Debra Jo Rupp and Kurtwood Smith Discuss That ’90s Present

Debra Jo Rupp and Kurtwood Smith aren’t all that nostalgic for the previous. The pair, who play Eric Forman’s mother and father, Pink and Kitty, on “That ’70s Present,” reprise their roles on “That ’90s Present,” which premiered on Netflix on Jan. 19. However in response to the pair, they are saying that not an excessive amount of has modified because it all started.

To begin, Rupp and Smith look just about the identical as they did within the authentic, which really premiered within the ’90s — 1998, to be precise. So does the basic “’70s” set — minus a number of owls. Within the authentic, “Kitty had 4,000 owls within the kitchen. I do not know why,” Rupp tells POPSUGAR. “Nobody might ever reply that query for me. Possibly they wanted to fill area, I do not know. However there have been little owls all over the place, they usually had been creepy, freaky trying owls.”

On the brand new set, the owls are gone. Of their place is a brand new set of youngsters, helmed by Callie Haverda, who performs Eric and Donna’s younger daughter, Leia. However years later, even with a brand new set of feisty kids hanging out of their basement, Pink and Kitty’s dynamic has remained the identical, with Kitty’s chortle a relentless presence (“I would not have her chortle,” Rupp emphasizes) and Pink as crotchety as ever.

The vast majority of the unique solid additionally returned for temporary cameos — or in Wilmer Valderrama‘s case, a full-on character reprisal. Smith says reuniting with the unique solid again the place all of it started “was fabulous.” Within the first episode of the revival, Topher Grace (Eric Forman) and Laura Prepon (Donna) return, now with their teenage daughter in tow. Shortly afterwards, viewers reunite with Kelso (Ashton Kutcher) and Jackie (Mila Kunis)’s son, Jay (Mace Coronel). Then, Kutcher and Kunis, now a real-life married couple, pop on for a temporary however satisfying reprisal of their roles, bringing a burst of their characters’ basic chaos again on display. (Kunis beforehand advised Entry Hollywood that she does not consider that Jackie and Kelso really would have ended up collectively, and whereas they’ve managed to make issues work on display, their characters are on their second remarriage.)

“It was actually enjoyable seeing everybody looking, looking for their character once more,” Rupp provides. “They weren’t far off, however simply looking.”

Almost 20 years later, a few of these characters did not completely come naturally. “Mila [Kunis] performed that obnoxious, horrible little Jackie. [In] her search to seek out that — she was like, ‘Actually? Actually? I do that?'” says Rupp. “She discovered it. After all, she discovered it. She’s a professional. But it surely was actually enjoyable to look at them. We had had a rehearsal earlier than they got here, so we had been good — so watching them attempt to navigate that was enjoyable for me.”

Smith echoes Rupp’s sentiment. “It was nice seeing them enjoying the components, and it was nice seeing how a lot of the roles really got here from the actors,” he says. “Topher Grace, for instance, actually has his personal model of comedy. And you’ll actually see that if you see him redoing the half.”

Rupp and Smith additionally needed to regulate to their very own characters for the revival, which trades ’70s rock for riot grrrl however nonetheless finds Pink and Kitty without end disagreeing about what number of youngsters ought to really be allowed to hang around of their basement. Whereas Kitty is perpetually joyful and Pink is perpetually vexed, it is really a bit completely different in actual life. “Kitty is ever-cheerful. I’d not say that about me,” Rupp says, noting that Smith is not very like the curmudgeonly Pink. “You’re a lot kinder and sweeter than Pink. You’re very grounded,” she says. “You are very useful. You are like a Boy Scout.”

Not the whole lot is because it was. However Pink and Kitty’s dynamic has remained a relentless from “That ’70s Present” to “That ’90s Present,” and it is a centerpiece of the revival. As they chat, a bit of their basic Kitty-and-Pink dynamic turns into seen — affection beneath layers of banter and irony. “Might I not less than be within the Eagle Scouts?” Smith asks. “OK,” Rupp says. “You are an Eagle Scout.”