Eric Forman

Eric Albert Forman (born March 5, 1960) is a fictional character in the Fox Network's That '70s Show, portrayed by Topher Grace. Eric is based on the adolescence of show creator Mark Brazill. Most of the show takes place at the Formans' home, particularly in the basement, where he and his five friends hang out.

Eric's family includes his doting mother, Kitty Forman, who had impending separation anxiety and menopause, his crabby father, Red Forman, who is a strict Korean War military veteran, and his older sister, Laurie Forman, who is a promiscuous blonde who uses her looks to get what she wants. Eric's best friend, Steven Hyde, who was essentially abandoned by his parents, later becomes his foster brother. Eric was the show's protagonist from seasons one through seven until he was written out due to Grace's departure from the series. However, despite Eric's absence, he is mentioned in every episode of season eight. He makes a brief cameo appearance in the final episode titled "That '70s Finale".

That '70s Show

That '70s Show is an American television period sitcom that originally aired on Fox from August 23, 1998, to May 18, 2006. The series focused on the lives of a group of teenage friends living in the fictional suburban town of Point Place, Wisconsin, from May 17, 1976, to December 31, 1979.

The main teenage cast members were Topher Grace, Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher, Danny Masterson, Laura Prepon, and Wilmer Valderrama. The main adult cast members were Debra Jo Rupp, Kurtwood Smith, Don Stark, and Tanya Roberts.

Production

Opening

Theme song

The show usually opens with the theme song, "In the Street", written by Alex Chilton and Chris Bell of the band Big Star. The original version of the song appeared on Big Star's 1972 debut album #1 Record. In 2000, Chilton confirmed that he was paid $70 in royalties each time the show aired, an amount he thought ironic, given the show's title.

Big Star's original version of the song was not used on the show. Instead, a cover version sung by Todd Griffin was used as the theme song for the show's first season. Beginning in the second season, the theme song was performed by the band Cheap Trick. Unlike previous versions of the song, Cheap Trick ended the song with the repeated phrase "We're all all right!", quoting the ending of their 1978 hit song "Surrender".

Eric

The given name Eric, Erik, or Erick is derived from the Old Norse name Eiríkr (or Eríkr in Eastern Scandinavia due to monophthongization). The first element, ei- is derived either from the older Proto-Norse *aina(z) meaning "one" or "alone" or from Proto-Norse *aiwa(z) meaning "ever" or "eternal". The second element -ríkr derives either from *rík(a)z meaning "ruler" or "prince" (cf. Gothic reiks) or from an even older Proto-Germanic *ríkiaz which meant "powerful" and "rich". The name is thus usually taken to mean "one ruler", "autocrat", "eternal ruler" or "ever powerful", "warrior", and "government".

The most common spelling in Scandinavia is Erik. In Norway, another form of the name (which has kept the Old Norse diphthong) Eirik is also commonly used. In Finland, the form Erkki is also used. The modern Icelandic version is Eiríkur, while the modern Faroese version is Eirikur. Éric [eʁik] is used in French, and in Germany Eric, Erik and Erich are used.

Although the name was in use in Anglo-Saxon England, its use was reinforced by Scandinavian settlers arriving before the Norman Invasion. It was an uncommon name in England until the Middle Ages, when it gained popularity, and finally became a common name in the 19th century. This was partly because of the publishing of the novel Eric, or, Little by Little by Frederick William Farrar in 1858.

Topher Grace

Christopher John "Topher" Grace (/ˈtoʊfər/; born July 12, 1978) is an American actor. He is known for his portrayal of Eric Forman on the Fox sitcom That '70s Show, Eddie Brock/Venom in the Sam Raimi film Spider-Man 3, Carter Duryea in the film In Good Company and Edwin in the 2010 film Predators.

Early life

Grace was born in New York City, New York, the son of Pat, an assistant to the schoolmaster of the New Canaan Country School, and John Grace, a Madison Avenue executive. He has a sister, Jenny.

Grace grew up in Darien, Connecticut, where actress Kate Bosworth was a middle-school friend; and actress Chloë Sevigny — who later appeared with him in high school stage plays — was sometimes his babysitter.

Career

Grace was cast as Eric Forman on Fox's That '70s Show, which debuted in 1998. He played the role until season 7. His character was written out and replaced with a new character named Randy Pearson (Josh Meyers). Grace made a brief guest appearance in the final episode.

Grace plays a prep school student who uses cocaine and introduces his girlfriend to freebasing in director Steven Soderbergh's 2000 film Traffic, as well as having uncredited cameos as himself in Soderbergh's Ocean's Eleven and its 2004 sequel, Ocean's Twelve. "The joke is that you're supposed to play the worst version of yourself and I don't think too many people are comfortable with that. I never thought for a second that people were really going to think that's what I was like. I think that people will know that I was faking it in those movies," he told Flaunt magazine in 2007. He planned to cameo in Ocean's Thirteen; but, because of his role in Spider-Man 3, he had to abandon these plans. As Grace said, "I was doing reshoots on Spider-Man 3. I was bummed. I actually talked to Steven Soderbergh about that and we had a thing and then I couldn’t do it." He also appeared in director Mike Newell's 2003 film Mona Lisa Smile.

Eric Foreman

Eric Foreman, M.D., is a fictional character on the Fox medical drama House. He is portrayed by Omar Epps.

Background

A neurologist, Foreman was a member of Dr. Gregory House's handpicked team of specialists at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital's Diagnostic Medicine Department. He was hired by House merely three days prior to the series' pilot episode (as implied in a deleted scene of the pilot).

Foreman attended Columbia University as an undergraduate before matriculating at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. In the pilot episode, he mentioned he had a 4.0 GPA through medical school, a fact confirmed by Dr. James Wilson in "Histories".

Little is known about Foreman's past, although it has been suggested that his family was not very well-off and his parents are currently living on a pension (cf. "Histories"). Foreman was also a former juvenile delinquent who once burglarized houses and stole cars. (House claims that this was a major factor in his decision to hire Foreman, that Foreman's delinquent past makes him useful in identifying misbehaving patients.) His father, Rodney (who appears in the episodes "Euphoria, Part 2" and "House Training"), is deeply religious, while his mother is unfit to travel, due to Alzheimer's disease; Foreman also has a brother, Marcus (played by Orlando Jones), who was incarcerated for drug possession until the season 6 episode Moving the Chains. Although he has a somewhat strained relationship with his parents, the show depicts them as loving, though his father is emotionally distant.