While plenty of people laud over groundbreaking sitcoms like Seinfeld, Friends, The Simpsons, and even Married...With Children, there were several underrated sitcoms that also existed during this time. That 70’s Show was definitely one of them. Debuting in 1998, the show lasted for eight years, seven pretty good and one terrible. The cast and crew tried to move on without two of its stars, give them credit for it trying it a second year.
Like a lot of sitcoms over the years, That 70’s Show didn’t worry a whole lot about continuity in their storytelling. But it did start introducing more and more episodic storytelling from week to week. By the time the show was done, plenty of concepts were forgotten about and some storylines never got resolved. Here are 10 Storylines That Were Never Resolved From That 70’s Show.
Where Did Donna’s Sister Run Away To?
It’s truly amazing what a decent person Donna (Laura Prepon) turned out to be. Her folks were both airheads and swingers.
Not to mention having several other kids and completely forgetting about them! We met Tina Pinciotti, Donna’s younger sister in the episode “Eric’s Burger Job,” but that was it. After that, where did Tina disappear to? Even Donna forgot she had a sister! In future episodes, it was alluded to the fact that she was an only child. I'm guessing no one was a fan of Tina, after all.
Whatever Happened To Laurie?
Richie Cunningham had a brother who went upstairs and was never seen again. But that was early on Happy Days. When the same thing happened on That 70’s Show, not only was it way into the show’s run, but Laurie was a very established character who had flings with Kelso and married Fez to keep him in the country. They even recast the role when the actress got into some trouble! She was clearly enough of a main character to keep around, but no one ever bothered explaining where she went. Hmmm...
Eric’s Going To Africa
Topher Grace got the opportunity to be in Spiderman 3. That meant that Eric Forman had to be written off of the show, sadly. But certainly, the writers could have done a better job than slingshotting him halfway across the world to Africa. They put together a really shoddy reason for the laziest character on the show finally showing some gumption to do something with his life. Fans were probably excited for his travels, but it was lazy writing.
Where’s Schatzi?
During the events of “What Is And What Should Never Be,” Kitty is overjoyed and thinks she’s pregnant, only to find out she’s begun menopause. Red got her a puppy to take care of, to try and cheer her up a little bit. And it seemed to work for a little while. Schatzi wasn’t on the show long and Eric accidentally dropped a statue on his head, but he wasn't seen after that. It was just never explained what happened to him next or where the dog ran off to.
The Timeline
When the show started, the gang were in 1976. It took eight years to get to 1980. That’s not uncommon for a TV show, but it does get a little odd when Christmas gets celebrated twice a year!
Considering the show has had all sorts of fun parodies over the years, this could have been comically explained with a trippy sci-fi episode. But instead, the crazy timeline is just a victim of sitcom planning. Sigh.
Big Rhonda
That 70’s Show did a decent job at introducing new supporting characters during the years. It made the world feel a little more fleshed out. But the series wasn’t as good at writing supporting characters out of the show. And Big Rhonda was no different. She debuted at the start of season four and even dated Fez! When the creep made a move on her that she didn’t like, she choked him out. She had real gumption! But we never saw her again, it would have been nice to see another look at a character who had some decent moments.
Red Isn’t As Stern As He Thinks
For all the times he threatens people with a foot in their derrière, you’d think Red would be a lot more of a disciplinarian than he claims to be.
Meanwhile, he turns a blind eye to all of the ongoings if his promiscuous daughter. Not to mention allowing his son to be superiorly lazy, and allowing delinquents to hang around his house all of the time.
Where’s Randy In The Finale?
The bulk of the show’s fans did not take to Randy at all. With all due respect to Josh Myers, his performance just didn’t fit in with the rest of cast. He wasn’t a suitable replacement for Charlie, let alone Eric and Kelso. But that doesn’t mean he didn’t deserve, at the very least, a mention in the final half hour of the show. He was just gone — as if he never existed. Which might have been the best way to the end the show, a season earlier.
Red Forgot He Found The Circle
Maybe everything the kids did in the basement found it’s way upstairs. How else could you explain Red totally forgetting that he’s caught them before! He finds them smoking in Eric’s last episode “Til The Next Goodbye,” but he’s definitely found them before that. Eric even admitted he did it too when Red kicked Steven out. Some stern father he is...
Jackie And Fez?!
Years and years of practically forcing himself on Jackie finally paid off for Fez during the bad final season. Jackie decided she actually had feelings for him. However, he didn’t want to be Jackie’s replacement for Hyde or Kelso or whoever, so he was going to head back to his home county.
If you ask me, the relationship should have never happened from a character standpoint. We’ll never get to see their eventual and inevitable break-up, it happened at some point in the eighties.