"Richie Moves Out"



The second season kicked off on September 10, 1974.  Gerald Ford was the new president, but what we would know as the Famous ABC 1970s Tuesday Night Line-Up was still unimaginable.  Yes, Happy Days aired at 8:00, but it was followed by ABC Tuesday Movie of the Week.  I was in first grade and really not that into primetime viewing as yet.  Any shows I would like in syndication, I was then still much too young for.  I might've caught some of HD at the time, but I doubt it.

This season premiere feels both surprising and predictable.  Ralph and Fonzie make it into the opening credits by name.  (And the DVD edition replaces "Rock Around the Clock" prematurely.)  Randolph Roberts debuts as Chuck Cunningham #3, still a basketball player with bad grades and a big appetite.  He's arguably given more to do in this one episode than poor O'Herlihy was given for the entire first season, but he's still not exactly a classic character.  Anyway, Richie temporarily moves in with Chuck and of course finds it not what he was expecting, especially since he's now working Ralph's old bus-boy job.  I'm giving the episode a C+, since it's not bad but nothing special, although notable.

Other casting notes:
  • Linda Purl famously would return not just as Richie's girlfriend Gloria, but as Fonzie's steady Ashley Pfister, much later in the run.
  • Misty Rowe plays Wendy, the blonde waitress, for the first of eight times.
  • Heather Warren is Fonzie's Girl here and would make thirty-five more uncredited appearances.

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