"That '90s Show": Back to Eric Forman's Basement, 15 Years Later, with Gay and Nonwhite Characters

 

I only watched a few episodes of That 70s Show (1998-2006): I already lived through high school in the 1970s, so why bother?  But I saw enough to know the basic plot: a group of high schoolers, nerdish Eric Forman and girlfriend Donna, prettyboy Kelso and girlfriend Jackie, rebel Hyde, and foreign exchange student Fez, gather in Eric's basement to smoke pot, hook up, and make fun of Fez for being too feminine.  I only remember one gay reference: they give a guy two tickets to a rock concert, and he shows up with a same sex date!  The guys are disgusted, but Donna says "It doesn't bother me."   Apparently there's another episode, with Eric "mistaken for gay." but I never saw it. 

The sequel That 90's Show (2023), on Netflix, fast forwards to 1995, when a new group of teenagers led by 14-year old Leia  hang out in the Forman basement to smoke pot and hook up.  Only this time there are three non-white and one gay character, Ozzie (Reyn Do)  I reviewed the episode where he comes out.

Scene 1:  Ozzie is setting up a computer for the Grandparents.  Grandpa Red complains.  Grandma Kitty is excited but clueless.

Scene 2: In the famous basement, Prettyboy Nate (17-year old Maxwell Acee Donovan) is showing Girlfriend Nikki an ad for a free hot tub.  "But it's contaminated with other people's juices!" she complains.  "Until we contaminate it with our juices!"  Hey, that's dirty! 

Meanwhile, Focus Girl Leia tells  Hunk Jay (18-year old Mace Coronel) that she wants to be "just friends."  He is distraught. Plot complication: she's actually interested, but too shy to admit it!

Fan plot dump: Leia is the daughter of Eric and Donna, and Jay is the son of Kelso and Jackie, all of whom have guest spots.  Hyde is never mentioned, and Fez is a swishy hairdresser.

Wait -- That 70s Show ended in 1980, and this is 1995.  Those couples worked fast!

Scene 3: Up in the kitchen, Ozzie explains to Leia that he's planning to come out to Grandma Kitty, as Step 7 in his 16-step coming out plan: first strangers, then people he doesn't see often, then people he sees all the time, and finally his parents.  In the 90s you didn't come out to anyone, ever, so this is quite ambitious.  

Scene 4:  Prettyboy Nate and Hunk Jay go to investigate the free hot tub. Nate: "This is better than that time we found the nude beach...until we saw my coach doing lunges."  Jay: "This is what my life feels like right now: a sandy, saggy sack."  Hey, are they talking about his testicles?

They play "vagina hands": they put their hands together, open them up, and Jay shoves his face inside and ..um...hey, that's dirty!

The elderly lady who owns the tub suggests that they try it out first.  

Cut to the three of them in the tub in bathing suits.  She proceeds to flirt.  They are uncomfortable. Hey, writers, the actors are of age, but the characters are 14 or 15-years old.  This isn't funny, it's cringey,

Scene 5:  Leia wants to talk to Grandma Kitty about "a friend."  "Oh, I had a lot of 'friend talks' with Eric.  His 'friend" got a rubber band stuck on his privates."  Kitty is telling Leia that her father, as a teenage, put a rubber band around his genitals so he could maintain an erection longer?  What teenager does that?  Who would tell their granddaughter about it?  

Leia is cut off before she can tell what she really wanted to talk about: Ozzie's coming out.  But Grandma Kitty assumes that Leia intends to have sex, and anxiously calls her mother Donna.

Meanwhile, everyone else is gone, so Girlfriend Nikki and Riot Grrrl Gwen decide to smoke pot. I guess there has to be a smoking-circle in every episode

Later, Ozzie and Grandma Kitty are working on the computer, when Leia's mother Donna bursts in.  So they live nearby?  Why is Leia staying with the grandparents?  She brought "condoms, jellies, sponges, and the ugliest underwear I could find."  

Leia can't tell her that she's not intending to have sex, or everyone would want to know the real secret -- Ozzie's coming out -- so she goes along with it.  Ozzie plays along: "Leia is obsessed with sex.  She's drawing penises everywhere."

Scene 6: Having finished their pot, the girls wonder what they can do next.  Girlfriend Nikki: "There's something I usually do with my boyfriend, but I think it would be more fun with you."  Psych -- it's not sex, it's dressing up in glamorous costumes!  

Meanwhile, Mom Donna is giving Leia the "sex talk": "when a nay-nay's been in a na-na, it can't go in a hoo-hoo."  Of course, you always do the oral before the anal.

And back at the hot tub, the elderly lady is giving the boys advice on how to handle a lost love.  Suddnly her granddaughter bursts in and yells at her for tricking boys into taking their clothes off.  The hot tub is not really free after all.  "But I hae a free bed upstairs, if you'd like to try it out."   Beefcake shot as Hunk Jay climbs out.  Prettyboy Nate has his back turned.

Scene 7:  Ozzie and Leia in her bedroom, discussing how his coming-out moment is always being hijacked. "Why did you tell my Mom that I was constantly drawing penises?"  "I panicked, and that's what I was thinking of."  

Scene 8: Grandma Kitty and Ozzie in front of the computer, which is oddly on the coffee table rather than on a desk.  Finally time for the coming out moment: "I'm gay...I have a boyfriend in Canada."  That's funny, when I was in school I had lots of girlfriends in Canada.  

Kitty grimaces: "I don't know how I feel about this."  Ozzie cringes.  Psych!  She means the Canadian boyfriend.  What about Ozzie being gay?  "Oh, that...of course I'm fine with it."  They hug.

Scene 9:  At the non-basement hangout, the two girls are feeling guilty. "Did we..have fun?"  "Twice."  Hey, they had sex after all!  They agree to never mention it again.  Ozzie says that his next step is coming out to his pediatrician. Leia decides to tell Hunk Jay that she likes him, but it's too late: he's dating the perv lady's granddaughter!

Scene 10: Grandma Kitty catches Grandpa Red on the computer. He tries to cover the screen.  Is he watching porn?  Yes, sort of: a photo of 1960s it-girl Raquel Welch.  Kitty is happy that he's using the computer.  The end.

Beefcake: Apparently Hunk Jay takes off his shirt a lot.

Gay Characters;  In other episodes, Ozzie doesn't do much besides make sarcastic comments, but the show is about Leia, so he's lucky to get one centric.

Sex:  There were many more dirty jokes and innuendos than I expected.  It got uncomfortable.  These aren't Riverdale-style teenagers played by fitness models planning their 10th high school reunions.  Callie Haverda, who plays Leia, is 15, and Reyn Doi (Ozzie) is 13.  A little young to be discussing penises!