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. If you enjoyed this video, press
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the whole nine yards. So yeah, check that out as well. And hopefully I'll see you
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