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The Unfortunate Problem With That '70s Show's Donna Pinciotti
Mar 31, 2025
Laura Prepon's Donna Pinciotti was of of the most important characters in That 70's Show. She may not have been as popular as Forman, Kelso, or even Fez, but her character was the backbone to what made That 70's Show so successful. That is, until the show's final season after Topher Grace and Ashton Kutcher left the series. That 70's Show took Donna and completely ruined her characters arc and the heart of the series.
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As you know, I'm on the pill, so here is your copy of the prophylactic waiver
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Oh, it looks like we have a deal here. I'm looking forward to consummation. Excellent. Thank you. This is Donna Pinciotti, and this is how Donna ended up during that 70s show's abysmal final season
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Hi, honey. Thank you for the postcard with the monkeys. I'm still bananas about you two
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Over the course of the eight seasons that the show dominated airwaves
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Donna was developed into one of the most interesting and endearing characters on TV
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and then completely kneecapped during the show's legacy-tarnishing slalom towards its ultimate conclusion
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Laura Prepon's Donnie Pinciotti might not be the first character you think of
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when you picture the cast of That 70s Show. But on a closer look, she really is one of the breakout characters
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Well, hey, Eric, do I want your balls back? Okay, now look, that's a little uncalled for
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Oh, uh, yeah, thanks. Culturally, she was just overshadowed by Fez's cartoonish accent
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or Kelso's idiotic comedic sensibilities. In fact, most of the characters on That 70s Show
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had clearly defined narrative real estate that they lived in. But Donna was a bit more loosely defined early on in the show
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which gave her more room to grow and change. Donna was literally and figuratively the girl next door in the show
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but she was also so much more than that. She was a complicated person with a distinct background viewpoint and wry sense of humor
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Oh, believe me, Donna, I'd love to go, but Red said I can't. Well, he can kick my ass
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Eric, I can kick your ass. We also got to witness Topher Grace's Eric Foreman grow and mature through his relationship
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with Donna. They complemented each other and yet were also polar opposites
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That was the joy of the early seasons of the show, seeing these two seemingly unlikely
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lovers bounce off of each other and learn and grow from their mistakes. This dynamic and all of its
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complexities are laid out in the show inaugural episode the climax of which is Donna and Eric Foreman sitting on the hood of a flashy Vista cruiser that Eric father explicitly told him not to take out of town And yet thanks to Donna encouragement Eric and the gang used the car to attend a Todd Rundgren concert
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Coming down off the high of this youthful rebellion, Donna and Eric bond, simmering with romantic tension
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In some ways, Donna is presented as the manic pixie dream girl trope, but Creepon's performance is so self-assured and nimbly humorous
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that the rote elements of her role's initial characterization pale in comparison to the magic on the screen
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The pilot climaxes with a quintessential high school moment, Eric Forman not seizing the opportunity and going in for the kiss
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So what does Donna do? She chooses to take the initiative, sealing their burgeoning romance
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with a single goodnight kiss. What was that for? I just wanted to see what it was like
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What was it like? You were there? Under normal sitcom narrative construction
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this would have happened dozens of episodes and countless seasons into the run of a show
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The Office took four seasons to finally get Jim and Pam together
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For New Girl, it took six seasons to finally seal the deal with Nick and Jess
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A normal sitcom wants to build an emotional investment in the two leads' emotional dynamic prior to eventually getting them together
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This is the pilot of that 70s show. We understand from the jump that Donna isn't going to be your average love interest
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She's going to be an equal partner in the show as it develops. And over the first season, we see countless examples of Donna's complexities
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and intricately woven emotional life written across the series. Like in episode 7 of the first season
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where Donna chooses to sing and dance the night away with Eric, recreating the ABBA music they just witnessed together
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as a means of helping them both evolve. Donna and Eric quickly become the central narrative nucleus
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that the show revolves around. They are the emotional heart of the program
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The show does a masterful job of illustrating why someone in Donna's position needs, enjoys, and loves
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someone like Eric Foreman. It all stems back to her relationship with her parents
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Bob and Midge. Midge is a free spirit and Bob is more of a loud out there
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ladies man. Midge ends up leaving Bob since she was unhappy with being a housewife
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And Bob subscribed to more of the man of the house sensibilities of the time When Donna sees in Eric is the exact opposite a progressive with a non physique and an intricate knowledge of Star Wars and this is charming to her Donna goes through five seasons of characterization
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She has ups and downs, breakups with Eric, starts dating Luke Wilson's Casey Kelso in season four
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Come here, little guy. Okay. All right. Okay. All right. Good to see you. Okay. Okay. All right
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OK, OK. Then, in season five, gets back together with Eric, and we see how much they've matured, but are stronger together
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Despite the fact that Donna is in control for much of her relationship with Eric
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the later seasons seem to lose the thread with her character. In season five, they get engaged
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However, Eric stands Donna up on the wedding day, only to return saying he was scared
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All I knew was that I... Donna, I think we were about to make a huge mistake
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I'm sure there's a good version of this storyline that painted Donna in an empowering light
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but it just feels weird and wrong that the show is doing all of this to her and that she's not
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the person dictating how things turn out. Because that's been basically her role the entire show
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This goes all the way back to the pilot when she's the one to initiate that first kiss
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During season seven, Tover Grace and Ashton Kutcher were negotiating to leave the show
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to pursue other opportunities. And by the time season eight rolled around
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the narrative runway was already out from underneath the show. Because Tover Grace wasn't going to be there, Eric Foreman had decided to take a gap year and
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move to Africa, leaving Donna in the lurch despite the fact that she had deferred her college choices
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in order to be with him. Kelso is also only in five episodes of the final season. It's just a
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train wreck. The idea of Eric hurting Donna in this way is counter to both of the establishing
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characters. Him doing it violates the exact reasons why she loves him. Therefore, in later episodes
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where he returns, she would never take him back. It's very apparent from the beginning of season eight
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that the showrunners did not know what to do with Donna. They were trapped into only viewing her
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through the Eric-shaped box they had put her in. After initially trying to introduce
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a new Eric Standen named Charlie, they wrote him out of the show. Therefore Josh Myers was cast as Randy Pearson The showrunners decided to introduce Randy as equal parts Eric and Kelso He could fill the narrative shoes of both of them but also be presented as a potential love interest to Donna
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which is as horrible as it sounds. Randy's whole thing is that everyone thinks he's perfect
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even Red likes him. They taught me how to play their games of chance. Donna must be nice to
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finally have a boyfriend who can swing that sledgehammer and get that little black thing
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past seriously hit it. And so that has to mean that Donna would immediately fall in love with
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him, right? It's not like there's seven previous seasons where we learn that Donna doesn't want to
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be with an over-the-top ladies' man like her father. Season 8 just nerves all of Donna's
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character development. Even early on in the season when Eric is in Africa and he's regularly calling
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his mother on the telephone, he never calls Donna. So I asked Mrs. Foreman, is he okay? And she said
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yeah, because he called her last night. She even stays up through the night in one episode waiting
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for him to call, even though he doesn't. In a season filled with terrible ideas like Jackie
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and Fez should get together and what if Hyde marries a stripper, the way Donna is treated is both the most subtly horrible
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and the most frustrating. He had to run the class. So I'm going to go grab a beer
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Following closely behind the incomprehensible Donna and Randy romance storyline for strangest subplot involving
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Donna ever is the running narrative all throughout the final season that sees Kitty and Donna become estranged
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due to some mutually misplaced anger. This doesn't seem like anything that would ever happen
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Donna might as well be Kitty's daughter at this point. And the whole season still takes place in their basement
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Having Kitty and Donna be estranged, but then having her in the basement every episode feels forced and wrong
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And to top it all off, their big reconciliation in the finale just feels completely hollow and unearned
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Like everything in season 8, it just happens because it apparently needs to happen
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By the final episode of the season, when Eric finally returns and he and Donna get back together
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It's too little too late. The show has just belly flopped, dragged Donna
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through the mud, and completely ruined the beautifully unique character that had spent all
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of that time developing. It's really a shame how that 70s show took one of the best and most tightly plotted characters
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and then just said, what if she dated Randy
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