Happy Days

Happy Days
Happy-days.jpg
Main title screen
Also known as Happy Days Again
Genre Sitcom
Created by Garry Marshall[1]
Starring Ron Howard (seasons 1–7, 11),
Henry Winkler
Marion Ross
Anson Williams
Donny Most (seasons 1–7)
Erin Moran
Al Molinaro (seasons 3–9)
Scott Baio (seasons 5–9, 11)
Lynda Goodfriend (seasons 4–9)
Cathy Silvers (seasons 8-10)
Ted McGinley (seasons 7–11)
Tom Bosley
Pat Morita (seasons 2–3, 10–11)
Theme music composer Bill Haley & His Comets (1974–1975), Norman Gimbel with Charles Fox (1975–1983), Bobby Arvon (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 United States
Language(s) English
No. of seasons 11
No. of episodes 247 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s) Garry Marshall
Thomas L. Miller
Edward K. Milkis
Robert L. Boyett (Seasons 8-11)
Producer(s) William Bickley
Michael Warren
Anthony W. Marshall
Ronny Hallin
Fred Fox, Jr.
Camera setup Single Camera (1974)
Multi-camera (1974-1984)
Running time 22–24 minutes
Production company(s) Henderson Productions (Seasons 4–11)
Miller-Milkis Productions (Seasons 1–8)
Miller-Milkis-Boyett Productions (Seasons 9-11)
Distributor Paramount Television, CBS Television Distribution
Broadcast
Original channel ABC
Audio format Monaural
Original run January 14, 1974 (1974-01-14) – May 8, 1984 (1984-05-08)
Status Ended
Chronology
Preceded by Love, American Style
Related shows Laverne & Shirley, Blansky's Beauties, Mork & Mindy, Out of the Blue, Joanie Loves Chachi

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 mid 1950s to mid 1960s America. The family consists of Howard Cunningham, a hardware store owner, his homemaker wife Marion, and the couple's children, Richie, an optimistic if somewhat naïve teenager, and Joanie, Richie's sweet but nosey younger sister. The Cunninghams originally had an older son named Chuck, a college student. Chuck was phased out of the show with no onscreen explanation for his departure.

The earlier episodes revolve around Richie and his friends, Warren "Potsie" Weber (Anson Williams), Ralph Malph (Donny Most) and local dropout Arthur "The Fonz" Fonzarelli (played by Henry Winkler). As the series progressed "Fonzie" proved to be a favorite with viewers and soon more story lines were written to reflect his growing popularity. Soon Fonzie befriended Richie and the Cunningham family. Later the focus would sometimes shift to other characters such as Fonzie's cousin, Charles "Chachi" Arcola, who became a love interest for Joanie Cunningham.

This long-running show spawned several other television series, including Laverne & Shirley, Mork & Mindy, and Joanie Loves Chachi, and is currently a musical touring the United States. The show has been syndicated under the title Happy Days Again.

Despite some inconsistencies, it is generally indicated that the events of the series begin about 1956 and, despite eleven seasons, ended around 1965 (though the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, a pivotal event, was not mentioned). As a general rule, 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 two other episodes in the same season specify 1958. 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." Series producer Garry Marshall contracted period icons, such as Howdy Doody and The Lone Ranger, to make visits to underscore a feel of innocence and hero worship.

Contents

Cast

Full character list

Minor characters

Cast trivia

History

Happy Days originated during a time of 1950s nostalgic interest evident in film, television, and music. The show began as an unsold pilot filmed in late 1971 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. According to Marshall on an interview, executive producer Thomas L. Miller, known professionally as "Tom Miller," was quoted as saying this while developing the sitcom: "If we do a TV series that takes place in another era, and when it goes into reruns, then it won't look old." This made sense to Marshall while on the set of the show.

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 by Tom Bosley that "Happy Days is filmed before a live audience" at the start of most episodes), giving these later seasons a markedly different style. A laugh track was still used, but only to sweeten the live reactions.

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's official address is 565 North Clinton Drive, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.[2] Within the actual Milwaukee street grid, this would put the address somewhere in the center of Milwaukee County near the current day Interstate 94, just south of Michigan Street. It would also be an oddity, as north-south streets in the city west of downtown are numbered rather than named.

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 the North Shore suburb of Glendale, now Kopps, was the inspiration for the original Arnold's Drive-In; it 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 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 filming, 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 an anachronistic "Nip-It" pinball machine (actually produced in 1972) was positioned far camera right.

College pennants adorned the walls, including Purdue and University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, along with a blue and white sign reading "Jefferson High School."

Storylines dictated that the set would be destroyed by fire, so in later seasons, a different Arnold's Drive-in emerged and lasted through the later years of the show. The new set featured wood paneling and stained glass.

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.

Cast changes

Season 5

The most major character changes occurred after Season 5 with the addition of Scott Baio as Fonzie's cousin, Charles "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.

With Season 3, 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. (Morita had 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 also starred 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. Also leaving Happy Days in Season 10 for Joanie Loves Chachi was Al Delvecchio; Pat Morita returned to the cast as Arnold in his absence.

Gail Edwards, who previously guest starred in the episode "A Potsie is Born," was offered the role that Crystal Bernard would fill but was never told so by her managers, as they knew she would take the role and they didn't want her to be a "new character on an old show." Later, Edwards would appear with Bernard in 93 episodes of It's a Living.

Guest stars

Anachronisms

Neologisms

"Jumping the Shark"

The term "jumping the shark", used as a metaphor to describe something that had become an unintended mockery of itself, arose from one of the most famous of these plots as featured in Happy Days. The episode aired on September 20, 1977, during the show's fifth season, involved Fonzie performing a water ski jump over a shark to overcome his fear of them. In later years, this episode was cited as the point where the series had passed its peak of quality and popularity. The phrase 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 with (and subsequently romancing) a woman named Kat Mandu (portrayed by Quantum Leap actress/producer Deborah Pratt) and encountering space alien Mork from Ork (in a backdoor pilot for Mork and Mindy). 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 introduction of Ted McGinley, whose arrival to the cast of a TV series is viewed by some as a sign of imminent cancellation.

"Fonzie Effect"

The early Happy Days episodes centered on Richie and teenage friend Warren "Potsie" Weber, dealing with typical adolescent woes in 1950s Milwaukee, along with peripherally seen peers such as Ralph Malph, Bag, et al. During the first season, the character Fonzie was becoming a fan favorite, though he was originally intended to be a local high school dropout who was only occasionally seen. The character was given progressively more screen time by the writers, becoming a permanent cast member displayed in the second season opening credits. He 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 Winkler, protested along with producer/creator Garry Marshall, and the show's title remained unchanged.

"Chuck Cunningham Syndrome"

The first two seasons of the series also featured Chuck, the Cunninghams' eldest child and Richie's older brother. The Fonz was initially meant to be a "juvenile delinquent" whom 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". 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 never to catch on completely, and he 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 (played by singer Suzi Quatro) 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 he 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, including Chez Pfister, The Hotel Pfister, and Pfister Fong's.

Decline in popularity

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, it banished Anson William's Potsie to Mr. Cunningham's hardware store.

The focal point then 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 to star in their own series, Joanie Loves Chachi. Though it was a ratings success in terms of viewers, Joanie Loves Chachi was a 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.

The production staff scrambled to bring in conspicuously similar Cunningham relatives to fill the spots left by Erin Moran and Scott Baio. 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 in a two-part episode plus the series finale), the Season 11 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 1973) 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 first 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 1973 version).

The show's closing theme song in season 1 was a fragment from "Happy Days," whose music was composed by Charles Fox and whose lyrics were written by Norman Gimbel. According to SAG, this version was performed by Jimmy Haas on lead vocals, Ron Hicklin of the Ron Hicklin Singers, Stan Farber, Jerry Whitman, and Gary Garrett on backing vocals, and studio musicians.

From seasons 3–10 inclusive, a longer version of "Happy Days" 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. On the recently released DVD set of season 2, the song "Rock Around the Clock" was replaced with a reconstructed version of "Happy Days." This was done because of music rights issues.

For the show's 11th and final season (1983–84), the theme was rerecorded in a more modern style. It featured Bobby Arvon on lead vocals, with several back-up vocalists. To accompany this new version, new opening credits were filmed, and the flashing "Happy Days" logo was reanimated to create an overall "new" feel which incorporated 1980s sensibilities with 1950s nostalgia (although by this time the show was set in 1965).

Production & scheduling

Ratings

Episodes

DVD releases

Paramount Home Entertainment and CBS DVD have released the first four seasons of Happy Days on DVD in Region 1. Each release features music replacements due to copyright issues, including the theme song "Rock Around the Clock" for Season 2 (Season 1 retained the original opening which was released before CBS was involved).

Seasons 1-3 have also been released on DVD in the UK, while in region 4 the first four seasons have been released.

DVD Name Ep # Release Dates
Region 1 Region 2 Region 4
The Complete First Season 16 August 17, 2004 August 27, 2007 September 19, 2007
The Second Season 23 April 17, 2007 November 12, 2007 March 6, 2008
The Third Season 24 November 27, 2007 April 7, 2008 September 4, 2008
The Fourth Season 25 December 9, 2008 N/A February 5, 2009

Spin-offs

Happy Days, itself considered a spin-off from Love, American Style, spun off five different series, not including two animated spin-offs: Laverne & Shirley, Blansky's Beauties, Mork & Mindy, Out of the Blue, and Joanie Loves Chachi.

Animation

There are two animated series. One was produced by Hanna-Barbera titled 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).[13]

Musical

In the late 1990s, a touring arena show called 'Happy Days, The Arena Spectacular' toured Australia's major cities. The story featured a property developer, and former girlfriend of Fonzie called Miss Frost (Rebecca Gibney) wanting to buy the diner and redevelop it. It starred Craig McLachlan as Fonzie, Max Gillies and Wendy Hughes and Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham, Doug Parkinson as Al and Jo Beth Taylor as Richie's love interest Laura. Tom Bosley presented an introduction before each performance live on stage, and pop group Human Nature played a 50's style rock group. Based on the sitcom, Happy Days: A New Musical began touring in 2008.[14] [15]

References

  1. ↑ "Happy Days - The Third Season". DVD Talk. http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/31528/happy-days-the-third-season/. Retrieved 2010-08-16. 
  2. ↑ Wilcox's Soaps & More TV Character Address and Trivia Book (2004))
  3. ↑ "Happy Days Season 3 Episode Guide on". Tv.com. http://www.tv.com/happy-days/show/270/episode_guide.html?season=3&tag=season_dropdown;dropdown;2. Retrieved 2010-06-10. 
  4. ↑ "TV Ratings > 1970's". ClassicTVHits.com. http://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1973.htm. Retrieved 2010-06-10. 
  5. ↑ "TV Ratings > 1970's". ClassicTVHits.com. http://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1975.htm. Retrieved 2010-06-10. 
  6. ↑ "TV Ratings > 1970's". ClassicTVHits.com. http://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1976.htm. Retrieved 2010-06-10. 
  7. ↑ "TV Ratings > 1970's". ClassicTVHits.com. http://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1977.htm. Retrieved 2010-06-10. 
  8. ↑ "TV Ratings > 1970's". ClassicTVHits.com. http://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1978.htm. Retrieved 2010-06-10. 
  9. ↑ "TV Ratings > 1970's". ClassicTVHits.com. http://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1979.htm. Retrieved 2010-06-10. 
  10. ↑ "TV Ratings > 1980's". ClassicTVHits.com. http://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1980.htm. Retrieved 2010-06-10. 
  11. ↑ "TV Ratings > 1980's". ClassicTVHits.com. http://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1981.htm. Retrieved 2010-06-10. 
  12. ↑ "TV Ratings > 1980's". ClassicTVHits.com. http://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1982.htm. Retrieved 2010-06-10. 
  13. ↑ ""Happy Days" (1974)". Movie connections. Imdb.com. http://imdb.com/title/tt0070992/movieconnections. Retrieved 2010-06-10. 
  14. ↑ Happy Days: The Musical nytheatre.com
  15. ↑ "'Happy Days' is here again". LA Times. http://articles.latimes.com/2008/nov/10/entertainment/et-happy10. Retrieved 2010-08-28. 

External links

Happy Days
Creators
Garry Marshall · Miller-Boyett Productions
Characters
Richie Cunningham · Arthur Fonzarelli · Ralph Malph · Potsie Weber · Joanie Cunningham · Chachi Arcola · Al Delvecchio · Pinky Tuscadero
Live-action spin-offs
Laverne & Shirley (1976-1983) (episodes)  · Blansky's Beauties (1977)  · Mork & Mindy (1978-1982) (episodes)  · Out of the Blue (1979)  · Joanie Loves Chachi (1982-1983)
Animated spin-offs
The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang (1980-1982)  · Laverne & Shirley in the Army (1981)  · The Mork & Mindy / Laverne & Shirley / Fonz Hour (1982)
Antecedents
Love, American Style (1969-1974)  · American Graffiti (1973)
Music
"Rock Around the Clock"  · Pratt & McClain  · Norman Gimbel  · Charles Fox
Other
List of episodes  · Happy Days (musical)  · Jumping the shark  · "Buddy Holly (Weezer song)"