Reliving Happy Days

An of course simplistic view of drug abuse, including no acknowledgement of the detoxification process.  And I really wish they could've had Joanie as a teacher, I don't know, teach, like not deal with Very Special Crises but figure out her teaching style and stuff.  I'm going with C-. A couple notes: This is clearly set in Winter, although it aired in July. Casting Elinor Donahue of Father Knows Best as the troubled girl's mother adds to the "even nice families have to deal with drug abuse" message, which I have mixed feeling about.  (Not that it isn't true, but it's supposed to be worse that Jesse has a nice home life than if she lived in the expected "hellhole.")

It's September 13, 1977.  I am in the fourth grade and when Howard is shocked that Joanie has a figure, I am not because I (in my baby bi way) noticed that last year.  I do not know that it is one week before THE TUESDAY NIGHT LINEUP THAT WILL DEFINE MY PRETEENS.  Laverne & Shirley is off this week so that Happy Days can kick off with another one-hour premiere, but my new favorite show is starting its second season in its new 9 p.m. slot, as the platonic trio in Santa Monica establish "ground rules."  I will not know for years and years that Fonzie jumping the shark will take on huge cultural significance.  I'm mostly noticing (in my baby bi way) that Richie looks a lot cuter with his "beach boy" look. So I sit down to watch these episodes more than 40 years later, back-to-back, as they aired, and the biggest moment is actually OMG, Lorne Greene.  And there's no real payoff, just Lorne Greene, and by the way Bonanza had debuted almost 18 years to the...