Reliving Happy Days

It's September 27, 1983.  I'm a high school sophomore and I'm still tuning in to ABC on Tuesdays out of inertia and what's left of my loyalty.    Laverne & Shirley is gone and Happy Days has been shuffled to 8:30.  ( Just Our Luck, about a modern genie, is on at 8:00.)  Three's Company is starting its eighth season at 9:00. I don't remember what I felt that night specifically, if I noticed how they showed younger and current Joanie and Chachi in the opening credits, how poor Anson Williams got shuffled to just before Ted McGinley.  I do know that I have absolutely no memories of this episode.  (Although I do recall rolling my eyes later in the season when they tried to tell me J & C would've been Kinks fans.)  Anyway, this is a C-, because I just don't care about Fonzie trying another pointless stunt. Notes: It's allegedly been twenty years since Fonzie's mother abandoned him, but maybe he's rounding that off. Harris Kal and Kevin Rod...

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.

The band from Joanie Loves Chachi (but not the middle-aged characters) all cameo over, while their own show is on hiatus.  (More about that later.)  Fonzie wants to help, using bullying and lying.  Even then, I might've gone with a C+, but there were too many insults of Annette.  So C. A couple notes: Dick Yarmy, younger brother of Don Adams, did a ton of television, including one role on Laverne & Shirley and three on Mork & Mindy.  He's Holstein, the record producer, here. Jenny instantly decides that she wants to make Bingo her "love slave," and they are still engaged at the end of the episode.

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.

With a new mall in the neighborhood, Howard's hardware store is in trouble.  Everyone tries to support him, emotionally and financially, but it's up to him to decide to relocate.  This is sort of a C+ and a half, not quite good enough for a B-, although it was nice that Potsie got a bit more to do than lately. Notes: James Start is back as Frank, whoever that is.  (He was on there in '79 and apparently would return thrice more in the next year.) Daniel J. Foster, who's Pete, was Louie on Laverne & Shirley in '80. This time Erin Moran guest stars without Baio, but no one minds. John B. Collins had written four Mork & Mindy episodes and would do one more for HD.

Although this episode did make me laugh a couple times, and it gives Arnold another chance to sing, and we actually get a bit more development of K.C. and Melvin, Fonzie again gives dubious advice, telling Melvin about stalking Ashley, so that Melvin thinks women don't mean it when they say no.  I do like K.C. defending herself, but not her offering a study date with Melvin in two months.  Of course, there are costumes.  So I'm going with a C. Notes: Among the movies referred to as if still in theaters are To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), Son of Flubber (1963), and the Gidget series (1959 to '63).  Maybe the Cunninghams go to discount theaters, where the films don't show up until a year or two after release. Clarence plays the drums in Arnold's band.  It's his last credited appearance. Fonzie misses his talks with Richie, as do we all. This is the first of four HD episodes co-written by Nancy Steen and Neil Thompson

This is an episode I remember from the time and I was at least as annoyed with Fonzie now as I was almost forty years ago.  I mean, the guy learned to love classical music!  (He went to a Mozart concert offscreen in the Tom Hanks episode, so it wasn't just a one-off.)  Folk music should not be that hard to adjust to, especially if this is set in '64, when folk rock was coming into being.  (And I assume that it is set in '64, since Joanie and Chachi "guest star" from Chicago.)  Still, I'll go with a C+, since we can see how Ashley helps Fonzie see sense. Notes: It's pretty damn ironic that J & C want to play "rock & roll" at a friggin' hootenanny, especially after weeks of them doing pleasant but forgettable soft-rock '80s tunes. Rick Dano, who plays Felix, had a small Laverne & Shirley role the previous year. Brad Braisdell plays Lou, as he did in "Dreams Can Come True" in '80, but I don't know if it's th...

  This was the first genuinely funny HD episode in ages, thanks to an insane performance from Tom Hanks, post- Bosom-Buddies and pre- Splash.  I was rooting for him against Fonzie, but I actually liked the resolution.  On the other hand, I really don't care about whether Flip and Bobby have their own fight.  So B-. A few notes: Fonzie is 25ish, since it's seventeen years since he was in the third grade. I do feel bad for Arnold, who sees his restaurant destroyed, although at least it's the post-fire Arnold's. Heather sure warmed up to Fonzie quick.

I had totally forgotten about Arnold coming back to run Arnold's, although I now recall it being a big deal to me at the time.  (Well, a big deal as far as post-Richie HD episodes go.) Notes: Howard is the unadventurous one here but he was the one who wanted to run off to Tahiti years ago. On the other hand, Howard does like to watch TV in the nude. We again hear that Richie and his family are in California. Melvin plays the violin. Ashley speaks Japanese (as apparently so did Linda Purl). Fonzie hasn't seen Arnold in "four years," but "Fonzie's Funeral" aired in '79.  Of course, who knows how much time has passed on the show anymore. 1950s TV moms Jane Wyatt and Harriet Nelson are not playing Margaret Anderson and, well, Harriet Nelson, but characters called Joan and Marge respectively.  They were then in their 70s.

This might've been a C+ at best, but then there are all those guest shots, including the Laverne & Shirley  crossover that easily steals the show.  I've reviewed that on my L&S blog ( https://revisitinglaverneandshirley.blogspot.com/2021/05/a-visit-to-funeral.html ), but I'll just mention the other laugh-out-loud part is when Arnold asks Al how business is and Al says don't ask.  Anyway, B-. Notes: Shirley Kirkes makes her penultimate appearance as Blossom and is the one that Fonzie goes off with, leaving Ralph to give apology kisses to a line of girls who thought Fonzie was dead. Fonzie gets a little creepy with her, playing his mother, "the widow Fonzarelli," but maybe not as creepy as Chachi hitting on Joanie for "after the funeral." Officer Kirk comes to the funeral, just to make sure Fonzie is dead. Lorrie Mahaffey is back as Jennifer Jerome and enters with Lori Beth.  Both girls will hear their boyfriends tell their roles in this exciti...

This has conflicts spring up and then get quickly solved, but there are some fun moments, so I'm going with a B-. Many more notes: I was mistaken, Sally Hightower actually plays "Sally Hightower," and other usually uncredited cast also appear as "themselves." It's a tiny graduating class, like 20 or 25, so who cares if they add on one night-school graduate? Richie is valedictorian, as is Fonzie for his class by default. I honestly thought we were going to see a montage of high school memories, which would be hilarious, since Richie has been a junior-senior sixteen-to-eighteen-year-old forever. Fonzie is naked under his graduating robe. He dropped out three years ago, so he must be twenty-one at most by this point, unless he was ever left back. Joanie, as an almost sophomore, wants to start having "car dates."  And she is very specifically referred to as graduating in three more years.  The original age gap between Richie and Joanie has shrunk from ...

While it's nice to see Arnold get his own plot (even if the focus remains on best man Fonzie), the script is mildly racist, so I'm going with a C+. Notes: Some of the guest stars (and Morita himself) were cast as Koreans on M*A*S*H around this time, the most recognizable being Richard Lee-Sung, who's the chaperone Terukazu here and appeared eleven times on M*A*S*H. I guess Season Three made a pretty big impression on me as a kid, because I would've sworn that Arnold was on there longer as a regular before Al took over (but did not call himself Arnold). I like Marion telling off Fonzie, which I assume she's allowed to do because marriage is more of her domain. Fonzie thinks he has a curse, although it's only two weddings that he's supposedly ruined as best man. Laverne & Shirley, as a mid-season replacement, had more episodes to show, but this comes to 24 for HD's third season, a good number, especially for the mid-'70s. Ironically, L&S would ...

This is better than the last few episodes, actually making me laugh out loud.  Also, I've always had a soft spot for Ralph's relationship with his jokester father the optometrist.  And I like how Richie's friendship with Fonzie is used, that Richie can now influence the Fonz with just well-placed "huh-huh-huhs" of gentle scorn.  So we're back to B-. Notes: From the title, I thought this was going to be the episode where Fonzie is temporarily blind, but it makes sense that that comes later. We get a PSA about glasses being "cool," as Fonzie as role model for the kids at home starts to develop, which would most memorably lead to increased library card registration.  (We'll get there.) Jack Dodson would return in the punningly named role of Dr. Mickey Malph. I assume that Fonzie's boss who wants him to strain his eyes reading about foreign cars is the rich guy we met previously. I'm going to guess that Ron Howard was then busy with one of hi...

This is a transitional episode for Fonzie's character (from hood to father figure) but it's clumsily handled, so I'm giving another C-. Notes: The whole thing of Richie going to Chicago for a two-week journalism class at Northwestern (and to meet girls) is an odd subplot in that it's not really necessary and doesn't have much of a payoff.   I feel sorry for Potsie, who Ralph throws to the thieves, and Fonzie thanks everyone but him. This time Susan Lawrence plays Gigi. Spike is somehow still twelve (and looks that at most), while his former date Joanie is fourteen or fifteen. Ron Howard's younger brother Clint was sixteen when he played Moose, and he'd return in a different role. And speaking of siblings, we find out here that Spike, although he and Fonzie refer to each other as nephew and uncle respectively, is actually the child of Fonzie's aunt.  So I guess he's Chachi's first cousin, too?  Hm.

I suppose I could've gone as high as a C+ on this morally dubious episode, but it wasn't even funny.  Even on a cheesecake level, there are better episodes for that.  Heck, even Potsie's song is unmemorable, except for Richie interrupting him.  So C-. A couple notes: Richie claims he, Ralph, and Potsie have never dated cheerleaders, which is a retcon over the first two seasons. Garry's mother Marjorie is the Piano Player. The first non-Fonzie episode of Laverne & Shirley aired that night, "Bowling for Razzberries" [sic].

The title characters are Howard and Fonzie, who sue each other after a blizzard causes Fonzie's pigeon coop to crash down through the roof and into Fonzie's apartment.  I didn't think this was as funny or insightful as it could be, and I have to agree with Howard wondering why he ends up paying $200, the local "kids" will pay the other $200, and the Fonz pays nothing.  Still, there are some moments I like, such as Richie feeling torn when he has to testify against both men.  I'm going with a C+. Notes: Seeing pigeons cuddle makes Marion frisky. Joanie still believes in Santa Claus. Fonzie claims he was on his own at the age of six. Richie is, this probably won't surprise you, seventeen. Bob W. Hoffman's final HD role is as Ernie. I assume Lloyd Kino's character name as Arnold's repairman cousin, Marvin Lee, is a play on Lee Marvin; he would be Mr. Wang on Mork & Mindy three years later, which Robin Williams must've had a field day with....

This is definitely a better (B-) proto-crossover although still odd in ways I'll discuss in the notes.  The title is a fitting one since Fonzie, sort of as distinct from Winkler the actor, was a superstar in real life in 1976, as odd as that is to recall now.  Anyway, Ralph wants Fonzie to sing in Potsie's place while Potsie is out of town (for reasons), but Fonzie has stage fright.   Lots o' notes: Potsie has a rich uncle who wants him to go to Notre Dame, so Potsie's parents (who it's well established hate him) want him to tour the campus that weekend. Fonzie will be out of town shortly before the "Senior Dance," which is being held at Arnold's because apparently they tore down the sock hop sets from the first couple seasons. Fonzie is going to the Powderpuff Derby, to help Pinky Tuscadero, which, like really?  That's historic!  (I want to say she doesn't show up until Season Four though, and this reference may be retconned.)  They had quite ...

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...

  The first of many HD  clip shows, heavy on what had aired so far in Season Three, although it was worth revisiting Richie in drag, dancing with Fonzie, this time with more of an audience reaction, I assume live-studio-audience, although maybe not.  I'm going with a C, since, as I've said on other blogs, whatever the appeal of clip shows at the time of airing, they lose a lot on DVD. Notes: "All the Way" aired on January 15, 1974, but January 12, 1976 was a Monday, and I assume that this was in the 8:30 slot, since Barbary Coast and Mobile One weren't exactly big hits. Rather than try to come up with some anniversary that this could be about (as Laverne & Shirley would do on their  anniversary show), this is Fonzie's unspecified birthday, the first thrown for him by guys rather than girls. It's held at Arnold's, I'm guessing because Howard put his foot down about it being thrown at the house. It's a very Fonzie-centric episode, in both fla...

And now it's 1976, an even more eventful year in Marshalliana, but this isn't a great episode to celebrate the new year (well, technically Epiphany) with.   Marion is feeling restless as a housewife with no "activities" like her kids and husband.  Howard thinks it's her annual plea to get a job, so he puts his foot down.  She just wants to enter a dance contest, which they all think is hilarious, even though she was the best dancer in high school twenty years ago.  So she enters the contest with Fonzie, which means lots of rehearsal time, at his garage and at Arnold's, so then people think the two of them are having an affair.  This was the first episode where I actually felt sorry for Fonzie.  Anyway, I'm going with C+. Some other thoughts: Marion's mother, who hates Howard, lives locally but has not yet been shown. The dance number, a tango, isn't all that impressive, especially compared to when Richie would be in a dance contest on a Laverne ...