Reliving Happy Days

Apparently Suki has moved out and Joanie is living alone at the moment.  But when she and Chachi fall asleep in front of the television, and then Howard calls, Chachi answers, and farce and drama ensue.  I was actually leaning towards a B- but the thing with Bingo's airhead friend was as unfunny as Bingo.  So C+. Notes: Somehow Richie, Jr. is now nine months old, even though he had his first birthday over the summer and  he was possibly born in November of 1962. Richie and his family are now in California.  Remember that for when we get back to him on  HD. Neil Rosen and George Tricker would co-write one more episode.

Darn them, this is actually pretty good, since it gets back to that basic dynamic of Joanie and her parents, which was usually the best part of Seasons Eight and Nine.  Yes, Moran and Baio are "special guest stars," but it is nice to get some closure.  I still don't care about the post-Richie teenage boys, but at least they're kept to a minimum.  I'll give a B-. This is set at the end of the summer, although it aired on October 12th.  I have no idea what summer of course.  And I think this is the first episode with scenes set in the bathroom in ages.

With Laverne & Shirley back in its old slot, the latest spin-off drifted over to Thursdays at 8:00 p.m.  And its season-two-opener ends up being, well, not bad.  In fact, it's a C+.  That means it's on a level with a couple of the Fonzie cameo episodes of Laverne & Shirley , "Bachelor Party" and "Bachelor Mothers," which honestly is a high bar for JLC.  I like the ongoing Al & Chachi step-relationship development, and the musical numbers are, well, not bad.  There's still a fat joke or two, and I did cringe when Bingo said "mellow," but the writing is better than in the first season.  I still would've rather watched Mork & Mindy in this time slot, but I settled for what I could get, and this is still much better than HD's  season premiere that week. Notes: Fonzie resists the two women who answer his snaps, a hint that he's serious about Ashley Pfister, although she's not mentioned by name. Grant Heslov, who's...

Sigh.  So it's September 28, 1982.  I am a freshman in high school so my world is further being shaken up, and Tuesday Nights on ABC are not the refuge they once were.  Tonight, Three's Company will offer a funny but highly questionable look at the Jack/Janet relationship.  Laverne & Shirley will marry off Shirley to a man completely covered in bandages.  And Happy Days?   It will decide that the way to examine Fonzie going monogamous is to have him stalk a stranger, who of course falls for him by the end of the episode.  Still, I'm going with a D+ because at least Potsie wasn't pointless this episode. Notes: I had a minor meltdown just watching the credits, with all the changes, some of them ridiculous, like Potsie serenading Jenny and the not-yet-introduced K.C..  And then we got to Flip doing an acrobatic flip in the first scene (in one of those annoying crop tops), and I honestly didn't know if I would make it through this episode.  A...

I was in eighth grade and still watching a lot of television, but there was a sense that things were shifting.  The Early Eighties are their own kind of animal, '80s, yes, but not in the way even the mid-'80s were.  The hit sitcoms of the Seventies were either off the air or seriously morphed by then.  The Garry Marshall Hit Factory had survived Blansky's Beauties, Who's Watching the Kids?,   Makin' It, and Out of the Blue,  as well as the rise and fall of Angie .  The Odd Couple had long since become a respected syndication staple.  But what of the three shows that began in a fantasy version of Milwaukee, as well as that very Early Eighties spin-off? In reverse order of debut, Joanie Loves Chachi did not make the Top Twenty in its first season, but it got healthy ratings in the 8:30 slot that Laverne & Shirley had been keeping warm most of the past six years.  My grades for that first little season are on the C-/C border, so I'll just do...

  This actually doesn't have a bad concept, but the execution is disappointing, as Chachi worries that Joanie will outgrow him when she starts hanging out with her roommate, Suki, and Suki's college friends.  So C-. A few notes: I don't get why Annette and Mario dance together at the end.  I guess the joke is that the weird loser cousins are stuck dancing together, but why aren't they up onstage accompanying Joanie's solo? Brian Byers, who plays Squelch, was Biff on HD in '77. Lowell Ganz was more of a writer, but this is the first of two JLC s he directed.

I was actually leaning towards a C+ because the writing and direction are a little sharper, but I had to mark this down to a C because of too many fat jokes and the way that Joanie is used as bait. A few notes: Annette is almost nineteen. Anson Downes, who's Annette's creepy fiance, was Joanie's date on Happy Days a few months earlier. Joel Zwick directed Laverne & Shirley, Mork & Mindy, and Bosom Buddies, but never Happy Days.  He would do a couple more JLC episodes.

Between Chachi guilting Joanie and the ridiculous number of anachronisms, especially with Bingo, I'm going to have to drop down to a C-, although this week's one-minute song is relatively good. Notes: "Aura," "finding yourself," etc. The timeline is a mess anyway, since Joanie wants to go to Richie Jr.'s first-birthday party, but he was born in approximately November 1962, probably not the summer anyway. On the one hand, Joanie and Chachi's different reasons for performing music are interesting, and on the other, shouldn't they have discussed this before she left Milwaukee to join his band?

So, yeah, it was time for another Garry Marshall spin-off, so why not take those teen idols J & C and give them their own show, with Chachi's mother and his new stepfather, Al?  Season One was very short, four episodes, and I'll just drop them in as they come up chronologically with what's left of HD's Season Nine.    This premiere is OK.  I mean, there are worse HD S9 episodes, but also some better.  I'm going with a C. Notes: I watched this series at the time but I don't think since, other than the theme song on YouTube, because I actually like the theme.  We'll see how much of any of JLC comes back to me. Howard and Marion pop into Chicago, at the worst time of course. I'm still not clear, almost forty years later, why Al had to go all the way to Chicago to open a new restaurant. Also, the restaurant is really successful for being open only two weeks.  It's not like there weren't other Italian places in Chicago. This is now "the Sexy ...

While I think Al & Louisa work as a couple, I don't like that he proposes after they date only a month and  we don't really get to see much of that month.  So C+ Notes: Joanie Loves Chachi premiered right after this, of which more shortly, so I can see why they had to marry off Louisa & Al quickly, but why not build up to it over Season Nine, or a two- or three-parter at least? This time when Jenny hits on Roger, he points out that he's a teacher and she's a student, so it would be "unseemly."  This does not dissuade her. Potsie has one line, where he sounds like a moron.  Oh well, maybe Anson liked the easy money. This title would be reused, when Joanie and Chachi got married. This is the last episode of Season Nine, but I'll hold off on thoughts about it until I get through the first (very short) season of JLC.

  Well, the plot of a rumor about a teenage girl being pregnant is handled better here than in "Fonzie the Substitute," which is referred to, and we do get some insight into Jenny's insecurities and motivations, but I still can't go above a C because it's not like Jenny can just say she lied and paper over the damage she's caused. Notes: We get to see the redone ladies' room at Arnold's. We also get to see Eugene's bedroom, twice. Jenny is still repulsed by him but prefers dating him to the threat of Fonzie beating her up. Melvin is now Eugene's brother rather than cousin, and I have no idea if they're twins or just close in age. Jerry Paris's son Andrew was Andy before and is Chuck (not that  Chuck) here. As you probably know, Crystal Bernard, here playing Mikki, the victim of the rumor, would return as a completely different character, Howard's niece, K.C. Cunningham, the next season, but I'll get into that later. Lori Beth sh...

Joanie and Chachi are now 18 and talking engagement and marriage down the road.  But Chachi feels like his musical ambitions aren't enough of a career to support Joanie in the way Howard expects.  (No one suggests that Joanie might also work.)  This is one of the better Season Nine episodes, so C+. Notes: Here we are, with Joanie Loves Chachi around the corner, and more emphasis placed on Chachi's musical career, and I don't think we've yet heard him (with or without Joanie) sing a complete song at Arnold's.  Unless that's a syndication edit. Chachi was a salesman when we first met him, so I don't know why it's a such a stretch for him now. Jenny hits on Roger, and a random boy, while waiting for her unseen date! Lori Beth again waitresses, but she doesn't have any lines, except screaming. Potsie does get to give Chachi an aptitude test, which is nice. There's a reference, I think, to the Bay of Pigs.

Yeah.  OK, so I'm not crazy about the Roger character but I actively dislike his brother, Leopold "Flip" Phillips.  I was leaning towards a D+, but Joanie's "sleazebucket story" about living in Richie's shadow bumped this up to a C-. Notes: Jenny immediately develops a crush on Flip, in part because he's Roger's brother. Roger and Flip are the sons of Marion's nameless sister and they're from New Jersey. Howard doesn't like Flip's pranks, or Flip in general, go, Howard! Lori Beth appears briefly as a waitress at Arnold's again.  Presumably Marion is looking after the baby. Billy Warlock would make only a dozen more appearances as Flip.  He was then 20 and I assume his character is Joanie's age. Laverne & Shirley writer Paula A. Roth ("Debutante Ball" being the best of her baker's dozen) here begins her run of seven HD scripts.

That can't be the right title, but that's what three different online sources, and the DVD, say, so OK.  (It was also the title of the classic beatnik episode.)  Anyway, Fonzie again gives Roger dubious dating advice (including practicing on Joanie!); meanwhile Joanie & Chachi collaborate on a forgettable song, and Marion is in the local theater group's annual production of Oklahoma, which does lead to a laugh-out-loud joke about burnt chickens.  So C. Notes: I don't want to think about Al out "cruising" sleeveless. Teddi Siddall makes her final appearance as Hillary, Fonzie's old girlfriend from the Falcons. Coleen Maloney would return as Buffy Baruffi, and, yes, Ken Lerner is back as Rocky B. Screenwriter Andrew M. Horowitz has absolutely no other IMDB credits.

It's Fonzie's birthday, in an episode that aired on February 9th, and this episode oddly juxtaposes him trying to be "mature" and monogamous (for one night) with his childlike fanboying of the Lone Ranger.  I'll go with a C. Notes: Yes, the mechanical bull is influenced by Urban Cowboy (1980).  Bosom Buddies had a mechanical bull episode December of '80. Potsie refers to being a Psych major. Cynthia Brannigan is the "lucky lady" who is hoping to have an evening alone with Fonzie.  Of course we'd never see her again, but at least she got two episodes, unlike the dancer chick and so many others. John Hart was indeed TV's Lone Ranger in the '50s, although I suppose they could've just had a ringer, like with Clarabell.

After some initial reluctance, Fonzie tries to teach the teens that classical music is cool.  And if that's not a textbook definition of a C- episode, then I don't know what is. Notes: Fonzie again doesn't protect a Belvin from being bullied. Jenny again flirts with Roger and gets rejected. Lori Beth again wears leg warmers, far more '82 than '62. Richie, Jr. is again referred to but unseen. Joanie, Chachi, and their band do a middling cover of "Twist & Shout." Marla Pennington would return once more in the role of music teacher Cynthia Brannigan.  I know her from  Soap  and  Small Wonder. Fred Fox, Jr., had of course already written a lot for HD, but here his partner is Richard Correll, who actually was a child actor on '50s /'60s TV shows, most notably 32 appearances on Leave It to Beaver.

Even if you haven't seen this episode before, you've seen it before.  You know, the one where someone promises a celebrity for some charity benefit and they may or may not show up.  HD had already done it at least once before, with "The Magic Show."  So a C. Notes: Frankie Avalon was then 41, playing his 21-year-old self as Al's fifth cousin.  He sounds as much like he's lip-syncing as Fonzie does, due to the echo chamber. As nice as it is that Lynda Goodfriend gets to dance again, why is she doing a Jazzercise routine to the Twist?  For that matter, why do J&C and their ever-morphing band audition with a Twist song but he, Potsie, Roger, and Al form a barbershop quartet? Is it stranger that Jenny auditions with a striptease number or that the stripper song is on the Arnold's jukebox? There is one half-funny joke here, about Lincoln and the theater, which you will make before you hear it. David Ketchum returns as Lodge member Donald Hedges.

Fonzie tries to put the title character in a retirement home, without consulting her first.  I'd say a C. Notes: It looks like a J&C song, called "How Am I Gonna Sing?,"  got left out of the syndicated copy, oh darn. It feels a little tacky starting out the episode with a "Polly Wolly Doodle" singalong.  And speaking of going South, was Al in this episode? Jenny just hangs out with the Cunninghams and doesn't scheme, which is kind of refreshing. Grandma raised Fonzie for ten years but it's only now that Chachi finds out that she called Arthur "Skippy," probably because his parents skipped out on him.  (Too soon?) Frances Bay would return twice more as the title character. Pat O'Brien returns as Howard's Uncle Joe, in his final role of all.  (He'd die in '83.)

This is, as you might guess, well-meaning but simplistic in its view of Civil Rights, as captured in the vagueness of the above still.  I might've gone with a C, but the subplot of Howard's misery over living without the television for a few days is ill-timed, so C-. A couple notes: We never find out where in the South this is set, or in what part of '62 it happens.  We don't even get stock footage of the demonstration, just Fonzie telling Marion about it. This is Brian Levant's ninth HD script but Richard Gurman's first of six, although he had done one for L&S.

It's now 1982, which is a fairly significant year in the Marshallverse, but not quite yet.  This episode does hint at the spinoff in waiting, with Joanie wanting to take a gap year before college.  In fact, this would've been a B- instead of a C+ if the J&C song weren't so forgettable.  I like everyone being concerned about Joanie but supporting her, well, everyone except for Jenny, who's as selfish as ever. A couple notes: Joanie is now eighteen, but it's also the time of homecoming, in an episode that aired in January, so the timeline remains wacky. Lori Beth tries to give her opinion and is sent upstairs to look after Richie, Jr.  Fonzie tries to give his opinion, while lying in bed with Howard and Marion, and we're supposed to feel sorry for him when he's told he's not one of the family.  (It is kind of funny though.) I do like Marion's surprisingly feminist reason for wanting Joanie to go to college.

Act now and this final draft could be yours at eBay for just $50! OK, so we know Eugene and Jenny did actually date, but here it's as if they've never gone out.  The "twists" in the story are predictable, and I'm just glad that this thing isn't as bad as it could've been.  So C-.   A few notes: Rocky Baruffi, and his wife Buffy, are name-checked. It doesn't look like the middle of winter anymore.   I doubt they had gumball machines in the 1880s.

This episode kept threatening to tip into D+ territory, but it was saved because I sort of liked that Joanie proves she's responsible.   Notes: Everyone, except Joanie (and Potsie, who's just in the first scene and then never mentioned again), is leaving town and someone has to watch Richie, Jr., who's unseen but we do hear him cry. It's four months since Lori Beth has seen Richie, so I assume she was then very pregnant.  Then again, this episode is set "in the middle of winter," although it aired in early December, so who knows. Getting both Belvin cousins onscreen is a little terrifying, especially when Eugene says that Jenny's lips say no but her eyes say yes, but I will note that I can see that Melvin is more of a Woody-Allenesque nerd. Jenny is a rotten friend to "Joans," and throwing a party at the Cunninghams' may actually be worse than letting her take the fall for trying to steal a statue.  But I do like the red skirt & tights co...

My feelings are closer to "HELL NO!!!"  The episode starts with Joanie & Chachi singing a forgettable early '80s song and then has Fonzie pursuing a woman specifically because she tells him, "No, Thank You."  Then after he kisses her, but not immediately after, he finds out that she's a nun.  Only towards the very end is there any acknowledgement that his behavior would've been wrong no matter what her "excuse" was.  So D+. Notes: Now Tommy and Bobby are in the band, if you care. Father Delvecchio returns and is understandably disgusted, although he tries to be helpful to Fonzie. Jenny is name-checked but unseen, just like the old days, this time for her gossiping. We actually get to see Lori Beth and the (as far as  I know) nameless baby again. This is the only HD episode written by Charlotte M. Dobbs, who did a couple much more feminist Laverne & Shirley scripts.

This episode is perked up by its guest stars, Cathy's father Phil and Ed Peck, but it's still just a C+. Notes: I haven't mentioned it before but this is the season where Howard starts wearing glasses consistently. And this is the episode where I noticed all the girls' skirts are anachronistically short for '62ish. Yet, Jenny also shows up in an pantsuit (pictured above) that is very early '80s. Jenny's father's name is Roscoe and it sounded like her mother was Rosalie or Roslyn.  Allegedly, none of the Cunninghams have ever met Roscoe before, not even Joanie, even though the girls have been friends since they were six. This is Officer Kirk's first appearance since "Marion Goes to Jail," over two years earlier.  He'd be back twice in '83 though.

I vaguely remember this episode from the time, including the girl thinking she could get pregnant from necking in a swimsuit.  I'm not crazy about how everyone just finds the possible pregnancy funny, and I can't believe they went and added a cousin for Eugene, named Melvin Belvin, leading to yet more nerd-bullying, including by Fonzie, but I did find one bright spot: Roger actually has a bit of a personality here, beyond being pseudointellectual hunk.  He shows integrity deciding to dispel ignorance, even if it might get him fired.  And I sort of like the scene of Roger and Fonzie's argument ruining Howard and Marion's romantic evening.  So C-. Notes: David LeBell makes at least his second uncredited appearance as a Patron at Arnold's. Scott Mitchell Bernstein would be back six more times as Melvin, oh boy.  (I had apparently blanked this character out of my consciousness, although I did recall Eugene before launching this project.) Ceil Cabot's third and final...

Fonzie gives Roger questionable romantic advice, and then it turns out he's the title character.  Meanwhile, both Howard and Chachi are accused of no longer being romantic by their respective sweeties.  And the stuff with the dad and the dog is just weird, so C- again. Notes: Howard had an Army buddy come up with poems to send to Marion twenty-five years ago, when they were still single. The friend now writes for The Munsters , which debuted in '64. Joanie and Chachi watch Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961) and the TV-movie Gidget Grows Up (1969), both on TV. Louise Bryant didn't write anything for HD, but Nancy Churnin, who recently played Mrs. Giles, would do an '84 script.

I wish this episode were more about Lori Beth, the woman giving birth to the title character, and less about her "natural childbirth" coach Fonzie.  But I do like that the baby has Richie's big ears and red hair.  And, yes, this aired on November 3rd, less than six months after the wedding episode.  (LB is two weeks early, but still.)  I'll say C. A few notes: Marion remembers giving birth to Richie and Joanie, but she has completely blocked out Chuck's birth and life. Jenny is still chasing Roger, and I have no idea if she's still underage. African-American actor Ralph Wilcox was Jason Davis, a role where his race mattered, but here is Lionel Collins, where it doesn't really matter.

I don't understand the title, since we only see one night at the title restaurant.  Maybe it means that immature jealousy, gay panic, and bickering are just another night for the poor restaurant staff to endure in their patrons.  I'm going with a C-, and so far the proto-JLC plots are my least favorite this season. A few notes: Al indirectly refers to Rosa Coletti when convincing Chachi to make up with Joanie. Barbara Treutelaar was Lois before and is Andrea here. Waiter Robin Bach would be Maitre D' the next year. Marion is absent and off visiting Mother Kelp the entire episode.

Yes, the title resembles the one about Joanie and Spike's date, but here Chachi has issues about his mother dating a mystery man, especially after Chachi tries to fix her up with Al.  I actually enjoyed this for a post-Richie episode, since there's some good character stuff with the Arcolas, and Fonzie's jealousy of Potsie being invited to a Cunningham dinner is funny.  However, I'm not crazy about the double standard that Fonzie can have four "birthday party dates" back to back, but Louisa has to explain why she wants to date after years of widowhood.  So B-. Notes: Ironically, the weakest of all Laverne & Shirley  season-openers aired that night.  Three's Company had kicked off the new season the previous week, with its own hour-long special, introducing roommate Terri. Al immediately imagines marrying Louisa, which he would in fact do, although I don't think his brother the priest performs the ceremony. In a more bitter moment, he calls Chachi ...

It is now the Summer of '62.  I will rant about that under notes, but I will do a quick rant here about how Joanie is guilted into forgiving Chachi for cheating on her.  She has to work one night (as Weenie Heaven) so he has a "physical attraction" with a random girl on the beach.  And when they talk about it weeks later, she says maybe it has to do with him chasing after her for so long, and thus not dating other girls.  Now, wait a minute, there were times that Chachi would have one date with two girls, like his cousin Fonzie.  He wasn't exactly pining away and staying home.  Anyway, I'm going with a C- for Part 1 and a C for Part 2, because at least the latter had some not bad stuff with Howard. Notes: Joanie sends home movies of the Summer of '62 to Richie.  This means that somehow only three years have passed since Richie graduated from high school.  I'm not even clear if Joanie is done with high school, since Chachi says it'll be hard seeing...