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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Benjamin Olson" data-source="post: 8909745" data-attributes="member: 6988941">Well, I watched the whole thing. It has issues but I hope for a second season.I recently rewatched the first season of That '70s Show for the first time since it aired, and the comparison with this sequel really just isn't fair. The original is not a perfect show by any means but it really hit the ground running at 100% from the pilot on in a way few sitcoms do. The cast was basically all stand out in their respective roles (and I think it was as much good casting as acting talent). All the characters clicked from the opening episodes, and I feel like a new viewer would feel they knew them all better by episode three or so than they would know some of these new teen characters by the end of these ten episodes. Some of the writing was pretty excellent. It also had lots of creative elements that few traditional format, multi-camera, "filmed-in-front of a live studio audience" sitcoms have.Some of the writing goes for lazy or cheap laughs, some things didn't age great, the studio audience "wooing" over anything sex adjacent gets really annoying in a show that sex-focused, and the show definitely got tired in later seasons; but it was a run-away success for good reasons, and there was some lightning captured in a bottle at the heart of it.This new show, is trapped between being its own show and being an homage to the old show, and I'm not sure its done a great job of either yet. But it's nice to see Red and Kitty back. And it's no shade on the new kids (all actually teenage actors this time) that my interest in their escapades is eclipsed by my desire to spend more time checking in on nostalgic characters from the old show. I don't need it all to be primairly focused on old characters, but if they're going to establish one of the teen characters as Kelso and Jackie's kid, then those characters should get an actual b-plot in episode, not just appear for one walk-on cameo all season. Eric was basically one of the leads of the opening episode, which was satisfying, but then didn't appear again all season, which felt a little odd. The actors in the new teen gang all seem to be giving it their best, but probably need more time to really develop their characters. Hopefully they get a second season to retool a little and build on what worked. Most sit-coms do not start at their apex the way the show's predecessor did.Also as a side note, I've seen the complaint elsewhere online that it isn't sufficiently evocative of the 90s. That may be true (partly because it spends so much time with an elderly couple at a house stuck in the '70s), but I will say that having Eric Forman be an "adjunct professor teaching a class on Star Wars religion" is subtly the most mid-90s thing ever. The lofty cultural prestige of Star Wars before the coming of the Phantom Menace has never been seen since.As another side note: In the United States the original show is currently streaming on Peacock, probably somewhere else as well, and NOT ON NETFLIX. Netflix made this but didn't lock down the streaming rights to the show its based on in their largest market!? What sort of dog and pony show are they running over there? They might as well just run ads for other streaming services, at least then they'd get paid rather than pay for the privilege of promoting competitors.</blockquote>

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