That ’90s Show: Why the ’70s Show Creators Finally Agreed to the Sequel Series

(Photo by: Netflix)

That ’90s Show is coming to Netflix later this month, and the creators of That ’70s Show, Bonnie and Terry Turner, recently revealed why they created the sequel series after initially saying “no” to the idea — twice.

Starring Kurtwood Smith, Debra Jo Rupp, Ashley Aufderheide, Mace Coronel, Maxwell Donovan, Reyn Doi, and Sam Morelos, the series follows the daughter of Eric and Donna as she comes to spend the summer with her grandparents.

“Our first pass what that Eric [Topher Grace] had at some point gone to a rock festival and hooked up with someone, leading to an unknown grandchild,” Turner said “And at the doorway shows up a 14- or 15-year-old kid who says he’s Red [Kurtwood Smith] and Kitty’s [Debra Jo Rupp] grandkid.” Netflix asked them to try again as “audiences just don’t warm up” to a surprise love child.

They teamed up with Gregg Mettler, one of the writers on That ’70s Show, and he became the showrunner Together, Mettler and the Turners (including their daughter, Lindsey) cracked a concept. Lindsey Turner told Variety, “We agreed amongst ourselves, we weren’t going to do it unless we could find a reason. And the thing that Greg said that I really loved, and I know mom and dad did too was, the ‘90s was the last time that people were looking up, they weren’t looking down at their phones. It was that last place of a real kind of engagement, having to make your own fun and really connecting with each other.”

“I wanted to have the same feeling as That ’70s Show did,” Mettler says. “The show had a very special tone. It was playful, it had a heart, it was sarcastic, it was filled with love within this family, within the friend group. I missed being in the basement with those kids.”

That ’90s Show arrives on Netflix on January 19th.

What do you think? Are you excited to see That ’90s Show on Netflix? Do you think that this sequel series could capture the feeling of the original?