JOANIE LOVES CHACHI: "Fonzie's Visit"

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 Mark, would be Dennis Morton on HD in '84.
  • Susan Cotton, who plays Linda, was similarly polished characters on HD, Miss Radcliff and a nameless Librarian.  She was attracted to Fonzie then, too.
  • Dana Olsen also wrote a couple 1981 L&S episodes.

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