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‘Rocky Horror Picture Show’ Recap: Get All the Wild Details of Fox’s Laverne Cox Musical Remake

Great Scott! It’s time to head back to Denton, Ohio (or Transsexual, Transylvania; whichever you prefer!), as Fox’s The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let’s Do the Time Warp Again has finally arrived! 

The TV remake starring Laverne Cox and Victoria Justice aired on Thursday, October 20, and Us Weekly caught every sexy moment in our by-the-minute recap. Be sure to start at the bottom to get it in chronological order.

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9:59 p.m. ET: Well, Frank-N-Furter once said, “It’s not easy having a good time.” As Fox proved tonight, that’s not true. All you need to do is watch The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let’s Do the Time Warp Again.

9:54 p.m. ET: Speaking of decadence, that’s what Frank-N-Furter’s stirring performance of “I’m Going Home” was too. Moments later, Columbia, Rocky and Frank-N-Furter were killed by Magenta and Riff Raff (Carney), who revealed that they and Frank were aliens. Transsexual was a planet the whole time, you guys! Transylvania was the galaxy! 

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9:42 p.m. ET: The set designers need a huge round of applause for the “Rose Tint My World”/”Don’t Dream It, Be It” sets! The stage! The pool! OK, the whole mansion! As Dr. Scott said, it was pure “decadence.”

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9:35 p.m. ET: It got pretty emotional pretty fast when Columbia (Annaleigh Ashford) gave a passionate speech to Frank-N-Furter about how the “sweet transvestite from Transsexual, Transylvania,” was too callous and had to either pick her or Rocky, “so named because of the rocks in his head.” Instead of answering, Frank-N-Furter froze Columbia, Dr. Scott, Brad and Janet on the spot. There are perks to being a mad scientist!

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9:29 p.m. ET: Did you ever think you’d get to see a bra-wearing Justice and a glammed-up Cox push, slap and kick one another all around an elaborate mansion? We didn’t, but we’re glad it happened because “Planet, Schmanet, Janet” was one of the silliest, campiest scenes we’ve experienced in a while.

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9:22 p.m. ET: Next up, there was a dinner party when Dr. Scott (Ben Vereen) dropped by on the hunt for his nephew Eddie, and that shindig was certainly an event. Dr. Scott’s impressive wheelchair choreography, mixed with the reveal of Eddie’s dead body under the table, was the perfect blend of fun and creepy. (And Frank-N-Furter’s jaunty party hat didn’t hurt the overall mood either.)

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9:06 p.m. ET: But if we thought that was risqué, it was nothing compared to the next scene, when Jan and Rocky got together and sang “Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch Me!” 

9 p.m. ET: In the original, when Frank-N-Furter seduced Janet, then went to Brad’s room and seduced him too, the scenes were shot so that viewers could only see the characters’ outlines through a gauzy canopy around the bed. 

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You’d think that for this, a prime-time show on a generally family-friendly network, the Rocky Horror producers would have stuck with that. But they made it even more daring, took out the canopy and added some spanking. We were positively scandalized. Scandalized!

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8:52 p.m. ET: OK, make that three obsessions, once Lambert came out as Eddie. (He died pretty quickly in a Frank-N-Furter “mercy killing,” so it went back down to two favorite obsessions in short order.)

8:36 p.m. ET: When Frank-N-Furter crooned, “I’ll show you my favorite obsession,” she became ours! That is, until we finally got to see Staz Nair as Rocky. Then, we just had two favorite obsessions.

8:20 p.m. ET: Uh, was it just Us, or was Christina Milian’s interpretation of the Magenta character, like, perfectly unhinged? Obviously, the “Time Warp” scene was way fun (because let’s face it: They couldn’t afford to mess it up), but it was Cox’s debut that stole the show during this act.

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8:16 p.m. ET: There he is! Curry’s first appearance as the criminologist got a big round of applause from … the audience?! Yeah, Fox’s version of Rocky Horror was shot from the perspective of the fans who attend midnight showings of the original in costume and with props! Cool nod to the diehards, right? It was fun to see them put their newspapers over their heads as Janet and Brad found themselves trapped in the rain and made their way to a nearby house to use a phone.

8:10 p.m. ET: We didn’t have any rice to throw at the screen during the wedding scene, but trust Us: We were doing it in spirit! Justice sparked as Janet, delivering her lines in a breathy, dramatic squeal, and McCarten (as Brad, of course) couldn’t have looked more eager while proposing to her. We were really feeling the showrunners’ decision to put the “Dammit Janet” sequence in a cemetery — it added an even campier and darker feel than the original, if possible! 

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8:06 p.m. ET: Here we go! We are shivering with antici — oh, if you’re a Rocky Horror fan, you already know! Anyway, this started off with a bang: Ivy Levan (as the Usherette) welcomed Us to the show with her starmaking performance of “Science Fiction Double Picture,” and we could not be more impressed with her sultry vocals or amazing costume. Nice red fishnets, Ivy! Very Rocky Horror.

8 p.m. ET:  Sure, no one will be throwing rice at their televisions or wearing newspapers on their heads in their living rooms, but Fox’s musical remakes have really been killing it lately (Grease: Live, anyone?), so there’s no need to worry you’re missing out on the participation, if you ask Us. 

THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW: LET'S DO THE TIME WARP AGAIN
‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let’s do the Time Warp Again’

The details that have previously leaked about the taped production have had us dying to see it for months. We know that Laverne Cox is playing Dr. Frank-N-Furter, and that the original Frank-N-Furter, Tim Curry, is now the Criminologist/Narrator! 

The cast also includes Victoria Justice as Janet, Ryan McCarten as Brad, Adam Lambert as Eddie and Reeve Carney as Riff Raff.

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We know that Kenny Ortega directed this, so will it have a little bit of a High School Musical feel? There’s only one way to find out, so without further ado … we would like, if we may, to take you on a strange journey!

The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let’s Do the Time Warp Again aired on Fox Thursday, October 20, at 8 p.m. ET. 

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