Between 1998 and 2006, an entire generation watched on the small screen That ’70s Show, the series that went back twenty years to fill the screen with nostalgia. In fiction we were able to see the dawn of some of the best-known faces on television and cinema, such as Ashton Kutcher, Topher Grace or Mila Kunis. In addition, it served to set a precedent in youth sitcoms that has been followed throughout the last decades.
Now, Netflix has released That ’90s Show, a direct sequel to the series set twenty years later. The moment could not be more ideal. If in the nineties the most logical thing was to go back two decades to celebrate a time when the world changed, today it seems that the nineties are the perfect place to return to.
With pop culture icons like Power Rangers, Eddie Murphy or the Tamagotchi, the 1990s brought an unprecedented digital revolution. It was the border between analog and digital, the time of the console war, the rise of pop and the birth of the internet (something we at Softonic know very well).
With all these concepts as contextual frameworks with which to make humor, That ’70s Show promises to bring back many faces familiar to the general public while turning the original concept upside down. And at a time like the present, where the platforms have taken over everything (and which may be talked about in another twenty years), there is no better place than Netflix for this premiere. The synopsis is as follows:
It’s 1995 and Leia Forman, daughter of Eric and Donna, visits her grandparents for the summer, mixing with a new generation of Point Place kids under the watchful eye of Kitty and the sternness of Red. Sex, drugs and rock n’ roll never die: they just change clothes.
The series brings back, as regular characters, five of the protagonists of That ’70s Show: Topher Grace (Eric Forman), Mila Kunis (Jackie Burkhart), Ashton Kutcher (Michael Kelso), Laura Prepon (Donna Pinciotti) and Wilmer Valderrama ( Fez). Some other original characters, however, appear occasionally as cameos.
That ’90s Show joins other sitcoms that have received sequels (more or less successful). Young Sheldon or How I Met Your Father are some of the latest examples, although it is common practice in the industry. Of course, it does not always go well. We will see if, in the case of That ’90s Show, it manages to meet the difficult Netflix standards to be renewed.
