Grazzhopper

It would've been a great one, I'm sure.

MistyMountainHop

Oh, the hijinks! And maybe this double-episode would take place during Jackie's infatuation with Hyde. *makes everything Zennie*

Grazzhopper

Of course...

Kyrene

OK but my favorite is that Tommy Chong leaves when he did because he was in prison for a lot of pot related things and the actor was surprised they didn't write it into the show. Tommy Chong is great.

msstock87

That would have been fun to see!

Dr.PP

I'm glad they didn't replace Tommy with another actor as Leo while he was gone for a while like they did with Laurie Foreman. I really like the way they chose to reintroduce him wandering in the dark when Eric is stranded, so fitting of that character. It's nice that Tommy had a chance to do his thing since Cheech usually takes center on guest spots. It may have been interesting to see Leo cross paths with Christopher Lloyd's character Jim from "Taxi" as a cameo & say what a space case he is.

Was the Roy character was supposed to be a sort of bookmark Hyde-centric figure? He disappeared after Leo's absence.

I read the ideas about showing Leo's wife & son, sounds interesting. I kinda wondered about that & whether it would be explored or was just another randomly unexpected aspect/accomplishment/experience of his.

Also, what you wrote about his dynamic with Hyde, I agree gave the character some weight. It was handled nicely without being on the nose & out of it's own depth.

I wonder what his reaction would be to Jackie's story about the Chinese guy she thought was Leo? When Fez was all upset & playing foosball, didn't Leo say something about how he is Chinese?

MistyMountainHop

Unfortunately, recasting Laurie was a necessity because she was supposed to have a major storyline with Fez in season 6, which the season-5 finale initiated. If they'd been able to case a better actress for the role -- and had the writers stuck to (what I hope was) their original plan for the Laurie/Fez arc, it could've worked.

But recasting Leo couldn't work. Leo is so clearly based on Tommy Chong's characters in the Cheech and Chong movies.

Yeah, that's one of the better parts of season 7.

That would be bizarre.

Leo's absence left an empty space in the show, so the writers created Roy to fill it. Roy and the Holiday Hotel gave Hyde, Kelso, and Eric another place to interact regularly other than the basement, too. But Roy's character is more disturbing than funny.

The way the show explains Leo's absence is meh, imo, since it retcons what created the deeper connection between him and Hyde (i.e. Leo being abandoned by his kids, and Hyde being abandoned by his parents). But the writers were awful at explaining characters' absences (due to cast members leaving the show for one reason or another). So Leo's explanation is par for the course.

And it's clear how much they care about each other. For example, Leo tries to convince Red not to kick Hyde out in "Reefer Madness". Hyde searches all over town when Leo disappears and believes Leo wouldn't abandon him like his parents did. He's so relieved when Leo's cousin Eli gives him Leo's note, and he's happy when he realizes the note is written specifically for him.

Fez calls Leo white, and Leo corrects him by saying he thinks he's Chinese (and Tommy Chong is half-Chinese, so no reason Leo wouldn't be half-Chinese, too).

msstock87

Leo and Hyde's relationship is one of my favorites on the show. They really did care about each other.

MistyMountainHop

And Hyde having at least three adults who truly care about him helps to counteract the message and wounding his parents' abandonment creates.

msstock87

Yes, and Hyde needed that badly!

MistyMountainHop

Definitely. He had a hard enough time trusting people even with Red, Kitty, and Leo in his corner.

msstock87

Yes, and the more trustworthy adults he could have in his life, the better.

MistyMountainHop

He needed better examples of adulthood from the family he grew up with. And I do think that if/when Hyde worked at a job he really enjoyed and cared about, he'd put the effort in instead of going back to his philosophy of, "The more you sleep, the more you earn" -- which he might've picked up from Leo.

msstock87

I think it's good that he had Red, Kitty and even WB to help influence him too. They were pretty good examples of a good work ethic.

MistyMountainHop

And Hyde really wanted to make a good impression on WB. Otherwise, there's no way he would've agreed to that corporate job (that he worked at for a few weeks? A month?).

I wonder how Leo would've responded to Hyde's job of underlining numbers.