JOANIE LOVES CHACHI: "Chicago"

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 Sixties," I have no idea what year specifically.
• Gary Epp, who plays Tad, was Bubba and Bullfrog on HD.
• Jerry Paris's daughter Julie plays Girl #2 and would later have a couple HD roles.
• Joy Claussen is Carol here and would be Nurse Benson later.
• And then getting to the supporting cast, we have Robert Peirce (then using that spelling) as the very '80s surfer drummer, Bingo, fer sure; Winifred Freedman and Derrel Maury as Chachi's cousins Annette and Mario Mastorelli; and Art Metrano as their father Rico.
• And, yes, I'll have to go back and tag Maury for his earlier HD appearances.
• Director Tom Trbovich was then in the midst of directing 36 Laverne & Shirley episodes.  He'd do one more JLC.
• L&S was pre-empted for now, so that this other spin-off would have a chance in the once coveted Tuesday Night 8:30 slot.  I'll talk about ratings when we get to the end of the '82-83 season.
• I will note that this episode, and presumably the rest of Season One, is set in the Summer.  Of what year, again I haven't the foggiest.