Alex Carson
Without a doubt, one of the best sitcoms of the 1990s was a show about another great decade. That 70s Show was one of the most popular sitcoms of its time and now there’s a new sequel on Netflix called That 90s Show – which we’re looking forward to watching and is making us nostalgic about the original show.
The success of That 70s Show is largely due to the excellent cast members who had amazing chemistry on screen. But behind this façade, there was actually a lot of drama behind this otherwise funny show.
With the new sequel, there’s now a reflection on some of these controversies that eventually led to That 70s Show cancelation.
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MILA KUNIS WAS ONLY 14!
Mila Kunis is now one of the most popular actresses of her generation – but did you know her generation is quite young and she was in a different generation than her fellow cast members?
Mila Kunis had to be at least 18 to act in the show – as did everyone else in the cast. However, she told the production staff that she wasn’t 18 but she would turn 18. Which was true, she would turn 18 – but she didn’t tell them that it was still some time away.
Mila Kunis was only 14 when she was cast in That 70s Show. She looked older than her age and carried herself with such maturity that no one realized her actual age. By the time the producers realized the truth, she had already become such an integral part of the show and no one could imagine anyone else taking on the role of Jackie.
It wasn’t until a 2012 interview on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno that Mila Kunis revealed the truth about her actual age on that 70s show. But this hasn’t really caused much of a controversy – though we imagine today, a show would be cancelled much sooner if an actor or actress lied about their age. Mila Kunis played Jackie in all 8 seasons of the show.
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NO MORE TOPHER?
Topher Grace had an interesting story of how he came to star as the lead Eric Foreman on That 70s Show. He was a tennis player in his youth and had ambitions to become a tennis star when he reached adulthood.
However, an injury ended these ambitions and he decided to pursue acting – for which he had little experience. Yet somehow, his limited experience was enough to get him cast as Eric Foreman in That 70s Show – which ended up being his very first work on screen. He was cast in 1998 and that was the first time that we knew who he was. His limited acting experience, by the way, was a high school play!
He had mixed feelings about the show. While he was a talented actor and did a great job playing Eric, he did seem to get tired of the show and didn’t enjoy being on set as much as everyone else.
And after the seventh season he decided to leave to pursue other projects. Initially, producers were thinking of replacing him altogether and having a different actor play Eric – and hoping that the audience would adapt after 7 seasons. Thank God that they didn’t!
Instead, the show just implied that Eric was away doing his masters. Topher Grace reappeared for the final episode of the series. And in That 90s Show, he and Laura Prepon, who played Donna, will be reuniting!
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JACKIE AND KELSO
Today, Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher are happily married and have a family of their own. But did you know that Ashton Kutcher was the very first man whom Mila Kunis kissed?
The scene [RS1] when they first kissed is somewhat of a controversy. Ashton Kutcher was 19 and Mila Kunis, remember, was only 14 – but had lied about her age. Nevertheless, she stated that this was just acting at the time and that she and Ashton Kutcher had no feelings about each other at the time. Years later, they would meet again and start dating and eventually get married.
One of the challenges with That 70s Show was that after so many seasons, the writing did get a bit tired. The Jackie character was always irritating to an extent – but in a charming way. But after some time, the character became dry and many believe this is one of the reasons why the show eventually got cancelled – apart from Eric and Donna, there wasn’t much of a story to tell with the other characters.
Nevertheless, this was the role that made both Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher stars. They were able to continue their careers and both have arguably become the biggest stars from the cast.
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WHERE’S LEO?
Tommy Chong played Leo – a stoner character, which was characteristics of so many characters from the 70s!
Tommy Chong was perhaps best known for being one half of Cheech and Chong and was particularly adept as playing stoners. But this wasn’t always an act. He did smoke marijuana in real life and has spent much of his life advocating for its legalization. Tommy Chong owned a business selling marijuana-related paraphernalia online and this landed him in trouble with the law.
He served 9 months in jail and as a result they had to take his character out of the fifth season altogether. Luckily, he was able to join the show again in the sixth season but this was naturally a challenge for the cast. Luckily, producers decided not to kill off the character or choose a different actor to play Leo.
But getting rid of a character even for one season requires scripts to get re-written and requires the direction of the show to change. These challenges often cause a show to falter and get cancelled early. It’s a miracle that That 70s Show managed to continue for several more seasons afterward.
Tommy Chong is now in his eighties and has largely retired – but we’ll luckily see him reprising the role of Leo in That 90s Show.
THE TWO LAURIES
Eric’s older sister Laurie was played by actress Lisa Robin Kelly. Unlike the lanky and often geeky Eric, Laurie was the wilder Foreman child. This echoed in Lisa Robin Kelly’s personal life unfortunately. She suffered from alcohol addiction and had to leave the show as early as the third season. She briefly returned in the 5th season but she hadn’t managed to kick her drinking habit – and she left the show for good.
She was replaced by actress Christina Moore in the sixth season of the show. Her career was rather limited after That 70s Show, with only a few feature films and television films and television show appearances following her departure from the show.
She continued to struggle with alcohol addiction throughout her life. In 2013, she had to enter rehab after being caught driving under the influence. Sadly, she died in her sleep that year at the age of 43 – with her cause of death being due to ‘multiple drug intoxication.’
This was one of the most tragic things to happen to the That 70s Show cast and its sad that we didn’t see her throughout the show nor will we see her in That 90s Show. This behind the scenes drama, however, didn’t lead to the show’s cancellation and ultimately, the show had to go on.
MIDGE LEAVES
Actress Tanya Roberts had to leave the show in the fourth season to spend more time with her husband who was terminally ill.
This interruption to the show was difficult as now Donna wouldn’t have a mother and Bob wouldn’t have a wife. The show’s creators decided not to replace the character with another actress and instead just wrote her off the show.
The show went on, but this huge challenge in having to change direction was difficult for the writers as they had to avoid it getting cancelled right away.
DANNY MASTERSON
Ultimately, That 70s Show got canceled after 8 seasons. But its popularity is why we have That 90s Show today and all surviving members of the cast are going to appear in this sequel.
All…except one.
One of the most popular characters from the show was Hyde, played by Danny Masterson – but we aren’t going to see him in the new show and one wonders what’ll be happening to his career.
In March of 2017, three women had filed charges of sexual assault against Danny Masterson. In the years since then, many more women have accused Danny Masterson of rape and some of the charges go all the way to the early 2000s. As of now, it’s not clear if any of these happened of the set of That 70s Show.
He’s pleaded not guilty and a criminal trial took place in October 2022. In November 2022, the jury was unable to make a decision and it was stated that there wasn’t enough evidence available. On November 30, 2022, a mistrial was declared.
A new trial is set for March 2023. While he hasn’t been convicted and the charges remain allegations, the stigma was enough to put a halt to his career – especially him being fired from the Netflix show, The Ranch. As a result, he wasn’t asked to make an appearance on That 90s Show.
As the case looms on and we’re still waiting for closure, one wonders if this had anything to do with the cancellation of That 70s Show. But for now, we don’t know what’s true or false and we just have to wait.
Hyde won’t appear on That 90s Show but the show goes on and the show is expected to be a big hit and will no doubt make fans of That 70s Show feel nostalgic once again.
Are you a fan of the That 70s Show? The TV series is one of the best sitcoms of the 90s and we’re looking forward to That 90s show – to see what we’ll learn about the characters now.
And with that being said, here’s what we’d like to hear from you:
Do you think that the show makes people miss the life of the 1970s?
Or does it make us glad that things have changed and make us appreciate our modern era?
