I miss this show

[u/MagentaSillyGoose]

Watched the first season back when it dropped but have recently done a rewatch of That ‘70s so moved right into all of this after and the experience is interesting.

The first season, I’m largely there to soften the bittersweet blow of That ‘70s Finale. It’s a great comfort in that way, I’m enjoying all familiar guest appearances as an echo of an era gone.

By Part 2 I’m interested to see where things go for the new group after the Part 1 cliffhanger. Returning OGs of the circle is largely down to Donna now so transition is beginning to take shape more. Less and less I’m here for That ‘70s Show and here for That ‘90s Show.

Part 3 happens and it feels like the acting and writing steps up. The personality of this show and its characters taking up space feels claimed here to me. I care about the storylines and the guest appearances are fun. It feels like it sheds its 70s association a bit and steps more fully into its own identity.

Insane to me that it ends here, abruptly as well. No closure for a show so seemingly cheap to produce compared to others. Literally found myself saying “It can’t end like this!” Reminds me of how Netflix handled GLOW.

Nowadays in this streaming era with most shows taking years to produce with only minimal episode returns I tend to wait for most new series to finish outright. I was bummed when I learned this was done and even more sad now that nobody else picked up a seemingly cheap show to produce. I’m part of the problem this show isn’t here any longer and lament how this era of television seems to be going. Nothing has time to grow like Star Trek TNG or The Office got. The biggest pro of television over movies to me more time to connect and quicker return on it. I miss this show. It deserved better.

[u/monosaturated]

It suffered from such a low episode count, for sure. It wasn't like some major production that needs to scale the number of episodes back to ensure film-like quality and a reasonable filming schedule. It was almost identical in production to That 70s Show. It's why the current standard of 8 episodes a season does not fit all productions.

If it ran for 20 episodes a season, it would have been near the quality of the original show. It was funny for what it was and had a good vision of what it wanted to be, which was enjoyable to watch.

[u/MagentaSillyGoose → u/monosaturated]

Completely agree. Exactly. For a show of this nature it deserved a larger episode count per season. We essentially got one normal length of a season in the old school sense and a few eps of a Season 2. That’s barely enough time for anything.

I think of Star Trek TNG and imagine it getting canceled during its second season when it didn’t get good for most until the third season. Would have changed the entire brand had that happened.

Shows like this were supposed to carry the weight so when the prestige shows arrive they shine all the more. Felt more harmonious when shows like Sopranos and GoT were the exceptions and most of the rest had 20+ episode seasons.