# That 70s Show to return for season eight.....WITHOUT Eric and Kelso!? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 23, 2005, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-to-return-for-season-eight-without-eric-and-kelso/286276 "2005-01-23T18:42:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-to-return-for-season-eight-without-eric-and-kelso/286276/1 "2005-01-23T18:42:53Z")
[LOS ANGELES - Topher Grace and Ashton Kutcher are leaving, but “That '70s Show” will keep on truckin’ into an eighth season in 2005-06. Fox is banking that the rest of the cast - who have all signed on to the show’s eighth year - will be enough to keep viewers coming back to one of the network’s longest-running series. … Working in the show’s favor is the fact that Grace and Kutcher were part of a fairly deep ensemble. Laura Prepon, Mila Kunis, Danny Masterson, Wilmer Valderrama, Debra Jo Rupp and Kurtwood Smith are set to return next season.]([http://www.azcentral.com/ent/tv/articles/0121that70s.html](http://www.azcentral.com/ent/tv/articles/0121that70s.html)) At least Happy Days still had the Fonz! I have long been a big fan of the show. I was ready to salute the show as it went off the air. I really thought this season had been mailing it in, but then that is true of many sitcoms that go on a bit too long. And I thought that because of the declining ratings and the desires of Grace and Kutcher to go on to bigger/betters, that this was the end. But they decide to go forward without them? Seems a bit silly. Will the gang still hang out in Eric’s basement with him gone? How will they handle Donna with no Eric? And who will provide commentary on the quality of an individual burn? Weird! ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-to-return-for-season-eight-without-eric-and-kelso/286276/2 "2005-01-23T19:00:13Z")
Just greed on the part of the studio, trying to pass off a clearly inferior product on unblinking drones who sit in front of the tube and watch anything that is thrown at them. Hopefully it will now tank and reveal the studio’s treachery. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-to-return-for-season-eight-without-eric-and-kelso/286276/3 "2005-01-23T19:08:53Z")
And of course, we’ll have the other thing; Topher Grace and Ashton Kutcher without _That 70’s Show_. Although if history is a guide, we won’t be seeing them for long. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-to-return-for-season-eight-without-eric-and-kelso/286276/4 "2005-01-23T19:16:49Z")
I think Grace may have a career. I could see him, with some improvment, having a John Cusack-lite career. Kutcher better save his money. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-to-return-for-season-eight-without-eric-and-kelso/286276/5 "2005-01-23T19:25:06Z")
> [@watsonwil](#): > > I think Grace may have a career. > > I could see him, with some improvment, having a John Cusack-lite career. > > Kutcher better save his money. I agree on both counts. Grace is nice and likeable enough to be pretty successful. Although I don’t care much about Kutcher’s financial situation. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-to-return-for-season-eight-without-eric-and-kelso/286276/6 "2005-01-23T19:49:12Z")
Isn’t he still with Demi Moore? I wouldn’t worry about him, he seems to be doing _juuuust fine_. ---
**Author:** ![Critical\_Mass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@Critical\_Mass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical_Mass)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-to-return-for-season-eight-without-eric-and-kelso/286276/7 "2005-01-23T20:30:08Z")
Maybe it was just me, but I thought that The Butterfly Effect showed that Ashton Kutcher has some potential as an actor. I’m not ready to write him off as a has-been yet. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-to-return-for-season-eight-without-eric-and-kelso/286276/8 "2005-01-23T20:37:30Z")
That 70s show is one of those shows that I like a lot but rarely remember to watch. Personally my favorite characters were Red and Hyde. Kelso being out as a character doesn’t hurt the show _much_ for me, because I don’t find his antics all that funny. No more Eric Foreman is a big hit though, and I’m not sure the show can survive that. The biggest problem I see in situations like this is when you lose actors the writing also seems to plummet (some of it may just be because with characters leaving you have fewer plot options.) ---
**Author:** ![Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kel_Varnsen_Latex_Division)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-to-return-for-season-eight-without-eric-and-kelso/286276/9 "2005-01-23T20:45:10Z")
Aren’t they about up to the 80’s now? I say they change the name to _That 80’s Show_. I’m sure show called _That 80’s Show_ would on the air for years. I mean how could it fail? ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-to-return-for-season-eight-without-eric-and-kelso/286276/10 "2005-01-23T21:08:52Z")
They’ve been in 1979 for about three seasons. I thought the show should end this season on New Year’s Eve 1979. It would have been priceless to see them counting down the end of 1979 and as they hit 5…4…3…2…1…and go to black before 1980. ---
**Author:** ![BlueMit11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@BlueMit11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlueMit11)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-to-return-for-season-eight-without-eric-and-kelso/286276/11 "2005-01-23T21:14:45Z")
> [@Kel Varnsen - Latex Division](#): > > Aren’t they about up to the 80’s now? I say they change the name to _That 80’s Show_. I’m sure show called _That 80’s Show_ would on the air for years. I mean how could it fail? They already did…oh. Nevermind. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-to-return-for-season-eight-without-eric-and-kelso/286276/12 "2005-01-23T21:27:01Z")
Does “That 80s Show” count as a spinoff? ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-to-return-for-season-eight-without-eric-and-kelso/286276/13 "2005-01-23T21:45:33Z")
No; it didn’t carry over any characters, and it was set in a different location. I personally liked it, although I understand why it didn’t last. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-to-return-for-season-eight-without-eric-and-kelso/286276/14 "2005-01-23T21:51:01Z")
> [@watsonwil](#): > > How will they handle Donna with no Eric? Donna is welcome in my basement anytime. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-to-return-for-season-eight-without-eric-and-kelso/286276/15 "2005-01-23T21:57:26Z")
They’ll just have to adopt the “24” model and base their entire eighth season around a single day so as to conserve the rapidly dwindling amount of the Seventies that’s left. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-to-return-for-season-eight-without-eric-and-kelso/286276/16 "2005-01-23T23:30:20Z")
_That December 13, 1979 Show_? ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-to-return-for-season-eight-without-eric-and-kelso/286276/17 "2005-01-23T23:45:49Z")
Topher Grace is in the generally well reviewed “In Good Company” Maybe Kutcher can go back and finish his (IIRC) Chemical Engineering degree… Brian ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-to-return-for-season-eight-without-eric-and-kelso/286276/18 "2005-01-23T23:48:29Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > _That December 13, 1979 Show_? Yeah! Now the show can go on for 19 more seasons! Granted, most of these seasons will include several episodes of all of the cast members snoring. And some kind of hideous virus will have to be introduced to explain how all of the cast members got so OLD over the course of a couple of weeks. But those are minor details at best. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-to-return-for-season-eight-without-eric-and-kelso/286276/19 "2005-01-23T23:52:15Z")
If they did the show 24-style, it would take them two seasons to get through a single day. They could definitely keep milking it for a long time that way. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-to-return-for-season-eight-without-eric-and-kelso/286276/20 "2005-01-24T00:59:09Z")
It’s _Designing Women_ without Jean Smart and Delta Burke all over again . . . except I _liked_ Jean Smart and Delta Burke . . . [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-to-return-for-season-eight-without-eric-and-kelso/286276.md?page=2)