Happy Days

Happy Days

main title card
Format Sitcom
Created by Garry Marshall
Starring Ron Howard
Henry Winkler
Marion Ross
Anson Williams
Donny Most
Erin Moran
Al Molinaro
Scott Baio
Lynda Goodfriend
Cathy Silvers
Ted McGinley
Linda Purl
and Tom Bosley
Opening theme Bill Haley & His Comets (1974-1975)
Norman Gimbel with Charles Fox (1975-1983)
Bobby Avron (1983-1984)
Ending theme Pratt and McClain (1974-1975)
Norman Gimble with Charles Fox (1975-1983)
Bobby Avron (1983-1984)
Composer(s) John Beal, Frank Comstock, James Patrick Dunne, Dan Foliart, Charles Fox, Jack Hayes, Pete King
Country of origin Flag of the United States.svg United States
No. of seasons 11
No. of episodes 255 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time approx. 0:22 (per episode)
Broadcast
Original channel ABC
Original run January 15, 1974 – June 12, 1984
Chronology
Preceded by Love, American Style
Followed by Laverne & Shirley
Blansky's Beauties
Mork & Mindy
Out of the Blue
Joanie Loves Chachi
Related shows The New Love, American Style
External links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Happy Days is an American television sitcom that originally aired from 1974 to 1984 on ABC. The show presents an idealized vision of life in 1950s and early 1960s America.

The family consists of Howard Cunningham, a hardware store owner, his homemaker wife Marion and the couple's two children, Richie, an optimistic if somewhat naive teenager, and Joanie, Ritchie's sweet but feisty younger sister. The Cunninghams also had an older son named Chuck, a character who disappeared during the second season.

The earlier episodes revolve around Richie and his friends, Potsie Weber, Ralph Malph and local dropout Arthur "The Fonz" Fonzarelli, but as the series progressed, "Fonzie" proved to be a favourite with viewers and soon more story lines were written to reflect his growing popularity. Soon Fonzie befriended Richie and the Cunningham family. The focus would also occasionally shift to other additional characters, such as Fonzie's cousin Chachi, who became a love interest for Joanie Cunningham.

This long-running show spawned several highly successful television series, including Laverne & Shirley, Mork & Mindy, and Joanie Loves Chachi.

Despite some inconsistencies, it is generally indicated that the events of the series begin in 1955 and, after eleven seasons, end in 1965. Most episodes take place about 19 years before the year of their first air date. The second season episode "The Not Making of the President" revolves around the 1956 presidential election, while the sixth season episode "Christmas Time" ends with a photo dated Christmas 1960. In the 10th season episode "Babysitting", Fonzie watches the first heavyweight championship fight between Cassius Clay and Sonny Liston on television. This boxing match occurred on February 25, 1964. In the first part of the series finale "Passages", Joanie and Chachi are wearing T-shirts that say "The Kinks – Summer 1965 Tour".

Contents

Cast

Full character list

Minor characters

Cast stats

History

Happy Days originated during a time of 1950s nostalgic interest evident in film, television, and music. The show began as an unsold pilot called New Family in Town, with Harold Gould in the role of Howard Cunningham, Marion Ross as Marion, Ron Howard as Richie, Anson Williams as Potsie, Ric Carrott as Charles "Chuck" Cunningham, and Susan Neher as Joanie. While Paramount passed on making it into a weekly series, the pilot was recycled with the title Love and the Happy Days, for presentation on the television anthology series Love, American Style. In 1972, George Lucas asked to view the pilot to determine if Ron Howard would be suitable to play a teenager in American Graffiti, then in preproduction. Lucas immediately cast Howard in the film, which became one of the top-grossing films of 1973. Show creator Garry Marshall and ABC recast the unsold pilot to turn Happy Days into a series.

Production styles

The first two seasons of Happy Days were filmed using a single-camera setup and laugh track.

One episode of Season 2 ("Fonzie Gets Married") was filmed in front of a studio audience with three cameras as a test run.

From the third season on, the show was a three-camera production in front of a live audience (with the announcement "Happy Days is filmed before a studio audience" at the start of most episodes), giving these later seasons a markedly different style.

Sets

The show had two main sets: the Cunningham home, and Arnold's Drive-In.

In season 1 & 2, the Cunningham house was arranged with the front door on the left and the kitchen on the right, in a sort of triangle. Beginning with season 3, the house was radically rearranged to accommodate multiple cameras and a studio audience. However, the second season episode (mentioned above) in which Fonzie gets engaged was shot on the old set, but with multiple cameras.

The Cunninghams' official address is 565 North Clinton Drive, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.[1] The address, although fictitious, suggests that the Cunninghams lived on the city's east side.

The house that served as the exterior of the Cunningham residence is actually located at 565 North Cahuenga Blvd (south of Melrose Avenue) in Los Angeles, just a few blocks from the Paramount lot on Melrose Avenue.

The Milky Way Drive-In, located on Port Washington Road in Glendale (Milwaukee), now Kopps, was the inspiration for the original Arnold's Drive-In. The Milky Way has since been demolished. The exterior of Arnold's was a 'dressed' area on the Paramount Studios lot, that has since been demolished, very close to the Stage 19, where the rest of the show's sets were located.

The set of the diner in the first season was a room with the same vague details of the later set, such as the paneling, and the college pennants. When the show was changed to a studio based taping, the set was redesigned and became the Arnold's that is most remembered. The set was largely opened to show the audience the scenes that took place within it. The Diner entrance was hidden, but allowed an upstage, central entrance for cast members. The barely seen kitchen was also upstage and seen only through a pass through window. The diner had orange booths, downstage center for closeup conversation, as well as camera left. There were two bathroom doors camera right, labeled 'Guys' and 'Dolls'. A Seeburg jukebox was positioned camera right, and a pinball machine was positioned far camera right, (anachronistically a 1973 'Nip It' machine, contrary to the show's '50s setting).

College pennants adorned the walls including Marquette and UWM, along with a blue and white sign reading 'Jefferson High School'.

Storylines dictated that the set would be destroyed by fire, and so in later seasons, a different Arnold's Drive-in emerged and lasted through the later years of the show. Differing in design, with wood paneling and stained glass, the set was not popular amongst viewers , and was not how Arnold's was remembered .

In 2004, two decades after the first set was destroyed, the Happy Days 30th Anniversary Reunion requested that the reunion take place in Arnold's. The familiar set was rebuilt by Production Designer James Yarnell. Built from the original ground plan, this was the first time that the Happy Days cast had been in this set since the 1970s.

Coined neologisms

"Jumping the Shark"

Main article: Jumping the shark

The most famous of these plots involved Fonzie performing a water ski jump over a shark in an episode aired on September 20, 1977, during the show's fifth season. In later years, this episode has often been cited as the point where the series had passed its peak of quality and popularity. The phrase jumping the shark was later applied to popular culture phenomena in general. While the Fonz's literal shark jump gave rise to the phrase, some fans consider Happy Days to have had more than one such moment, occurring both before and after the stunt in question. Of particular note are the fire that destroyed the original Arnold's Drive-In and the departure of leading man Ron Howard, both of which happened after the notorious stunt involving the shark. Prior to this, the Fonzie character had become almost a comic book version of himself, battling alongside with (and subsequently romancing) the Woman from Kathmandu (portrayed by Quantum Leap actress/producer Deborah Pratt) and Mork from Ork. Interestingly, although the series dipped slightly in viewership after Ron Howard's departure in 1980 (the show still remained a Top Thirty hit for three of its last four seasons), the Fonzie character became more grounded and "human" again - even venturing into a season of exploring domesticity and the trials of approaching middle age. Another figurative jumping of the shark occurred with the 1980 departure of Ron Howard, and the introduction of Ted McGinley, who would similarly serve as a replacement castmember on The Love Boat and Married… with Children, thereby becoming inexorably associated with the term 'jumping the shark'.

The "Fonzie Effect"

Main article: List of breakout characters

The early Happy Days episodes centered on Richie and teenage friend Warren "Potsie" Weber, dealing with typical adolescent woes in the 1950s and early/mid 1960s Milwaukee, along with peripherally seen peers such as Ralph Malph, Bag, et al. During the first season, the character Arthur "Fonzie"/"The Fonz" Fonzarelli was becoming a fan favorite, though he was originally intended to be a local high school dropout who was only occasionally seen. The Fonz character was given progressively more screen time by the writers, becoming a permanent cast member displayed in the second season opening credits. The Fonz quickly became the show's most popular character, and many episodes came to revolve around him. When the ABC management considered changing the name of the show to "Fonzie's Happy Days", the cast, including Fonzie player Henry Winkler, protested along with producer/creator Garry Marshall, and the show's title remained unchanged.[2]

"Chuck Cunningham Syndrome"

Main article: List of television show casting changes

The first two seasons of the series also featured Chuck, the Cunninghams' eldest child and Richie's older brother. The Fonzie character was initially meant to be a "juvenile delinquent" that Richie and his friends would encounter, with Chuck taking on the mentoring role to Richie. After Fonzie attained breakout success and was repurposed to be more sympathetic and closer to Richie, the Chuck character was nearly superfluous, and his scenes were usually brief appearances "on his way to basketball practice." In fact, Chuck was originally a student at Marquette University on a basketball scholarship. Chuck was written out during the series' second season with no explanation and was rarely referred to again. Scripts from later seasons implied the Cunninghams had two, not three children. However, in the third and fourth-season recap versions of the Christmas episode, "Guess Who's Coming To Christmas", Fonzie — recalling his first Christmas with the Cunninghams — tells Arnold, and later, Al, that Chuck was "away at college." In a Happy Days reunion show from 2005, the cast mentioned that Chuck had won a scholarship to the "University of Outer Mongolia" to play basketball, as a sort of an inside joke. An officially circulated outtake from the final episode has Mr. Cunningham raising a glass to the entire cast and saying "to Happy Days." After taking a sip, he blurts out in mock surprise "Wait, where's Chuck?!" In the aired version, Mr. Cunningham specifies that he has two children (Richie and Joanie). The unexplained removal of a character in a TV series has come to be known as "Chuck Cunningham Syndrome". (See also the characters of Eugene Barkley in The Big Valley, and Judy Winslow in Family Matters)

New characters

Later seasons saw the addition of other characters. Introduced in the second season episode 'Not With My Sister, You Don't', Danny Butch played Fonzie's similarly dressed and mannered young cousin Raymond "Spike" Fonzarelli. Although he went on to make several more appearances, the character was felt to never completely catch on, and was reworked into that of Chachi at the start of the fifth season (see below).

At the start of the fourth season, Roz Kelly was brought in as Pinky Tuscadero, Fonzie's long-term girlfriend. Commercials for the subsequent season even began promoting Kelly's new character, but when discord occurred between her and the cast and producers, her character was dropped; the character was briefly mentioned in two subsequent episodes, one where her sister Leather Tuscadero came to town to start anew out of reform school, and when Fonzie was out of town at a demolition derby with Pinky.

Bill "Sticks" Downey, played by John-Anthony Bailey, was supposed to be added to the cast as a new member of Richie's band, on drums, and the gang at Arnold's but the character never caught on and only stayed for a few episodes.

During the first two seasons, a few actresses were brought in as potential long-term girlfriends for Richie. Laurette Spang was Richie's girlfriend Arlene in a couple of first season episodes. Richie dated Arlene Nestrock (Tannis G. Montgomery) in the pilot episode which only aired as an installment of Love American Style who admitted to Richie the only reason she dated him was because he had a television set. Arlene would return in the second season and through the use of flashbacks to the "Love American Style" pilot Richie explains to Potsie and Ralph how their date went. Later in the second season Linda Purl was brought in as Richie's girlfriend Gloria. Neither caught on storywise and Richie did not have a steady girlfriend until going to college and meeting Lori-Beth Allen (Lynda Goodfriend), a former classmate from Jefferson High. Linda Purl returned to the Happy Days fold in Season 10 as Fonzie's girlfriend Ashley Pfister (a divorced socialite of the wealthy Milwaukee Pfister family). The Pfisters were often also referenced on Laverne & Shirley as owners of many Milwaukee establishments, ie, Chez Pfister, The Hotel Pfister, Pfister Fong's.

Season 4

The most major character changes occurred after Season 4 with the addition of Scott Baio as Fonzie's cousin, Chachi Arcola. Originally the character Spike, mentioned as Fonzie's nephew (who's actually his cousin as he made it clear in one episode), was supposed to be the character who became Chachi.

Al Molinaro was added as Al Delvecchio the new owner of Arnold's after Pat Morita's character of Arnold moved on (after his character got married; Pat Morita left the program to star in a short-lived sitcom of his own, Mr. T and Tina, which was actually a spin-off of Welcome Back, Kotter. Morita would also star in a subsequent short lived Happy Days spin-off series entitled Blansky's Beauties). Al Molinaro also played Al's twin brother Father Anthony Delvecchio, a Catholic priest. Al eventually married Chachi's mother (played by Ellen Travolta) and Father Delvecchio served in the wedding of Joanie to Chachi in the series finale.

Seasons 8 onward

Lynda Goodfriend joined the cast as semi-regular character Lori-Beth Allen, Richie's steady girlfriend, in season 5, and became a permanent member of the cast between Seasons 8 and 10, after Lori-Beth married Richie.

After Ron Howard (Richie) left the series, Ted McGinley joined the cast as Roger Phillips the new Physical Education teacher at Jefferson High and nephew to Howard and Marion. He took over from the departed Richie Cunningham character, acting as counterpoint to Fonzie. Also joining the cast was Cathy Silvers as Jenny Piccolo, Joanie's best friend who was previously referenced in various episodes from earlier seasons who remained as a main cast member until the final season. Both actors were originally credited as guest stars but were promoted to the main cast during the 10th season after several series regulars left the show. The real focus of the series was now on the Joanie and Chachi characters, and often finding ways to incorporate Fonzie into them as a shoulder to cry on, advice-giver, and savior as needed. The Potsie character who had already been spun off from the devious best friend of Richie to Ralph's best friend and confidante, held little grist for the writers in this new age, and was now most often used as the occasional "dumb" foil for punchlines (most often from Mr. C. or Fonzie).

Billy Warlock joined the cast in season 10 as Roger's brother Flip, along with Crystal Bernard as Howard's and Marion's niece K.C. They were intended as replacements for Erin Moran and Scott Baio (who departed for their own show, Joanie Loves Chachi) and were credited as part of the semi-regular cast. Both characters left with the return of Moran and Baio, following the cancellation of Joanie Loves Chachi.

Guest stars

Anachronisms

Decline in popularity

Despite having the dubious honor of coining the phrase Jumping the Shark, Happy Days remained a successful sitcom in terms of ratings for its entire run (far greater than the length of most sitcoms' full lives). One might point to the forward thinking of Garry Marshall who drafted a very young Scott Baio while the series was at #1 (in 1976-1977) without him, and seemingly in no need of a new, very young, character. Three years later, when Ron Howard and Donny Most left the series, the focal point of the show became the relationship of the Joanie and Chachi characters, helping to carry the series onward with ratings success. Of those final four seasons (the 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th), Season 10 stands out as the oddest. Scott Baio and Erin Moran were spun-off into "Joanie Loves Chachi" (itself a rating success in terms of viewers, but failure in terms of the new-at-the-time "lead-in variable" - a gauge to see if a show is holding a high enough percentage of the show that aired just before it during the hour) and the production staff scrambled to bring in conspicuously similar Cunningham relatives to fill those spots. Season 10 marked the only full season where Fonzie entered into a monogamous relationship. With the return of the full cast (even including three guest spots by Ron Howard - a two-part episode (also strongly featuring Don Most's Ralph Malph character) plus the finale, "Passages"), the 11th season is arguably forgotten as a return to deeper storylines, stronger writing, and poignant moments.

Theme music

Seasons 1 and 2 of the series used a newly recorded version of "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley & His Comets (recorded in the fall of 1971) as the opening theme song. This recording was not commercially released at the time, although the original 1954 recording returned to the American Billboard charts in 1974 as a result of its use on the show. The "Happy Days" recording had its initial commercial release in 2005 by the German label Hydra Records. (When Happy Days entered syndication in 1979, the series was retitled Happy Days Again and used an edited version of the 1954 recording instead of the new version).

The show's closing theme song in season 1 & 2 was "Happy Days," written by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel. According to SAG, this version was performed by Jimmy Haas (lead vocal), Ron Hicklin, Stan Farber, Jerry Whitman and Gary Garrett (backing vocals), plus studio musicians.

From seasons 3-10, this replaced "Rock Around the Clock" at the beginning of the show. Released as a single in 1976 by Pratt & McClain, "Happy Days" cracked the Top 5. The show itself finished the 1976-77 television season #1, ending the five-year Nielsen reign of All in the Family.

For the show's 11th and final season (1983-84), the theme was redone in a more modern style. Featuring Bobby Arvon on lead vocals, with several back-up vocalists, this version of the theme song is arguably not as popular with Happy Days fans as versions from the 3rd-10th seasons (among which there were several slightly different versions and edits). To accompany this new version, new opening credits were filmed, and the flashing "Happy Days" logo was reanimated to create an overall "new" feel that incorporated 1980s sensibilities with a still 1950s nostalgia (although the show was now supposedly taking place in 1965).

Production & scheduling

Ratings

Episodes

Further information: List of Happy Days episodes

DVD releases

Paramount Home Entertainment and CBS DVD have released the first three seasons of Happy Days on DVD in Region 1. Season 4 will be released on December 9, 2008.

DVD Name Release Date Ep # Additional Information
The Complete First Season August 17 2004 16
  • No extras included
The Second Season April 17 2007 23
  • Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley & His Comets is replaced with Happy Days (used beginning with Season 3) in the opening credits and end credits.
  • With the exception of four original songs, all other music is replaced with generic music.
The Third Season November 27 2007 24
  • No extras included
  • Music alterations exist
The Fourth Season December 9 2008 25
  • No extras included
  • Music alterations exist

Spin-offs

Happy Days, itself considered a spin-off from Love, American Style, spun off more than four different series; Laverne & Shirley, Blansky's Beauties, Mork and Mindy, Out of the Blue, and Joanie Loves Chachi.

Animated spin-offs

There are two animated series. One was produced by Hanna-Barbera entitled The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang which ran from 1980-1982. There are also animated spin-offs of Laverne & Shirley and Mork and Mindy. Another is The Mork & Mindy/Laverne & Shirley/Fonz Hour (1982).[14]

Legacy

Pop Culture References

Trivia

References

  1. ↑ Wilcox's Soaps & More TV Character Address and Trivia Book (2004), (obtained here)
  2. ↑ Happy Days at TV Party
  3. ↑ http://www.tv.com/happy-days/show/270/episode_guide.html?season=3&tag=season_dropdown;dropdown;2
  4. ↑ ClassicTVHits.com: TV Ratings > 1970's
  5. ↑ ClassicTVHits.com: TV Ratings > 1970's
  6. ↑ ClassicTVHits.com: TV Ratings > 1970's
  7. ↑ ClassicTVHits.com: TV Ratings > 1970's
  8. ↑ ClassicTVHits.com: TV Ratings > 1970's
  9. ↑ ClassicTVHits.com: TV Ratings > 1970's
  10. ↑ ClassicTVHits.com: TV Ratings > 1980's
  11. ↑ ClassicTVHits.com: TV Ratings > 1980's
  12. ↑ ClassicTVHits.com: TV Ratings > 1980's
  13. ↑ Thom Holbrook. Happy Days and Out Of The Blue. Crossovers & Spin Offs. Poobala.com. Retrieved on 2009-10-27.
  14. ↑ "Happy Days" (1974) - Movie connections
  15. ↑ "Episode 5". Leigh Francis, Ben Palmer. Bo' Selecta!. Channel 4. 2004-07-16. No. 5, season 3.
  16. ↑ MotorTorque.com (2007) Citroen Happy Days advert
  17. ↑ Dan Fleschner, Dan. (February 25, 2008) msnbc.com 10 "Happy" Minutes with Potsie and Ralph Malph. Live from Studio 1A. Accessed February 27, 2008

External links