Happy Days - General Discussion

[Snow Apple]

I don't mind Roger and Jenny but Roger's brother was pointless. Did they ever said what happened to him, or did he disappear like Chuck and never mentioned again? Hmmmmmmm. Small town secrets...........

[mmecorday]

Tonight was the episode about Joanie and Chachi getting stranded in Chicago after attending a Beach Boys concert. They rent the last room at a motel and of course it's the honeymoon suite, because that's how sitcom tropes work. Joanie was wearing a pair of designer jeans. Chachi was wearing a letterman's sweater and not that olive drab shirt he wore every episode of season seven. 

[Swenson]

They had designer jeans in 1961?  I owned those in 1981.  And I thought they were new.   And looking back....even if I thought I was a fashion plate,  those were some uglee pants.  Maybe worse than the flares I often wore in the 70s, which I thought made me stylin..  It will be kind of hard to watch after Richie and Ralph depart,  only made easier by the fact that at this time of year....the group of channels that carry MeTV in my neck of the woods tends to not come in very well and forces me to seek something else.

[Robert Lynch]

8 hours ago, Swenson said:

They had designer jeans in 1961?  I owned those in 1981.  And I thought they were new.   And looking back....even if I thought I was a fashion plate,  those were some uglee pants.  Maybe worse than the flares I often wore in the 70s, which I thought made me stylin..  It will be kind of hard to watch after Richie and Ralph depart,  only made easier by the fact that at this time of year....the group of channels that carry MeTV in my neck of the woods tends to not come in very well and forces me to seek something else.

The early 1980s was a continuation of the late 70s fashion craze. It wasn't until 1983 when artists like Michael Jackson, Madonna, Duran Duran, and many of those that changed the outlook of what is the 80s. People always have a perception that the 80s started in 1980, but it really took a good three-four years to become the 80s. Lacrosse shirts, jeans with the cuffs on the heel, etc. were still a continuing trend that started in '78-'79 and onwards.

[Snow Apple]

1 hour ago, Robert Lynch said:

The early 1980s was a continuation of the late 70s fashion craze. It wasn't until 1983 when artists like Michael Jackson, Madonna, Duran Duran, and many of those that changed the outlook of what is the 80s. People always have a perception that the 80s started in 1980, but it really took a good three-four years to become the 80s. Lacrosse shirts, jeans with the cuffs on the heel, etc. were still a continuing trend that started in '78-'79 and onwards.

Some of my classmates still had feathered hair in 1984. I agree the 80's didn't start until the mid 80's.

But the 70's look is really noticeable starting in season after Richie and Ralph left. I noticed even Mr. C's trousers look 70's last night.

[GHScorpiosRule]

10 hours ago, Swenson said:

It will be kind of hard to watch after Richie and Ralph depart,

They've already departed. Their last appearance was on Thursday's show.

I find it ridiculous that Richie wrote to Fonzie and Lori Beth, but not to his parents? I know, I know, it was all for "huck!huck!" laughs when Marion would read something risque or private.

But from every show and documentary I've watched over the years, young men in the military always wrote to their mothers.

At least it was mentioned that Richie and Ralph are both in the Army together.

And yup, starting this season, no one gives a good goddamn about whether the outfits match/are correct for the early '60s. Except maybe Fonzie.

[Swenson]

21 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

They've already departed. Their last appearance was on Thursday's show.

I find it ridiculous that Richie wrote to Fonzie and Lori Beth, but not to his parents? I know, I know, it was all for "huck!huck!" laughs when Marion would read something risque or private.

But from every show and documentary I've watched over the years, young men in the military always wrote to their mothers.

At least it was mentioned that Richie and Ralph are both in the Army together.

And yup, starting this season, no one gives a good goddamn about whether the outfits match/are correct for the early '60s. Except maybe Fonzie.

Of course not.....Fonzie lived in 1956 right to the end.

[chessiegal]

Okay, I gave Season 8 a try. I'm out.

[Snow Apple]

I dislike the storyline where Fonzie became a teacher and the new students. But I really hated when Roger and Fonzie moved from teaching at Jefferson to that other school with the "delinquent" kids.

[mmecorday]

Every minute Jenny Piccolo is on screen is miserable. She should have been one of those characters -- like Bob Sacamano on "Seinfeld" -- who stayed in the shadows.

Quote

Okay, I gave Season 8 a try. I'm out.

Believe it or not, it gets worse. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

23 hours ago, Snow Apple said:

I dislike the storyline where Fonzie became a teacher and the new students. But I really hated when Roger and Fonzie moved from teaching at Jefferson to that other school with the "delinquent" kids.

Remedial school.

26 minutes ago, mmecorday said:

Every minute Jenny Piccolo is on screen is miserable. She should have been one of those characters -- like Bob Sacamano on "Seinfeld" -- who stayed in the shadows.

God YES! She should have just remained someone Joanie referred to by name, like she did for the previous seven seasons!

[Robert Lynch]

On 10/12/2020 at 1:11 PM, GHScorpiosRule said:

Remedial school.

God YES! She should have just remained someone Joanie referred to by name, like she did for the previous seven seasons!

She got the part because she's Phil Silver's daughter....so there's that.

[ifionlyknew]

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/scott-baio-slams-happy-days-reunion-calls-john-stamos-elite-marxist-185942004.html

 

Someone is mad.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Just now, ifionlyknew said:

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/scott-baio-slams-happy-days-reunion-calls-john-stamos-elite-marxist-185942004.html

 

Someone is mad.

This is being discussed in the Miscellaneous Celebrity thread. Like I said there, Chachi is just JEALOUS. And Henry and Ron were the STARS, not this talentless hack.

[Snow Apple]

And no Chachi in season 3.

I can’t stomach Scott anymore and he has tainted my enjoyment of the later seasons.

[Swenson]

Oh my GOD!   The episode I saw today was a new all time ulcer inducer.   I don't remember ever seeing this as I was away from TV for almost all of 1980.  I knew there was a Valentine's singing episode earlier in the series......but  this.....this was an ultimate chuckup fest.  It looked like a Sid and Marty Kroft very bad varierty show like the Brady Bunch hour with EXTRA cheese.  Who told Ted McGinley he could sing?   And Fonzie with that stupid speech.....why am I even watching this now?

[mmecorday]

The Halloween themed episode from season 2 that aired tonight on MeTV was an example of how good this show was in its infancy. The episode has some genuinely scary moments (headless Mrs. Simpson descending the stairs really frightened me when I was a kid!) and after soldiering through the post Ralph and Ritchie seasons lately, it was good to see the original gang all together again. The show worked better when it was actually true to the time period in which it took place.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Oh LORD! I'd forgotten how BAD this show got in the last two/three seasons!

I don't think I ever saw the one where Fonzi finds his mom, who also abandoned him? Surely they retconned that in season seven! Da Fuck?

I swear, when we first heard that his father abandoned them, Fonzi was 5; now in the season 9 episode it's noooo. Pop abandoned them when he was two. Mom when he was four. So I guess he was raised by his maternal grandmother? And now I'm trying to figure out from which side Fonzi and Caca are related. All I remember is that Ellen Travolta plays Fonzi's aunt. Who marries Al. And that "cousin Mario" actor is the same dude from Fonzi's gang.

I'm too lazy to research this now, but, let me get this straight. In this time period, supposedly, husbands weren't with their wives while they were giving birth, right? Many a teevee show that I've watched, they are smoking and pacing. So I'm to believe they had lamaze in 1962? And from the way that scene played, it appears it's been around for...awhile? Say what, now?

UGH. And the topper is all those LOSERS that Fonzi is hanging out with now! He didn't even hang out with Richie unless he happened to see him at Arnold's, or when he swung by the house. What the hell was Garry Marshall thinking??????!!!!

Man, but those two season one and two episodes will definitely be a palate cleanser. I'm only sticking around for when Richie comes home and those scenes between him and Fonzi.

Oh, and also the one where Marion changes her hairstyle because of the cameos by Ricky "I don't mess around boy" Nelson's mom, and Betty and Bud's mom in "Empty Nest"! could have sworn that Beaver's mom was there, as well. But oops, that's not until Season 10.

Damn. Now I wish MeTV or Disney+ would air The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet! I know in the early days of cable, it would air on the Disney network.

Edited October 31, 2020 by GHScorpiosRule

[chessiegal]

23 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Now I wish MeTV or Disney+ would air The Adventures of Ozzy and Harriet!

ZLiving network shows The Adventures of Ozzy and Harriet.

[Snow Apple]

According to Wikipedia, lamaze gained popularity in 1959 in the US so that checks out since it's 1960 on that episode. But why did Fonzie have to be the coach and the focus of almost every episode? Couldn't Lori Beth ask Marion or hire a professional health care worker? I can't imagine asking my husband's best friend to be my coach.

[GHScorpiosRule]

2 hours ago, chessiegal said:

ZLiving network shows The Adventures of Ozzy and Harriet.

WAHOO!!!! I have that network and tomorrow is the season two premiere! Bummer that I have to wait MONTHS until season one rolls around as this lasted 14 seasons!

28 minutes ago, Snow Apple said:

According to Wikipedia, lamaze gained popularity in 1959 in the US so that checks out since it's 1960 on that episode. But why did Fonzie have to be the coach and the focus of almost every episode? Couldn't Lori Beth ask Marion or hire a professional health care worker? I can't imagine asking my husband's best friend to be my coach.

Thanks! But season 9 is 1962-63, and this was 1962, according to the previous episode or the premiere, where Joanie held up a poster with 1962 that she sent to Richie when she was making the home movies.

And boy did Erin look good with that short cut. Don’t know if it was period accurate, but she looked cute, along with that tan.

[Snow Apple]

In today's episode, they were trying to convince Jenny to date Eugene but I thought she was already dating him. In the previous season when the Cunningham's met Mrs. Arcola, I thought she said her parents never met Eugene because she's ashamed of him. Maybe I'm confused and mixed up what she said?

[Snow Apple]

They let Joanie and Chachi sing too much. Makes me miss Potsie. At least he can hold a tune.

[Spartan Girl]

So I’d never seen the last seasons until the show came to MeTV. Two thoughts:

1) It sucked

2) Chachi was the Cousin Oliver version of a poor man’s Fonzi. And I’m not just saying it because I despise Scott Baio as a person.

And yes, they really did downgrade Fonzi’s cool factor by making him hang out with those losers. Poor Fonz got turned into a joke the moment they made him literally jump that shark.

[GHScorpiosRule]

On 11/8/2020 at 2:10 PM, Snow Apple said:

They let Joanie and Chachi sing too much. Makes me miss Potsie. At least he can hold a tune.

I can’t believe they had Frankie Avalon(!!!) lip sync to Venus instead of letting him actually sing it!

Go AWAY, Jenny!

[mmecorday]

Quote

They let Joanie and Chachi sing too much.

And not only was the singing terrible, the songs were crappy as well. At least when Potsie, Ritchie and Ralph's band played, they performed good songs.

Yet I can remember watching this show in its first run until the very end despite the fact that it sucked so bad in the later seasons.

[GHScorpiosRule]

30 minutes ago, mmecorday said:

And not only was the singing terrible, the songs were crappy as well. At least when Potsie, Ritchie and Ralph's band played, they performed good songs.

Yet I can remember watching this show in its first run until the very end despite the fact that it sucked so bad in the later seasons.

TRUTH!

When do they leave for their horrid Joanie Loves Chachi Kaka? 

And not for nuthin' but Potsie's only supposed to be like, 22, but they made him look 10 years older! Anson could at least carry a tune or 10!

[Swenson]

Well.....it just so happened that at that period of time they're supposed to be in......1962-63......you had all these cheese filled male/female duets moving up the pop chart.  Made it all that much easier for the British Invasion to happen.

[GHScorpiosRule]

So the episode where Jenny started the rumor about Mikki having to leave her old high school because she was pregnant was on tonight. And how it morphed into how Fonzi was the one who knocked her up.

Aside from the way she got the idea-that chippie who “filled” Jenny in-how was it that she was even at the party? There’s just no reason for someone who supposedly is a good person to start such a vile rumor.  Well, which Jenny isn’t and I don’t care that the actress was Silvers’ daughter. She’s a HORRIBLE character, and she got off waaaay toooooo easy. 

She was only sorry because she got wind that Fonzi was looking for whoever started the rumor and thought Fonzi wouldn’t be angry when he saw how “contrite” she was. Even when I watched this as a tween, I hated her and wished she’d gotten a dose of her own medicine. And couldn’t understand how or why Joanie was friends with her.

Edited November 12, 2020 by GHScorpiosRule

[ifionlyknew]

13 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

And couldn’t understand how or why Joanie was friends with her.

We had heard about Jenny Piccalo for some years without every meeting her that when we did it was such a let down.  

The difference between the show when Ritchie (and Ralph) left and after they left is like night and day.  The beginning of the end actually started before they left when Arnold's burned down.  The first few seasons were character driven.  You were watching a show about these people who lived in Milwaukee in the 1950s.  But then it changed into something else.  It became gimmicky.  As much as I liked Garry Marshall he really screwed up the final seasons of Happy Days.

[WinnieWinkle]

9 minutes ago, ifionlyknew said:

As much as I liked Garry Marshall he really screwed up the final seasons of Happy Days.

I'm sure there were other shows that are guilty of this, but Happy Days is the first one I remember, where they kept the show going long long past it's Best By Date when they really should have pulled the plug.  Beginning with Happy Days there are too many shows where I won't even watch the last few painful years.  I like to stop where I think the show should have stopped. 

[ifionlyknew]

3 minutes ago, WinnieWinkle said:

I'm sure there were other shows that are guilty of this, but Happy Days is the first one I remember, where they kept the show going long long past it's Best By Date when they really should have pulled the plug.  Beginning with Happy Days there are too many shows where I won't even watch the last few painful years.  I like to stop where I think the show should have stopped. 

Very few shows stay consistently good.  Laverne and Shirley should have never moved to Hollywood.  Archie Bunker should have never opened a bar.

[WinnieWinkle]

3 minutes ago, ifionlyknew said:

Laverne and Shirley should have never moved to Hollywood.  Archie Bunker should have never opened a bar.

Saw one or two Laverne and Shirley's after the move and that was it for me.  As for Archie Bunker - killing off Edith????  Nope, I was out.

[VCRTracking]

That final season of Laverne & Shirley when Cindy Williams left to have a baby and it's just Laverne all alone just felt so sad. Also they skipped ahead so it was now 1968 and there were Hippies now. 

I also don't get when they moved to Hollywood, L&S had a big cutout of the Beatles circa 1964 on their wall. Weren't the two of them too old to be into them at that point?

[Swenson]

I have a "did you know".....but before I get to that.....the move to California of Laverne & Shirley was made more ridiculous by the fact that EVERYBODY made the move with them!

Did you know..... that Micheal Nesmith and Micky Dolenz from the Monkees tv series both auditioned for the part of Fonzie?  But both were rejected because the producers didn't want Fonzie to be taller than Richie, Potsie and Ralph.  Both Nesmith and Dolenz were 6'1.....and they didn't want Fonzie to "overshadow* them. Funny because as you know when they eventually hired Henry Winkler....he ended up being the breakout star anyway.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Ohhhhhhhh Myyyyyyyyy Godddddddddddd. Excruciating. Painful.

Just because I wanted to see Tom Hanks. The color/appearance was also off. Like, faded, as opposed to the early seasons when the picture quality was so vibrant!

I should have watched the cameos by Harriet Nelson and Jane Wyaat AFTER. That episode was eh, but I loved seeing Harriet and Jane. And then, hello! Arnold is back!

But good LORD. Why didn't ABC just cancel this show when Ron and Don left?

Just sticking around for Richie's appearance and those emotional scenes between Ronny and Henry. Then it's delete, delete, delete! until Season One comes around again. Hopefully.

Edited November 20, 2020 by GHScorpiosRule

[chessiegal]

I said after watching Season 8 I was out, but now it's like watching a train wreck. I can't look away. I've never seen these episodes before. The recent episode with a little person as chef at Arnold's coming out of a little door - WTF were these writers and producers smoking?

[ifionlyknew]

13 hours ago, chessiegal said:

The recent episode with a little person as chef at Arnold's coming out of a little door - WTF were these writers and producers smoking?

Oh yes the heretofore never seen Clarence the cook.

The show should have left Clarence unseen the same way they did the Pulaski twins and Hooper triplets. As we talked about earlier Jenny Piccalo should have also been left to our imaginations.

[ifionlyknew]

https://www.cordcuttersnews.com/pluto-tv-is-adding-6-new-channels-for-classic-tv-fans/

Happy Days is coming to Pluto TV. Yay. It says all 11 seasons.

[Spartan Girl]

What the hell did they do to the theme song in season 11?! It sounded AWFUL!

[Snow Apple]

Season 11 was bad. Ashley and Fonzie broke up (off screen). Joanie and Chachi broke up only to randomly marry in the last episode. Did Chachi even have a job? Fonzie adopts some random kid we never saw before. All the "new kids" disappear. Arnold disappear. Where's Potsie in the last episode?

The only good episodes of the season was Richie and Ralph's return.

[GHScorpiosRule]

14 hours ago, Snow Apple said:

The only good episodes of the season was Richie and Ralph's return.

I'm just counting down the days, deleting the episodes, until Richie's Return. The only...creative thing about the final season's opening credits is seeing Howard accidentally push down an 11 year old Joanie (Erin) and have the grown up Joanie on the ground that Howard picks up.

But the change to the lyrics are atrocious and tinny sounding.

I was never a fan of Ashley or what the relationship did to Fonzie, with him wearing those Salmon colored suit and ties, and having him hanging out with those losers, so having them break up off-screen was A-Okay to my tween self. Not that it improved.

A better series finale would have been to have Chuck (who?) show up with a wife and kids.

[mmecorday]

The only good thing about season 11 is that Jenny Piccolo, KC and Flip Phillips are all gone.

[GHScorpiosRule]

9 minutes ago, mmecorday said:

The only good thing about season 11 is that Jenny Piccolo, KC and Flip Phillips are all gone.

YES! I forgot to mention she was gone from the opening credits!

[mmecorday]

There was one on yesterday that explained what happened to Ashley. Her drunk husband sobered up and she took him back. To help Fonzie get over the breakup, Potsie, Chachi and Roger whisk him off to a resort to meet women. Naturally Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dumberer are taken advantage of by a trio of bimbos and are locked up overnight in a sauna. Come on, show! If they had spend the whole night in a sauna, they would have died and "Happy Days" would have taken a considerably dark turn at that point.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Just now, mmecorday said:

There was one on yesterday that explained what happened to Ashley. Her drunk husband sobered up and she took him back. To help Fonzie get over the breakup, Potsie, Chachi and Roger whisk him off to a resort to meet women. Naturally Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dumberer are taken advantage of by a trio of bimbos and are locked up overnight in a sauna. Come on, show! If they had spend the whole night in a sauna, they would have died and "Happy Days" would have taken a considerably dark turn at that point.

Yup. And I barely recognized Rita Wilson! She must have been making the rounds on sitcoms in those years, because here she was on this show and she also showed up as an Ad Executive who won an award from Angela in Who's The Boss? a year later!

And this was just another retread, really. Almost. During season 6, Fonzie was dating someone he thought was a single mother, played by Karen Austin. Her son idolized Fonzie, but then hubby, played by Bruce Weitz of Hill Street Blues fame, came back, and Fonzie acted like a fraidy cat so the kid would hate him and turn and give his dad a second chance. That was "Kid Stuff" and all onscreen. Hubby also had a job/drinking issue.

Break up with Ashley, of course, off-screen.

I think we'll see Richie again in about two weeks?

[GHScorpiosRule]

9 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

I think we'll see Richie again in about two weeks?

Quoting myself because I was WRONG!!!! "Welcome Home, Richie" Part I was on tonight! Part II tomorrow!!!

Where's the damn Kleenex??!!!!

God. Just watching Erin/Joanie crying, I totally believed it was Erin crying those happy tears--so happy to see Ron. These past two days have just gutted me, watching emotional scenes. Who's the Boss? with the episode addressing James Coco's passing; the past two days of watching Genie Francis as Laura Spencer on General Hospital, breaking down and grieving at her daughter's coma (actress was fired and this is how they're ushering her off the show), and now these episodes with Richie's return.

It just took 2 minutes for the heart of this show to return; that is it felt like the show it was when Ron and Donny were regulars.

I think we had lightning in a bottle with Ronny and Clint Howard when they were wee. Because the kid playing Little Richie just sat there; or was on Howard's back, with no reaction or expression whatsoever.

Edited December 2, 2020 by GHScorpiosRule

[mmecorday]

Quote

God. Just watching Erin/Joanie crying, I totally believed it was Erin crying those happy tears--so happy to see Ron.

Erin was definitely overjoyed to be back in the presence of her TV big brother and I was bawling right along with her. It makes her death all the more tragic because this was a cast that truly cared about each other.

[GHScorpiosRule]

2 minutes ago, mmecorday said:

Erin was definitely overjoyed to be back in the presence of her TV big brother and I was bawling right along with her. It makes her death all the more tragic because this was a cast that truly cared about each other.

Absolutely. To both statements. Even on MeTV's mini-interviews, Marion Ross stated how she could tell that Erin was troubled even at a young age, and she took Erin under her wing, as she had a daughter that was Erin's age.

Now I can't recall if Donny/Ralph returned for the series finale. If he didn't, then his just walking out of Richie's room, to go to Madison makes me go, that's it?

And I'm pretty sure the cast knew Ron was returning for this episode, yet looking at Henry's huge smile when he hugged Ron, I saw Henry smiling, and not Fonzi. Or maybe I'm just seeing what I want to see!😁

[mmecorday]

I'm just glad that Chachi didn't crash Ralph, Ritchie, Fonzie and Postie's reunion at Arnold's. I loved hearing them singing "Blueberry Hill."