"Joanie's First Kiss"




Joanie wants to have her first real kiss, but complications ensue with her brother, father, and Fonzie being overprotective.  I'll go with a B-.

Notes:
  • Shirley Kirkes, who's Fonzie's date Blossom the Bunny, was Gladys "Cochise" Littlefeather on Blansky's Beauties, yes, with Goodfriend and Baio.  She'd return three times in this role, which is definitely unusual for one of Fonzie's girflriends.
  • I like that Joanie's date isn't a creep, although we'd never see him again.
  • Joanie seems surprised to hear that she's pretty.
  • This must be set before Potsie's pinning, since he's got a nameless blonde date at the party.
  • It's a belated party celebrating the statehoods of Hawaii and then (when the heat turns off) Alaska, which both happened in '59, but it's basically just a makeout party.
  • Ron Howard and Henry Winkler play the dating lesson like they're doing acting exercises.  Joanie is amused rather than offended.
  • Chachi is predictably jealous that Joanie is going out with a handsome senior who has a car.
  • Joanie calls her bestie about her date, although presumably Jenny P had her first kiss long ago.
  • While I would still not describe Happy Days as feminist (unlike Laverne & Shirley), the consciousness seems a little higher this season, and this episode does have a female writer, Barbara Fredrika O'Keefe, who has absolutely no other IMDB credits.

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