That 90’s Show Review: Fun Blast of Nostalgia

Some great nostalgia, the return of Red and Kitty and a compelling lead performance by Callie Haverda allows That ’90s Show to succeed.

That ’90s Show doubles down on nostalgia. In revisiting the 90s, the show is full of fun throwbacks. The clothing, music and pop culture references work the same way as they did on That ’70s Show, just 20 years later. There are plenty of cameos from the original cast to go along with Debra Jo Rupp and Kirkwood Smith’s returns as Kitty and Red.

The original series, That ’70s Show, began in the 90s’ and featured a group of friends figuring out life in Eric Foreman’s basement. That ’90s Show centers around Eric’s daughter, Leia. She decides to spend the summer with her grandparents after striking up a quick friendship with her next-door neighbor, Gwen. Seemingly confident and edgy, Gwen has a swagger and a group of friends that Leia connects with.

That ’90s Show is better than it has any right being. However, there are some issues with this reboot. That ’90s Show features the return of every member of the original cast with the exception of Danny Masterson. All of them slide into their former roles with ease. Unfortunately, this comes at the expense of the new cast who are understandably trying to find their characters.

Unfortunately, the 10-episode 1st season, 22-minute runtimes and dependence on cast cameos hinders the new cast. The season ends when the new cast starts to settle in, which gives the overall series an abrupt feel. The only character who has room to shine in every episode is Leia. Haverda nails the blend of quirky and endearing, which Topher Grace nailed as Eric years ago. The friendship between Gwen and Leia has some good moments but does feel forced. The romantic pairing between Leia and Jay is fine and luckily doesn’t feel like a retread of Eric and Donna.

I’m also not sure how I feel about each season taking place during the summer, but the premise does have potential. In spite of some issues, the return of Rupp and Smith, terrific cameos and Haverda’s breakout performances make That ’90s Show a fun return to the post-grunge era.

With the overview out of the way, let’s dive deeper into the elements that stood out in the 1st season. There may be some minor spoilers. That 90’s Show is available to stream on Netflix.

The parents are alright in That ’90s Show

Rupp and Smith slide back into the roles of Kitty and Red with such incredible ease. Red is great as the curmudgeonly grandfather. He treats Leia with a firm, but lighter touch than he did Eric. In the original series, Eric’s sister Laurie had Red wrapped around her finger. Red likes the peace and quiet of not having children around the house. Kitty misses the noise.

Rupp seemingly hasn’t aged a day in playing Kitty. In episode five, Step by Step, there’s an amazing scene where Kitty interprets Leia’s coded message as Leia having sex. The way Rupp calmly absorbs the information when Leia is talking to her, then loses her mind the moment Leia leaves the room is the best scene of the series. Kitty’s desire to return to work again so she can be around children once Leia returns home to Chicago is an excellent storyline near the end of 1st season.

Grace, Laura Prepon, Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher and Wilmer Valderrama all return to the series. While they all slide into the roles with relative ease, it’s Valderrama and Grace who shine the most. Grace only appears in the pilot but is simply perfect as a nerdy father with separation issues. Valderrama appears in multiple episodes as Fez and even has an arc. His breakup with Jackie broke his spirit, but not his horniness.

Tommy Chong pops up as Leo and Don Stark reprises his role as Leia’s other grandfather. Leo doesn’t blend in well with the new cast, but does have a couple of good lines. Stark is great as Bob Pinciottie. He returns to celebrate his grandaughter’s birthday and tries to give Leia a better gift than Red. In one of the sweeter moments of the season, he’s simply jealous of how much time Red and Kitty get to spend with his granddaughter.

Kids in Point Place

Haverda nails the role of Leia Foreman. She’s intelligent, but lacking when it comes to all relationships. Yes, she hasn’t kissed a boy, but she also doesn’t have a close-knit friendship until she meets Gwen. Like That ’70s Show, That ’90s Show excels at showing how this group of friends are social outcasts.

Gwen is essentially Hyde from That ’70s Show. She becomes Leia’s best friend and the necessary devil on Leia’s shoulder. Jay Kelso is the son of Jackie and Michael. He’s not as big of a doofus as his father but does take on his father’s ladies’ man genes. Jay becomes Leia’s love interest. He fares the best out of the rest of the kids.

Ozzie takes on the Fez-type role as the flamboyant-gay member of the group. His best scenes are opposite Kitty. Rounding out the group of friends are high school sweethearts, Sam and Nikki. Sam is Gwen’s idiot brother and probably even closer to Kelso than Jay is on the dumbass meter. Nikki is a good student from a privileged background who no one seems to like, which would make you think Jackie. Unfortunately, she doesn’t do anything to make you dislike her.

The jokes are pretty good, but the relationships between the characters feel forced at times. The friendship between Gwen and Leia is rushed. Nikki and Sam’s relationship isn’t justified either. In fact, the series does a better job of demonstrating why they shouldn’t be together. Sam is stupid and Nikki is smart, that’s about it for these two characters.

The 10-episode first season struggles to make this group of friends a cohesive unit. However, there’s plenty of promise.

The Basement

Comparing 10 episodes of a series, to the seven-season run of That ’70s Show is unfair. However, you can compare the first 10 episodes of each show’s first season.

The one absolute strength the original series had was the best-friend turned-boyfriend storyline between Donna and Eric, which is absent in That 90’s Show. That ’70s Show also succeeded in giving the group a foil in Jackie.

That ’70s Show also struggled with character dynamics between the kids. Fez existed to make people laugh mostly due to being horny and an immigrant who isn’t informed on American culture. There was also the awkward love triangle between Hyde, Donna and Eric that’s far more off-putting than anything in That ’90s Show.

There are two traits both shows had from the start. Kitty and Red as period-perfect parents and an at times frustrating, twitchy but endearing lead performance. The chemistry between Rupp and Smith carried the show back then and works just as well in the reboot. Grace and Haverda simply outshined their costars early on.

There’s definitely enough in this 10-episode run to build off of in future seasons.

That ’90s Show Final Thoughts

The forced relationships between kids stymy the series a bit. However, That ’90s Show ultimately works well enough to keep the multi-cam sitcom alive with some strong jokes and great performances by Rupp, Smith and Haverda.

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