‘That ’90s Show’: The Original Idea for the ‘That ’70s Show’ Spinoff Was Much Different
The new That ’70s Show spinoff debuts on Netflix in January 2023. The new series takes palce in the 1990s. Of course, this means that the spinoff will be known as That ’90s Show. Interestingly enough, the original plotline for the spinoff was rejected. Find out more about the creation process behind That ’90s Show and what fans can expect from the new series below.
Netflix turned down the original ‘That ’90s Show’ idea
The original creators of That ’70s Show are Bonnie and Terry Turner. The husband-and-wife team has worked in the industry as screenwriters and producers since the 1980s. In addition to a number of popular films, they’re best known for their work in TV, including shows like 3rd Rock From the Sun.
According to Variety, the Turners had decided to hang up their hats and leave the industry. Netflix apparently reached out to them about the That ’70s Show spinoff. But they immediately shot down the offer. However, as they were sitting at home in quarantine throughout much of 2020, their wheels started spinning.
While in quarantine, the Turners came up with a solid plot for a potential That ’90s Show. In the storyline they drummed up, Eric Forman had gone to a rock festival and hooked up with someone in the late 1970s and fathered a love child. In this storyline, this unknown grandchild would show up on Red and Kitty’s doorstep 15 or so years later. The Turners presented the concept to Netflix, and the streaming service told them to go back to the drawing board. Why? Because “audiences just don’t warm up to a surprise love child.”
How did ‘That ’90s Show’ storyline come to be?
After having their original That ’90s Show storyline rejected by Netflix, the Turners brought in reinforcements. They recruited their daughter, Lindsey, and Gregg Mettler, who wrote for them on That ’70s Show and 3rd Rock from the Sun, into their writing team. Lindsey Turner spoke with Variety about the exciting opportunity to work with her parents and Mettler.
Mettler helped her see how exciting it was to create a show that was set in the 1990s. “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.”
What to expect from the new ‘That ’70s Show’ spinoff
With their team together, Bonnie and Terry created a new vision for a That ’90s Show Netflix approved of. Fans of That ’70s Show will be happy to learn Red (Kurt Smithwood) and Kitty (Debra Jo Rupp) are series regulars. In addition, the actors who play Eric, Donna, Jackie, Kelso, and Fez also make special guest appearances in the spinoff.
The Netflix-approved storyline centers around Leia Forman, the 15-year-old daughter of Eric and Donna. The first season, premiering on Netflix in January 2023, depicts Leia visiting her grandparents in the summer of 1995. Just as Red and Kitty’s basement served as the hangout space for Eric and the gang back in the 1970s, it will for Leia and her new friends.
As Mettler put it, “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.”
