Netflix Renews That 90s Show for a Second Season

Television

Red and Kitty Forman will suffer through another summer of dumbasses. That 90s Show, a sequel series to That 70s Show, has been renewed for a second season on Netflix. That 90s Show follows Eric and Donna’s daughter, Leia, as she spends her summer vacation at Eric’s old home in Point Place with her grandparents, Red and Kitty, played once again by Kurtwood Smith and Deba Jo Rupp. Season 2 will have an expanded run, with sixteen episodes to the first season’s ten. That 90s Show is a hit for Netflix, outperforming other sequel series like How I Met Your Father and Bel-Air (the latter of which is more of a reboot – and an ill-conceived one at that, whose premise seems to be “What if The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was no fun?”). There’s no word on when That 90s Show will return, but it’ll probably be sometime next year at the earliest.

I’m glad it’s coming back. I enjoyed That 90s Show more than I expected to, and it’s got room to improve in subsequent seasons. It’s nothing special, and its cancelation wouldn’t have broken my heart, but I’d like to see them make the characters a little more interesting, especially some of the lesser ones who dragged the first season down a bit. The way season 1 ended, I expect at least one of them to gain some depth, and Leia looks to be transitioning from silly kid hang-ups to dealing with more difficult problems. If she and the others grow up as the show progresses, it could get better as it goes along. I think maintaining its audience will also depend on whether they can coax the stars of That 70s Show to make some more appearances. Red and Kitty are givens, but will some of the others want to keep popping in to relive their glory days, if only for a scene or two (that will surely be in the trailers)? Or will Leia have to shout, “Goodbye, Mom and Dad!” as a car pulls away and leaves her at the Forman residence?