Reliving Happy Days

I'm going with a C+ for this somewhat odd episode, where Fonzie keeps losing his temper and getting in fights, so he goes to see a shrink, who wants tips on picking up women, since Fonzie has 150 to 200 "girlfriends."  (Pinky had teased him about it being 100, but maybe he's busier since their breakup.)  And Fonzie builds some admittedly cute birdhouses. A few notes: Joanie is still fourteen and Richie is going to college "soon." Bill Idelson plays the Doctor and had already written two of his three HD episodes. Fonzie fixes Alfred up in the tag and Al hopes that the woman is Italian.  (It's already been established that he's Italian, and he sometimes serves pizza at Arnold's.)

It bugged me that on this April 9th episode, both Richie's parents encourage him to pursue a girl who's made it clear she doesn't want to go steady with him.  On the other hand, Marion's stories about Howard's courtship are kind of cute, so C+. Other thoughts: Howard is relieved that Richie is wearing his aftershave and nervously waiting for a girl rather than for Potsie. On the other hand, while Howard is sometimes chill about what Richie gets up to (or considers on the urging of Potsie), he strongly disapproves of tattoos. Chuck's appetite is referred to but he's absent. The girl, who's a couple years older than Richie, associates falling in love with the Platters' "My Prayer," which came out in '54. This is the only episode directed by Don Weis, who offered a livelier time in the movie Pajama Party (1964).

This April 2nd episode is the weakest since the premiere, in both plot and subplot.  A pre- Soap Diana Canova at 20 is absolutely lovely and charming, so who cares if she's playing a character who's "too tall" for Richie?  And then Howard getting fed up with Marion being bad at bridge is neither funny nor consistent with their so far established characters.  Still, there are some nice moments, and I like how Joanie is so knowing about makeout parties but hit a boy who tried to kiss her. Some other thoughts: Another thing about the redone credits is that they've also added Fonzie deciding he doesn't need to comb his hair in the men's room mirror.  It's still just Ron, Anson, Marion, and Tom mentioned by name (with pictures in the middle of the record) in the opening credits though. In this version, Ralph's parents are named Harry and Hazel, and pretty bland. The costumes at the costume party are kind of meh, more like something '50s teens would ...