For a show that focused on a group of teens in Wisconsin, you would think that not much would happen, right?
Wrong!
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That ’70s Show was full of so many crazy moments both on-screen and off. This includes actors being replaced, people lying about their age, and so much more.
Here are 10+ behind-the-scenes secrets about That ’70s Show .
1. Mila Kunis lied about her age to get on the show:
Mila was only 14 when she auditioned for the role of 18-year-old Jackie Burkhart.
In 2012, she told Jay Leno on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno all about her crafty fib” “Legally I was 14, but I told them I was a little bit older…”
“I told them I was gonna be 18, which is not technically a lie, cause at one point… I was gonna be 18.”
When the producers found out Mila’s real age, it was too late. She was far too perfect for the part!
We just feel a bit bad for Ashton since kissing someone so young must have been weird…
2. Tommy Chong’s disappearance from the show was linked to the actor serving jail time:
The actor who played the loveable Leo Chingkwake disappeared in Season 5 to serve nine months of jail time.
As it turns out, his company, Nice Dreams, was selling marijuana paraphernalia. So not groovy, baby.
3. Ashton Kutcher was Mila’s first kiss:
This story is made even more adorable by the fact that the pair are now married with kids!
“My first real kiss ever was with him on the show,” she told W Magazine in 2014.
“And when That ’70s Show had a prom, my date for the prom turned out to be my fiancee.”
She continued:
“We can honestly say that we went to prom together! Although I do think that in that episode I went home with someone else. We don’t talk about that part.”
4. The show was one of the first to feature a kiss between two men:
This iconic moment happened between Topher Grace (Eric) and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Buddy).
This happened in Season 1 when Buddy, a friend of Eric’s, let it be known that he wanted something more with him.
When the two shared a kiss, this happened during a time where that was unheard of.
Eric, however, didn’t feel the same about Buddy and he let him know that.
Soon after, Buddy disappeared from the show after just one episode.
5. The actress who played Eric’s older sister was replaced:
This happened a few times during the series due to the original actress, Lisa Robin Kelly, struggling with alcohol abuse.
This caused her to first leave the show in 2003, only to return in Season 5 and then leave again.
Eventually, she was replaced permanently by Christina Moore at the start of Season 6.
“With That ’70s Show, I was guilty of a drinking problem, and I ran,” she later told ABC News .
Sadly, the actress died at the age of 43 due to drug intoxication.
6. Ashton Kutcher played a lot of pranks on his castmates:
This was all for his popular MTV show, Punk’d where he pranked close friends and fellow celebrities.
Of his That ’70s Show cast, he pranked Mila Kunis, Laura Prepon, Danny Masterson, and Wilmer Valderrama.
7. The show was almost called *Teenage Wastland*:
Executive producer Tom Werner once explained how the title of That ’70s Show eventually came to be:
“Teenage Wasteland was our tentative title. It was on the first draft, but we couldn’t get the rights to it from The Who. So we went back to the drawing board and came up with 30 titles.”
One of these titles included *The Kids Are Alright*, another Who song.
“Finally, [co-creator] Bonnie Turner says, ‘You know, why don’t we just call it That ’70s Show? Because that’s what everyone is going to end up calling it anyway. No matter what we come up with…’ We all looked at her and said, ‘You’re right.’ It was inspired.”
8. Will Forte turned down *SNL* to keep writing for *That ’70s Show*:
The Last Man on Earth actor was scared of losing the stability he had on That ’70s Show .
He told Indie Wire : “I knew that being on ‘SNL’ was ultimately my biggest dream, so there was some weird part of me that thought, ‘Oh, if I do it and then fail, then I’ve destroyed my dream and if I don’t do it, then somehow the dream is still out there,’ which is kinda crazy. So I turned it down.”
When the offer to do *SNL* came around the second time, he finally took it.
It’s a good thing he did, since he went on to make people laugh on the show for eight years.
This led to his iconic skits, such as “MacGruber” and “The Falconer.
9. Ashton Kutcher had never done any acting before auditioning for the show:
He had only worked as a model. This caused the actor to worry a lot about his performance.
“The first five episodes of That ’70s Show, I was convinced I was going to be fired, because I was terrible,” Kutcher told Rolling Stone .
10. Topher Grace thought he was not enough for the cast:
A lot of these rumors stemmed from the actor not doing much socializing with the cast after-hours.
“I was, of that cast, the most boring. So when it came to going out after the show and partying, I just was boring,” he told The Hollywood Reporter in 2018.
11. Rock music was a prominent part of the show:
The Who wasn’t the only band the producers were obsessed with.
In Season 3, Gene Simmons from Kiss made a cameo. Then, later seasons had band-themed episode titles. For example, Season 8 was all about the band Queen.
12. Kurtwood Smith used his late stepdad as inspiration for his role as Red Forman:
“I did not write any of those jokes, but when I first auditioned for the role and from then on, I always had my stepdad in mind…” the actor told AV Club in 2014.
“And he passed away just before I did the pilot. Like, a month or so before…”
He continued:
“For it to go on that long, eight years, and to have a character that meant as much to me as he did personally… well, that was special.”
