Reliving Happy Days

Remember Fonzie's female dog?  Well, he's now male and clinically depressed.  I was leaning towards a C-, especially for the subplot where Marion has to make pounds of potato salad for Howard's lodge picnic, but I sort of liked the cheesiness of the mystery-style confessions to Dr. Joyce Brothers (as herself, sort of).  So a C. Just a couple notes: Ron Howard's father Rance has his middle HD role as the cranky new neighbor Ben Wilson, whom I sincerely hope is the father rather than husband of Eileen Wilson, Fonzie's new girl by episode's end. Richie spends much of the episode trying to find time to read Moby-Dick, which isn't exactly something he can put off. Poor Dr. Joyce, she's not going to be able to even scratch the surface of Potsie's father issues.

This episode is somewhere on that border of sweet and creepy, as Richie lies and schemes to meet his dream girl, who's of course flattered.  But I always like seeing Ralph dressed as a businessman.  So I'm going with C+. Notes: This aired on December 7th, so it being set two weeks before Christmas works. Fonzie is again doing Christmas cards at Arnold's, this time with fewer girls and with Al as an elf, even though Al has a blind date later. I think it was on the previous episode that we learned that the Hooper Triplets are named something like Happy, Joy, and Sunny, while here the "better" Pulaski Twin is named Linda. I think it was also the previous episode where we learned that Jenny Piccalo is "boy-crazy," and she again is a bad influence on Joanie in this one.  Joanie had lots of unseen friends in the first couple seasons of HD but I don't remember any of them as recurring, even the one who was going to show her a book explaining where babies co...

This episode has potential, but somehow doesn't pay off, combining as it does a Laverne & Shirley cameo (to no reaction from the audience by the way), the return of Fonzie's nephew Spike, a mass babysitting scheme to raise money to buy $10/20 football tickets from Arnold, and Howard in a toga.  I unfortunately have to go with a C. Notes: Fonzie imagines himself as a father, which is a new development, but arguably part of his whole character arc. Joanie apparently babysits a lot and even has a client list, which Richie steals. This is set around the time of Mardi Gras, which puts it in February, which is close enough for a January 20th episode. Marion resents having to do stuff for Howard's lodge. There's some stuff about '50s football, which I'm with Marion on being bored by. I'm not sure which is creepier, the still tiny Spike copying down girls' phone numbers from the men's room at Arnold's, or Fonzie encouraging him to threaten other kids...

This episode starts off slow, but it gets pretty funny when Richie, Potsie, and Ralph have to match wits with the burglar (Herb Edelman, who would show up as a different sort of crook on Blansky's Beauties, as well as of course as Dorothy's ex on The Golden Girls, and many, many other roles). Some notes: Joanie wanting to see her friends vomit is a little strange. Richie refers to his brother as well as his sister. I knew that as soon as Fonzie slid a slice of pizza under the closet door that the Burglar would complain that there either were or weren't anchovies, because that's how sitcom dialogue works. We see a toilet, and indeed much of the Cunningham bathroom in this episode. Potsie pretending to be 25 is ironic, since Anson Williams was 25 by this point. Ralph jokes about going to dental school, and his father would later turn out to be a dentist. This is the first of four HD episodes written by Mike Weinberger, who'd do one for L & S and three for Three...