‘That ’90s Show’ and ‘Night Court’ try to breathe life into death

depends on season, the opening credit sequence for Night Court and That 70’s Show Ran between 30 and 40 seconds. Their new legasequel – NBCwho Night Court and Netflixwho that ‘The 90’s Show – Use intros that top out in about 15 seconds, updated versions of familiar theme songs that are either much less complex (Night Court) or very fast (that ‘The 90’s Show).

On the one hand, this should not be surprising. Sitcom credits have since become very short that ‘The 70’s Show debuted 25 years ago, especially on broadcast network TV, where ad breaks would eat up time for the actual content of each episode. Still, there’s something sinister in both cases, leading to familiar guitar riffs that carry through much of what follows. Each centers around the children of the original main characters, and each brings back some familiar faces in supporting roles, but neither feels quite right.

Let’s start with that ‘The 90’s Show, which recently premiered its first season on Netflix. This is the engagement of one ‘The 70’s Show The producers are Bonnie and Terry Turner, as well as their daughter Lindsey Turner, although the showrunner and head writer is Greg Mettler, who wrote for the original series for many years. The series begins in the summer of 1995, about 18 years after the series began. This time our main character is Leah Foreman (Kalli Haverda), daughter of Eric (Topher Grace) and Donna (Donna).Laura Prepon), and granddaughter of Red (Curtwood Smith) and Kitty (Debra Jo Rupp). Frustrated and lonely after a lifetime of being a good girl, she decides to spend the summer at Red and Kitty so she can finally make friends and experience some teenage rebellion. His new team includes neighbors Gwen (Ashley Aufderheide) and Nate (Maxwell Ace Donovan), Nate’s smart girlfriend Nikki (Sam Morelos), the sarcastic and semi-closet Ozzie (Ren Doi), and Jay (Mac Coronel) — aka​​​​ are Kelso’s son (Ashton Kutcher) and Jackie (Mila Kunis), who keep getting divorced and remarried every few years.

The kids from the original show are great recurring players — Grace, Kutcher, and Kunis are only in the premiere, and Prepon and Wilmer Valderrama Pop up in some extra episodes – which makes a good degree of sense. It’s focused on the next generation, plus Smith and Rupp were always the original show’s most reliable laughs, and those muscles are still in top form all these years later. But while the new kids are largely forgettable, Ashley Offerhide is the only one whose verbal or physical comedy chops seem anywhere in the ballpark of the old group. Because while that‘ The 70’s Show

Never a great comedy, its youth group was very remarkable. Career-wise Grace never became the next Michael J. Fox, but her timing and delivery were always impeccable, and Kutcher, Kunis and others brought more than was necessary to the page. No one is actively evil this time, but no one is going to be dishing out some pretty limp punchlines. From time to time, Smith will get in a good rally—”Down in hell, there’s this room where the devil sets your mouth on fire,” Red declares. “That’s the DMV!” – but often not enough.

Yes, thankfully, nowhere to be seen, nor is Hyde ever mentioned. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F36HBFGxWkg A studio audience, meanwhile — or, perhaps, a recording of a studio audiencethat ‘ The 70’s Show– It’s wild when someone from the original show shows up, whether it’s a full cast member like Valderrama, a recurring player like Don Stark or Tommy Chong, or an actor whose appearances I’m forbidden to name, but who appears six times. , and who is much better known for his later work. But the audience’s applause is sometimes rewarded by all the returnees. Grace in particular seems to have forgotten everything she knew about acting in a multi-camera sitcom after years in films and now ABC’s single-camera two-and-a-half seasons.

Or he’s doing a cameo out of a sense of obligation. related toThe former seems more likely, simply because multi-cam Disney Channel and Nick sitcoms for kids and tweens have fallen out of fashion. The vast majority of comedies on cable and streaming are single-cam — as are some pure comedies What we do in the shadows Others like the mixture of humor and pathos Reservation dogs — and broadcast network TV is also experiencing a sitcom renaissance, with two bona fide hits Abbott Elementaryand Ghosts Both single cameras . There aren’t many people, either as writers or actors, who are still adept and well-practiced at slinging set-ups and punchlines on stage in front of a live studio audience. That Smith, Rupp and a few other adults can still do it is impressive, and there are occasional inspired bits, like a stoned Leia imagining her grandparents as 8-bit video game characters, or Beverly Hills, 90210A parody with one of the original actors in a deliberately bad wig. It is not enough to keep that

‘ The 90’s Show From feeling like it’s being presented in a foreign language that only a few people involved can speak the words fluently instead of sounding them out phonetically. That said, it seems there’s still an appetite for the form from audiences. Tuesday night’s series premiere Night Court It was the most-watched comedy debut since NBC’s comeback

Caroline in town Is the revival too late? Night Court – “Pilot” Episode 101 – Pictured: (lr) Melissa Rauch as Abby Stone, John Larroquette as Dan Fielding Jordin Althaus/NBC/Warner Bros.In the two main actors Night CourtWell versed in the rhythms of multi-cam itself. Star and executive producer Melissa Rauch spent a decade as Bernadette

The Big Bang Theory

And Joan Larroquette won four Emmys for her role in the original

, and spent four more seasons fronting his own self-titled NBC sitcom. They are, not coincidentally, the main reasons to check out the sequel series, which has occasional moments, and one really good episode (the fifth, Blood Moon at Night brings particular madness to the courtroom) that really evokes a sense of chaos. of the version led by Harry Anderson. Rauch, using her usual speaking voice instead of Bernadette’s high-pitched squeak, is Abbie Stone, the daughter of Anderson’s Harry. After growing up and working her way up, she moves to New York to preside over her father’s old courtroom, and recruits Dan Fielding, Larroquette’s errant former prosecutor, to return to work, this time representing the defendants. This is a reasonable setup. Dan had to transform significantly from a misogynist user of women in the Eighties and Nineties, and if this sounds like a largely new character, Larroquette is incredibly well suited to the specific demands and challenges of multi-cam. Rauch, meanwhile, is kind enough and enthusiastic to wake up Anderson. She’s unfortunately hampered by the fact that Dan isn’t the only character who doesn’t want to be there anymore. Both court clerk Neil (Kapil Talwalkar) and the prosecutor (India de Beaufort) clearly have their sights set on better things, which leaves Bailiff Gurges (Lacreta) as the only character other than Abby who seems to be genuinely enjoying the setting.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEOeJEFKs0E Half the fun of the old show was all the ridiculous parties the audience got to attend once a week. Without the presence of a joyous hype man like the late Charles Robinson as Harry’s clerk Mack, that infectious feeling is absent. So when things get more cartoonish – say, Neil dressing up like an extra

In a misguided attempt to endear himself to Abby’s mother ( Murphy Brown alum Faith Ford, also displaying well-honed multi-cam chops in a guest appearance) — it feels goofy in a way it didn’t 30-plus years ago. trending Multi-cam was a tough, unforgiving beast when there were plenty of them even in the nineties. It’s even more difficult now that the format has dropped so much. Give these two credit for at least providing a real connection to the original – as opposed to a deservedly short-lived, completely unrelated one.

That 80’s show — but like most revivals and reboot trends that have consumed TV in the last decade, they exist as much to exploit a familiar brand as they do to exist on their own merits. But, hey, at least in some Night Court The pilot said, “Maybe I really am Gary Buttmouth!” The first season of