"The Lemon"

On January 22, 1974 the second episode of Happy Days aired and it's a little more assured, helped by Bosley's Howard finding a way to be a sarcastic voice of reason, so it's a B-.  The object of the episode title is of course a used car in poor condition.  Some notable things here:

• Richie is seventeen, but I guess it's the second half of his junior year.  Howard says that not only Davy and Ricky (Nelson) don't have cars, but neither does "Beaver."  Considering Beaver Cleaver was only about seven in 1957, that's not very helpful.  And, yes, I'm already confused by the timeline, and we're only two episodes in.
• Joanie is already in her mode of bratty little sister teasing her brother about his love life.
• Chuck is credited but I didn't see him, so I'm not tagging him.
• Potsie again is the relatively worldly one, while Richie still can't kiss.  Fonzie of course walks in on Potsie teaching Richie how to put his arm around a girl in a car, while in the opening credits we see the boys accidentally touch hands while trying to put arms around girls at the movies.
• Ralph seems more like a frenemy in these early episodes.  Perhaps that's why Potsie laughs so hard in the opening credits when Ralph falls out of a car while kissing a girl.
• Fonzie's mechanical ability and hesitancy to rat a guy out to a parent are shown here, and I like the scene with him and Howard.
• Arnold's stays open awfully late.  It's past midnight and people are still dancing inside.  Doesn't anyone else have a curfew?
• Tita Bell makes her first of seven appearances on the show, mostly as Trudy.
• The team of Dick Bensfield and Perry Grant would write four more episodes.
• And Jerry Paris would direct just about all the other HD episodes, for a grand total of 237!