Why Topher Grace Left That '70s Show

“That '70s Show” ran for eight seasons, though most fans agree that not all seasons were created equal. Where exactly is the line between a good “That '70s Show” and a bad “That '70s Show?” Some say this is around the time Donna went blonde. Others say it happened shortly after Kelso and Donna returned from California. Some say the decline started as early as midway through Season 3 when Lisa Robin Kelly left the show. One thing's for sure, though: No one really cares about Season 8 because Eric (Topher Grace) isn't in it.

In a way, Eric's departure was inevitable. He was the smart, bookish member of the gang, someone who definitely should have started college shortly after Season 5, but the longevity of the show made the writers jump through hoops to explain why he stuck around so long after the high school season. 6 and 7 Red's heart attack was a decent excuse for a few episodes, and the writers got some mileage out of Eric wanting to take a break. to discover himself, but after two seasons it became sad to see him still hanging out in his parents' basement.

So it mostly makes sense that Eric finally decides to leave Point Place in Season 7, taking a teaching job in Africa that distances him from the rest of the gang. If the show had ended there, it would have been a very good ending for his character. Unfortunately, there was a whole season left to go.

As usual in these situations, the reason Eric left had little to do with his overall character and everything to do with what happens to the actor in real life. During the first few seasons of That 70s Show, Topher Grace had gotten a taste for acting in movies, but the demanding comedy schedule severely limited the roles he could take on. As one newspaper described to: “Grace is leaving the series to devote more time to her burgeoning film career.” The fact that the writing quality of “That '70s Show” had already clearly deteriorated may have contributed to his departure.

Almost immediately after Grace's exit in the Season 7 finale, Sam Raimi announced that he would be casting Topher Grace in Spider-Man 3. It was a statement of sorts that made it clear that Grace's decision was already paying off, though it became less hopeful a few months later when it was revealed that Grace was playing Venom, a character that many Spider-Man fans thought Grace was fake. .

Although “Spider-Man 3” has has become more appreciated over timeit was already considered a disappointment in 2007, especially in the context of Grace's film career. Since at the end of the 2000s/2010 In the early 2000s, the rising fame of Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis seemed unstoppable, Topher Grace's surprisingly low-key film career sparked controversy among “That '70s Show” fans, who resented Grace for leaving the series. Of course, slow and steady wins the race: the other cast members of That '70s Show, on the other hand now in prison or they're having PR nightmares, Grace has continued to star in fun, diverse roles in projects like Black Mirror, Blackkklansmen and Home Economics. He may not be an A-List celebrity, but his post-That '70s Show career remains pretty impressive and shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon, including an unrecognizable cameo in 2024's Heretic.

While Eric's departure seemed like an obvious point of no return for the show, especially since Ashton Kutcher's character Kelso was also soon to leave in Season 8, the cast and crew remained optimistic about the show's future. “When they made the decision, which was totally, 100 percent fine, because after eight years I think it's okay to say you want to get out, we looked at it and said, 'Do we still have a show?' said Fez actor Wilmers Valderrama, on hiatus before season 8. “And it's such an amazing ensemble. Each of us has our own character, so we knew there were a lot of lines to explore.”

At least publicly, fans seemed to be hoping for a situation like “Cheers,” a show that could have easily fizzled after Diana's (Shelley Long) departure, but instead, it continued to run for six more seasons. Josh Meyer, who will be joining the cast in Season 8 as Eric's near-replacement, also seemed hopeful that the series would have a lot of life. “Last year, everyone thought this would be the last season … but the ratings will be the deciding factor,” Meyers said. “I can't imagine that these actors wouldn't want to come back for another season because they're making a lot of money. My mother read somewhere that Danny Masterson is making $15 million this season, so I'm not talking about school.”

It should be noted that none of the participants seemed to blame Grace for wanting to leave. In interviews after his departure was announced, most of the cast and crew seemed to support the choice. Mark Hudis, one of the show's producers, was amazed at how well Grace handled being thrust into the national spotlight in 1998. “Topher Grace did a great job,” Hudis said. May 2006 interviewreleased a few weeks before the series finale. “This was a kid who had almost no experience other than school shows.”

For the most part, the characters on “That '70s Show” reacted to Eric's passing by acting as usual. Eric was constantly mentioned, but the tone and setting of the series remained largely the same, with everyone still hanging out in Eric's basement and living their normal lives. One of the most memorable Eric-related character beats in Season 8 is when Red Forman finally admits that he misses his son; it's an uncharacteristically tender moment that Red would be embarrassed to find out was on tape for Eric to hear.

The biggest impact of Eric's departure was that he and Donna broke up off-screen. They both realized that the long distance relationship wasn't working and agreed to end it for now. This paved the way for newcomer Randy (Josh Myers) to become Donna's new love interest, a creative choice that didn't endear Randy very much to longtime fans. This was a storyline that really underscored how weird it was that the gang was still hanging out at Eric's house; Donna stopping seeing Eric is one thing, but why is he showing her new boyfriend around with Eric's parents, and why is Randy so comfortable hanging out at Eric's house?

While fans often blame Eric's absence for Season 8's problems, Season 8 could also have been bad for reasons that had nothing to do with him. Most damning of all, the show ditched the beloved Hyde/Jackie romance to make way for terrible Fez/Jackie romancea decision that killed any goodwill the series might have left. Outside of the ever-reliable Reds and Kitty, almost every major character in Season 8 felt like a caricature of their former selves. Well, everyone except Randy.

For me, Randy Pearson, for example. More specifically, I like Josh Meyers, who, like his brother Seth Meyers, has always had a certain amiable charm that evens out jokes that don't quite land. Don't get me wrong, I would have liked it if they had kept it Season 7's potential replacement for Eric, Charlie, hangs around instead of throwing the guy off the water towerbut Randy wasn't so bad on his own. If he had been introduced earlier in the series, and if the writing had remained quality, and maybe the writers hadn't bothered to write any kind of romance with him and Donna, there's a chance fans would have loved it. Randy.

Of course, none of this happened; Randy was left with the impossible task of saving the spiraling series from certain doom while becoming an easy lightning rod for fan ire. It didn't help that the script itself tried to insist that Randy was the coolest guy ever, even to the point where it was established that he had dated every other girl in Point Place before meeting Donna. A lighter touch might have gone a long way.

And despite Josh Meyer's early interviews expressing hope for the series, it seems he quickly realized his character wasn't popular. “I was on the last season of 'That 70s Show,' which made a lot of people dislike me,” he. said in an interview in 2022. “They were like, 'You stole Eric's girlfriend and I—no, no, no, Topher Grace went to do Spider-Man 3, I just got a job, Donna's not a real person.' she's a hero…”

So what's Josh up to these days? Since then, he's starred in lesser-known but still worthwhile TV shows like “The Awesomes” and “Red oaks.“These days, you're more likely to see him playing California Gov. Gavin Newsom on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!', or appearing as himself on the annual Thanksgiving episodes of 'Late Night With Seth Meyers.' was not fair from his waiting.