"Give the Band a Hand"

Things start to feel a little more familiar here on March 26th, with Anson Williams singing and the "Chinese fire drill" popping up in the credits.  By the way, every time "Rock Around the Clock" comes on, I get into it, which can't be said of the bland Happy Days theme that would replace it.  Anyway, this is another B, with some laugh-out loud moments (including the dog-playing-poker shot) and Howard getting the best of the frat-boy card-sharks.

Other thoughts:

• Fonzie has one scene, in his leather jacket, giving an accurate assessment of the boys' band, who all seem to be playing in different styles.
• Ralph is working as a busboy at Arnold's and calls the owner "Arnie," but the man who yells at him clearly isn't Pat Morita.
• Bag and to a lesser extent Ralph seemed like frenemies before, but they are now in Richie and Potsie's band.
• Chuck shows up only in the tag and is the only one who can stomach Joanie's "chipmunk stew."  (That is, the stew she makes out of willow bark as a Junior Chipmunk.)
• Bruce Kimmel is Murf here and would later be Mark Summers; he'd play three different roles on Laverne & Shirley
• We know not to trust Don Carter as Brian, since he was an unscrupulous sidekick, Rich, on the "Quarterback Sneak" episode of The Brady Bunch.
• Twenty-six-year-old Susan Lanier is recognizable as a coed to hardcore '70s ABC sitcom fans; she'd later be the first Chrissy Snow on an unaired pilot, as well as Bambi Forster on Welcome Back, Kotter.