Happy Days - General Discussion

[Egg McMuffin]

The studio audience seasons set the template for the many Miller/Boyett sitcoms (Family Matters, Full House, Step by Step, Valerie) to come: catch phrases, “awww” moments, cartoonish powers or inventions, cast overpopulation by having neighbors/boyfriends/girlfriends become main characters in the opening credits, etc.

[fishcakes]

2 hours ago, chessiegal said:

I liked the first two seasons. For me, they had a real feel about teenage life. Once they went to a live audience in season 3, the set changed,

The set change has always bothered me because the house no longer made any sense. The living room was changed putting the door on the right side of the screen, but the kitchen set remained the same with the door on the right side of the screen. So from the outside the house would have been like an L turned sideways with both the living room and kitchen doors facing the street.

[Fool to cry]

Most underrated part of the show: Tom Bosley's reaction shots. 

[bluegirl147]

17 hours ago, Fool to cry said:

Most underrated part of the show: Tom Bosley's reaction shots. 

Oh Jiminy Crickets.

[mmecorday]

Quote

Ralph Macchio has a new memoir out and he writes about Pat Morita and clearly thought very highly of him.  He writes that  he watched Happy Days and knew Pat as Arnold and that he worked at Mel's Diner.  Was there not an editor that could have caught that mistake?  

My guess is Ralph had Arnold's confused with Mel's Drive-in from "American Graffiti." The two locations looked very similar. 

[Bazinga]

17 hours ago, mmecorday said:

My guess is Ralph had Arnold's confused with Mel's Drive-in from "American Graffiti." The two locations looked very similar. 

As for the name, "Mel's Diner" was the diner on "Alice," a sitcom from the same era as "Happy Days."

Mel's Diner

Edited March 25, 2023 by Bazinga

[Blergh]

On 11/14/2022 at 9:45 AM, bluegirl147 said:

That continuity mistake was hard to miss when it first aired.  The mistakes I mentioned even though I have seen all seasons multiple times I never noticed before.

The first two seasons did have some laugh out loud moments.  I enjoyed seasons 3-7 but the writing IMO declined with each season.  And of course once Ron Howard left the whole show declined.  They turned Fonzie into some kind of superhero.  Was there anything he couldn't do?  

Zap away The Studio Audience with a snap of his fingers and have the Cunninghams and other regulars once again converse with each other in regular vocal tones( instead of SCREAMING their lines  to the nosebleed rows) and become characters with layers & growth potential instead remaining live-action cartoon caricatures spitting out catch-phrases.

[GHScorpiosRule]

I know I mentioned it up thread and not to be nitpicking, but the show was headed for cancellation. Filming before a live studio audience saved it.

That said, it did look anachronistic and more of a ‘70s feel instead of the 50s and 60s around the sixth season and especially with Chachi and his shaggy 70s hair style.

But as I and others like @bluegirl147 also stated-Ron was the heart of the show and when he left, it went to hell in a hand basket.

 

[Blergh]

7 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

I know I mentioned it up thread and not to be nitpicking, but the show was headed for cancellation. Filming before a live studio audience saved it.

 

So  has been claimed by those who greenlit the Screamy Mimi Live Studio Audience. .

Regardless, in hindsight one might wonder if it would have been better to have savored a few Valrona ultra dark chocolate  truffles. ..or  to have scarfed down a case of room-temp chocolate flavored Pop Tarts.

IMO, it would have been better to have gone out earlier on a high note with the loyal audience wishing for more and imagining what-might-have-been for these characters. .than to keep it going for Eleven Seasons with none of the original high school gang still hanging around as regulars with the show wheezing on fumes to its bummer end with Annoying Chachi and Blah Joanie (RIP Miss Moran nonetheless) having a downright funereal wedding.

[Fool to cry]

I love the first season they did a live studio audience and there are a lot of funny moments in the next few seasons. What actually bugged me later was  when they had more serious and maudlin stories and scenes where they start playing the slow version of the theme!

Edited March 28, 2023 by Fool to cry

[chessiegal]

MeTV ran Christmas shows this afternoon. The first was from Season 2 when Chuck was still around. I looked at the actor and thought, hey, that's not the same actor that was Chuck in the Pilot. Turns out I'm right. They had 3 actors play Chuck before he disappeared.

[TheLastKidPicked]

19 hours ago, chessiegal said:

MeTV ran Christmas shows this afternoon.

I was watching as well!  The early episodes do a great job of allowing the relationships to grow naturally.  Ritchie discovers that Fonzie will be spending Christmas alone.  Howard doesn't want to get involved and is honest about that.  It's only after some back and forth that Howard invites Fonz to the Cunningham's house.  

It was nice to see the characters click in together over time, instead of forcing it.

 

 

 

 

[mmecorday]

Quote

I was watching as well!  The early episodes do a great job of allowing the relationships to grow naturally.  Ritchie discovers that Fonzie will be spending Christmas alone.  Howard doesn't want to get involved and is honest about that.  It's only after some back and forth that Howard invites Fonz to the Cunningham's house.  

This one actually made me a little teary-eyed. But that was one creepy-ass Santa the Cunninghams had in their yard!

[fishcakes]

That's a confusing episode because Fonzie goes to their house on Christmas Eve and it's already dark out. But at the end of the episode when they're eating dinner, it's clearly the next day because it's light outside and the Cunninghams are wearing different clothes. So I always wondered, did he spend the night? Did he go home and come back? (Since this was the last episode with Chuck, my friend's theory is that Fonzie spent the night and had a liaison with Chuck, who then regretted it and left town, never to be seen or heard from again.) Also, why was everyone so worried about him being alone on Christmas Eve when he was also going to be alone on Christmas day? Anyway, I love that episode and if there weren't a million other things to eat on Christmas Eve, I would eat ravioli out of can in honor of Fonzie's original plans.

 

Edited December 19, 2023 by fishcakes

[chessiegal]

I thought Marion insisted Fonzie spend the night with them on Christmas Eve.

[AheadofStraight]

I'm listening to Henry Winkler's recent autobiography. (If you've ever heard him in an interview or podcast, he reads it with the same joy and exuberance. Worth listening to it!) He just mentioned an actor, without naming names, who got too big for his britches on set and was written off. I believe it was after Ritchie left and before Scott Baio. I can't place who the actor and character might be. Anyone?

[chessiegal]

Al? The original diner owner.

[GHScorpiosRule]

2 minutes ago, chessiegal said:

Al? The original diner owner.

Arnold (Pat Morita) was the original diner owner.

[AheadofStraight]

It sounded like it was a new actor brought on to fill Ron Howard's void after he left. At first I thought he was dissing Scott Baio but then he went on to gush about Scott essentially replacing this guy and not being like him at all. I believe it would've been season 5.

Edited March 14 by AheadofStraight

[chessiegal]

Once Ron Howard was gone, I was too. I know they went to a studio audience in Season 3(?) because of sagging ratings, but, to me, it went downhill from there, even before Ron left.

[GHScorpiosRule]

1 hour ago, chessiegal said:

Once Ron Howard was gone, I was too. 

Same here. Ron was the heart of the show. And even before he left, it was clear, the show wasn't in the 50s or 60s any longer. Looked more and more like an 80s show.

1 hour ago, AheadofStraight said:

It sounded like it was a new actor brought on to fill Ron Howard's void after he left. At first I thought he was dissing Scott Baio but then he went on to gush about Scott essentially replacing this guy and not being like him at all. I believe it would've been season 5.

Ron left after season 7, I think.

Quite the puzzle.

[chessiegal]

Jenny Piccalo?

ETA: Spike Fonzarelli?

Edited March 14 by chessiegal

[fishcakes]

2 hours ago, AheadofStraight said:

At first I thought he was dissing Scott Baio but then he went on to gush about Scott essentially replacing this guy and not being like him at all. I believe it would've been season 5.

If it was the character who was replaced by Chachi, then it must have been Spike, Fonzie's other cousin. He was played by Danny Butch and was only in a handful of episodes, the last one being toward the end of season 4. Scott Baio started at the beginning of Season 5.

Edited March 14 by fishcakes

[AheadofStraight]

Spike! That could be it! I re-listened and he brings this up in the timeline between Ron leaving and Scott joining, but says a more generalized "later seasons" and not a specific timeframe like I was assuming. Maybe trying to be less specific but due to where he mentions it, probably likely!

The quote in the book is along the lines of  "kid joined in the later seasons of the show. Started to get kind of popular, was getting written about..." "Kid began to get fan mail and more fan mail...began to flaunt it and talk about it a lot on the sound stage....in a kind of braggy way oblivious to feelings of those around him." He told kid not to brag that way but kept doing it anyway. Wasn't long after, the character was written out of the show. 

 

[GHScorpiosRule]

That's really odd. Spike first appeared in the first season as Joanie's first date.

I don't recall that many appearances. Maybe three or four? Anyway, like I said. Odd.

[AheadofStraight]

If he didn't mean in between Ron and Scott....could it be Billy Warlock?

[GHScorpiosRule]

19 minutes ago, AheadofStraight said:

If he didn't mean in between Ron and Scott....could it be Billy Warlock?

I don't know. I've never heard anything bad about Billy Warlock; on the contrary. This is really weird, because I love Henry and Billy. If anyone got too big for his britches, it's Chachi.

[AheadofStraight]

YES! I totally expected him to be hinting about Scott Baio! But right after that he was gushing about Scott and how he was the opposite of this person. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

3 minutes ago, AheadofStraight said:

YES! I totally expected him to be hinting about Scott Baio! But right after that he was gushing about Scott and how he was the opposite of this person. 

Henry is just too nice.

[fishcakes]

Yeah, now I'm thinking it's probably not Spike, if Henry said it was in a later season. Also the thing about fan mail doesn't make sense because he was only in four episodes spread over three seasons. It could be Billy Warlock because he came and went in later seasons, but I've never heard anything bad about him either. That was one of his early roles though, so maybe he wasn't used to the attention and got a big head over it, but later grew out of that.

I wouldn't expect Henry to be negative about anyone though, at least not by name. Baio is a good example; I'm sure Henry's been appalled by his scandals and many of his personal opinions, but he and Ron Howard have always been really supportive of him as a friend.

[AheadofStraight]

I went searching and found Billy was in teen magazines for his Happy Days role so I could see that leading to fan mail. 

Henry is definitely a super nice guy. I'm really enjoying the book (especially his reading of it). 

[Snow Apple]

I read the book and thought it was Billy Warlock too, but then thought what if it was the actor who played Eugene? He was gone all of a sudden and the nerd character was replaced by his cousin Melvin.

[AheadofStraight]

Totally forgot about him! Would he generate a lot of fan mail though?