He is a tough, no-nonsense father and tends to favor his daughter Laurie (Lisa Robin Kelly & Christina Moore) and foster son Hyde (Danny Masterson) over his son Eric (Topher Grace), whom he considers soft, skinny, twitchy and wimpy. He always sees Laurie as "a giant apple" instead of the mean-spirited, promiscuous person she truly is but becomes wiser to her in the second season after finding out she lied to him about moving in with a friend when she was really living with a young man. In one episode, Kitty asks Red why he is so tough on Eric, only to have Red respond, "The same reason my old man was so tough on me", indicating that he went through a similar childhood to Eric's. Though Red often puts his own son down because he wants him to "be a man like himself", it cannot be denied that Eric is merely a younger version of his father in the sense that both have a very dry sense of humor and tend to be the sanest persons in their respective circles of friends. On a few occasions in season one, Red shows Eric affection. When the two return from a wrestling match, they wrestle for a bit before Red gave Eric a hug. Later on, when Red's mother dies, Red calls Eric over for a hug with him and Kitty in a family moment. In the final episode of season seven, as Eric is leaving for Africa, Red has a real heart-to-heart talk with Eric, in which he admitted he loved him and that he would miss him, culminating in a hug between father and son. In the season 8 premiere, Kitty tries to get Red to say something nice for Eric on the tape recorder. Red consistently refuses and appears to revel in Eric being gone. However, when Kitty questions his feelings on the matter, Red admitted that he honestly missed Eric. (Unbeknownst to Red, though, Kitty secretly recorded him saying this). Red also seems to respect his son's resistance as shown when he told Eric he respected him for staying with Donna despite Red's efforts.