Review: Don't expect 'That '70s Show' magic in Netflix's 'That '90s Show'
The ’70s should have stayed in the ’90s.
Back in 1998, when "That ’70s Show" premiered on Fox, its affection for the bygone era of bell bottoms and classic rock was charming. Mainstream nostalgia favored the Americana-soaked 1950s and ’60s, but the often-stoned, often-idiotic teens, including Eric Forman (Topher Grace), Michael Kelso (Ashton Kutcher), Donna Pinciotti (Laura Prepon) and Jackie Burkhart (Mila Kunis) were irreverent, silly and fun. With its earnest cheesiness, exaggerated perms and Farrah Fawcett waves, “’70s” was fully in on its own joke.
Sadly, the same cannot be said for its sequel "That '’90s Show" (streaming now, ★? out of four), a new Netflix series that tries to transport the Forman basement into a new decade. Suffice it to say, like many of the unnecessary TV remakes, reboots and revivals of the past few years, "’90s" does not capture the "’70s" magic.
Forced, unfunny and lacking any kind of charm, "’90s" feels like a parody of a sitcom rather than an actual TV show. The jokes don't land, the actors are miscast and all the Kutcher and Kunis cameos in the world can't make a bad script good. "’90s" feels like a show that was created by committee and focus group: Boring, bland and just familiar enough to make you ache for the original, which is streaming on Peacock.
Like "’70s," "’90s" is about a group of teenagers in Wisconsin and their antics while their parents aren't around. Only this time, the group includes Leia (Callie Haverda), the daughter of Donna and Eric, and Jay (Mace Coronel), the son of Michael and Jackie.
Of course, the setting has to literally be the same place, the basement of Eric's childhood home, where his parents Kitty and Red (Debra Jo Rupp and Kurtwood Smith, the only returning regular cast members) still live. To shoehorn this into a format that resembles the original, Donna and Eric agree to let Leia stay at her grandparents' house for the summer after she makes friends in the neighborhood (sure, why not?).
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Leia and her new good-for-nothing friends smoke weed, make out and get drunk in the basement, while Kitty and Red try to remember how to be parents and spend time with a revolving door of characters from the original series, all with considerably more wrinkles and grayer hair. (Those cameos include Kutcher, Kunis, Grace, Prepon and Wilmer Valderrama's Fez; the sixth original cast member, Danny Masterson, is not involved after the actor was charged with rape.)
The original series clearly understood life in the ’70s – and more importantly, how audiences of the era it aired in (1998-2006) viewed life in the ’70s. But the new iteration has only a vague conception of the ’90s. The original never really felt historically accurate, either, but the version of the 1970s it created was a fully-formed world that aided its comedy and romantic drama.
The 1990s of the new series is a monochromatic, dull era in which everyone's clothes are taken from the same Delia's catalog. The setting is incidental, probably chosen because it's been about 20 years since "’70s" made its bow and ’90s nostalgia is trendy, and it shows. To really evoke the ’90s, you need more than cordless phones and "Clerks" references. (A short-lived 2002 Fox spinoff, "That ’80s Show," starring Glenn Howerton, had similar problems.)
It's not just the lackluster attempt at recreating the ’90s that's a problem here: The new show lacks the spark that lit the original. A combination of poor writing, bad casting and a lethargic atmosphere makes "’90s" an unhappy chore to watch. As much as these kids try, they can't capture the lightning in a bottle that Kutcher, Kunis, Grace and Prepon did. They don't have the magnetism, their characters aren't engaging or sympathetic or even very interesting. They're just sort of there, wearing flannel.
TV sequels and revivals aren't going anywhere given the state of Hollywood, but is it possible the powers that be could try a little harder to make them watchable?
In the meantime, it'd be best if we just said "goodbye, Wisconsin" to this particular one.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'That '90s Show' review: Don't expect 'That '70s Show' magic
