That '70s Show: Season 8

All done! That's a wrap on the widely frowned upon Season 8, and a wrap on the series as a whole.

How familiar was I with the season's various episodes?

Again, only vaguely. With perfect hindsight now, it's clear that I regularly watched this show - or else caught a lot of repeats - right up through Season 6, then just stopped watching abruptly, catching maybe five episodes total between Seasons 7 and 8. This actually lines up perfectly with me getting my driver's license, and thus having a means of escaping the confines of my house and bedroom. Pre-driving me? Homework in front of the TV most weeknights. Junior and senior year me? Not watching TV so much, that's for sure.

Were there any key ways in which this season was different from previous seasons?

Oh, certainly. After seven seasons, the show lost its main character (Topher Grace's Eric Forman) and most consistent source of laughs (Ashton Kutcher's Michael Kelso). To help the four remaining regulars carry the load, the show added a controversial character in Randy Pearson, played by Josh Meyers, younger brother of Seth Meyers of modern day SNL fame. Fans hated him, and although I didn't really mind his presence here, I can understand why he was met with such disdain; it's tough to replace a major character after seven years, let alone two. Also, Hyde got married to a stripper between seasons for essentially no reason at all; as the first episode began, he just kind of had a wife. So.

Any particular highlights or lowlights worth singling out?

You know, I was really ready to hate this season. I sharpened the proverbial knives heading into it, ready to just lash out with disgust over what a disaster it was, based on everything I'd heard. No Eric, no Kelso, an awful replacement character, and apparently by the end of the series Jackie and Fez were an item? Blech. But you know what? It wasn't half bad. It wasn't the best season, and truth be told it was probably the worst one, but not by a wide margin. The show was clearly a bit long in the tooth by now, and had lost arguably its two most important characters, but given that, I was impressed by how well it held up. The Jackie-Fez pairing actually came up kind of organically and seemed kind of sweet for both characters. Even Randy, with his Eric-replacing Donna-dating blandness, didn't bother me. One lowlight? Hyde's stripper wife. Shitty character, shitty actress, no purpose. My highlight would definitely have to be the series finale. It brought back Eric and Kelso, reuniting the whole gang, and it wrapped things up on its own terms. The final seconds of the series take place on New Year's Eve, 1979, with a ten-second countdown to 1980. Fitting!

Final thoughts on anything else relating to the season or series as a whole?

Three or four seasons into my trek through That '70s Show on DVD, I was starting to regret my decision to trek through all 200 episodes of That '70s Show. I had already seen far more episodes than I realized, and the show wasn't quite as innovative or funny as I'd remembered it being. For some reason, in my head this was a real underrated gem that had somehow lasted for 200 episodes without anyone really respecting it. I remembered watching and enjoying it for years, but five, six, seven years after it was off the air, it seemed entirely forgotten and ignored. A few seasons in, I just wasn't feeling it. Maybe this was just another multi-camera network sitcom after all. Yet, here I sit, at the end of all eight seasons, and I'm leaning back toward, "no, you know what? This show was way better than anyone gives it credit for being." Hey, maybe that just makes me a fan.

So that's that. One thing's for sure. I will not miss the Cheap Trick theme song - which served as the menu music on each and every DVD - one iota.