Jake Coyle, New York: Platform shoes, leisure suits, fondue, fro picks. What used to be cool is now the stuff of comedy. When it comes to period comedies, the '70s are the equivalent of Victorian era costume drama.

While serious-minded filmmakers are forever reaching back to the time of royalty clad in waistcoats and dressing gowns, comedians are more likely to cull from the less halcyon days of disco and sideburns.

Will Ferrell is again mining the decade with "Semi-Pro," a movie in theaters Friday about a fictional ABA basketball team, otherwise realistically set in the '70s. Ferrell earlier traveled back to the "Me Decade" for 2004's "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy."

"Whenever I look back at old photos and this and that, it just seems like such an alien time," Ferrell said.

"The '80s are funny too, and I guess we'll look back and the '90s will be funny too, but the '70s are holding strong." Ferrell is far from alone.

In 2004's "Starsky & Hutch," Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson returned to when a Ford Gran Torino could be an object of obsessive pride.

Cameron Crowe's "Almost Famous" (2000) captured the '70s, like many films set in the decade, through music.

"I'm Gonna Git You Sucka" (1988) parodied '70s blaxploitation movies, ground eventually covered in the '60s-oriented "Austin Powers" films, specifically the third installment: "Austin Powers in Goldmember" (2002).

On the tube, the eight seasons of "That '70s Show" proved far more successful than its spinoff, "That '80s Show," which lasted for just a season.

Though it takes place in 1980 and 1981, the cult classic series "Freak and Geeks" was largely imbued with '70s culture, like laser light shows and proms with Styx blaring.

"The danger with any period piece, especially of a more recent history, is that it can become cartoony really fast," said "Freaks and Geeks" creator Paul Feig, 45. "The biggest thing on 'Freaks and Geeks' was monitoring up front the costumes and all that.

A show like 'That '70s Show' is clearly making fun of those archetypes, and that's fine, that works for that show, but it was a big thing for me to go like, 'No, everyone did not wear leisure suits."

Even without the period cliches, the particular vibe of the '70s is especially suited to comedy. If the decades are characterized stereotypically, the '50s were uptight and fearful, the '60s were turbulent and optimistic, and the '80s were crass and commercial.

The mood of the '70s is often viewed as a period of cynicism and languor: both innate qualities of comedy. "Anchorman" director Adam McKay recalls the '70s as a "very bipolar decade" of grim reality and rich fantasy.

Vietnam ended in failure, recession and gas shortages spread across the country, all while disco ruled the airwaves and drug-fueled parties raged.