That ’90s Show Review: Nostalgic Enough to Make Us Say “I Was There!” | Netflix Series
The review of That '90s Show, Netflix series that takes us back to Point Place in the legendary home of the Forman family.
Cast: Kurtwood Smith, Debra Jo Rupp, Callie Haverda, Ashley Aufderheide, Mace Coronel, Maxwell Acee Donovan, Reyn Doi, Sam Morelos
Creators: Bonnie Turner, Terry Turner, Gregg Mettler, Lindsay Turner
Streaming Platform: Netflix
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 3.5/5 (three and a half stars) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
The review of That ’90s Show, Netflix series that takes us back to Point Place in the legendary home of the Forman family. Never change a winning team, At the most, it gets better. That’s what Bonnie and Terry Turner thought, creators of one of the most popular American sitcoms, That ’70’s Show, 17 years after the airing of the last episode of the series, broadcast for 8 seasons on Fox, have decided (not without some travail) to bring some of those characters back on stage. Placing them in the fabulous 90s landscape. Thus That ‘90s Show was born, a reboot sequel from January 19 on Netflix which tells the story of a group of boys from Point Place, Wisconsin, closely linked to those of the mother series.
The protagonist, Leia (yes, like the princess of Star Wars), is the fifteen-year-old daughter of Eric and Donna (Topher Grace and Laura Prepon). Her love interest Jay is Michael and Jackie’s (Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis) heir. Her grandparents? Well, it couldn’t have been but Red and Kitty (the stainless Kurtwood Smith and Debra Jo Rupp). Let’s go and discover the secrets of this successful production halfway between Beverly Hills 90210 and Friends (the quotes are not accidental). That ’90s Show review will take us back a few years, with a pinch of emotion and lots of fun.
That ’90s Show Review: The Story Plot
We are in 1995. Leia, the only daughter of Eric Forman and Donna Pinciotti, is a smart girl from Chicago but full of insecurities. At the time we meet her, her priority is to separate from a loving father who would like her with him in a strange summer space camp. How could she ever participate if her dream is to find a boyfriend and thus have the perfect summer? The solution is at hand. Heading to Point Place, Wisconsin, to visit her paternal grandparents, Leia meets Gwen and her brother Nate, two nice peers with so many things to say.
So, he decides to stay there and spend the summer with them and their chosen circle which includes Nikki, Nate’s girlfriend, Jay, an irresistible heartthrob and Ozzie. Thus, having overcome her father’s resistance, Leia prepares to experience the perfect summer. Those of the first love, the first kiss and the first truly great friendships, remain throughout her life. And when it’s time for her to return to Chicago, she will finally be able to think back to the days spent in her grandparents’ tavern. Between weed and movie marathons, junk food and Coca-Cola. And to think that Red and Kitty had sworn never to open their doors to teenagers and the like (adorable liars).
Kurtwood Smith and Debra Jo Rupp are the official protagonists in the role of Red and Kitty, the main link between the mother series and this sequel/spin-off. At their side are the younger Callie Haverda (Leia), Ashley Aufderheide (best friend of Gwen Runck), Mace Coronel (Jay Kelso), Maxwell Acee Donovan (Nate Runck, brother of Gwen and best friend of Jay), Reyn Doi (Ozzie, openly gay friend) and Sam Morelos (Nikki, Nate’s girlfriend). Almost all the historical protagonists of That ’70s Show return as guests: Topher Grace (Eric Forman), Laura Prepon (Donna Pinciotti), Ashton Kutcher (Michael Kelso), Mila Kunis (Jackie Burkhart), Wilmer Valderrama (Fez), Tommy Chong (the aging stoner Leo Chingkwake) and Don Stark (Bob Pinciotti, Donna’s father). Missing Danny Masterson (Steven Hyde) was barred from the revival due to legal issues. Andrea Anders (the ex-wife of the protagonist in Ted Lasso) has a recurring role playing the ditzy mother of Nate and Gwen.
That ’90s Show Review and Analysis
We anticipated it at the beginning. It wasn’t easy for That ’90s Show to see the light of day. And this is due to the strong resistance from the Turners, the ex-Machina of That ’70s Show. Then the pandemic arrived, we all reconsidered our priorities and the idea of a sequel-reboot popped up in the minds of the two authors, joined for the occasion by their daughter Lindsey. Which in their idea should have respected precise characteristics. The initial idea involved a 14-year-old girl knocking on Red and Kitty’s door, claiming that she was their granddaughter. Netflix nixed the idea, arguing that such a story would never win over audiences. The ball then passed to Gregg Mettler, already in the creative team of That ’70s Show, who took charge of completing the project and giving it a precise identity. Which mixed humor, rivers of sarcasm and good feelings and did not ignore the human element of the story.
Why the 90s? Because according to the Turners, it was the last moment in human history in which we looked into each other’s eyes. So here are Leia (Callie Haverda), her best friend Gwen (Ashley Aufderheide) and brother Nate (Maxwell Acee Donovan), her girlfriend Nikki (Sam Morelos) and friends Ozzie (Reyn Doi) and Jay (Mace Coronel), the latter fruit of the love of two of the most loved characters of That ’70s Show, those of Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis (couple in real life). Who returns in two funny cameos in the pilot episode and the final one, together with other protagonists of the old series such as Topher Grace and Laura Prepon who directed some episodes including the season finale and Wilmer Valderrama, alias Fes, sexy companion of the mother of Gwen and Nate. Without forgetting the cornerstones of the show, Kurtwood Smith and Debra Jo Rupp nineties given by Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha. And from a frenzied editing, indebted to so many MTV à la shows like The Real World.
There’s a comforting nostalgic aura about the series created by Bonnie and Terry Turner, along with their daughter Lindsey and Gregg Mettler. This is the reason for the success of the mother series set in the 70s. But it’s something that goes beyond the simple quotes from films and series of the period, from Batman Forever to Beverly Hills 90210 via Clerks and Free Willy, and that we can summarize in the excellent writing work done on the individual characters. We can’t help but see ourselves at their age.
The protagonists of That ‘90s are teenagers in crisis, of course, but also intelligent future adults full of humor and humanity. 1995, the heart of the 90s, was the perfect theater to tell the dreams and hopes of a generation still without the internet, in love with high-waisted jeans and fascinated by the 70s more than the 80s. And if Sex and the City hadn’t yet turned the certainties of American sex life upside down, there had already been epochal sitcoms like Friends to underline the importance of friendship in the life of a human being.
The choral element is structural in the series. So much so that the protagonist Leia (nomen omen) with her disturbances and the desire to be loved as she is, seems to be only part of the mechanism, important but not central. Everything, for better or for worse, is shared with the community, under the careful and somewhat intrusive supervision of adults. Not only coming of age (less problematic than that of Giovanna in The Lying Life of Adults) but also the exaltation of one of the most solid topoi of television and cinematographic narration: the perfect summer.
In the summer, far and away from school obligations, girls and boys put themselves to the test with new desires and hopes, it’s a special time for growth and maturation, maybe not the same for everyone but always full of meaning. And from year to year, we find ourselves different. It is no coincidence that the following seasons will all be set exclusively in the summer, to allow the characters to grow up and make their experiences distant from each other. Anyone who was fifteen in the 90s didn’t yet have the web at full capacity. His life flowed between a trip to the beach, some after-school affairs and watching the show strictly on TV. And so, if no one has ever had friends as they had at 15 (forgive us Stephen King for raising the age),
That ’90s Show Review: The Last Words
That ’90s Show is a perfect circle. Nostalgic enough to make us say “I was there!”, but also biting and funny when it shows certain deranged adults. We liked it because it relates in a participatory way to that moment of transition that is both terrible and wonderful at the same time which is adolescence. That part of our lives where simple things become very difficult and, conversely, the toughest moments are faced with courage. See it without too many preconceptions and hesitation. The similarities to the prototype are sometimes a ballast for That ’90s Show, but overall, the return to Point Place is a good example of how old-school sitcoms still have their place.
