.-- mymus, Jun 12 2002 [Guy Fox] You're in luck - one of the decks I got is the dragster deck - If you've got it we can play Networked Top Trumps. The other deck was just fast road cars. See link for examples from both decks. I'm not sure I'd drive that "Panther 6" - certainly not at 248 mph!-- hippo, Jun 12 2002 <Sobs, sniffs, wipes nose>Alas, my Dragster Top Tumps are a long-lost fragment of childhood, gone many years since to the great charity shop in the sky.
Come to think of it... The other deck you bought was fast road cars, yes? We're talking Ferrari, Lamborghini, etc.? I'm almost positive I had that deck as well (although I'd completely forgotten them until now. I'm pretty sure I only had the two sets.)
Hey, they don't have decades-old, blackcurrant jam child-spoor on them, do they? (I was a very messy child, you know).-- Guy Fox, Jun 12 2002 Strange that you should mention this now, synchronicity (again). I had a rare sighting of median teenage daughter last week. I bumped into her in the kitchen, she was wearing flared embroidered trousers, tiedyed T shirt, clumpy sandals and a denim jacket. "err are you going out ?" I asked "you have school tomorrow" "God dad", she replied, "you're so old fashioned!"-- IvanIdea, Jun 12 2002 [baggy bum] whats the connection with the fashion and "school tomorrow" ? little things like that keep me up at night.-- po, Jun 12 2002 Well allright, I've been sussed. You remember the things that you swore you would NEVER say when/if you were a parent? I have started to say them, actually its been going on for a while now. The T shirt was a little low in cut, very low in cut in fact damn near down to the navel. What I actually said was "Are you going out dressed like that" But I'm finding it hard admitting that to myself let alone everyone else.-- IvanIdea, Jun 12 2002 you are transparent, baggy bum.-- po, Jun 12 2002 [po] its a good job I'm not. I'm still digesting all that meat.-- IvanIdea, Jun 12 2002 ok, as riduculous as the fashion may have been, at least it was adventurous. what i most like about 70's apparel is that BY DESIGN it looks great on everybody- all body types: short, tall, fat, thin. unlike some of the miniskirts of the 60s and the tight pants of the 80s, at least in the 70s, you were lookin' pretty fine in your low rise cords even if you did have a little extra meat on your hips.-- kurma, Jun 12 2002 Reminds me somewhat of Cafe '80s from Back to the Future II-- simonj, Jul 16 2003 // by design it looked great on everybody //
Either that, or it was so incredibly hideous no one could tell good from bad.-- RayfordSteele, Sep 23 2003 "Never change your lovers in the middle of the night"-- hippo, Sep 24 2003 //marvel at the lack of ... lycra... //
Muahaha!-- DesertFox, Jan 26 2006 I've been avidly watching Life On Mars and wasn't at all surprised to find this idea here. Bun anyway, I'm guessing this was the original idea and the Beeb stole it...-- Mr Phase, Jan 26 2006 Actualy, I think Mtv or VH1 has already done a show that made people live in the 70's.
It would be cool to do a 70's house in England, and have the tv showing "Are You Being Served?", "Supersonic", "Benny Hill", and "Faulty Towers".
I grew up in the 70's, and boy's ware was real ugly. I had striped jeans, and shirts with long colar points, and of course leasure suite type jackets.
Manor House ran on PBS in the USA, so did 1900 house and 1940s house. there were all real good.
70's house? Why not?....have a bun-- -wess, Jan 26 2006 The MTV show was called "The 70s House" here linked and now baked. Maybe you should sue.-- Cube, Jan 27 2006 Jean Shepherd.-- undata, Nov 20 2006 If the lack of technology does not drive them crazy, the slower pace certainly will. In most businesses and industries we get a instant response any time we make a request or inquiry. Like when you apply for a credit card in a store, you can be approved in less than 2 minutes. When you take a pregnancy test, you can get the results immediately. If you need a document signed it can be faxed half way around the world and back as fast as you can make a phone call.. speaking of which- They did not have world wide direct dialing when using the phone. It always took the assistance of an operator.
Having said all of that, try making them wait a week for the above items mentioned. If you want to communicate with your friends you would have to write them a letter.-- Jscotty, Nov 21 2006 Yeah, but name another decade in which 'Will you look after my platform shoes while I go and play football?' would have been an successful chat-up line-- Mister Sketchly, Sep 06 2007 OK, I'm going to check into a meat-free retreat now. Flashbacks are just waaaayyyy too intense.-- infidel, Nov 11 2010 I rather liked the 70's. Football was better, music was better and I didn't have to work for my living. + Addendum: Rather belated anno for hippo and Guy Fox. I'll open with the Pontiac Firebird, 7443cc.-- DrBob, Nov 12 2010 random, halfbakery