Reliving Happy Days

In Ed Peck's final appearance as Officer Kirk, he is an army officer, a major, in fact.  When Roger, Potsie, and mistakenly Fonzie are called up for the Reserves, he of course butts heads with Fonzie.  I'll say a C+, not too memorable but not bad. Notes: Fonzie's goodbye kiss of Ashley is milder than in the pic above. Fonzie tried to serve during the Cuban Missile Crisis, but he has a bad knee from his motorcycle stunt. It's Heather's birthday.  I didn't notice how old she's turning, but she is in the first grade, so maybe seven. Francis T. Perry Williams is Private Perry here and was a Policeman on Laverne & Shirley a few months earlier. Gary Epp had more lines as Bubba and Bullfrog than he does as an M.P., but his size is used again. Hoke Howell was Sidney in '80 and is the Army General here.

We get not one, not two, but three estranged families in this episode, which is a bit much.  That and the flatness (including a shockingly subdued studio audience) means a C-. Notes: Richard Paul, of Carter Country etc., plays Howard's brother Dick, whom he hasn't spoken to in 15 or 16 years.  Dick appears to be the elder brother, even though their father was 18 when Howard was born. Jenny says she "still" lives with her parents, but she is in her seventh year of high school or whatever it is by now. I don't like Fonzie pressuring Ashley to reconnect with her parents, but on the other hand, it'd be nice if there was some closure, since it was brought up. Roger and Flip are visiting their  parents, whom they presumably still get along with. Richie calls from California, or wherever he is these days, and we of course don't even get a voiceover. This is Beverly Bloomberg's penultimate HD script, and the first of two for Pamela Ryan.

Although I've never been heavily invested in the Joanie/Chachi relationship (OK, full disclosure, I did watch their spin-off), this is a sweet episode about him wanting her to take him seriously as a potential boyfriend.  Yes, she's still concerned about other girls going after him, here with Jenny P hiding in his gym locker, but she does seem to genuinely care about him.  And rather than the creepy Chachi (and Baio) of the past three years, here he's shy and tentative, not having even kissed her or held her hand.  In the end, she has to make the first move.  I'm giving a B-. Notes: Part of Chachi's insecurity comes from all the times Joanie rejected him, and part comes from when he was shorter than her.  No mention is made of him originally being a year younger, but that's obviously retconned by now. Lori Beth's memories of Richie not making a move on her for the first three months definitely don't fit what we saw onscreen.  Maybe she made this up (exce...

No, they don't actually close Inspiration Point, although they come close.  Things get corny towards the end, but that was actually my favorite part.  So C+. The only note I have is that Lori Beth seems perfectly fine kissing Ralph for the skit, and of course he likes it, and has to tell Richie so!

This might've worked in a farcical way if it were set a year later, when Joanie is eighteen, but the plot of her almost nude modeling, combined with that unfortunate title, makes things a bit creepy.  That said, I liked the Three's-Company- ish bit with her parents eavesdropping in the kitchen and then coming back in, and some other moments.  So C+. Notes: We get the debut of Joanie's infamous "poodle perm" in this episode, and Chachi (who has very late '70s hair himself) even comments on it. And, yes, Chachi is leering and creepy, and why is a 16-or-17-year-old boy working at a modeling agency, especially one with nude modeling? I feel like Richie did go to Chicago "on his own" before he was 19, although I guess it depends on what counts.  For instance, he did go with the whole glee club but not his parents when he was 17.  (One of the times he was 17.) "Runaround Sue" is on the soundtrack, and the Dion song actually came out in September ...

This is the first real Christmas episode of the series since the one with Chuck, and it's one of the best episodes of Season Six so far, a B-.  It's got a nice blend of humor and drama, with Fonzie's dad, Vito, showing up.  And of course it's nice to see Lori Beth again. Notes: The caption on the photo in the album says "Christmas 1960," so they are definitely getting more specific about the timeline this season, although still with glitches. Its hinted that Marion has inherited her mother's drinking problem, although presumably to a lesser degree. Heather Warren makes her last of 36 appearances, this time as the Middle Girl at Fonzie's. I have no idea why the title is two words.

Well, at least this isn't as creepy as it could be, so C. Notes: Everyone thinks it's hilarious that Richie is in drag, even though he did that in I think Season One, although admittedly it was a more flattering look there. One Hundred and One Dalmatians came out in late January of 1961, which is close enough.  (I assume this is late November 1960 now.) Ray Girardin is Sgt. Ryan here and would return as Big Harold. This is the first of seven HD episodes written by Beverly Bloomberg, I assume another of the female writers turning out middling scripts for Season Six.  (Over on Laverne & Shirley, female writers such as Judy Pioli and Deborah Leschin were coming up with great episodes that season, like "Lenny's Crush" and "A Visit to the Cemetery.")