TELEVISION Tonight, Kutcher bids farewell to his role on 'That '70s Show'
The 27-year-old actor is producing a reality series for the WB.
By TERRY MORROW
SCRIPPS HOWARD
Ashton Kutcher isn't letting go of "That '70s Show" easily.
"For me, personally, if I don't step outside of my comfort zone then there is no room for me to grow," says Kutcher, who is leaving the Fox sitcom in tonight's episode (8 p.m.).
"And for me, stepping outside this show is stepping outside my comfort zone, and I want to try and grow from that."
You'd think Kutcher would have no problem walking away from the "'70s."
The show introduced him as lamebrain Mike Kelso to audiences. He took the attention and ran with it.
Branching out
But it has been his outside projects that have heightened his profile.
"Punk'd," his MTV prank series, allowed audiences to see him as a devilish master of celebrity jokes. Movies such as "Dude, Where's My Car?" and "Just Married" have entrenched his image as a likable dimwit and light romantic lead.
The 27-year-old former model is hardly anyone's fool. He's branching out into producing as well.
"Beauty and the Geek," his new reality series matching nerdy men with sexy women, premieres next month on the WB.
"I constantly think I am going to fail as an actor so I better have something else to do," Kutcher says.
He says he is not happy with the quality of the movie scripts he sees.
"Generally the scripts you are offered are not the ones you want to see," he says. "I've got to go find the [movies] I want to do. I like that position, though, because it gives me [a sense of] ownership of the role."
A love for series TV
With two movies in theaters now and another one on tap for 2006, Kutcher seems poised for a big-screen career, but he says he is not straying far from television roots.
"I never want to leave series television," he says. "I think it's an amazing medium in which you get to touch millions of people's lives on a weekly basis, and I like that."
He credits "'70s" with giving him a sense of professionalism. On the day they tape an episode, he shows up wearing a suit and tie out of respect for the crew, he says.
Though there have been stories of tension on the set -- especially between him and co-star Topher Grace -- Kutcher says he is leaving the show, which has been renewed for one more season, feeling positive about the experience, and will return for guest appearances.
Grace, who plays Eric Foreman, is also exiting on the same episode.
"It will be hard to say goodbye to my castmates," Kutcher says, "but this is something I need to do."