Because Anderson died in 2018, the role of judge has passed to Melissa Rauch as Harry’s chipper, idealistic daughter, Abby. And because it’s the 21st century, Dan (Larroquette, the only returning star) is now a mellowed, H.R.-compliant widower and a public defender, with a soft heart under his crabby shell.
A running joke of this “Night Court” is that the judicial facilities haven’t been renovated in decades. Likewise, this sitcom, beyond Dan’s rehabilitation, plays like it was mummified in 1992. There’s the same parade of flashers and hucksters, a supporting cast of zinger-delivery machines and the occasional stabs at pre-“Seinfeld”-ian hugging and learning. Familiarity seems to have paid off, though; NBC has already ordered a second season. Never underestimate the market for brand-new reruns.
As for Netflix’s “That ’90s Show,” successor to Fox’s “That ’70s Show,” the best thing I can say is that it is better than “That ’80s Show,” the short-lived 2002 attempt to spin off the nostalgia franchise for the age of car-battery-sized cellphones.
“That ’90s Show” is a “legacyquel,” a phenomenon unfortunately common enough that we need a word for it: a continuation in which original cast members hand off the franchise to a new generation. Here, Eric Forman (Topher Grace) and Donna Pinciotti (Laura Prepon) leave their daughter, Leia (Callie Haverda), to spend the summer with Eric’s parents, Kitty (Debra Jo Rupp) and Red (Kurtwood Smith).
Rupp and Smith are still a treat, but they remain peripheral to the main stories, which surround Leia with new, off-brand versions of her parents’ Frampton-era cronies. (Several original cast members, including Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher and Wilmer Valderrama, reappear to the ear shattering “WOO!”s of the studio audience.) “That ’70s Show” was never a weighty historical document, but it worked because beyond its high jinks, it had a specific sense of its time. “That ’90s Show” feels more like Leia is living in her parents’ past, and we are too.
James Poniewozik
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