That '70s Show cleverly foretold Laura Prepon's future as a character in Netflix's Orange Is the New Black. Prepon starred on the Fox period sitcom for eight seasons as Donna Pinciotti. After the comedy series ended in 2006, Prepon continued acting but her next prominent TV role didn't come until 2013 when she was cast as Alex Vause in Jenji Kohan's series based on the novel, Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison.
Donna was the neighbor of Eric Forman and his primary love interest throughout That '70s Show. She was intelligent and headstrong with her feminist beliefs. Despite her confidence, she suffered from several insecurities stemming from her parents' relationship problems. Even though Donna had good morals, she was also a rebellious teenage girl who often got in trouble alongside her core friend group. It didn't help that she lived in the small town of Point Place, Wisconsin with little options in terms of having fun.
That '70s Show featured a memorable episode during its eighth and final season titled "Fun It." The episode from 2005 followed the group bored in the basement until Randy suggested that they go to the local fast-food restaurant, Fatso Burger. The gang then decided to steal Fatso Burger's large clown statue. Donna was extra excited about committing a crime, even suggesting using an ax to break Fatso the Clown from his foundation.
After stealing the statue's head, they were forced to hide the clown after the theft greatly upset everyone in Point Place. Kitty demanded that they return the head and they tried before the head fell to the ground, shattering to a ton of pieces. The gang ran away but Donna managed to steal the clown's nose since she was still on an adrenaline rush. Amusingly enough, Donna mentioned getting arrested and going to prison which wound up being the fate of her Orange Is the New Black character.
While attempting to steal the Fatso Burger clown in That '70s Show, Donna joyously mentioned "I could go to a girl prison" if she got caught before excitedly saying "this freaking rocks." It turns out, Prepon would go on to play a character that gets arrested and sent to a women's prison, Litchfield Penitentiary. She played Alex, the main character, Piper's, off-and-on girlfriend who was involved with a drug cartel that ended up getting her sent to federal prison. Despite willingly committing the crimes, Alex wasn't thrilled about the situation compared to Donna's perception of jail.
Even more interesting was the fact that That '70s Show held another connection to Orange Is the New Black. One of the sitcom's lingering mysteries stemmed from the disappearance of Donna's little sister Tina. The character, played by Amanda Fuller, appeared in one episode before being written out of the show. Coincidentally enough, Fuller reunited with Prepon on Orange Is the New Black. She played Madison "Badison" Murphy in the final two seasons and served as a tormentor to Alex while in prison. The actresses never got a chance to work together much on That '70s Show but they certainly got a second chance thanks to Netflix.