That ’90s Show review: Uninspired and unfunny Netflix sitcom is old wine in an even older bottle

Even though it has been designed to mimic the storytelling rhythms of old sitcoms, That ‘90s Show’s staccato structure is ideal for something that you ingest out of your peripheral vision. Individual scenes are short enough to not test the withering attention spans of today’s audiences, and it’s absolutely fine if you miss entire chunks altogether. The episodes themselves barely exceed 20-25 minutes. I watched the entire first season in two sittings.

Filmed before a live studio audience that cheers every time a familiar face shows up — and boy do they show up — That ‘90s Show is set around two decades after That ‘70s Show, which ran for 200 episodes between 1998 and 2006. It made stars out of all but one of its cast members, who became a Scientologist and an accused rapist. He’s the only original cast member who doesn’t drop by for a cameo here.

Not that the show needed these special appearances in the first place. The presence of Debra Jo Rupp and Kurtwood Smith (reprising their roles as Eric Forman’s parents from the original) is enough of a connective tissue. That ‘90s Show mainly focuses on Eric’s daughter, Leia, and the new friends she makes over the summer at her grandparents’ house.

This allows creators Bonnie and Terry Turner to involve perhaps the most unsung member of the original cast: the basement. Leia — named after the Star Wars character, of course — and her new friends station themselves in her grandparents’ basement, just like her parents and their buddies did back in the day. This is where most of the show unfolds (through a cloud of smoke and teen hormones).

The rest of the cast includes a selection of sentient stereotypes such as the rebellious Gwen, her lunkheaded half-brother Nate, his ambitious girlfriend Nikki, the jock Jay, and the openly gay Ozzie. One doesn’t look for nuanced character-work in a sitcom like this, but That ‘90s Show is such a relic sometimes that it might as well have been made three decades ago and thawed out of cold storage for our amusement.

It always seems to be wrestling with an admittedly difficult dilemma: how do you make a show for a presumably progressive audience, set during a time when they probably weren’t as evolved? Pointing out how problematic the past used to be isn’t funny by itself. But on the other hand, depicting the past the way it was is offensive, unless you want to appeal to the wrong kind of people. That ‘90s Show doesn’t commit to either scenario, choosing instead to tread the path of least resistance. So, while half the central cast is now non-white, the gay Asian kid is a borderline offensive caricature, as is Gwen and Nate’s alcoholic mother.

The period-specific references aren’t particularly clever either — everything from Alanis Morisette to Kevin Smith and OshKosh B’gosh is mentioned within minutes — and the writing feels like a pale imitation of the Golden Age of American sitcoms. We get the requisite act-breaks, the multi-cam set-up, the canned laughter and even a will they-won’t they storyline. But the heart’s not in it.

That ’90s Show
Creators – Bonnie Turner, Terry Turner, Gregg Mettler, Lindsay Turner
Cast – Callie Haverda, Ashley Aufderheide, Mace Coronel, Maxwell Acee Donovan, Reyn Doi, Sam Morelos, Debra Jo Rupp, Kurtwood Smith
Rating – 2/5