Masters of zen.
Holy crap you guys, I'm baaaaa-aaaack! After years and years away, I decided to make my triumphant-ish return with a post on something I've always wondered about.
It's no secret to anyone that knows me that I love That 70's Show when it aired for the first 7 years. When the eighth season aired, however...like many other fans, I turned on the show. I stopped watching regularly, only making a point to watch the series finale. As much as I was heartbroken by the direction the show had gone in, I wanted to take it full circle - I distinctly remember watching the premiere, and I wanted to watch the finale.
The final season of T7S was pretty brutal. Topher Grace and Ashton Kutcher had left, and one of the worst Cousin Olivers of all time, Randy, came onto the scene. As if that weren't bad enough, the writing became lazy and the characters we'd grown to know and love over the last seven years suddenly weren't themselves anymore. Donna and Eric broke up off screen with little fanfare, Fez inexplicably turned into a ladies' man, Kitty's affinity for drinks went from amusing to genuinely concerning, and in one of the more painful changes, all of Hyde's character development went down the tubes and he became a legitimate asshole.
And of course...that ending. Now, it's also no secret to anyone who knows me that I am a HUGE Jackie and Hyde fan. Massive. Even to this day, they are one of my all-time fictional pairings. So needless to say, I was really upset they didn't end up together. Irrationally so. In fact, it's been an entire decade since the finale, almost down to the day, and I'm still annoyed whenever I think about the last few minutes of the series.
I've always wondered why the show runners, producers, et. al decided to break them up for good. My general hypothesis was that they really wanted to do something to shake up the show for its final season and do some unexpected things as a means of retaining their audience after Grace & Kutcher's departures. Well, they definitely did the unexpected.
Over the years, I've tried to do a little bit investigating into the matter. Back in 2006, television and social media weren't really married to each other. Nowadays, it's not uncommon for a show's creator to be interviewed or tweet about every twist and turn a show does. For example, I. Marlene King, creator of Pretty Little Liars, gets interviewed four times a season at least (premiere & finale of the A & B parts of a season, more if there's a special episode). If T7S was airing right now, I might have gotten answers sooner. But alas, I didn't really find anything from anyone on the show who talked about the changes it underwent in the last season.
Until recently.
First and foremost, I stumbled upon this tweet by Danny Masterson, who played Hyde:
Danny gets it.
It made me strangely happy to know that Danny himself was unhappy with ending. One of my other hypotheses for the show ending the way it did was because Danny & Mila Kunis (Jackie) didn't particularly care for the pairing, or just wanted to do something different. I'm glad to see I was wrong about that!
Then, the other day, I stumbled upon a freaking goldmine of info. I have to warn you, I can't make a guarantee or promise this is what happened for real, since it's not 100% verified, but it makes a lot of sense. So strap in and read on!
Flashback to season six. At some point during the season, it was assumed that season seven would be its last for various reasons (many of which probably have to do with contracts, and how a lot of shows originally intend to stop at seven seasons). It was going to be Topher and Ashton's last for sure, and series show runners Jeff & Jackie Filgo announced they were leaving the show after seven seasons as well. It's important to note that the Filgos were huge Jackie & Hyde fans.
Allegedly, when the series was going to end at seven seasons, the plan was to have Jackie & Hyde engaged in the finale. This makes sense, especially if you think back to a season 6 episode (Do You Think It's Alright, 6x18) where Hyde sees Jackie in a wedding dress and calls her beautiful.
The show's biggest what-if
Later on, the show got picked up for its eighth and final season, so the plan for Jackie and Hyde's engagement got shifted around. (If I had to hazard a guess, the renewal came around the mid-to-later part of season 7, when they kept breaking up and getting back together.) According to my source, the cliffhanger of Hyde finding Jackie in Chicago with Kelso was probably done with the intention of setting up next season's drama and conflict before the engagement, and not as a means of splitting up the couple for good.
Since the Filgos were steadfast in their decision to leave after season 7, two new show runners were hired. And these two people - who had no prior connection or involvement with the show - didn't like the Jackie and Hyde pairing. They actually preferred Jackie and Fez, for reasons not understood by the sane.
There's more to the story - again, remember while this is just a rumour, I remember hearing something about this back then too. Apparently, Wilmer Valderrama (Fez) only agreed to return to the show for season eight if Fez got a major overhaul and got a serious love interest. (My source's take is slightly different - he wanted to be with one of the main girls. I think my version has more truth to it, because a) Caroline came back, unexpectedly and b) reasons I'll address in a minute.) So if that's true, and if the new show runners preferred Jackie and Fez, getting them together is a no-brainer.
Pictured: Utter bullshit
Now, at first, this is where the story ended. Mystery solved, time to move on after wondering why the show was suddenly on crack eight years in: the original show runners were gone, and their replacements didn't care about character development or what the fans wanted to see. It's not an exaggeration to say Jackie & Hyde were hugely popular, and I know I'm not remotely alone in my disappointment and hatred of the nonsensical Jackie-Fez ending. Even if I still dislike the outcome, at least I had answers.
And then I found out even more information, information that is starting to finally give me some goddamn closure (I'm only partially kidding). From what I've read, Danny and Mila fought tooth and nail against what was happening in the eighth season. They fought for Jackie & Hyde - ultimately, they simply had no power to change anything.
Okay, recall time! A few paragraphs ago, I said I didn't think Wilmer specified being with one of the main characters. The reason why I think this is that allegedly, everyone was against ending the show with Jackie and Hyde apart. Everyone wanted them together, and everyone said so, but again - the cast was powerless to make it happen. If that's true, it contradicts the theory Wilmer wanted Fez to be with one of the main girls, unless he meant Fez being with Donna (which was never going to happen), and lends credence to what I heard - that he wanted a serious love interest, period.
Really, it all comes down to this. I'm still mad about my favourite pairing not being together, and it kills me to think what we would have gotten if Fox hadn't been greedy and squeeze the cash cow as dry as possible. But at least I know what happened, and knowing Danny and Mila were against makes me feel better about it. It's hard to explain why, but I think it makes me happier to know this pairing meant a lot to them, too.
Jackie and Hyde were my favourite part about the show, and something I always look forward to during a re-watch. Maybe one day I'll write a quick overview of the development of their characters and why I liked them so much, but for now, I can close the book on this mystery.
Pictured: Best couple ever
