102 - Eric's Birthday

Episode Synopsis: Kitty wants to throw Eric a surprise birthday party, but it's not a surprise and he doesn't want one anyway. Laurie visits from college and the boys go gaga. Donna doesn't know how to handle the change in her relationship with Eric, and asks Jackie for advice.

Theme: Coming of Age

Music Break: 8-Track vs. Casette

Cassette vs 8-Track diagram

The Moody Blues 8-track tape

In-car 8-track player

Eagles cassette tape

1976 SONY TC-K4 cassette player radio

Vintage ad for Hitachi combo player

Woke or Joke: Coded Racism

Burn of the Week Winner: Laurie

Fact Checking:

• The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1982 was a bill that penalized any state that continued to allow persons under 21 to purchase or publicly possess alcohol by reducing that state's annual federal highway apportionment by 10%. Interestingly, the bill did not make it illegal to *drink* alcohol, just purchase or publicly possess, however some states chose to extend the law into an outright ban. This difference in language, while seemingly small distinction more pedantic than useful, proves that the NMDAA did not, as Louisa stated, come about as coercion by the government with money *given* as the reward for raising the drinking age, but was in fact a penalty for not following suit. Sorry, Louisa. Do your research next time. ❌