Happy Days - General Discussion

[Swenson]

Happy Days.....first I can't believe I needed to create a topic for this classic show, once the number one show in America.

Reruns are back courtesy of MeTV.....currently airing season two episodes with a notable change.  They stopped using Bill Haley's "Rock Around The Clock" as the opener, instead playing the Happy Days theme that was used beginning season three through the end of the series.

The first two seasons of course are the best the series ever was when the show focused more on the Cunningham family, Richie and his friends before Fonzie became the central character and before the "jump the shark" episode which to this day is a term used to describe when a popular show makes a drastic turn downward.  Maybe there's just not enough people who remember this show.

[Swenson]

Season two was about the time the character of Richie's older brother Chuck more or less disappeared with no explanation of what happened to him.....by the last episode, even Howard talked about raising TWO wonderful children at Joanie and Chachi's wedding.  What a great dad!  Yeah right.   And I guess with the rise of the Fonz,  they did away with Bag as well.

[mmecorday]

Didn't Bag resurface on Laverne & Shirley for one episode? Wasn't he the guest of honor at a bachelor party at the Pizza Bowl?

I have been watching some of the episodes from the early seasons and they are charming. But if I recall correctly this show almost became unwatchable in its last years.

[Swenson]

8 hours ago, mmecorday said:

Didn't Bag resurface on Laverne & Shirley for one episode? Wasn't he the guest of honor at a bachelor party at the Pizza Bowl?

I have been watching some of the episodes from the early seasons and they are charming. But if I recall correctly this show almost became unwatchable in its last years.

Yeah maybe I can look that up, because I don't remember Bag being on Laverne & Shirley.  I agree that after Ron Howard left, and Donny Most as well....I didn't get into it nearly as much.  It seemed as it went on, they were introducing new characters that didn't really represent the period they were supposed to represent, like Roger, or Jenny Piccolo, or KC Cunningham.  It was supposed to be the early to mid 60's. About the only thing that did was the weekly cheesy songs being performed by Joanie & Chachi....because during that period there seemed to be a lot of Male/Female duets on the pop chart.

[Swenson]

The latest episode shown featured an appearance by real life nostalgia group Flash Cadillac & The Continental Kids playing fictional group "Johnny Fish & The Fins" where Mrs. C. had to help Richie save face by getting nosebleed tickets for his friends. But good ole Rich always did the right thing and kept his word to be hush about the group staying at the Cunningham house.  

Flash Cadillac had a real life top 40 hit in the summer of 1976 with "Did You Boogie With Your Baby" featuring the voice of iconic DJ Wolfman Jack.

[Snow Apple]

I actually like the cheesiness of the later episodes better than the realism of the first two seasons. They were more fun and Ralph and Potsy were nicer.

The strange thing about Potsy was that the actor never left the show, but was missing from the final episode.

 

[Swenson]

On 6/27/2020 at 8:33 AM, Snow Apple said:

I actually like the cheesiness of the later episodes better than the realism of the first two seasons. They were more fun and Ralph and Potsy were nicer.

The strange thing about Potsy was that the actor never left the show, but was missing from the final episode.

Gee.  Maybe Potsie couldn't get a date!

 

[Swenson]

The show in the it's early seasons did try to deal with some serious issues that were relevant in the 1950's and still unfortunately are still having struggles with to this very day.  Like why build a bomb shelter for your own safety if it means you have to shut out the people around you that mean the most to you?  And who would want to live in a world like that anyway?   Another episode dealt with the segregation issues of the time when the Cunninghams host a wedding in their home for a black couple.  I'm glad that Marion who struggled with her own feelings on prejudice, offered to have the wedding in her house after Howard's friend Fred's future father in law wouldn't hold the wedding because Howard was the best man. Later, Howard gave the speech to Richie more or less implying that by the time he got married and had kids of his own, that he could effect futhur change by instilling those lessons for his own children to eventually pass on.  I've always had that hope too. And while societies have indeed become much more integrated and some attitudes have changed....especially from where it was then, in 2020 we still have issues to overcome. But why? We are all one race......human.  While we can't change the past, we could certainly effect the future.

Edited June 29, 2020 by Swenson

[Waterston Fan]

I did like the seasons before Richie left but I admit, I wished they had ended it after he did cause it went downhill from there. 

Brady Bunch fans blame Oliver for the show's demise even though it was going downhill, does Roger get the same criticism? Wish Jenny was the friend who we hear about and not be seen in the later seasons.. ugh. 

[Snow Apple]

1 hour ago, Waterston Fan said:

I did like the seasons before Richie left but I admit, I wished they had ended it after he did cause it went downhill from there. 

Brady Bunch fans blame Oliver for the show's demise even though it was going downhill, does Roger get the same criticism? Wish Jenny was the friend who we hear about and not be seen in the later seasons.. ugh. 

I don’t think Roger got blamed, but I believe Ted McGinley is jokingly referred to as the guy who shows up when a tv show is past it’s glory days  and is about to end.

[Waterston Fan]

1 hour ago, Snow Apple said:

I don’t think Roger got blamed, but I believe Ted McGinley is jokingly referred to as the guy who shows up when a tv show is past it’s glory days  and is about to end.

Okay, I couldn't remember the actor's name actually. lol I know he played Roger. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

On 6/26/2020 at 1:15 PM, mmecorday said:

I have been watching some of the episodes from the early seasons and they are charming. But if I recall correctly this show almost became unwatchable in its last years.

It was. Unwatchable, I mean. The last years. Chachi ate up the show, and there was the unholy and terrible idea to spin off a show for him and Joanie, which tanked, and they were brought back to this show; had them break up and then make up and git marrit. (not typos!)

I adore Billy Warlock as an actor, but his character, Skip? Skippy? (See? I can't remember!) did NOT look like a teen set in the early 60s. And McGinley (Roger) may be nice enough, but he was NO RICHIE. Can't believe they tried to replace him.

Hated, loathed Jenny Piccolo.

Once Ronny, er, I mean Ron left, the magic was gone for me. But for some reason, I stuck it out. I don't know why. Ron moved on to better things, and became a great director. But he did make two cameos--one where he wanted to be a writer, and the reunion between him and Henry? GOD, that gutted me. And Henry said later that the good-bye scene wasn't between Richie and Fonzie, but Ron and Henry. And then of course, he came back for the finale.

I suppose I shouldn't nit pick, but they really muffed up the time line in the first three seasons. The first season, Richie was a junior. He was a junior in the second season too! And the third! Because he graduated in Season 4! As for the years...well, they included the election in 1956, where Eisenhower beat out Stevenson. So, by that, we can surmise that the years were '55-'63, with seasons 1-3 being stuck in the same year!

Hey, it's the only way it works out for me! That's my theory, and I'm sticking to it.

And my mind is so weird. As I'm watching the early seasons, all I can think is, when Richie was a teenager, Opie was just borned!

Richie did get shafted by his so called ungrateful, jealous, jerks of friends (Potsie and Ralph) in the first couple of seasons. He was such a good person, he let it pass.

Edited July 4, 2020 by GHScorpiosRule

[Snow Apple]

I actually like it and didn’t mind the new characters. But it went downhill for me when Fonzie and Ashley broke up (off screen), and then Joanie and Chachi came back and broke up only to get married in the last episode. The writing went from just bad to worse. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

3 minutes ago, Snow Apple said:

But it went downhill for me when Fonzie and Ashley broke up

And it's such a huge irony because Linda Purl, who played Ashley, also played Gloria, Richie's girlfriend in the first season! Well at least 2-3 episodes at least.

[Swenson]

21 hours ago, Snow Apple said:

I don’t think Roger got blamed, but I believe Ted McGinley is jokingly referred to as the guy who shows up when a tv show is past it’s glory days  and is about to end.

I actually liked the Ted McGinley character "Jefferson Darcy" in the latter seasons of Married With Children....though I though Steve had a better dynamic with Al Bundy.   

Other than Laverne & Shirley, whose characters were introduced on Happy Days before they moved into their own show, they really didn't have much luck with spinoffs.  Mork was successful, but that was more the genius of Robin Williams.  I saw somewhere that "Joanie Loves Chachi" was considered the single worst television series ever....but I have a worse one....another sort of spinoff.  They introduced the character Nancy Blansky (Nancy Walker) as a relative of Howard Cunningham, before she was transported into the future to "Blansky's Beauties".....an absolute travesty of a show.  Pat Morita, who played Arnold....left for Mr. T and Tina, another stinkfest. Arnold of course was replaced by Al Delvecchio as proprieter at Arnold's before he also went to Joanie loves Chachi, and to my knowledge, didn't return until the last episode, when he attended the wedding ministered by "Father Delvecchio".

[Snow Apple]

I don't remember the unsuccessful spinoffs listed above, but I still fondly remember Out Of The Blue which was about the angel named Random.

[Waterston Fan]

Al Delvecchio, he was the most annoying character, in the show I thought.  Who was it that he kept saying in almost every episode? Rosa, Rosa, Rosa? 

[GHScorpiosRule]

2 minutes ago, Waterston Fan said:

Al Delvecchio, he was the most annoying character, in the show I thought.  Who was it that he kept saying in almost every episode? Rosa, Rosa, Rosa? 

No. It was "Yeah, yup, yup, yup." or it could have been "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah."

For me, in the mid to later years, it was that annoying, whiny twat, Jenny Piccolo.

[Snow Apple]

I agree they should have kept Jenny Piccolo off screen. The actress did the best she could but how can she live up to the stories they told of a previously unseen character?

 

 

 

[Swenson]

I don't remember Out of the Blue at all.  It took a deeper Google search to glean information about it.  They only produced 12 episodes with only eight airing.  I guess Random was tied to Happy Days after an episode where Chachi falls asleep in a booth and dreams about selling his soul to the devil's nephew and I guess Random saves him.  Actually as with Mork....this was more like a pilot episode for Out of the Blue than an actual spinoff....though it is listed as such.  ABC must've been desperate for ratings at that time....they did a lot of stupid things.....like how on Mork & Mindy, they decided that a new baby was needed ....it turned out to be Jonathan Winters.  That must've been a painful delivery for Mindy.....or did she lay an egg?   And since Orkans aged backwards....how would it have looked to have Mindy married to a kid?  I know! Let's do a reboot....have Pam Dawber reprise her Mindy character who would be sixty something by now....and hire a kid to play Mork.  That is if Pam Dawber is still alive.....I'm not sure.

Edited July 1, 2020 by Swenson

[GHScorpiosRule]

20 minutes ago, Swenson said:

That must've been a painful delivery for Mindy.....or did she lay an egg? 

Mork laid the egg.

[Magnumfangirl]

12 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

As I'm watching the early seasons, all I can think is, when Richie was a teenager, Opie was just borned!

Lol!  That's what I thought when I was a little kid watching both shows in the early 1980s.  How can Richie and Opie be the same person?  Did he age backwards?  😆

[GHScorpiosRule]

10 hours ago, Magnumfangirl said:

Lol!  That's what I thought when I was a little kid watching both shows in the early 1980s.  How can Richie and Opie be the same person?  Did he age backwards?  😆

Oh I thought the same thing growing up when watching both shows! And interestingly enough, when I was in elementary school, our library had an article about Ron Howard. I think the first line was how viewers would see this adorable Opie on one show and then every Tuesday night, he was all grown up!

It confused the kid in me, let me tell you!

[Swenson]

21 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Mork laid the egg.

He laid the egg through his navel?  And then it grew?  Well.....at least that's better than the image I originally had.  Since this is a topic about Happy Days and not Mork and Mindy....I'll close this by saying that thank goodness Robin Williams was able to have a serious acting career after this.

Edited July 2, 2020 by Swenson

[scorpio1031]

On 7/1/2020 at 12:17 PM, Swenson said:

That is if Pam Dawber is still alive.....I'm not sure.

Yep and married to Mark Harmon.

[Swenson]

1 hour ago, scorpio1031 said:

Yep and married to Mark Harmon.

I'm happy she's with us.  She has good taste in guys.

[Swenson]

13 hours ago, scorpio1031 said:

 

So now we move on to season three and you can tell right away the change in tone of the show.  It shot to the top during this season before it ceded to it's own spinoff Laverne and Shirley.   But before we jump the shark ....I sense that "Fearless Fonzerelli" has about thirteen garbage cans to jump over in what was the series first gotta tune in next week to see how it goes episodes.   It's on live TV and the nation is watching.......

[Swenson]

But before we unfreeze Fearless Fonzerelli's jump...... it was around this time in 1976 that the show's theme "Happy Days" by Pratt & McLain was peaking on the Billboard chart,  climbing to #5. 

I make mention of that as the iconic radio program "American Top 40" co-created and hosted by Casey Kasem celebrates 50 years this July 4th weekend.  

[Swenson]

Ron Howard wasn't the only former Mayberry resident to appear on this show.  Beginning with this season we begin seeing veteren actor Jack Dodson (nee Howard Sprague)....in a recurring part as Ralph Malph's dad....an eye doctor and co-practical joke conspirator.

[GHScorpiosRule]

On 7/3/2020 at 6:15 AM, Swenson said:

So now we move on to season three and you can tell right away the change in tone of the show.  It shot to the top during this season before it ceded to it's own spinoff Laverne and Shirley.   But before we jump the shark ....I sense that "Fearless Fonzerelli" has about thirteen garbage cans to jump over in what was the series first gotta tune in next week to see how it goes episodes.   It's on live TV and the nation is watching.......

They changed the location of the front door; changed the dining room table from rectangle to a round one and moved it from the kitchen to near the living room.

The ratings were low and switching to filming in front of a live audience saved it.

I’m just enjoying seeing a grown up Opie on my screen.🥰🥰

[VCRTracking]

On 7/3/2020 at 3:15 AM, Swenson said:

So now we move on to season three and you can tell right away the change in tone of the show.  It shot to the top during this season before it ceded to it's own spinoff Laverne and Shirley.   But before we jump the shark ....I sense that "Fearless Fonzerelli" has about thirteen garbage cans to jump over in what was the series first gotta tune in next week to see how it goes episodes.   It's on live TV and the nation is watching.......

 

9 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

They changed the location of the front door; changed the dining room table from rectangle to a round one and moved it from the kitchen to near the living room.

The ratings were low and switching to filming in front of a live audience saved it.

I’m just enjoying seeing a grown up Opie on my screen.🥰🥰

Season Three is my favorite. Ron Howard turned out to be hilarious in front of a studio audience. The episode where he gets beat up and tries to learn to fight, first through karate lessons from Arnold, then how to act tough from Fonzie. Also love the episode where the guys put on a beauty contest to meet girls.

[chessiegal]

They also changed the kitchen. It used to be a separate room with the swinging door, now it's a half wall and the swinging door is always open. Every time I see the wallpaper in the kitchen I chuckle. I used a similar wallpaper in the kitchen of my first house because I liked it so much. 😄

[GHScorpiosRule]

4 minutes ago, chessiegal said:

They also changed the kitchen. It used to be a separate room with the swinging door, now it's a half wall and the swinging door is always open. Every time I see the wallpaper in the kitchen I chuckle. I used a similar wallpaper in the kitchen of my first house because I liked it so much. 😄

D’OH! How’d I miss that?

I don’t miss  Chuck (Who?) at all. He was a dunce loser. And a moron, not to mention a complete slob who relished living in a pigsty.

[Snow Apple]

I'm not a fan of Chuck either but I enjoyed it when both actors showed up on one of the televised reunions.

[GHScorpiosRule]

I don’t know if Laverne & Shirley has a thread here, but tomorrow the uberly HAWT ❤️🥰❤️Mark Harmon❤️🥰❤️ Is a guest star.

Aaand on Thursday, we’ll meet them for the first time. When Shirley had the same edge as Laverne as well as some accent. Sewer sounded like “sooowah”😂😂

[Guest]

I saw Fonzie's leather jacket at the Smithsonian years ago. I never realized it had sweater material on the cuff of the sleeves. Any goodwill I ever had towards this show died in that moment. 

[VCRTracking]

Pat Morita discusses getting cast as Arnold:

Its so funny that one of the network's demands to Garry Marshall for the third season was we HAD to see Arnold, who for the first two seasons was never shown, just only talked about. Like who would have cared?

 

[GHScorpiosRule]

I love Pat Morita's impersonation of Garry! Sounds just like him!😄

[Snow Apple]

It's the Fonzie Loves Pinky episodes this week. I'll be skipping because they always bored me. 

[Yogisbooboo64]

1 hour ago, Snow Apple said:

It's the Fonzie Loves Pinky episodes this week. I'll be skipping because they always bored me. 

What?!  You're like my sister, she hated this eppy too.

I always liked the three parter, it is fun to watch now knowing that HW/RK did not get along at all behind the scenes.

[GHScorpiosRule]

I never realized how much Ron Howard takes after his dad!

Rance played the emcee in “Dance Contest” and he looked just like Ron with a moustache!

2 hours ago, Yogisbooboo64 said:

 

I always liked the three parter, it is fun to watch now knowing that HW/RK did not get along at all behind the scenes.

What? Henry, like Ron, is one of the nicest people out there!

And I also didn’t remember that Laverne and Shirley made a number of cameos in season three before they got their own show!

[chessiegal]

I saw he show where Arnold gets married today (I record them), and was absolutely jarred to hear them refer to Asians as "Orientals'". Boy howdy, times were different back when these shows aired.

[Yogisbooboo64]

On 7/20/2020 at 10:08 PM, GHScorpiosRule said:

I never realized how much Ron Howard takes after his dad!

Rance played the emcee in “Dance Contest” and he looked just like Ron with a moustache!

What? Henry, like Ron, is one of the nicest people out there!

And I also didn’t remember that Laverne and Shirley made a number of cameos in season three before they got their own show!

Even the nicest people can be pushed.

IIRC, HD wanted to do a Pinky spinoff but Roz Kelly (Pinky) allegedly had a stank towards producers, staff and the stars so the spinoff was shelved.

Edited July 22, 2020 by Yogisbooboo64

[VCRTracking]

I like the Pinky episodes just because of the Malachi Brothers. Played by two great "Hey it's that Guy!" character actors, Ken Lerner and Michael Pataki:

Edited July 24, 2020 by VCRTracking

[mmecorday]

Quote

It's the Fonzie Loves Pinky episodes this week. I'll be skipping because they always bored me. 

The cheese factor is high in these episodes, particularly the third part when Roz Kelly and Henry Winkler's stunt doubles are popping wheelies in slow motion in the haze of the setting sun.

I think because of all the uncertainty in the world right now I am really enjoying these early episodes. They do remind me of good times and knowing I was safe as long as my family was around.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Fonzie jumps JAWS the Shark tomorrow!🤪🤪🤪😆😆😆

[Swenson]

Yep....as it was just mentioned..... we're up to the three part episode where we just left off with everybody cozy at the campfire......tomorrow Fonzie takes on the California Kid in a slalom race.....which ends up a tie leading to the jump the shark episode.  But we had a screen test to get through first and the result wasn't quite as expected.  It wasn't that Fonz stunk...(he did). ....they just became less intrigued with James Dean and more for "disturbed apple pie face".   Also, this was the first season for Chachi.....Fonzie's latest nephew, because they never really told us whatever happened to Spike.   

[GHScorpiosRule]

9 minutes ago, Swenson said:

Also, this was the first season for Chachi.....Fonzie's latest nephew, because they never really told us whatever happened to Spike.   

Chachi is Fonzie's cousin, not nephew.

[Swenson]

11 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Chachi is Fonzie's cousin, not nephew.

Ok duly noted and thanks for the correction.  But whatever happened to Spike?  They just kinda disappear like Chuck,  and Bag.   Anyway.....Chachi had that annoying waaa, waaa, waaa.....saying that I'm at least glad he grew out of.

[GHScorpiosRule]

37 minutes ago, Swenson said:

Ok duly noted and thanks for the correction.  But whatever happened to Spike?  They just kinda disappear like Chuck,  and Bag.   Anyway.....Chachi had that annoying waaa, waaa, waaa.....saying that I'm at least glad he grew out of.

Spike was just a recurring character. At least he wasn't a one-off like Spunky. That's right, Fonzie's dog, who was a one episode and never seen again. Just like Fonzie needing glasses was just a one episode, and never addressed again. Spike wasn't part of the regular cast, so I didn't really care that he stopped showing up. Chuck, well, he was shown as being the oldest, and the show mucked up when only showing him a handful of times and then acting as if Howard and Marion only had Richie and Joanie as their kids.

I can stomach Chachi while he's a tween/teen. I will definitely be fast forwarding once he grows up, because I can't Stand Baio, and can't separate him from his character.

Edited August 11, 2020 by GHScorpiosRule