On Thursdays, I go through classic series with a critical look at each season. Today I am looking at Season Eight (the final season) of That 70s Show!
THAT 70s SHOW: SEASON EIGHT
2005-2006
22 episodes
2005-2006
22 episodes
The final season of That 70s Show gets a lot of hate from the fans with Topher Grace gone and Ashton Kutcher departing after four episodes as well as the addition of Josh Meyers. It's not anywhere as strong as it was at its peak, but the eighth season actually graded out higher than the seventh for me. Even with the weak addition of Meyers, it feels less tired. But I think it's mainly due to a strong closing arc for Ashton Kutcher, a solid run-up to the finale and a really strong three episode midseason guest arc by Mary Tyler Moore. The final season is not as bad as you may have heard. Each episode in the final season (except for the finale) is named for a Queen song.
Starring
Mila Kunis as Jackie Burkhart (22 episodes)
Danny Masterson as Steven Hyde (22 episodes)
Laura Prepon as Donna Pinciotti (22 episodes)
Wilmer Valderrama as Fez (22 episodes)
Debra Jo Rupp as Kitty Forman (22 episodes)
Kurtwood Smith as Red Forman (22 episodes)
Josh Meyers as Randy Pearson (21 episodes)
Don Stark as Bob Pinciotti (14 episodes)
Tommy Chong as Leo (11 episodes)
Ashton Kutcher as Michael Kelso (5 episodes)
Topher Grace as Eric Forman (1 episode)
Jud Taylor as Samantha (8 episodes)
Allison Munn as Caroline (2 episodes)
Tim Reid as William Barnett (2 episodes)
Jim Rash as Fenton (1 episode)
179. Bohemian Rhapsody (11/2/05)
Kitty sends a tape to Eric filling him in on what happened since he left. Hyde is furious with Kelso and Jackie after catching them together in Chicago.
The post-Eric era of That 70s Show kicks off and it works for the most part partly because Eric is still so prominent with Kitty's on-going recording and partly because the show is still dealing with the previous season's storylines and not starting new ones. Debra Jo Rupp keeps this episode afloat the whole way through with the possibly tricky job of narrating the action to Eric because she does it in such a funny way. The reveal of what happened to Charlie put a macabre twist on the episode too in a surprising way. This was a good start to a much maligned final season.
RATING: 7.5/10
180. Somebody to Love (11/2/05)
Hyde doesn't know what to do after he realizes he drunkenly married a stripper when he was in Las Vegas. Jackie feels lost after her breakup with Hyde. Hyde hires Randy at the record store.
That 70s Show starts to venture more into its new era though we still have Ashton Kutcher, who helps a lot. This is the first episode for Josh Meyers. I like the whole Meyers family (especially Seth) but this is just one of those common mistakes for a veteran show of trying to add a character late in the game for the sole purpose of replacing another character. For every rare time it works (like on Cheers), there are many times it doesn't. The rest of the stories don't really go anywhere.
RATING: 4/10
181. You're My Best Friend (11/9/05)
The guys decide to throw Hyde a bachelor party and end up in jail. A girls night goes awry when Sam and Jackie fight through all of it.
I will try not to say this in every episode but it really is such a misfire to have Josh Meyers on this show. He is literally trying to be Eric and I don't know if that's Meyers' fault or the writers, but I'm guessing its the writers. Any line Randy said in this episode could have been said by Eric and that's why this casting didn't work. Sam is a more interesting character because she upends the Donna/Jackie dynamics and, in this episode, really sheds some light on it. There's a strong guest appearance by Yvette Nicole Brown in this episode four years before Community.
RATING: 6/10
182. Misfire (11/16/05)
Kelso feels down and decides to propose to Jackie but then wants to take a job with the Playboy Club after Fez already told Jackie about his plans. The Formans celebrate their 25th anniversary.
Ashton Kutcher's final episode as a regular is a good one and the show sends him off in a better way than Eric, both with his closing arc and the way the final episode is plotted. Ashton Kutcher was fully committed to the end of his run whereas Topher Grace seemed to have one foot out the door already. There's also a very funny guest appearance by Bruce Willis as the creepy Vic at the Playboy Club. It was extra funny at the time since Kutcher was famously dating Willis' ex-wife Demi Moore and yet everyone was pretty cool with it. This guest appearance almost seems to play on that joke a little bit with the character.
RATING: 9/10
183. Stone Cold Crazy (11/30/05)
Jackie takes Kelso's place as Fez's roommate just as Caroline returns to town. Kitty discovers sexy photos Donna intended to send to Eric and then they go missing.
That 70s Show mostly stopped with their elaborate fantasy sequences earlier in the run but they're back once in awhile and we get that in this episode with a very funny parody of a 70s theme song with Fez and Jackie as roomies. It even features Don Knotts in his final TV appearance before his death in February 2006. The whole episode is a good effort for the first post-Ashton Kutcher outing. The return of Caroline and the story of where she's been was pretty funny and has a little bit of a 70s roomie sitcom feel. The sexy pictures story doesn't quite land as much.
RATING: 8/10
184. Long Away (12/7/05)
The gang starts to gossip when Donna and Randy spend a lot of time together. Red hires Leo to be the photographer for his army reunion but then finds out Leo is a veteran.
One of the most fatal mistakes that That 70s Show made in its final season was pairing up Randy and Donna. I know they're not "dating" in this episode but the show is already clearly hinting at a pairing. The show already tried to replace the Eric character with an "Eric-lite" character and now they're putting him in a lot of scenes with Donna? The reason replacing a major character worked on a show like Cheers is the two characters were so different. Not the case here. The Leo veteran story has some funny moments and is a little bit of a surprise, but also sort of a silly plot.
RATING: 4/10
185. Fun It (12/14/05)
The gang steals the clown from Fatso Burger which greatly upsets Kitty and Bob.
Whew, this would have been a fun episode in season one. A bunch of silly high school kids stealing a clown mascot and then trying to hide it would have been fitting. But this is season eight. These kids are long out of high school and therefore it's so dumb. The fact that they devoted the entire episode to this plot is ridiculous too. There have been so many stories they have shortchanged to have A, B and C stories in some episodes and this one gets the full attention? And I failed to mention how obnoxious Randy and Donna are in this episode.
RATING: 1/10
186. Good Company (1/12/06)
Fez sleeps with a friend of Kitty's. The gang struggles to come up with good presents and ideas for Donna's birthday.
The best news for this episode is it's not as bad as the last one. There's some more age-appropriate stories for the characters and it's also the origin of the very popular meme of Kitty adding more alcohol to her drink. The story of Fez dating Kitty's friend is a pretty fun concept and it is so-so in execution thanks mostly (as usual) to Debra Jo Rupp and the fact that it plays up the sweetness of the Fez-Kitty relationship. The Donna birthday story is not as good thanks to the most annoying characters on the show, Randy and Donna.
RATING: 4.5/10
187. Who Needs You (1/19/06)
Donna has trouble raising money for a telethon with the radio station. Kitty and Red try to help Hyde and Sam with their fighting. Jackie and Fez get in a big fight after Jackie floods the apartment.
This is a pretty standard episode but none of the stories pop. The Hyde and Sam story comes out of nowhere. All of the sudden these characters are just fighting like crazy to service this story. We get the return of Fenton, perhaps the most obnoxious recurring character the show had. And the Donna story means more ill-advised scenes between Donna and Randy. As frustrating as Eric could be sometimes, Topher Grace was a good actor and tempered the bad acting from Laura Prepon. Now with Josh Meyers playing off Prepon, both of them are hard to watch.
RATING: 2.5/10
188. Sweet Lady (1/26/06)
Jackie tries to get a job with talk show host Christine St. George. Donna goes to a cabin for the weekend with Randy. Red takes Hyde to the Viking Lodge.
I've talked a lot about the bad things in the final season of That 70s Show but one of the best things is the guest appearances by the great Mary Tyler Moore in one of her final performances before her health started to decline. Playing a role that is quite different from Mary Richards or Laura Petrie, she is a delight. On top of that, we get Gavin McLeod although they only share the tag scene together. There's also a ton of obvious but fun jokes on the actors' past hits. These great guest appearances (Dick Van Patten too!) help me not be annoyed by another Donna-Randy story.
RATING: 9/10
189. Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy (2/2/06)
Jackie gets on Christine St. George's good side after Jackie gives her some of Kitty's brownies. Leo reveals he has a crush on Donna.
The plus side of this episode is another appearance by Mary Tyler Moore and a great story involving Kitty as well. Moore is once again hilarious and Debra Jo Rupp's initial excitement about the brownies and then frustration with Jackie is great. But this episode also suffers from a really unfortunate second story. The story of Leo having a crush on Donna is icky every way around. I know it's meant to be but this goes beyond being gross for the characters to just being gross in general. It's also used to advance a Donna-Randy story so that's more points deducted.
RATING: 6.5/10
190. Killer Queen (2/9/06)
Jackie and Fez pretend to be a happy couple on Christine's show so Jackie doesn't get fired. Randy asks Donna for help with a date. Red helps Hyde with Valentine's Day presents for their wives.
The third and final appearance of Mary Tyler Moore continues to elevate the show and for the third episode in a row, the Moore story is the best one of the episode. This time, they bring Fez into the mix and there's some funny dynamics between Jackie and Fez. The Hyde and Red story is fine with a pretty funny Red line delivery at the beginning of the episode when Hyde asks if he should get Sam a Valentine's Day gift. But then there's Randy and Donna. Sigh. The show insists on continuing a terrible story but I guess it confines the two worst characters to one story.
RATING: 7.5/10
191. Spread Your Wings (2/16/06)
The rest of the gang finds out that Donna and Randy are dating while Donna feels weird about starting a new relationship. Jackie and Fez fight at the hair salon.
One problem that Season Eight of That 70s Show has is they can't stop talking about Eric. We are in the 13th episode of the season and they are still doing stories that have a lot to do with a character who has not appeared once. In addition to casting what basically amounts to a subpar replacement for Eric, they can't stop dealing with the original and those two reasons play a big part in why That 70s Show wasn't able to go longer once Topher Grace and Ashton Kutcher left. The Jackie and Fez story is also pretty lame with a bad fantasy sequence (although it is surprising to see one at all at this point).
RATING: 2.5/10
192. Son and Daughter (3/23/06)
Kitty holds a grudge against Donna for dating Randy. Hyde throws a party at his dad's house and accidentally breaks an expensive guitar.
This episode continues the problem of the previous episode where Eric is still too much a part of the story for being not in the cast anymore. At least this tie it does allow for a funnier, and perhaps believable, story and dynamic between Kitty and Donna. The story with Hyde's dad is another example of the show not knowing how to write as well for older characters. Throwing a rager at a parent's house would have been a much better story in season one instead of season eight.
RATING: 3.5/10
193. Keep Yourself Alive (4/13/06)
The gang loses Kitty's engagement ring on the way home from the County Fair. Kitty finds out that the ring isn't as expensive as Red said. Fez gets lost in a cave.
This episode works to some degree because it brings the whole cast together for a common reason, something that the show has barely done in recent seasons. It's a good chance for each character to have their personality show through in response to the situation and that's always funny for a character like Fez or Jackie. Something I don't understand is the show playing up how "perfect" Randy is. It's like this show lives in some alternate universe where Randy is not an incredibly obnoxious character.
RATING: 5.5/10
194. My Fairy King (4/27/06)
An older man shows up claiming to be Sam's husband. A chain muffler store plans to open in Point Place which worries Red. After Fez starts dating someone, Jackie comes up with her list for a perfect guy.
This is a pretty solid episode with not a lot of Randy (coincidence?) Each story is pretty good even if there is an ick factor with the Sam story. It does allow for some funny moments (for example, Hyde referring to his "husband-in-law"). This episode also ends up having nice character growth in the Red and Kitty story with a very genuine and sweet moment between the two of them at the end of the episode. There's also a sweet moment between Hyde and Red and a funny fantasy sequence for Jackie and Fez.
RATING: 8/10
195. Crazy Little Thing Called Love (4/27/06)
Donna convinces Jackie to go to a therapist when she says she likes Fez and they run into Kitty there. Red helps out at the record store after retiring.
That 70s Show is not done bringing great 70s-era guest stars even as it heads towards its finish. In this episode, we get Mr. C himself - Tom Bosley - as Jackie's (and Donna's and Kitty's) therapist. The show seems to be moving towards a finish line at this point: Red has retired and there's a fun side story with that in this episode. And Jackie is heading to her third guy of the group, but one that has been hinted at for years. It certainly feels like the show has an endgame now especially with the downplaying of the Randy-Donna relationship so maybe somewhere around when this was filmed or written is when they knew they weren't coming back?
RATING: 7/10
196. We Will Rock You (5/4/06)
Kitty and Red invite new neighbors over who turn out to be gay. Hyde throws a bonfire to burn disco albums. Jackie tries to seduce Fez.
And the stunt casting continues. I know some people hate on That 70s Show for it, but it's always fun for me to see 70s stars on the show. This episode includes Greg and Peter Brady (aka Barry Williams and Christopher Knight) as a gay couple. It's a clever and fun way for Williams and Knight to appear together although I wish they were used a little more but it has a funny spin at the end of the episode. The disco burning party never quite gets as funny or as interesting as I want it to.
RATING: 5.5/10
197. Sheer Heart Attack (5/4/06)
Hyde helps Red sell his heart pills. Jackie is frustrated with trying to get together with Fez especially after Caroline comes back in his life.
That 70s Show is three episodes from its finale and this feels like a complete waste of an episode. First of all, Caroline is a great character but we already had the return of her and the revelation that she was still crazy earlier in the season. We didn't need another episode that basically served the same purpose. The story with Hyde and Red was pretty dumb too and certainly didn't seem like a story that needed to be told with precious little time left. I will say I am not minding how little we've seen of Donna and Randy in recent episodes though.
RATING: 2/10
198. Leaving Home Ain't Easy (5/11/06)
Jackie seeks revenge on Fez for turning her down. Bob decides to sell his house and move to Florida and tries to convince the Formans to also move. Randy offers for Donna to move in with him.
After having a waste of an episode, That 70s Show is clearly moving towards the finale with this episode on several levels: the Formans moving to Florida (with a hilarious line from Red about his plans for down there), Donna and Randy breaking up (yay!) and Fez and Jackie moving closer to a resolution after a funnier back and forth story than the previous episode. The best development is Donna and Randy breaking up. It moved to a breakup abruptly but I'm guessing that's because they found out they weren't coming back and decided to quickly pivot towards the finale.
RATING: 6.5/10
199. Love of My Life (5/18/06)
Hyde's dad sells the record store and Hyde quits the Circle. A friend from Fez's country visits. Kitty gets emotional when showing the house to prospective buyers. Randy tries to get Donna back.
One of the longest running jokes in That 70s Show is where Fez is from and the show has gotten a lot of mileage about it. They make a lot of jokes about it here with the arrival of his seemingly British friend and we still never find out which is fun. There's also a funny flip on an intervention with Hyde when he quits the Circle. I'm always a fan of sitcoms doing bits like that as long as it doesn't go too long, which it doesn't here. Kitty's tour of the house is also a comedic tour de force from Debra Jo Rupp. A great penultimate episode.
RATING: 8.5/10
200. That 70s Finale (5/18/06)
Eric and Kelso come home on New Year's Eve of 1980. Kitty has second thoughts about moving to Florida. Jackie and Fez kiss for the first time.
The finale of That 70s Show finally takes the show to 1980 after spending eight seasons in the final four years of the 70s. One thing I'm not a fan of though is using precious time for a finale for showing clips from previous episodes. If they wanted to do that, air a clip show, don't use time in the finale for it. It seems like the show was trying a little too hard to touch on everything that fans loved about the show. A finale is hard to do and I think this one lands in the middle between satisfying and disappointing. The best parts are when they're all together in the Forman living room for New Year's Eve which has some funny and sweet moments for the show's MVP, Debra Jo Rupp. The final scene, once Topher Grace is back, really gels and provides for a very strong last couple minutes.
RATING: 7.5/10
AVERAGE RATING FOR SEASON EIGHT:
5.7/10
The Best Episodes
1. "Misfire" (#182) - 9/10
2. "Sweet Lady" (#188) - 9/10
3. "Love of My Life" (#199) - 8.5/10
4. "Stone Cold Crazy" (#183) - 8/10
5. "My Fairy King" (#194) - 8/10
The Worst Episodes
1. "Fun It" (#185) - 1/10
2. "Sheer Heart Attack" (#197) - 2/10
3. "Spread Your Wings" (#191) - 2.5/10
4. "Who Needs You" (#187) - 2.5/10
5. "Son and Daughter" (#192) - 3.5/10
Starring
Mila Kunis as Jackie Burkhart (22 episodes)
Danny Masterson as Steven Hyde (22 episodes)
Laura Prepon as Donna Pinciotti (22 episodes)
Wilmer Valderrama as Fez (22 episodes)
Debra Jo Rupp as Kitty Forman (22 episodes)
Kurtwood Smith as Red Forman (22 episodes)
Josh Meyers as Randy Pearson (21 episodes)
Don Stark as Bob Pinciotti (14 episodes)
Tommy Chong as Leo (11 episodes)
Ashton Kutcher as Michael Kelso (5 episodes)
Topher Grace as Eric Forman (1 episode)
Jud Taylor as Samantha (8 episodes)
Allison Munn as Caroline (2 episodes)
Tim Reid as William Barnett (2 episodes)
Jim Rash as Fenton (1 episode)
Kitty sends a tape to Eric filling him in on what happened since he left. Hyde is furious with Kelso and Jackie after catching them together in Chicago.
The post-Eric era of That 70s Show kicks off and it works for the most part partly because Eric is still so prominent with Kitty's on-going recording and partly because the show is still dealing with the previous season's storylines and not starting new ones. Debra Jo Rupp keeps this episode afloat the whole way through with the possibly tricky job of narrating the action to Eric because she does it in such a funny way. The reveal of what happened to Charlie put a macabre twist on the episode too in a surprising way. This was a good start to a much maligned final season.
RATING: 7.5/10
180. Somebody to Love (11/2/05)
Hyde doesn't know what to do after he realizes he drunkenly married a stripper when he was in Las Vegas. Jackie feels lost after her breakup with Hyde. Hyde hires Randy at the record store.
That 70s Show starts to venture more into its new era though we still have Ashton Kutcher, who helps a lot. This is the first episode for Josh Meyers. I like the whole Meyers family (especially Seth) but this is just one of those common mistakes for a veteran show of trying to add a character late in the game for the sole purpose of replacing another character. For every rare time it works (like on Cheers), there are many times it doesn't. The rest of the stories don't really go anywhere.
RATING: 4/10
181. You're My Best Friend (11/9/05)
The guys decide to throw Hyde a bachelor party and end up in jail. A girls night goes awry when Sam and Jackie fight through all of it.
I will try not to say this in every episode but it really is such a misfire to have Josh Meyers on this show. He is literally trying to be Eric and I don't know if that's Meyers' fault or the writers, but I'm guessing its the writers. Any line Randy said in this episode could have been said by Eric and that's why this casting didn't work. Sam is a more interesting character because she upends the Donna/Jackie dynamics and, in this episode, really sheds some light on it. There's a strong guest appearance by Yvette Nicole Brown in this episode four years before Community.
RATING: 6/10
Kelso feels down and decides to propose to Jackie but then wants to take a job with the Playboy Club after Fez already told Jackie about his plans. The Formans celebrate their 25th anniversary.
Ashton Kutcher's final episode as a regular is a good one and the show sends him off in a better way than Eric, both with his closing arc and the way the final episode is plotted. Ashton Kutcher was fully committed to the end of his run whereas Topher Grace seemed to have one foot out the door already. There's also a very funny guest appearance by Bruce Willis as the creepy Vic at the Playboy Club. It was extra funny at the time since Kutcher was famously dating Willis' ex-wife Demi Moore and yet everyone was pretty cool with it. This guest appearance almost seems to play on that joke a little bit with the character.
RATING: 9/10
183. Stone Cold Crazy (11/30/05)
Jackie takes Kelso's place as Fez's roommate just as Caroline returns to town. Kitty discovers sexy photos Donna intended to send to Eric and then they go missing.
That 70s Show mostly stopped with their elaborate fantasy sequences earlier in the run but they're back once in awhile and we get that in this episode with a very funny parody of a 70s theme song with Fez and Jackie as roomies. It even features Don Knotts in his final TV appearance before his death in February 2006. The whole episode is a good effort for the first post-Ashton Kutcher outing. The return of Caroline and the story of where she's been was pretty funny and has a little bit of a 70s roomie sitcom feel. The sexy pictures story doesn't quite land as much.
RATING: 8/10
184. Long Away (12/7/05)
The gang starts to gossip when Donna and Randy spend a lot of time together. Red hires Leo to be the photographer for his army reunion but then finds out Leo is a veteran.
One of the most fatal mistakes that That 70s Show made in its final season was pairing up Randy and Donna. I know they're not "dating" in this episode but the show is already clearly hinting at a pairing. The show already tried to replace the Eric character with an "Eric-lite" character and now they're putting him in a lot of scenes with Donna? The reason replacing a major character worked on a show like Cheers is the two characters were so different. Not the case here. The Leo veteran story has some funny moments and is a little bit of a surprise, but also sort of a silly plot.
RATING: 4/10
185. Fun It (12/14/05)
The gang steals the clown from Fatso Burger which greatly upsets Kitty and Bob.
Whew, this would have been a fun episode in season one. A bunch of silly high school kids stealing a clown mascot and then trying to hide it would have been fitting. But this is season eight. These kids are long out of high school and therefore it's so dumb. The fact that they devoted the entire episode to this plot is ridiculous too. There have been so many stories they have shortchanged to have A, B and C stories in some episodes and this one gets the full attention? And I failed to mention how obnoxious Randy and Donna are in this episode.
RATING: 1/10
Fez sleeps with a friend of Kitty's. The gang struggles to come up with good presents and ideas for Donna's birthday.
The best news for this episode is it's not as bad as the last one. There's some more age-appropriate stories for the characters and it's also the origin of the very popular meme of Kitty adding more alcohol to her drink. The story of Fez dating Kitty's friend is a pretty fun concept and it is so-so in execution thanks mostly (as usual) to Debra Jo Rupp and the fact that it plays up the sweetness of the Fez-Kitty relationship. The Donna birthday story is not as good thanks to the most annoying characters on the show, Randy and Donna.
RATING: 4.5/10
187. Who Needs You (1/19/06)
Donna has trouble raising money for a telethon with the radio station. Kitty and Red try to help Hyde and Sam with their fighting. Jackie and Fez get in a big fight after Jackie floods the apartment.
This is a pretty standard episode but none of the stories pop. The Hyde and Sam story comes out of nowhere. All of the sudden these characters are just fighting like crazy to service this story. We get the return of Fenton, perhaps the most obnoxious recurring character the show had. And the Donna story means more ill-advised scenes between Donna and Randy. As frustrating as Eric could be sometimes, Topher Grace was a good actor and tempered the bad acting from Laura Prepon. Now with Josh Meyers playing off Prepon, both of them are hard to watch.
RATING: 2.5/10
188. Sweet Lady (1/26/06)
Jackie tries to get a job with talk show host Christine St. George. Donna goes to a cabin for the weekend with Randy. Red takes Hyde to the Viking Lodge.
I've talked a lot about the bad things in the final season of That 70s Show but one of the best things is the guest appearances by the great Mary Tyler Moore in one of her final performances before her health started to decline. Playing a role that is quite different from Mary Richards or Laura Petrie, she is a delight. On top of that, we get Gavin McLeod although they only share the tag scene together. There's also a ton of obvious but fun jokes on the actors' past hits. These great guest appearances (Dick Van Patten too!) help me not be annoyed by another Donna-Randy story.
RATING: 9/10
189. Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy (2/2/06)
Jackie gets on Christine St. George's good side after Jackie gives her some of Kitty's brownies. Leo reveals he has a crush on Donna.
The plus side of this episode is another appearance by Mary Tyler Moore and a great story involving Kitty as well. Moore is once again hilarious and Debra Jo Rupp's initial excitement about the brownies and then frustration with Jackie is great. But this episode also suffers from a really unfortunate second story. The story of Leo having a crush on Donna is icky every way around. I know it's meant to be but this goes beyond being gross for the characters to just being gross in general. It's also used to advance a Donna-Randy story so that's more points deducted.
RATING: 6.5/10
Jackie and Fez pretend to be a happy couple on Christine's show so Jackie doesn't get fired. Randy asks Donna for help with a date. Red helps Hyde with Valentine's Day presents for their wives.
The third and final appearance of Mary Tyler Moore continues to elevate the show and for the third episode in a row, the Moore story is the best one of the episode. This time, they bring Fez into the mix and there's some funny dynamics between Jackie and Fez. The Hyde and Red story is fine with a pretty funny Red line delivery at the beginning of the episode when Hyde asks if he should get Sam a Valentine's Day gift. But then there's Randy and Donna. Sigh. The show insists on continuing a terrible story but I guess it confines the two worst characters to one story.
RATING: 7.5/10
191. Spread Your Wings (2/16/06)
The rest of the gang finds out that Donna and Randy are dating while Donna feels weird about starting a new relationship. Jackie and Fez fight at the hair salon.
One problem that Season Eight of That 70s Show has is they can't stop talking about Eric. We are in the 13th episode of the season and they are still doing stories that have a lot to do with a character who has not appeared once. In addition to casting what basically amounts to a subpar replacement for Eric, they can't stop dealing with the original and those two reasons play a big part in why That 70s Show wasn't able to go longer once Topher Grace and Ashton Kutcher left. The Jackie and Fez story is also pretty lame with a bad fantasy sequence (although it is surprising to see one at all at this point).
RATING: 2.5/10
192. Son and Daughter (3/23/06)
Kitty holds a grudge against Donna for dating Randy. Hyde throws a party at his dad's house and accidentally breaks an expensive guitar.
This episode continues the problem of the previous episode where Eric is still too much a part of the story for being not in the cast anymore. At least this tie it does allow for a funnier, and perhaps believable, story and dynamic between Kitty and Donna. The story with Hyde's dad is another example of the show not knowing how to write as well for older characters. Throwing a rager at a parent's house would have been a much better story in season one instead of season eight.
RATING: 3.5/10
The gang loses Kitty's engagement ring on the way home from the County Fair. Kitty finds out that the ring isn't as expensive as Red said. Fez gets lost in a cave.
This episode works to some degree because it brings the whole cast together for a common reason, something that the show has barely done in recent seasons. It's a good chance for each character to have their personality show through in response to the situation and that's always funny for a character like Fez or Jackie. Something I don't understand is the show playing up how "perfect" Randy is. It's like this show lives in some alternate universe where Randy is not an incredibly obnoxious character.
RATING: 5.5/10
194. My Fairy King (4/27/06)
An older man shows up claiming to be Sam's husband. A chain muffler store plans to open in Point Place which worries Red. After Fez starts dating someone, Jackie comes up with her list for a perfect guy.
This is a pretty solid episode with not a lot of Randy (coincidence?) Each story is pretty good even if there is an ick factor with the Sam story. It does allow for some funny moments (for example, Hyde referring to his "husband-in-law"). This episode also ends up having nice character growth in the Red and Kitty story with a very genuine and sweet moment between the two of them at the end of the episode. There's also a sweet moment between Hyde and Red and a funny fantasy sequence for Jackie and Fez.
RATING: 8/10
195. Crazy Little Thing Called Love (4/27/06)
Donna convinces Jackie to go to a therapist when she says she likes Fez and they run into Kitty there. Red helps out at the record store after retiring.
That 70s Show is not done bringing great 70s-era guest stars even as it heads towards its finish. In this episode, we get Mr. C himself - Tom Bosley - as Jackie's (and Donna's and Kitty's) therapist. The show seems to be moving towards a finish line at this point: Red has retired and there's a fun side story with that in this episode. And Jackie is heading to her third guy of the group, but one that has been hinted at for years. It certainly feels like the show has an endgame now especially with the downplaying of the Randy-Donna relationship so maybe somewhere around when this was filmed or written is when they knew they weren't coming back?
RATING: 7/10
Kitty and Red invite new neighbors over who turn out to be gay. Hyde throws a bonfire to burn disco albums. Jackie tries to seduce Fez.
And the stunt casting continues. I know some people hate on That 70s Show for it, but it's always fun for me to see 70s stars on the show. This episode includes Greg and Peter Brady (aka Barry Williams and Christopher Knight) as a gay couple. It's a clever and fun way for Williams and Knight to appear together although I wish they were used a little more but it has a funny spin at the end of the episode. The disco burning party never quite gets as funny or as interesting as I want it to.
RATING: 5.5/10
197. Sheer Heart Attack (5/4/06)
Hyde helps Red sell his heart pills. Jackie is frustrated with trying to get together with Fez especially after Caroline comes back in his life.
That 70s Show is three episodes from its finale and this feels like a complete waste of an episode. First of all, Caroline is a great character but we already had the return of her and the revelation that she was still crazy earlier in the season. We didn't need another episode that basically served the same purpose. The story with Hyde and Red was pretty dumb too and certainly didn't seem like a story that needed to be told with precious little time left. I will say I am not minding how little we've seen of Donna and Randy in recent episodes though.
RATING: 2/10
198. Leaving Home Ain't Easy (5/11/06)
Jackie seeks revenge on Fez for turning her down. Bob decides to sell his house and move to Florida and tries to convince the Formans to also move. Randy offers for Donna to move in with him.
After having a waste of an episode, That 70s Show is clearly moving towards the finale with this episode on several levels: the Formans moving to Florida (with a hilarious line from Red about his plans for down there), Donna and Randy breaking up (yay!) and Fez and Jackie moving closer to a resolution after a funnier back and forth story than the previous episode. The best development is Donna and Randy breaking up. It moved to a breakup abruptly but I'm guessing that's because they found out they weren't coming back and decided to quickly pivot towards the finale.
RATING: 6.5/10
199. Love of My Life (5/18/06)
Hyde's dad sells the record store and Hyde quits the Circle. A friend from Fez's country visits. Kitty gets emotional when showing the house to prospective buyers. Randy tries to get Donna back.
One of the longest running jokes in That 70s Show is where Fez is from and the show has gotten a lot of mileage about it. They make a lot of jokes about it here with the arrival of his seemingly British friend and we still never find out which is fun. There's also a funny flip on an intervention with Hyde when he quits the Circle. I'm always a fan of sitcoms doing bits like that as long as it doesn't go too long, which it doesn't here. Kitty's tour of the house is also a comedic tour de force from Debra Jo Rupp. A great penultimate episode.
RATING: 8.5/10
Eric and Kelso come home on New Year's Eve of 1980. Kitty has second thoughts about moving to Florida. Jackie and Fez kiss for the first time.
The finale of That 70s Show finally takes the show to 1980 after spending eight seasons in the final four years of the 70s. One thing I'm not a fan of though is using precious time for a finale for showing clips from previous episodes. If they wanted to do that, air a clip show, don't use time in the finale for it. It seems like the show was trying a little too hard to touch on everything that fans loved about the show. A finale is hard to do and I think this one lands in the middle between satisfying and disappointing. The best parts are when they're all together in the Forman living room for New Year's Eve which has some funny and sweet moments for the show's MVP, Debra Jo Rupp. The final scene, once Topher Grace is back, really gels and provides for a very strong last couple minutes.
RATING: 7.5/10
AVERAGE RATING FOR SEASON EIGHT:
5.7/10
The Best Episodes
1. "Misfire" (#182) - 9/10
2. "Sweet Lady" (#188) - 9/10
3. "Love of My Life" (#199) - 8.5/10
4. "Stone Cold Crazy" (#183) - 8/10
5. "My Fairy King" (#194) - 8/10
The Worst Episodes
1. "Fun It" (#185) - 1/10
2. "Sheer Heart Attack" (#197) - 2/10
3. "Spread Your Wings" (#191) - 2.5/10
4. "Who Needs You" (#187) - 2.5/10
5. "Son and Daughter" (#192) - 3.5/10
Tomorrow: The Friday Five - Top 5 TV news stories of the week!
Next Thursday: My recap of That 70s Show!
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