31 ‘That ’70s Show’ Easter Eggs From ‘That ’90s Show’
[Warning: This article contains spoilers from That ‘90s Show Season 1.]
With the release of That ’90s Show on Netflix, fans of the original That ’70s Show can expect many Easter eggs scattered all over the 10 episodes.
Set 15 years after the season finale of That ’70s Show, the sequel series finds Eric Forman (Topher Grace) and Donna Pinciotti (Laura Prepon) married and living in Chicago with a teenage daughter of their own named Leia (Callie Haverda) — an Easter egg in itself. The family visits Kitty (Debra Jo Rupp) and Red (Kurtwood Smith) in Point Place, Wisconsin, for the summer, with Leia befriending a new generation of basement buddies.
Though the kids have their own adventures in Point Place, the series doesn’t forget where it came from with cameos, throwbacks, and gags from That ’70s Show… trust us, there’s a lot.
Scroll down for all the That ’70s Show Easter eggs in That ’90s Show.
Red's famous catchphrases “Foot in Ass” and “Dumbass”
Red hasn’t changed at all during those 15 years and we wouldn’t expect anything less from the grumpy grandpa. He still references putting his foot up people’s asses and refers to those who annoy him as “Dumbasses.”
Fenton vs. Fez
It looks like Fez has come face to face with his nemesis – Fenton (Jim Rash), who happens to be Sherri’s landlord. Fez and Fenton have a long history of rivalry which started with the perfect pair of tight pants. Since then, Fenton and Fez continued their feud, despite Fenton becoming Fez and Jackie’s landlord in season 7 and 8. Fortunately, they make amends after Fez helps Fenton obtain the luscious locks he’s dreamed about.
Casey Kelso
After Leia’s break up with Jay, Donna comforts her daughter by telling her she, too, dated a Kelso during her break with Eric – Jay’s uncle, Casey Kelso (Luke Wilson). He was bad news, but she couldn’t help it. They both agreed it was because of their hair.
Red sees Fez naked
With Fez now dating Sherri, Red finds Fez covered in just a blanket in his driveway. After Fez hugs Red for helping him out with Sherri, the blanket falls revealing a naked Fez. He quickly covers up, telling Red, “I don’t know what you heard, but this show ain’t free!” This is a throwback to a time when Red walked in on Fez showering and he said the exact line (Season 6, Episode 5).
Schatzi mystery solved
Jay hid the gang’s weed in a box of dog treats he found in the Forman’s basement since the Formans don’t have a dog. Kitty finds it and packs it in the donations since “we don’t have a dog anymore.” Schatzi was Kitty’s dog given to her by Red to help curb her mood swings due to menopause (Season 5, Episode 7), but the dog was slowly written off the show, with his final appearance in Season 7.
Kelso glued his hand to the fridge handle
In pisode 7, Red recalled a memory where Kelso had his hand glued to the fridge handle. This happened in Season 7, pisode 12. Red walks into the kitchen to find Kelso’s hand glued to the fridge. He asks Kelso, “Kelso, did you glue yourself to the fridge?” He answers “yes.”
Popsicles in the freezer
It looks like Kitty really did stock up the freezer in the basement for Leia and her friends like she did for Eric’s group. Ozzy is seen with a popsicle in Episode 7. Eric and his friends would eat popsicles often throughout the series, with Kelso and Fez being the main ice cream eaters.
The Vista Cruiser
It’s surprising that Red kept the 1969 Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser after all this time. The car would be 26 years old, but he gifted it to Leia like he did to Eric long ago. His first passenger in the front seat with him was his first love, Donna, as they break Red’s rules of driving the car out of town. When Leia is given the car, she and Jay take a drive, without Red’s permission, for their car ride together as a couple.
Bob Pinciotti
Donna’s father Bob (Don Stark) visits Point Place for the summer to celebrate Leia’s birthday all the way from Florida. He enters the Forman residence with his signature, “Hi there. Ho there! with the perm still intact. There’s no indication that Bob opened the bait shop he planned with Red back in Season 8, but he made the move.
Fantasy sequences
Since it is the ‘90s, it’s no wonder that the series parodied 90210 in episode 6 – with Brian Austin Green as a special guest. That ‘70s Show has done multiple fantasy and dream sequences parodying other shows like The Partridge Family (Season 3, Episode 2) and I Love Lucy (Season 3, Episode 21).
The Hub
The Hub is Point Place’s local teen hangout and diner. The ‘70s gang hung out there often and played the pinball machine, which eventually turned into Space Invaders.. For the ‘90s gang, they still hang out there and now have an updated arcade game in the corner.
Fez’s country of origin is still UNKNOWN
Neighbor Sherri, who is dating Fez, was curious about where Fez was from. Just as Kitty is about to tell her, the kettle whistles, censoring her answer. This has been a running gag as Fez has always talked about his home country, but never revealed it.
Chez Fez
Wilmer Valderrama makes his triumphant return as Fez, now a ladies man who owns the famous hair salon, Chez Fez. In his commercial, he even says his famous tagline, “I said good day!” It makes sense as Fez was famously known as “Shampoo boy” in That ‘70s Show after successfully working at a hair salon. “The word on the street is you need a cigarette after this boy lathers you up,” Fez tells his friends (Season 7, Episode 4). As for Fez’s Tootsie Roll giveaway at his salon, it speaks to Fez’s love of candy. Throughout the original series, Fez had an obsession with candy. He bought candy for his girlfriend, but ended up eating the entire thing (Season 4, Episode 17).
The return of Leo
Tommy Chong returns as Leo, the kids’ old hippie friend, who was very confused throughout the ‘70s. It makes sense that he remained that way in the ‘90s when Leia and Kitty ran into him.
Pastor Dave
Pastor Dave (Kevin McDonald) was a youth pastor at the Forman’s church during season 2 and 3. Kitty asked him to try to bring the kids to the church, but only to have Eric’s sister Laurie to hit on him throughout the meeting. In That ‘90s Show, Kitty sees an unseen Pastor Dave at the video store, calling out to him in the “Adults Only” section only to quickly turn around and tell Leia, “That was very unholy.”
Red and Kitty’s sexy song
In That ‘70s Show, Eric once caught his parents having sex and could not get the image out of his head. As he looked at his parents at the dinner table, he became haunted with images of them naked as the song “Tell Me Something Good” by Rufus and Chaka Khan played (Season 1, Episode 21). It has become the song to represent Red and Kitty’s love song and was played in That ‘90s Show.
Kitchen wall hallucination
Leia experiences hallucinations of Red and Kitty as Donkey Kong characters in a video game while talking to them in the kitchen. Just like her father, Eric – as well as Fez, Hyde, Kelso, Kitty, and Red – would have multiple hallucinations of his parents with the wall swaying side-to-side, the wall scrolling up and down, the wall spinning like a pinwheel, heads swapping, and even heads blowing up like balloons.
Raisin Bran
After the kids slowly come down from their high, they are all craving Raisin Bran cereal. The Forman family always has Raisin Bran in their home, even back in the ‘70s. In one episode “Parents Find Out,” Red even eats it straight from the box (Season 2, Episode 9).
Red’s flannel returns
Red’s signature look remains unchanged from the ‘70s to the ‘90s with his love of flannel. Still high from the circle, they visit Red’s room and go through his closet.
The high circle returns!
This would not be a That _ Show without the high circle. Brilliant ideas and hilarious scenes are produced from the circle. That ‘90s Show even included a flashback high circle from That ‘70s Show when Fez joined the new kids. Adult Donna makes an appearance after the flashback with Fez telling her ‘the old gang is here’.
Candy Land
As Leia and her friends settle into the basement, Kitty gives the gang a box of Eric’s old stuff, including his Candy Land board game. They come to find out there’s weed hidden in there. The ’70s gang used Candyland to hide many of their stuff, including Eric’s money (Season 2, Episode 12) and weed (Season 8, Episode 1). After Red does a sweep of the basement for drugs, Fez tells Red, “now there’s nothing left to do but to smoke Candy Land. I mean, play candy smoke.”
Michael Kelso’s infamous catchphrases
Kelso makes an entrance into That ‘90s Show using his recognizable catchphrase “BURN!” which means an insult that leaves a mark. Throughout That ‘70s Show, Kelso used that line so often that it became associated with him – and now his son, Jay. When Jackie appeared in the scene, yelling at him to hurry, Kelso used another of his known phrases, “Damn Jackie!”
Michael and Jackie Kelso
It was inevitable for Michael (Ashton Kutcher) and Jackie (Mila Kunis) to find their way back to each other after all these years. Although Jackie turned Michael down in Season 8 when he proposed to her, she revealed she always thought of Michael as her soulmate. It looks like they found their way back to each other after all and even had a son – Jay Kelso.
The transition scenes
That ‘90s Show keeps the tradition of the characters dancing in the transition scenes with fun graphics of their decade surrounding them. That ‘70s Show’s transition graphics were a bit more groovy following their era of disco, tie dyes, and flower power.
The basement
The basement was the sanctuary for the ‘70s gang to kill time, listen to music, and do “other stuff”. Now, the hangout spot has been inherited by Leia and her friends. The items and furniture in the basement may look familiar. The sofa and the glass grapes decor used to be in the living room during That ‘70s Show but now lives in the basement. The other items in the basement that are still there since the ‘70s include Green Bay Packers helmet aka “The Stupid Helmet” that the gang (mostly Kelso) wore when they did something stupid; the mushroom poster; the various toys including the yellow car boat; and, the American flag chest. It’s like no time had passed within those 15 years.
Eric and Donna flirt on the car
Eric and Donna have always been known to flirt and tease each other, especially while sitting on Eric’s beloved Vista Cruiser. When Eric was frustrated with dealing with Leia in That ‘90s Show, Donna found him on the hood of the car and sat beside him. Like in the pilot episode of That ‘70s Show, Eric and Donna liked to tap each other on the head. Leia and Jay have a sweet moment on the hood of a car as Leia attempts to kiss him, but he tells her he wants it to be special.
The basement gang toast to Leia
Like father, like daughter. Leia is able to help her newfound friends get a tap for their keg. The gang toast to Leia for her achievement on the water tower. Just like her father, Eric, who in the pilot episode, was able to steal some beer from his parents’ party upstairs. Hyde, Kelso, and Donna gave Eric a toast for the beverages.
Eric is an adjunct professor of The Religion of Star Wars
Eric has been known throughout That ‘70s Show to be obsessed with Star Wars. There’s even an episode called A New Hope (Season 1, Episode 20) when the gang drives to Kenosha to see the film. Eric makes several Star Wars references throughout the series, so it comes to no surprise that Eric has made a career out of it. Not only that, but also named his daughter Leia after Princess Leia. He jokes her full name is Leia Tatooine Forman, but it’s actually Leia Anne.
Familiar photos in the background
On the bookcase in the living room, there are a few family photos added to the shelf. The series pays homage to Kitty’s parents, Burt and Bea Sigurdson, played by Tom Poson and Betty White, (both who have since passed away).
Donna is stronger than Eric
In the pilot episode of That 90s Show, Eric enters the Forman home first and is greeted by Kitty. As they talk, Donna pushes the door open carrying a lot of luggage by herself up the stairs, telling Eric annoyingly, “Don’t worry, honey. I got it.” The gag throughout That ‘70s Show was how much bigger and stronger Donna was compared to Eric, who isn’t a very big or strong guy. Since childhood (Season 4, Episode 20), Donna has always been able to wipe the floor with Eric. During ‘Battle of the Sexes (Season 1, Episode 4), Donna excelled in any and every sport against Eric. Hence, comments were always made about how much stronger she is than him.
The opening title cards
That ‘90s Show opens up with a title card with the city/state, date, time, and location exactly the same way as That ‘70s Show pilot. Both are in Point Place, Wisconsin, but with a different date, time, and starting location. For That ‘70s Show, the date was May 17th, 1976, at 8:47 p.m. in Eric Forman’s Basement. With That ‘90s Show, the series takes place on July 3rd, 1995, at 11:47 a.m. in Kitty Forman’s Kitchen.
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