What are you doing eating?
Well, it's mainly for survival.
[LAUGHTER]
But I also enjoy the fruity tastes.
If you don't recognize this face,
you probably didn't turn on a TV for a good 10 years or so.
You may not know his name, his name is Eric Forman.
Essentially the main character of That 70s Show.
Well, actually you might be confused.
It's the character you probably know,
but you might have turned on That 70s Show,
and not seen this guy's face.
It was jarring for a lot of fans when they received the news
that the actor who played him, Topher Grace,
would not be returning for the show's eighth and final season.
So what happened here?
Everything in season 7 was set up
to have us believe that Eric was all set to become a teacher.
So why did he suddenly get written off to Africa
and replaced with this weird Randy character?
[LAUGHTER]
Paper again, fatso?
I win.
[LAUGHTER]
OK, let me try.
Let's take a look at why they fired
Eric Forman from That 70s Show, or really
what happened in general.
Eric Forman is the centerpiece of That 70s Show
and he's often likened to Opie from the Andy Griffith Show.
He is more often than not the voice of reason
amongst the show's cast of colorful characters.
The lens through which we view the events of the show.
Voice of reason in a comedy show often
serves as the voice of the audience.
As already mentioned, Eric often says
that the audience is thinking which in turn tethers
our perception of what is funny about the show to his reality.
The show does its best to provide perspectives
from all of its characters its Eric's POV
that we return to with the most frequency.
His character effectively serves as a grounding tool
for some of the show's weirder, zanier moments.
But Eric is easy to relate to.
He's the everyman.
Mostly portrayed as a good natured person,
which is something hopefully you strive to be.
He also shows a lot of weakness and vulnerability, which
is another element to his character
that we as viewers gravitate toward.
We care about him.
We're upset when he fails and we're proud of him
when he stands up for himself.
There's a little Eric Forman in all of us ideally.
In fact, it doesn't make a ton of sense
for the show to exist without him at all.
And honestly, That 70s Show really
had a tough time surviving without its main character.
A story you've probably heard time and again,
a la The Office.
Viewership plummeted after Eric has written off
the show, and not even the introduction to this Randy
character was capable of saving it.
So the question remains, why was this decision made?
Well despite the fired series titling the decision
to leave the show ultimately landed on Topher Grace's
own shoulders.
To understand what brought him to the difficult decision
of leaving the show that kickstarted his career,
we'll need to look at what life is like for an actor when
they are contractually bound to a television series.
Sitcoms are very different than single camera television shows.
They're often shot using a three camera set up,
which is used because it ultimately
cuts down on production time.
Thanks to the ability to get three different shots at once
without the need to reset lighting,
something that often takes hours to do for each shot.
And with all that in mind well, you can imagine how things go.
In order to get the shots that are required
to make a television show it requires a lot of time
to choreograph the actors movements.
Blocking, for those who aren't aware of the terminology,
takes a few rehearsals to get right.
This all adds to the time in which
the actors need to be on set.
So this becomes a give and take.
Time saved, time spent.
Being contractually bound to such a time consuming process
in general can be pretty stifling for an actor who's
trying to break into other projects, as much of their time
is spent working on just one show.
Just ask Michael J Fox, who had to be carried out of his bed
and onto set for Back to the Future,
while he was filming Family Ties.
Now it's not to say that Topher Grace was unable to land film
roles while working on a show.
He secured a minor role in 2003's Mona Lisa Smile,
and a major role in 2004's Win a Date with Tad Hamilton which
you probably don't remember.
It's just that sometimes passion can outweigh a paycheck.
Topher Grace wanted the freedom to pursue the projects
that he wanted to pursue freely, and was
tired of having to pass on projects due to his obligations
to a waning sitcom, as he saw it.
It's not an uncommon story.
Grace was far from the first lead actor
to leave a sitcom in pursuit of other projects,
and he would not be the last.
And sometimes it all works out really well for the actor.
Look at Steve Carell leaving The Office and then almost
immediately after receiving an Oscar nom for Foxcatcher.
Kal Penn leaving House to work on the Obama administration.
And after Fresh Prince went off the air,
Will Smith went on to become one of the biggest names
entertainment ever.
But sometimes it doesn't work out quite as well.
Suzanne Somers left Three's Company
and ended up as the spokesperson for thighmaster.
Topher Grace landed somewhere kind of in between.
He isn't cranking out lead role after lead role in Hollywood
blockbusters, but he's been able to land some roles
that I would call big and work with some incredible directors.
He played Eddie Brock, or Venom, in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man III,
David Duke in Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman, and Getty
in Christopher Nolan's Interstellar.
Sure, he hasn't become some kind of household megastar.
But he's at a point in his career
that most actor's dream of getting to.
Financially stable with the ability
to pick and choose the products they want to work on,
which was his goal in the first place upon leaving the show.
It's not a place many actors are able to get to
in their careers.
But another big reason for Topher's departure
was, in fact, financial stability.
He had made a ton of money working on That 70s Show.
He was making anywhere between 250 and $300,000 per episode,
and he was on the show for 178 episodes.
Needless to say money was no longer
a concern for this blossoming actor.
When you begin your career by being set for life
it can really give you a leg up as you
progress into other projects.
After realizing though that they were losing Topher Grace,
the show runners of That 70s Show
initially had the intent of hiring
MAD TV alumni, Josh Meyers, take over the role of Eric.
They even had a line of explanatory dialogue
ready in which Eric would say that he returned
from Africa a changed man.
We've seen stuff like this before, The Fresh Prince Aunt
Viv switch did something similar.
And they realized it was an objectively terrible idea.
So the decision was made to create entirely new character.
Enter Randy.
And response to the character was lukewarm at best
and viewership began to decline rapidly, and understandably so.
In real life when a close friend leaves
to better their lives on their own terms
you don't just go off and replace that friend
with Seth Meyers' brother.
We stay in touch.
We talk on the phone.
We write letters.
And we make plans to visit.
This level of normal understandable real world
behavior isn't attainable when an actor leaves the show
beyond maybe mentioning that he sent a letter or something.
When an actor leaves a show, they usually leave for good.
And every trace of them that ever existed
is usually stripped and replaced in favor
of driving new plotlines.
And when a television show loses the most important character
and tries to replace them in a way that feels disingenuous,
like they're shoving him or her down their throats.
And by their throats, I mean the characters, but also ours.
We, and I would imagine the characters,
should feel almost resentful in a way.
It's almost as if the show betrayed
the memory of our friend, Eric Forman,
and spent that entire season telling us to just get over it.
When I say viewership of the show dropped, it was almost 40%
during the show's eighth season.
And without much gas left in the tank
it was decided that the show would
end its run on May 18, 2006.
Topher Grace did however return for the show's finale
in uncredited performance.
His departure from That 70s Show wasn't
born from spicy onset drama, conflict with production staff,
or even erratic behavior.
It was born from his own desire to follow the career
path that he wanted to carve out for himself.
Sometimes when actors or artists make decisions like this
we can perceive them to be foolish or selfish for walking
away from a successful project, or leaving behind their fan
base.
But success isn't always determined
by stability in money.
Sometimes you need to go with your gut
and pursue the career you want to build for yourself.
And sometimes that means getting out of your comfort zone,
and jumping into something new and exciting.
For Topher Grace, he had the financial stability
to do that in the way he wanted to do it.
He took the risk, he took the jump on his own accord.
It's an extremely respectable move,
and it seems to be paying off for the guy.
After all, his new ABC comedy, Home Economics,
was just picked up for a second season.
So what did we learn here?
Follow your dreams.
It's cliche, but man.
I mean, if you've spent seven years at a job
you don't maybe love that much, or maybe you're jaded by it.
Maybe it's time for a switch, especially in creative fields,
a change of scenery can mean the world.
And if you're able to do it, well, just Topher Grace it.
Well guys, that is it for today's episode of Nerdstalgic.
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