Reliving Happy Days

If I didn't care about Fonzie and Roger teaching at Jefferson, I really don't care about them running a "bad kids' school," but the two more recognizable guest stars bump this up from D+ to C-. Notes: The studio audience recognizes Ken Osmond, Leave It to Beaver's Eddie Haskell, as the similarly named Freddie Bascomb.  The New Leave It to Beaver had premiered in March of '83. Nineteen-year-old Crispin Glover was then still unknown, a couple years before Back to the Future.  He's not bad as the redeemable bad kid Roach. Kathryn Fuller would return as Mrs. Shellenback.  She was Helen Hanley on HD  in '80. Scott Baio's brother Steven had played Jerry Wood on Joanie Loves Chachi.  He'd be back twice as Joey.

This is a little over the top, with Richie drinkin', swearin', and punchin' Fonzie.  And I still wish LB had more depth than the supportive if left out of the loop pregnant wife.  But compared to some of the HD I've sat through sans Richie, let's go with a B-. Notes: Bo Sharon returns as Little Richie.  I assume the role was recast for J & C's wedding. Donny Most is credited for this episode, but I don't see him on this version except in the Previously.  I don't think we get any further closure on Ralph, although he's attending optometry school in Madison.  It was nice to see him again, but I always felt that his character had wasted potential, glimpsed in some of his more serious moments, including his little romance with Leather. Despite the breakup, Chachi still comes over to mooch dinner at the Cunninghams'. Potsie resents Riche getting his slot on the Arnold's baseball team, and he strips off his pants, which seems to be a recurring ...

Oh gosh, this episode, well, this two-parter.  Now I have to say, at least after watching this again almost 38 years after it aired (and probably not that often in between), I do recall not knowing how to process Richie's suppressed rage and frustration.  Now, shrug, well, it makes all too much sense, the way you have to compromise and give things up and yet still want to dream as you get older.  Ron Howard plays all that well, and there were moments, not simply nostalgia, where I teared up, like when the four "boys" sing "Blueberry Hill" to Ralph's piano accompaniment.  I don't think it's a great episode, but it's definitely a good one.  The timeline is in shambles of course, but I expected that.  Let's say a B. Many notes: Bo Sharon would return as Richie, Jr. in Part Two. Richie and Ralph have been in the Army for three years.  This would make Little Richie under two, but he's pretty articulate. Ralph has given up becoming a comic and ...

It's hard to get invested in Roger's on-and-off-again romance, and when he and Flip hug goodbye, it means nothing because we've seen almost nothing of these two bland brothers interacting.  Still, there are worse '80s HD episodes, so C. Notes: The title is from a 1959 tune that Roger and his ex, Lorraine, listened to in high school. Wendy Schaal plays Lorraine and would've been most recognizable then for her regular role on It's a Living. Howard and Marion argue as much about Monopoly as they did about bridge in the first season or two.

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.

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 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...

Yay, Leather's back!  She gets to do a couple songs with the guys (including Chachi on drums): "Moonlight Love" and the timeless "Do the Fonzie."  The dances and music are mostly anachronistic, now for the early to mid-60s, which is a change from earlier seasons where "The Fifties" were put in a blender.  Anyway, B-. This time Fred Fox, Jr. plays Freddie the fading rock star who steals Leather's song.

Joanie reaches that magical number at last.  I like the episodes where Joanie has romantic disappointments, since it gives something for Moran to work with, so B-. Notes: I was hoping there would be more of Marion talking to Joanie alone, especially since Marion immediately knows Tip is a player. It is cool to finally see Joanie's room again, and it's a lampshade to have Richie not have visited since '55. Speaking of lampshades, I like the lamp Marion bought at an auction.  (Or was that the previous episode?) Not only is Jenny P. referred to, but apparently she was at the party.  (My headcanon is she was in the ladies' room during the part we see, especially since Joanie gossips about her.) Potsie serenades Joanie with "Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen," as he did months ago. And Richie's band looks good in their "gay Paree" outfits.  Dan Spector, who plays Burton Fitch, the boy Marion fixes Joanie up with, would return as Danny.

This aired on May 16th (the same night that Season Two of Three's Company was wrapping up), but it's the beginning of summer, although raining heavily.  One of Richie's college professors (I want to say Anthropology) recommends romantic pairing for productive workers.  (I guess it's good they were studying baboons rather than bonobos.)   So Richie has Fonzie fix Al up, but Al gets dumped.  I like getting some more backstory on Al, and I did laugh a couple times (at the very Molinaro-looking family portraits and at Richie having his own parents in his little black book), but the story felt a bit off, especially that we hardly get to meet Anna the meter maid and don't even see Al's new prospect.  I'm going with a C+. Notes: Richie is happy to work in a grocery store with Lori Beth (name-checked but another unseen woman this episode). Howard had his heart broken when he was fifteen or sixteen. Al has had trouble moving on from when Rosa Coletti eloped with ano...

Although I don't really care much about the frame of Chachi joining a gang, I enjoyed the retconning of how Fonzie and Richie met in the latter's sophomore year of high school (three and a half years ago), including Ralph being the new kid.  So B-. Notes: Derrel Maury was a different gang member, Leroy, in "Joanie's Weird Boyfriend," and this time he's Monk in Fonzie's old gang, the Falcons.  He'd have a different role later. And, yes, the delightful Beatrice Colen is back (uncredited) as waitress Marsha Simms, to give it that 1956 feel. Although Howard and Marion are in the flashback, Joanie isn't, probably because Moran couldn't pass as twelve.  (And, no, there's no Chuck, although that would've been hilarious.) Present-day Joanie does do a cheerleader cartwheel, and Chachi of course lusts after her. No mention of Arnold either, but oh well.

I vaguely recalled this episode as I watched it, although I would've guessed that Fonzie would've dated the librarian rather than Lori Beth's roommate (whom we would never see again).  And, yes, we've got Richie making out a lot with his future wife, and him dressing in drag with Fonzie.  So the first B- of the season. Notes: The tag with Marion & Howard as Laurel & Hardy is cute. Richie references Some Like It Hot, which came out in March of 1959, so that works. Richie has just started college but is already worried he can't date college girls, at least not in time for the homecoming dance.  (We don't actually get to see Richie and L.B. attend.) This episode was my main introduction to panty raids. Disc Jockey Harvey L. Kahn would be Dickie and a Narrator on Laverne & Shirley. Librarian Susan Cotton was Miss Radcliff earlier in '77. Marcia Lewis, who's [dorm] Mother Dunbar, would be a Matron in '79. By this point, 23-year-old Lynda Goodf...

Although the studio audience is reacting as much as if they're at an old-timey melodrama, this is another B- for me.  I enjoyed it but it's not amazing.  Officer Kirk has been appointed sheriff.  (Good thing Laverne DeFazio wouldn't be arrested for shoplifting for another few weeks.)  His main mission is to run Fonzie out of town, although he'll pressure Fonzie's friends as well.  Everyone comes through for him, dressing as Fonzie in solidarity. Notes: After twice playing a nameless Drunk on HD (and many other shows), Jack Perkins here is Bob, the McCarthy-loving mortician member of the Leopard Lodge.  Kirk hates Commies and Pinkos, but Bob realizes that anyone can be a victim of a witch-hunt. Alan Oppenheimer, who was a very frequent television guest star (four times on That Girl for instance), momentarily takes over the role of Mickey Malph, who has a neon eyeball to advertise his optometry practice, although it's somehow a wedding gift from his aunt!...