That 70's Show concludes in Season 8

A couple of years ago, my wife and I bought the first season of That 70’s Show and have since watched every single episode, in order, all the way to this final Season 8. We knew going in that this was the last season and that its ratings weren’t all that great, but after having watched the previous seven, we felt sort of obligated to see this last one. It should come as no surprise that this eighth season isn’t as good as any of the previous seven.

At the end of last season, the main character of Eric Forman (Topher Grace) left the show. It was also to be Kelso’s (Ashton Kutcher) last season, though he did come back for a few episodes in this one. Both Grace and Kutcher were starting off their movie careers, which is why they left. Since those two were obviously the most popular characters, it left all the others to try and carry the show. Despite a noble effort, the dynamic just wasn’t the same.

With many later seasons of television shows with dwindling ratings, the writers introduce new characters. At the end of last season, they brought in a guy named Charlie to be a replacement for Topher Grace. The problem was that he was a little too much like Grace, so they killed him off early in this season by having him be the first to fall off the water tower and not survive. After he left, they introduced a new guy named Randy, who would later become a brief love interest for Donna (Laura Prepon) since she’s done with Eric Forman.

I don’t think the Randy (Josh Meyers) character ever connected with audiences because almost every scene with him played out like the writers didn’t know what to do with his character. Too many of his lines were just one-liner jokes that seemed awkward and out of place, though they were sometimes funny. While other characters actually got involved in conversations, Randy would just sit on the sidelines and deliver some kind of punchline at the very end, often speaking to himself. It just didn’t work.

Besides Randy and Donna, there are two new relationships that develop in this season. Since Jackie (Mila Kunis) and Hyde (Danny Masterson) split up in last season, Hyde suddenly finds himself married to a Las Vegas stripper. That plays out into a few funny moments, but it’s a joke that gets old pretty quick. On top of that, Jackie ends up realizing she likes Fez (Wilmer Valderrama) and she spends most of the season trying to find a way to tell him she likes him after having spent the previous seven seasons rejecting him.

Probably the funniest parts of this season are between Red (Kurtwood Smith) and Kitty (Debra Jo Rupp) Forman. They have been the most consistent characters throughout the duration of the show, and Red got the best lines out of anybody in this season. They also get to enjoy a few sweet moments together.

In the end, I don’t regret watching this season after having seen all the others. Like many TV shows that go on for too long, this last season is kind of weak compared to the others. It wasn’t so much because Topher Grace and Ashton Kutcher left, but mainly because the jokes stopped being funny.

This DVD boxed set has more special features than any of the previous ones, which is really cool. It features a lot of interviews with cast members that were done during the first season and then this last one. You can really see the differences in how much the young actors grew up over the course of the show. There’s also a really cool tour of the set and some retrospective with the director of the show, David Trainer.