"Arnold's Wedding"

While it's nice to see Arnold get his own plot (even if the focus remains on best man Fonzie), the script is mildly racist, so I'm going with a C+.

Notes:

• Some of the guest stars (and Morita himself) were cast as Koreans on M*A*S*H around this time, the most recognizable being Richard Lee-Sung, who's the chaperone Terukazu here and appeared eleven times on M*A*S*H.
• I guess Season Three made a pretty big impression on me as a kid, because I would've sworn that Arnold was on there longer as a regular before Al took over (but did not call himself Arnold).
• I like Marion telling off Fonzie, which I assume she's allowed to do because marriage is more of her domain.
• Fonzie thinks he has a curse, although it's only two weddings that he's supposedly ruined as best man.
• Laverne & Shirley, as a mid-season replacement, had more episodes to show, but this comes to 24 for HD's third season, a good number, especially for the mid-'70s.
• Ironically, L&S would place #3 in the ratings for that television year, while HD came in at #11, but it probably helped that the girls were mostly up against reruns.  The true test would come the next year, when they both had full runs, and the hype accelerated.

Unlike the first two seasons, which averaged B-, this first "live audience" season ranges wildly in quality, from D to B+, averaging out to a C+.  So it's still watchable, but the combination of that audience, the over-emphasis on (and sometimes practically deification of) Fonzie, as well as an actual regression in the way girls and women are treated, and, yes, these are overlapping topics, is not good for the show.  That said, the series is sometimes still funny and/or likable, and I am very curious about Season Four, which we will begin tomorrow.