"Fonzie's Old Lady"

It is now 1977, another very important year in the Marshallverse, although this January episode has a spring dance.  And Richie and his friends are starting to go to college recruiting sessions.  Anyway, I feel like this episode doesn't quite gel but it's interesting.  The title character is actually the middle-aged niece of an old lady who brought in a car for Richie to repair.  Adriana, played by Diana Hyland (about more shortly), is not only older but a bit posh (she speaks Italian with Al and she plays tennis), yet she clicks romantically with Fonzie.  Then it turns out she's married and has an "understanding" with her absent husband, and Fonzie, while not judging her, can't keep seeing her.  With sharper writing, this could've been as good as the first half of the Three's Company episode "Jack's Older Woman" from a couple years later.  So another C+.

Notes:

• Hyland would die of cancer a couple months after this episode aired, at the age of 41.  She had recently played the mother on ABC's mid-season replacement Eight Is Enough, so her death reshaped that series.  Also, she was romantically involved with rising star John Travolta, who had played her son in the TV-movie The Boy in the Plastic Bubble.  This all adds layers of poignant irony to her appearance in this role, and I just wish that they knew what to do with the character of Adriana.
• Al seems to have a crush on Adriana, or at least loves that she loves Italian food, and he's happy to cook for her.  Considering Fonzie is, minutes after the breakup, back to snapping his fingers and getting high-school chicks, I feel sorrier for Al.
• Fonzie calls Adriana a "groovy chick."  Now, "groovy" was around in the '30s, but it's definitely more of a '60s term than '50s.  Maybe Fonzie is so cool he's ahead of the curve on slang.