Unwanted Surprise Party

A character insists on throwing a surprise party for someone who really doesn't want one.

Perfect Strangers

Appearances

• The Odd Couple: Season 3, episode 10, "Oscar's Birthday" (1972). Felix plans a surprise birthday party for Oscar, even though Oscar explicitly tells him he hates surprise parties.
• The Mary Tyler Moore Show: Season 4, episode 15, "Happy Birthday, Lou!" (1973). Mary throws a surprise party for Lou, and when he finds out, he refuses to let it happen.
• The Bob Newhart Show: Season 1, episode 17, "The Man with the Golden Wrist" (1973). Bob hates birthday parties, and he hates surprise birthday parties even more, so goes to great pains to keep people from finding out it's his birthday. Despite knowing this, Emily has been planning a surprise party for him for two weeks.
• WKRP in Cincinnati: Season 4, episode 20, "The Impossible Dream" (1982). Jennifer plans a surprise birthday party for Les, but when Les shows up early, he tells her he hates birthdays and doesn't want her to tell anyone else that it's his birthday, so Jennifer has to covertly alert the arriving guests that the party is off.
• Perfect Strangers: Season 1, episode 6, "Happy Birthday, Baby" (1986). It's Larry's birthday, and he's depressed because his "master plan" isn't going as scheduled, and the last thing he wants is a party. Unbeknownst to him, Balki has planned a surprise party with all of Larry's friends, and he now has to keep Larry from finding out.
• Night Court: Season 3, episode 20, "The Retirement" (1986). The gang throws a surprise party for Flo's birthday, and as they're all hiding in Harry's office, she refuses to come in unless they swear they won't jump out and shout "happy birthday" to her, then she grabs the presents and leaves.
• It's a Living: Season 6, episode 4, "Never Trust Anyone Under 40" (1988). The waitresses help Louie throw a surprise party for Sonny's 40th birthday just to piss him off. Things get even more awkward when they wait in his apartment and he comes home with a prostitute.
• The Golden Girls: Season 6, episode 4, "Snap Out of It" (1990). Blanche's birthday is coming up, and she makes it very clear that she doesn't want anyone to even acknowledge it, so of course, Rose decides to plan a surprise party for her. When Blanche finds out, she's incensed, but soon she warms up to the idea, and Rose's party turns out to be the perfect gift for Blanche: a room full of attractive single men.
• Wings: Season 3, episode 7, "Crate Expectations" (1991). It's Joe's birthday, and he makes a point of announcing to everyone that he doesn't want them to celebrate: no gifts, no party, no nothing. So, of course, the gang decides to throw him a surprise party.
• Frasier: Season 5, episode 23, "Party, Party" (1998). Frasier tells Martin he doesn't want to do anything special for his birthday because he's planning to watch an opera broadcast on TV that night, but a woman he's been trying to get together all week calls him to come see her before she goes away for a month. When Frasier stops at his apartment to get his keys, he finds all of his friends shouting "Surprise!" and has to find a way to sneak out.
• Peep Show: Season 9, episode 6, "Are We Going to be Alright?" (2015). Jeremy's turning 40 and feeling depressed, so he tells Mark not to throw him a surprise party, but right after Jeremy and Super Hans abduct April's husband, Angus, so Mark can go on a cruise with her, the doorbell rings, and the surprise party Jeremy didn't want goes on while Angus is tied up in Mark's bedroom.
• The Comedians: Episode 7, "Billy's Birthday" (2015). It's Billy's birthday, so Josh organizes a surprise party for him at the office, but when Billy comes in, he's depressed and says he doesn't want to make a big deal out of it, so Josh hurries to try to break up the party, but it's too late.
• The Goldbergs: Season 4, episode 9, "Globetrotters" (2016). Beverly insists on throwing Murray a surprise birthday party, even though he wants to spend his birthday in front of the TV with no pants on, but she tells him about it in advance and demands he pretend to be surprise. Just before the party starts, Murray passes out on their bed, and Erica accidentally piles coats on top of him, so he's MIA for the whole party.