🚨 There are big spoilers ahead for That '90s Show Season 1! 🚨
It has been 17 years since That '70s Show aired its series finale, and now the Forman house is back with Netflix's That '90s Show starring Debra Jo Rupp, Kurtwood Smith, and a whole new generation of teens.
In case you don't know, That '90s Show follows Leia Forman (Callie Haverda), who decides to spend the summer of 1995 with her grandparents Kitty (Rupp) and Red (Smith) in Point Place, Wisconsin. Hoping to find a good group of friends (and get into some trouble), Leia is determined to make this summer the best one yet.
That '90s Show is actually the second spinoff of That '70 Show. In 2002, in the middle of the original show's run, That '80s Show, which followed a group of teens in San Diego, premiered and only lasted one season. However, unlike last time, That '90s Show has a direct connection to the original characters.
This time around, That '90s Show creators Bonnie, Terry, and Lindsay Turner and Gregg Mettler made sure this show felt like a continuation of the original series, which is what gives That '90s Show the feeling of going home and revisiting a place you love.
"My heart when I worked on '70s Show was always in that house with Red and Kitty. So centering the show on them just really resonated with me," Gregg Mettler told BuzzFeed in a recent interview.
Of course, creating a show around Red and Kitty Forman meant getting Debra Jo and Kurtwood to return as their That '70s Show characters was essential. Luckily, they immediately said yes once they found out the Turners and Gregg were leading the spinoff.
Lindsay Turner explained to BuzzFeed, "It was fun figuring out with them how Kitty and Red react to all these kids coming back. They were full of questions and ideas. It was so easy. They knew exactly who the characters were." Meanwhile, Gregg added, "[Debra Jo and Kurtwood] are such pros. Absolutely dazzling at what they do. The comfort and the ease with which they just get those characters and give them nuance and give them heart and emotion is so amazing."
Setting That '90s Show over a summer vacation also gave the creators and writers the freedom to welcome back other original cast members without feeling like they needed to be in every single episode.
"I started thinking, Look, they're all busy. They have these incredible careers and lives of their own. I wasn't able to rely on them being involved consistently, outside of Kurtwood and Debra Jo," Gregg said. "So I love this idea of the summer of 1995 ends, then the next season is the summer of 1996. There wasn't this pressure on the show to keep legacy cast members' arcs going. They could show up for an episode. We could jump in time and see them again."
That being said, the first season of That '90s Show did end up featuring a majority of the original cast. Topher Grace (Eric Forman), Mila Kunis (Jackie Burkhart), Ashton Kutcher (Michael Kelso), Laura Prepon (Donna Pinciotti), Wilmer Valderrama (Fez), Tommy Chong (Leo), Don Stark (Bob Pinciotti), and Jim Rash (Fenton) all reprise their roles from That '70s Show over the course of Season 1.
Every time an original cast member returned to set, Bonnie Turner said she was "brought to tears." One of the most emotional moments was seeing Debra Jo and Kurtwood step back onto the re-created sets for the first time.
Topher and Laura return as Eric and Donna in Episode 1 when they visit Kitty and Red for 4th of July weekend and decide to let Leia spend the summer. According to Terry Turner, Topher and Laura seamlessly fell back in sync with each other, so much so that the adorable callback to the That '70s Show pilot where Eric and Donna push each other's heads was unscripted.
Laura also directed the final two episodes of That '90s Show, which proved to be very special for all of the new cast members as well as the crew, a lot of whom worked on the original series too.
Gregg talked about working with Laura as a director this time around, saying, "When Laura was acting on the show, before she came back to direct, she said, 'Mettler, getting back in those sets. You have such muscle memory as a performer, you literally know how many steps it takes to hit your mark at the kitchen counter. Your body just does it. You don't even have to think about it.' From a directing point of view, I think she just came in very prepared."
He added, "She had ideas that I think echoed the blocking and movement from the old show. You start to feel that in those episodes Laura directed. She was just absolutely amazing and so professional. She's so talented at directing."
Meanwhile, Ashton and Mila reprise their roles as Kelso and Jackie in the final moments of Episode 1 when it's revealed that Jay (Mace Coronel) is their son.
Gregg said that Ashton and Mila were "very excited to return to a place that was so special for them." The actors got married in 2015, years after they first met on That '70s Show. Mila told Access Hollywood that she was "more nervous doing [a scene with Ashton in That '90s Show] than anything else in [her] career."
Bonnie recalled that there was a moment while filming when Ashton went and studied his lines on the couch in the Formans' basement, just like he did while filming That '70s Show. He fell asleep, and when he woke up, he said it was the "strangest feeling" to see Mila dressed as Jackie standing over him.
"He said, 'When I woke up, it was Mila standing over me, and I opened my eyes. I looked around and I was in the Forman basement with my wife staring up at the [lighting] grid, dressed as Jackie. It was the strangest feeling I've ever had. I literally didn't know [what year] I was [in] for a minute,'" Bonnie told BuzzFeed.
And Wilmer immediately said yes to returning as Fez in That '90s Show because Fez is "dear to [him]." In fact, returning to the character marked the first time Wilmer had done his memorable Fez voice since That '70s Show ended.
"When we called Wilmer to see if he would come back and do Fez, and if he had any interest, he said, 'When do you want me?' And then he said, 'I haven't done the voice since That '70s Show. I don't make that sound. People ask me to do it and I won't do it. I love Fez,'" Bonnie said. "I told him I understood that and it meant a lot that he wanted to come back and do it."
Most of the returning That '70s Show cast also brought back props and set pieces they had taken when the series wrapped in 2006. For example, Debra Jo returned the sculpture of glass grapes that sat on the Formans' table, as well as a photo of Kitty's parents, who were played by Betty White and Tom Poston.
Meanwhile, some of the furniture from the original basement set was at Ashton and Mila's house, and Ashton had a ton of Kelso's wardrobe. "Ashton was sending me videos of him playfully annoying Mila by running around their house going, 'Damn, Jackie' [in Kelso's clothes]," Gregg recalled.
And Wilmer had Eric's iconic Vista Cruiser, which he brought back. In fact, when Callie and Mace were filming their final scene in Season 1, Episode 6, they found a sun visor with the original cast on it inside the car.
While we sadly don't get a scene with all the original teens back together, they made their time back in Point Place special and it helped add to the magic of That '90s Show.
Gregg concluded by saying, "They all have a very strong emotional connection to That '70s Show. I think that was one of the most joyous things about this, was just going back with them."
