Eric's Birthday

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“Eric's Birthday”
That '70s Show episode

Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 2
Guest stars	Lisa Robin Kelly (Laurie)
Written by	Bonnie Turner, Terry Turner
Directed by	David Trainer
Production no.	102
Original airdate	August 30, 1998
Episode chronology
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"That ’70s Pilot"	"Streaking"
List of That '70s Show episodes

Eric's Birthday is the second episode of the FOX sitcom That '70s Show.

[edit] Plot summary

Kitty is planning a surprise party for Eric's seventeenth birthday, but her cover-ups for the preparations are so poor that Eric knows of the party immediately. Donna has just realized that she has a crush on Eric and wants to get him a present. After having trouble deciding on a present that will be romantic but not embarrassing, she turns to Jackie for help, who suggests that she get him a scented candle. Eric asks his parents for an audio cassette player for his car, stressing the fact that he does not want an 8-track cartridge player.

Meanwhile, Eric's sister Laurie has come home from college for the weekend, and immediately becomes the obsession of Fez and Kelso — the latter succumbing to the delusion that Laurie is hot for him (taking small pieces of the conversation and organizing them to fit this). Laurie wants to borrow the Vista Cruiser which Red just gave to Eric, which she would be using the next day to go to a party with her friends. They make a deal that if Laurie convinces Kitty not to throw the surprise party, she can get the car. Laurie makes a poor attempt to do so at dinner, so after Eric denies her the keys, Red gives Laurie the keys to his Toyota, plus thirty dollars.

That night, Eric has a dream that Donna's birthday gift will be first-time sexual intercourse. The dream starts with Donna showing up on his doorstep in a green night gown, professing her passion for him, then inviting herself inside, and then stripping away her green night gown and informing Eric that she's his present; before he can look upon his fantasy interpretation of Donna's beautifully naked body, his family wakes him up with an unwanted birthday breakfast. He tells his friends of the dream, who predict that it is likely that Donna will indeed sleep with him as his birthday gift.

The surprise party goes as planned despite Eric's efforts. He attempts to escape from the house by the back door, but is stopped by Red. Eric receives, ironically, an 8-track tape player from his parents and a group of cassettes from Hyde. He also receives a shaving kit from an unknown person, which Kitty immediately confiscates as he "won't need them for a long, long time", only to have Midge remind her that Eric's "almost like a man now." To Kitty's disapproval, the parents leave Eric's birthday party to go play Yahtzee at the Pinciottis' house. Kitty throws a mild tantrum about how Eric's friends will take advantage of him without parental supervision, but Red refuses to go back to the party, probably because he knows Eric didn't really want the party to begin with. Kitty starts drinking.

Later that night, Donna gives Eric her present. After shooing away their friends, all of whom want to see what happens, Donna tries batting her eyes at him, hoping that he will think she looks beautiful, mysterious and alluring, but she looks extremely awkward doing it. Eric even asks if she feels sick. She gives him the candle and he lights it. They hold hands and are about to kiss in the porch when a drunken Kitty interrupts the moment, crashing through a group of garbage cans and into the house.

[edit] References to other television shows and movies

The group is watching Petticoat Junction at the beginning of the episode. Hyde is troubled that the characters on the show live in Hooterville, while Donna is disgusted that the daughters on the show bathe with the dog in the town water supply.

[edit] Trivia

While trying to comfort Kitty on Eric's slow but sure descent into manhood, Midge gives Kitty a book that she says helped her and Bob cope with their older daughter, Donna's older sister, going to college. In a subsequent episode, "Eric's Burger Job", we see Donna's younger sister Tina. But by the end of the first season, both Valerie and Tina were written out of the series, leaving Donna as an only child and only daughter of Bob and Midge.