That '90s Show Season 1 Review

That '90s Show (2023-)
Season 1 - 10 episodes

Watch That '90s Show on Netflix
Created by: Bonnie Turner & Terry Turner & Lindsey Turner & Gregg Mettler
Starring: Kurtwood Smith, Debra Jo Rupp, Callie Haverda, Ashley Aufderheeide, Mace Coronel, Reyn Doi, Sam Morelos, Maxwell Acee Donovan
Rated: TV-14
Watch the trailer

Plot
A spin-off of That '70s Show, it's now 1995 and Leia Forman visits her grandparents for the summer, bonding with a new generation of Point Place, WI kids under the watchful eye of Kitty and the stern glare of Red.

Verdict
It's certainly more fun if you're familiar with the show on which this is based. Many of the best moments are references or inspirations from the original. This is resolved to mimic the original, and I wish this found ways to build on concepts and develop new ideas. It doesn't feel as much a homage to the '90s as I expected, though there are certainly references. It's a coming of age show, and it's not breaking any new ground.
Skip it.

Review
I caught a few episodes of That 70s Show, but I wasn't an avid fan. What interests me the most about this show is that I grew up in the 90s. I was expecting more 90s. It's not that the 90s don't have an identifiable style like the '70s and '80s, it was a time of contradictions and the rise of the internet. This certainly is the 90s, and I wanted it to be more over the top and include more references.

Kurtwood Smith, Callie Haverda, Debra Jo Rupp, play Red, Leia, Kitty

This show really wants to copy the style and delivery of That 70s Show. Leia (Callie Haverda) is the main character, daughter of Eric and Donna. She's a lot like Eric, very awkward. This is a coming of age story as Leia makes new friends and becomes interested in boys. This show lives in awkwardness, but with the multi-cam setup this feels like a television show and distant from reality. This has the ups and downs that teens face, but it always feels like the original show was the baseline and this just made a few changes.

Callie Haverda plays Leia

I want this to do more than copy the original. This even mimics the rotating camera around the basement table. That was really funny and unique twenty odd years ago. Now it just feels tired. Some of the best moments are with Red and Kitty, either callbacks to the original or how they act differently with a grandchild. Most of the scenes with the original cast that were teens now grown up feels forced.

This never quite steps out of the shadow of its inspiration. Red and Kitty are yet again the parents, and this covers well tread ground. With Netflix, you can almost bet this will get canceled, but a second season could be where this show really grows. Leia is staying the summer, but this could either setup her visiting every summer with a time jump or have her move. This show is playing off nostalgia for a time period and another show, it needs to figure out its own identity which plays right into the subject matter.