Despite how bizarre the last season got, there was something really special about That '70s Show. It captured the nostalgic essence of the 1970s while still telling a timeless story about growing up. The kids in the basement went through real-world issues and zany hijinks, while upstairs the parents also had full lives. It's a classic for a reason. No matter how many times we've watched it, this sitcom will always be a fun one to go back to.
That said, there were a lot of weird things that went down in Point Place, Wisconsin, and a lot of them involved Donna and Eric's on-again, off-again relationship. Here are 20 times that Donna and Eric's relationship got gross, mean, or downright weird.
20 Eric Kisses Someone Else, Then Tells Donna The Other Girl Was A Better Kisser Than Her
By Season 1, Episode 9 of That '70s Show, Donna and Eric have already kissed and begun their romance. But then Eric's sister Laurie brings her friend Kate home for Thanksgiving. Kate and Eric make out, and when he tells Donna about it, he calls their make-out sesh "real kissing." Ouch.
19 Donna Uses Eric To Get Back At Her Parents During Their Messy Divorce
In the first couple of seasons of That '70s Show, Donna's parents are trying and failing to make their crumbling marriage work. Whenever they get especially weird or dysfunctional, Donna acts out - and most of the time, this involves getting into trouble with Eric. Eric knows she uses him to get back at her parents and even jokes about it.
18 Eric Pantses Donna In Front Of All Their Male Friends, Then Laughs At Her Choice Of Underwear
Season 3, Episode 15: "Donna's Panties." During a basketball game in the driveway with their friends, Eric pulls down Donna's pants when she goes for a slam dunk and then joins in with their friends when they laugh at her granny panties. It's meant as a harmless prank, but Donna is understandably furious. By Season 3, she isn't just "one of the guys" anymore - she's Eric's girlfriend.
17 Hyde And Kelso Bully Eric For Being A Virgin
Halfway through Season 2, Donna surprises Eric by climbing up to his bedroom window in the middle of the night and sleeping with him in his bed. They're both very happy with how the night went, until Hyde and Kelso hear about it and berate Eric for not trying to have sex with Donna. Naturally, the next time Donna climbs through his window, they don't have as good a time.
16 Eric Loves... Cake?
It takes Donna a season and a half to work up the nerve to tell Eric she loves him. When she does, it takes Eric completely by surprise, and instead of telling her he loves her too, he blurts out that he loves cake. Eric is never exactly a smooth operator, but this was definitely one of his weirder moves.
15 Donna Is A Strident Feminist, Yet Ignores Eric's Misogyny
Donna is a woman slightly ahead of her time. She takes no guff from anyone, believes in women's equality, and always talks about the importance of women going to college and being able to support themselves. Eric is more in line with the times, still making sexist comments about his sister and female friends and expecting Donna to defer to him in their relationship. Why she puts up with it is anyone's guess.
14 Eric Tries To Pressure Donna Into Committing With A Promise Ring, Then Dumps Her When She Says She's Not Ready
In Season 3, Eric and Kelso go shopping for promise rings for their girlfriends. Eric thinks Donna will be thrilled with the gift, but she's hesitant such a big commitment at such a young age. Eric feels slighted and makes her choose: him and the ring, or break up. She tearfully chooses to end the relationship.
13 Donna Is Constantly Getting Eric Into Trouble With School, His Parents, And The Cops
At the start of the series, Eric is a reasonably well-behaved kid who gets into the occasional bit of trouble. Once he starts dating Donna, he gets suspended from school for smoking (he wasn't smoking the cigarette - she was, to get her parents' attention) and in trouble with the cops on more than one occasion - once for throwing a kegger in an abandoned pool (awesome) and another time for having sex in his car.
12 Eric Is Shamelessly Attracted To Donna's Mom
All of the boys on That '70s Show find Midge Pinciotti attractive. And this would be just fine, except that Eric is dating her daughter. There's even a scene in Season 1, Episode 21 where Eric gets in the mood to make out with Donna after she talks about seeing her mother naked. That happens.
11 Donna Confides In Jackie About Her Relationship - Not Eric
Despite being a hilariously entertaining character to watch, Jackie is a gossip who constantly needles Donna for details about her relationship with Eric and causes problems where there were none before. The worst case is in Season 2, when Donna tells Jackie that her first time sleeping with Eric was a bit awkward. Jackie tells Kelso, and soon Eric is humiliated by all his friends for his performance. Yikes.
10 Eric Tries To Kiss His Own Cousin
Season 4, Episode 14 is a very weird episode of That '70s Show. In an attempt to get back at him for bullying her as children, Eric's cousin Penny tells him that she was adopted, seduces him, then makes the family think he tried to molest her. While Penny is clearly a screwed-up person to do what she did, there's no ignoring that, "adopted" or not, Eric was ready to make out with his cousin.
9 Donna Shamed Eric In A Story She Knew The Whole School Would Read
Halfway through Season 4, Donna gets one of her short stories published in the school paper. She uses thinly-veiled versions of herself and Eric as characters, and tells the story of their relationship, painting Eric in worst possible light. The whole school sees right through it and Eric gets a lot of hate from the other girls.
8 Eric Slut-Shamed Donna For Mooning In The Background Of A Yearbook Photo
Donna, being a tomboy and a bit of a goof, decides to moon in a photo taken during a pep rally. The photo ends up in the school yearbook, and while the rest of the gang find it funny, Eric is furious that she would expose herself to other people, even as a joke. He eventually comes around and apologizes, but not before saying that her butt belongs to him. Um...
7 Eric Kills Her Cat, Then Lies About It
Look, accidents happen. In Season 2, Eric is talking with his father while pulling his car into the garage and accidentally runs over Mr. Bonkers, Donna's childhood pet. It's clearly a tragic mishap. When she gets worried and starts looking for him, he's so afraid to tell her the truth that he lies and says he hasn't seen Mr. Bonkers. He lets her believe the cat ran away for so long that when he finally does fess up to the accident, she's understandably angry.
6 They Constantly Get Jealous Of Each Other's New Flames
Maybe this is just to be expected when you hang out with your first love on a near-daily basis, but Donna and Eric are not very mature when it comes to seeing each other with anybody else. On the occasions when they do date other people, they criticize their choices and even try to make each other jealous.
5 Eric Wants Donna To Spend Less Time At Her Job And More Time Pleasing Him
In Season 3, Donna gets a dream job as Hot Donna, a DJ and personality on the local public radio station. Eric immediately gets worried that once she starts getting used to hanging out with musicians, she'll dump him, so he starts guilting her into spending more time on their relationship and less time on her career.
4 Donna Gives Up Her Lifelong Dream Of College To Make Their Relationship Work
Donna has, from Season 1, lauded the importance of women attending college and has declared that she will not become one of those women who never leaves her small town because she married too soon and left herself without options for independence. But, when Red has a heart attack and Eric decides to stay home from college to help support his family, Donna defers college and then never speaks of it again.
3 They Get Engaged As Broke Teenagers
Eric and Donna get engaged in Season 5, without any money, their own place, or career prospects. They do this despite having comfortable homes next door to one another and no reasons to rush into marriage. It just seemed as though the engagement was a way to ensure that they didn't drift apart in college - which is a terrible reason to get engaged.
2 Eric Skips Town Right Before Their Wedding, Then Calls It Off Out Of Nowhere
Eric's concern that they're moving too fast is legit, and his concern that he'll hold Donna back is really sweet. But, instead of discussing his thoughts maturely with his fiancée, he runs away before the wedding rehearsal, disappears for days, and then calls the wedding off upon his return. He could have been a voice of reason in all this, and instead scares everyone who cares about them and breaks Donna's heart. Why.
1 Eric Ditches Donna For A Random Job In Africa
Okay, sure, Topher Grace was leaving the show and the writers needed an excuse to have him leave Point Place. But the way they wrote it was just awful. Considering that in previous seasons he pressured her to commit, tried to keep her from pursuing a career, proposed marriage, and then cancelled the wedding, leaving her in Point Place without even discussing it with her first is by far the worst thing Eric did in the series.
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