With Netflix really running out of ideas, or so it seems, I had to roll my eyes and groan a little bit when I saw that this series actually existed. Because of my affinity for That 70's Show I was always going to check out an episode or two of this and when I started, my expectations were extremely low because reboots almost never work. I didn't expect this one to and even though I went into it with a bad attitude and looking for reasons to hate it right out of the gate. I actually ended up enjoying it a reasonable amount.
That being said, it still isn't very good and if it weren't for the fame of the original, there is no way that this would have been made at all.
I don't know what they were hoping to accomplish by making this but I think it has something to do with riding the fame of Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis, and the others who were in the original cast in order to make a few bucks and give a constant paycheck to Kurtwood Smith (Red) and Debra Jo Rupp (Kitty). As far as I know they haven't really been doing a whole lot and it's kind of hard to believe that Kurtwood Smith was actually a very compelling baddie in the original Robocop movie.
Now let's talk about why this show doesn't completely suck although, for the most part it kind of does. This show will to some degree appeal to people that actually were teenagers in the 90's and I was one of them. The throwbacks to what life was like in the early 90's is kind of fun such as going to the video stores, seeing the decline of arcades, and the fact that we still had to use telephones attached to a building in order to call people.
Another thing that is fun is that Red and Kitty's attitude towards youngsters hasn't changed a great deal. Kitty is overly doting and accommodating to a fault and Red just wants everyone to get the hell out of his house even though he clearly has a compassionate side.
The cameos on the part of the stars of the original are also really fun even though they are short-lived and likely will not remain part of the story for very long since most of the original stars have moved on to much better things since That 70's Show wrapped up in 2006.
It was nice seeing them back in the old house but I have a hard time believing that any of them are willing to risk their prospering movie careers simply to help launch the careers of some teenagers that nobody has really ever heard of.
Now the new crowd are kind of the things that I don't like about the show and this will likely become more of an annoyance as the old crew appear less and less in the episodes.
Aside from "Leia" who is the daughter of Eric and Donna, none of the other kids in her crew really have much of a personality or really any acting ability to speak of. The jokes for the most part are not funny and this is made worse by the fact that every episode has that silly canned fake laugh track that thankfully is being phased out in most other sitcoms.
At the moment I find all of the characters bearable enough to endure but I am relatively certain that if I continue to watch for many more episodes that my tolerance will fade for unfunny situations having a roaring laugh track accompany them.
Should I watch it?
If you ever watched the original and / or were a teen in the 90's I think this show will at least have some sort of appeal to you. However, I think that most people are going to fall out with it once the old crew are no longer having anything to do with it. You can only laugh when Red talks about "putting his foot up someone's ass" or Kitty being so naively unaware that kids are smoking dope in her basement so many times before you are going to need a bit more variety.
This is a mixed bag but it wouldn't surprise me if it fades out as quickly as it was presented to us. Netflix has a tendency to just throw everything at the wall and see what sticks. I would be very surprised if this one does but in the meantime I think you could do worse if you don't have anything to watch.
