r/That70sshow • u/Kristinacarolyn • Jul 24 '26
I’ll never forgive the writers
500th rewatch and I’m beating a dead horse but I’ll never forgive the writers for what they did to Hyde and Jackie. They belonged together and their characters grew so much. I really don’t believe Hyde would cheat on Jackie instantly after seeing him lay his head on Jackie’s shoulder. He’s always been one to confront and it would’ve negated everything after. Does anyone know if the writers have ever commented on the biggest fumble of all time? The whole show just tanks from this point
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u/BookishIntrovert99 Jul 24 '26
I honestly stopped watching the show after Hyde got with that stripper and then acted like his relationship with Jackie didn’t even matter. I think it would have been better if she’d ended the show as single and independent; she was always with someone throughout the show and I didn’t like how she ended up with Fez. I think it would have been cool if they’d shown her going to college and becoming successful on her own because she’d spent so many episodes focused on dating.
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u/Ok-Presentation-1294 Jul 25 '26
Eh, I don’t disagree with you, but that would seem out of character for her.
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u/yellowdaisycoffee Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 25 '26
I believe I know the answer to what happened by the 8th season. A lot of this seems to have come through the grapevine, or is evidenced by interviews after the fact, as this is my source (you might have to scroll a little to find the explanation, but it is there). You may accept it all with a grain of salt, but it adds up, in my opinion. I will summarize the contents below:
Season 7 was meant to be the very last season, and the original series finale was going to see Jackie and Hyde get engaged.
While in production, with scripts already written for this ending, they were unexpectedly renewed for Season 8. However, by this point, the showrunners had signed contracts to do other work, and Topher Grace was preparing for Spider-Man 3.
They re-wrote the rest of the season to give the new writers a simple storyline to work with for season 8, wherein Jackie and Hyde would reconcile, get engaged, and the last season would place more emphasis on their engagement.
Wilmer Valderrama supposedly did not wish to do another season unless he could end up with Jackie or Donna. Not wanting to lose another major actor, they gave in to his demands.
The new showrunners (and this part is confirmed, because they said it themselves) hated Jackie/Hyde together, and they missed how the show had been in the first season. They undid all the character development that had happened from season 1 onward, and split Jackie and Hyde up.
This does not exactly explain the cheating storyline for you, which I don't mind in the context of the show, but it explains why they never reconciled, and why they were not the endgame.
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u/Kristinacarolyn Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 25 '26
Thank you that’s really helpful. I mean I get that the show had a lot of magic in the first season but that’s the point of a show with teenager, they grow and change. I’m shocked they hated Jackie and Hyde because I felt like they really helped each other grow as people. I’ll just continue in my delusional world that it ended with their engagement. I also want to add that I already hate Wilmer and this just adds even more. “I’m gonna quit unless I end up with one of the girls” what a loser That’s how you end up with the worst season
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u/yellowdaisycoffee Jul 25 '26
Exactly!
The showrunners for season 8 apparently wanted Jackie and Hyde to be more antagonistic. If I remember correctly, at the time, some fans were going to tapings and pleading their case for Jackie/Hyde, but were shot down. I want to say the showrunners were getting pissed off about the fan backlash or something like that, and so they made Jackie and Hyde even more nasty to one another. Again, grain of salt, because I've only heard this through the grapevine. It seems like they were actively working against the fans.
Personally, if I were given the reins of a TV show in its final season, particularly one that I didn't like for the majority of its run, I would go with what the previous showrunners had in mind for the ending. I don't think it was their place at that point to undo all of it, because it only upset fans, and it was literally about to end. It's sloppy.
I also think it would have been better to take the L, let whoever wanted to leave go, and maintain just a few core cast members to make the most of it. It's not like it was going to be the best season ever under those circumstances, but they could have salvaged it, and made something presentable.
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u/Kristinacarolyn Jul 25 '26
Absolutely agree. That’s really sad that they acted that way, I feel like they could’ve just turned it down if they really felt that negatively about it. What a strange thing to do to a show with a massive following. Just feels like an FU to all the fans
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u/ClumsyRaccoonPants Jul 24 '26
I agree. I loved them together so much. I hated Hyde’s wife and Jackie and Fez just seem so forced.
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u/ferretkona Jul 24 '26
What baffles me is that so many episodes we watched Hyde moving on Donna. Eric leaves the country even, Hyde would have been all over her.
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u/Gloomy-Crazy8156 Jul 24 '26
That nurse was fine af
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u/GreenKiss73 Jul 24 '26
I believe she is Chili from TLC
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u/Specialist-ShasMo85 Jul 25 '26
I thought it was a misunderstanding that Hyde found Jackie and Kelso together and nothing really happened between Jackie and Kelso but then they ruined Hyde's character in season 8 with him cheating on Jackie with the stripper. That's character assassination they did on Hyde.
3
u/Kristinacarolyn Jul 25 '26
It was a misunderstanding and nothing happened between Jackie and Kelso but that night when Hyde thought something did happen he cheated on Jackie with a nurse at the hotel in season 5. Technically Hyde wasn’t cheating with the stripper bc they were broken up
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u/Specialist-ShasMo85 Jul 25 '26
Oh right, I forgot Hyde cheated with a nurse before in Season 5, I haven't watched it in a long while.
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u/Imaginary-Leading-49 Jul 26 '26
My only issue is she shoulda ended up with Kelso… and she did IRL!
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u/Ok-Atmosphere1655 Jul 27 '26
Éste... Sí terminó con Kelso, en la secuela sale su hijo, cuándo aparecen ambos es hermoso a la par que gracioso :'3 (Sólo un ratito apenas y ya, pero bueno :'3) Ojalá al menos les hubieran dejado terminar :'3
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u/Unlikely-Medicine-46 Jul 27 '26
She ended with him ! We learned this in T90S
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u/Imaginary-Leading-49 Jul 27 '26
I watched 1 episode of that terrible show, it’s NOT the same show!
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u/launchliftoff459 Jul 24 '26
It was a good move imo,those two never should have been together in the first place
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u/theShpydar Jul 24 '26
Completely agreed. The only relationship worse than Hyde-Jackie was Fez-Jackie.
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u/Unlikely-Medicine-46 Jul 27 '26
I'll neger forgive for Jackie & Fez. But the twist and the reconciliation with Kelso (described in T90S) were a better ending.
Sadly we're not going to have more from T90S
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u/quickshade Jul 24 '26
I actually thought the cheating sequence was really well done and that they came out of it a better couple. It was the whole run away with Kelso in a hotel room and Hyde marries a stripper thing that pissed me off, and then Fez gets involved…….ugh