That ’90s Show Boss Takes Pride in Episode 1’s Extremely Risqué Frasier Joke: ‘That Was a Home Run From the Moment It Was Pitched’

That ’90s Show boss Gregg Mettler is keenly aware of just how long it has been since the Netflix comedy’s freshman run. Due in part to Hollywood’s dual SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, the That ’70s Show sequel series has been off the air for nearly 18 months, and the kids were all considerably older once production got underway on Part 2.

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“We didn’t return after a few months, we returned after a long time. There was no point in ignoring that,” the showrunner tells TVLine. “The idea in my mind was, ‘Hey, these kids are getting older in real life. Their looks are changing, their voices are changing.… Let’s use it as a strength. Let’s push the envelope a little bit.’ It’s always best if you let them be the age that they are and not try to restrain them.”

That mindset is reflected in the humor this year, which is considerably more risqué than it was in Part 1. Case in point: Not 10 minutes into the premiere, Gwen and Ozzie, who are baked out of their minds, discover that they gave a “cranker” to the same classmate — a classmate, we’re told, who bares a striking resemblance to an iconic ’90s sitcom character.

“We’ve all done something we regret,” Gwen says. “Do you think I’m proud that I gave a cranker to that sophomore who looks like Frasier? Hell no!”

The camera then pans over to Ozzie, who looks on in horror. “Tony Garvin?” he asks. “Holy crap! We cranked the same Frasier!”

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Once we got over the absurdity of Leia Forman’s friends name-dropping Kelsey Grammer’s alter ago, we had several questions for Mettler — namely, which version of Dr. Crane does Tony Garvin most resemble? Are we talking about a teenager who looks like Frasier in his mullet era, or a post-Season 2 Frasier, once he trimmed his luscious locks?

“We will leave it up to the imagination,” the EP says with a laugh. “That’s best to just let it stand on its own. Think what you think! Imagine your own Frasier! But look, that kind of stuff, as we were writing these episodes, we wanted these kids to sound more mature. This is how teenagers really talk with each other. As long as the jokes are not gratuitous, and they’re borne out of character, I’m game to try them. Of course, we have table reads and we have rehearsals where we can hear [jokes] and see how they feel. That one, in particular, was a home run from the moment it was pitched.”

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