Bob Pinciotti makes a wonderful yet tragic return in , which is due to one key detail from his ending. brings back the majority of the main characters from for recurring roles or guest appearances, including Leia’s grandparents Red and Kitty Forman, father Eric, mother Donna, and maternal grandfather Bob. In season 1, episode 6, “The Birthday Girl,” Bob returns to Point Place to celebrate the 15th birthday of his only granddaughter Leia, who is staying with Eric’s parents Red and Kitty throughout the summer of 1995. Like old times, Bob tries competing with Red and Kitty over spoiling their granddaughter for her birthday.
After being the next-door neighbor of Red and Kitty Forman for over a decade, Bob Pinciotti decided to sell his house and move to Florida at the end of . When Bob returned in season 1, it was confirmed that he was still living in Florida 15 years later, as he even brought oranges from the state as souvenirs for the Formans. While Bob moving to Florida made sense for his character arc in by giving him a successful business venture after Midge left him and Donna decided to go to college, his new residence actually makes his return for Leia in more tragic.
Since Leia is living with Eric and Donna during the school year and Red and Kitty during the summer, Donna’s father Bob is the only prominent member of their family who isn’t actively raising ’s new lead character. has yet to confirm the fate of , but it doesn’t appear that Donna’s mother is present in Leia’s life, as there’s no mention of her failing to attend Leia’s birthday party. Sadly, Midge's actress Tanya Roberts passed away in 2021, so unless the role is recast, Leia’s maternal grandmother won’t be part of the series.
While Bob’s personality hasn’t changed since ended, his return in is more sentimental than usual as he savors the time he has with Leia, but worries that she’ll forget about him. Bob is genuinely afraid that because he’s the only one not living nearby and seeing Leia almost every day, she might value him less than . Since Bob was the one raising Donna after Midge left him in , the franchise has already proven that he’s capable of stepping up for his family members, which is why the notion that he’s the only one not raising Leia is so heartbreaking.
Bob is genuinely happy for Red and Kitty to be able to spend so much time with their granddaughter Leia over the summer of 1995, but he’s also jealous that he doesn’t get to see her nearly as much. In order to compensate for this change in their family dynamic, Bob tries to even the playing field by spoiling Leia with gifts for her birthday – though to quite disastrous results. He buys her an expensive karaoke machine and decides to serenade her dressed as Tom Jones, but hits the wrong
After seeing the expensive karaoke machine that Bob bought her, Red decided to scrap his birthday gift of a cordless drill and give Leia an even better birthday present: Eric’s old Vista Cruiser. While it may have been sitting in the garage for the past 15 years, being gifted a car is an incredible gift for a teenager, which is hard for Bob’s karaoke machine to beat. At the end of , Bob is defeated and tragically feels like the inferior grandparent.
Feeling bad for Bob after his plans to win Leia’s favor went wrong, Kitty tells Bob that he’s welcome to stay at their house any time to come visit their granddaughter. While Red is hesitant to extend this offer because he knows Bob will accept, Donna’s dad thanks them and returns to Florida. While Bob didn’t return for a second visit in season 1, the Formans’ offer for him to stay with them sets up a season 2 cameo. However, given how upset Bob was about being left out of raising Leia, he could end up overstaying his welcome and moving back to Point Place.
Since Gwen, Nate, and their are now the Formans’ next-door neighbors, Bob wouldn’t be able to take back his old house. As such, an extended return for the character would make sense if he decided to move into Laurie’s room in the Forman house. Considering Red and Kitty would be frustrated with Bob staying, this arrangement would likely only last a short time, but would still be a fun way to give Bob a more prominent role in season 2.
