Information AboutHappy Days |
''Happy Days'' was a popular United States Television Sitcom that originally aired between 1974 and 1984 on the ABC Television Network . It presented an idealized version of life in late 1950s and early 1960s America . ''Happy Days'' centered on the life of a Middle-class family named the Cunninghams, who lived in suburban Milwaukee, Wisconsin . The family consisted of Howard, a hardware store owner and the family Patriarch ; Marion, a Homemaker and the family Matriarch ; and the couple's teenage children, Richie (who had an optimistic if somewhat naïve outlook on life) Richie's younger sister Joanie and, during the first season, Richie's older brother Chuck (a character that would abruptly disappear during the second season, with no explanation given). As the series went on the story focus often shifted to additional characters, notably those of Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli , who was originally portrayed as a local thug but soon became a friend to Richie and the Cunningham family, and Fonzie's cousin Chachi, who became a love interest for Joanie Cunningham. The long-running show also resulted in several Spinoff shows, several of which were highly successful in their own right. CAST
HISTORY ''Happy Days'' originated during a period of 1950s Nostalgia in film, television, and music. It began as an unsold pilot called "New Family in Town," with Harold Gould in the role of Howard Cunningham, Marion Ross as Marion, Ron Howard as Richie and Anson Williams as Potsie. When Paramount passed on making it into a weekly series, they recycled the pilot with the title "Love and the Happy Days" and presented on the television Anthology series '' Love, American Style .'' In 1973, George Lucas asked to see a copy of the pilot to see if Ron Howard would be suitable to play a teenager in '' American Graffiti .'' He immediately cast Howard in the film, which became one of the top-grossing films of the year. Creator Garry Marshall and ABC reshot the unsold pilot and turned ''Happy Days'' into a series. The first two seasons of ''Happy Days'' were filmed using a Single-camera Setup and a Laugh Track . For later seasons the show was a Three-camera production in front of a live audience, giving these later seasons a markedly different style. The early ''Happy Days'' episodes centered around Richie and his teenage friends, Ralph Malph and Warren "Potsie" Weber, dealing with the troubles of being teenagers in 1950s and early/mid 1960s Milwaukee. During the first season, the character of Arthur "Fonzie" / "the Fonz" Fonzarelli started to become a fan favorite. "The Fonz," as Arthur was usually called by everyone (except for Marion, who called him "Arthur"), was originally meant to be a local high school drop out and only occasionally seen. However, the Fonz proved popular with viewers, and was soon given more and more screen time by the writers, becoming a permanent member of the cast in the second season credits. The "Fonz" quickly became the show's most popular character. When the ABC management considered changing the name of the show to "Fonzie" the cast including Henry Winkler who played the role of The Fonz protested along with Producer/Creator Garry Marshall and the show's title remained unchanged. Later seasons saw the addition of other characters. Roz Kelly was first brought in as Pinky Tuscadero slated to be Fonzie's long term girlfriend. Commercials for the subsequent season even began promoting Kelly's new character, but when discord occurred between her and the cast and producers, her character was dropped; it was only mentioned briefly in two subsequent episodes, one where her sister Leather Tuscadero came into town to start a fresh life from reform school, and when Fonzie was out of town at a demolition derby with Pinky. Another character, Sticks Downey, was also supposed to be added to the cast as a new member of the gang at Arnold's but the character never caught on and only stayed for a few episodes. The actor playing Sticks Downey went on to a career in Pornographic Movie s and later died from complications due to HIV . During the first two seasons a few actresses were brought in as potential long term girlfriends for Richie. Laurette Spang was Richie's girlfriend Arlene in a couple of first season episodes. Later in the second season Linda Purl was brought in as Richie's girlfriend Gloria. Neither caught on storywise and Richie did not have a steady girlfriend until he went to college and met Lori-Beth Allan ( Lynda Goodfriend ), a former classmate from Jefferson High. Coincidentally Linda Purl returned to the ''Happy'' Days fold in season ten as Fonzie's girlfriend Ashley Pfister. The most major character changes occurred after season four with the addition of Scott Baio as Fonzie's cousin, Chachi Arcola. Originally the character of Spike, mentioned as Fonzie's nephew was supposed to be the character that morphed into Chachi. Al Molinaro was also added as Al Delvelcchio the new owner of Arnolds after Pat Morita's character of Arnold moved on (his character got married). Al Molinaro also played Al's twin brother Father Delvelcchio. Lynda Goodfriend joined the cast as a minor character, Lori-Beth Allen, and became a permanent member of the cast between seasons 8 and 10. The character would marry Richie. After Ron Howard (Richie) left the series, Ted McGinley joined the cast as Roger Phillips the new Phys Ed teacher at Jefferson High and nephew to Howard and Marion. He took over the role of acting as counterpoint to Fonzie, from Richie. Billy Warlock joined the cast for a couple of seasons as Roger's brother Flip. The character didn't really catch on and Warlock left the show. Crystal Bernard joined the cast the same time as Billy Warlock and after Erin Moran and Scott Baio's departure into their own show ''Joanie loves Chachi''. Bernard's character was K.C. Cunningham, niece to Howard and Marion. When Moran and Baio returned after their series flopped in the ratings, Bernard along with Warlock left the show. The show also took more and more liberties with both the time era it took place in (fashions and hairstyles contemporary to the show's 1970s and 1980s production years started to show up on the show's characters) and with the tone of the episodes, as ''Happy Days''' latter seasons started to feature more and more outlandish plots. The most famous of these plots, and of the show's entire run, involved Fonzie performing a Water Ski jump over a Shark on September 20 , 1977 during the show's fifth season. In later years, this has often been cited by critics as the point where it became obvious that the series had already passed its peak of quality and popularity. The phrase '' Jumping The Shark '' was later coined to express such criticisms about popular culture phenomena in general. While the Fonz's literal shark jump gave rise to the phrase, many fans consider "Happy Days" to have endured multiple turning points, occurring both before and after the stunt in question. Of particular note are the fire that destroyed the original Arnold's Drive-In and the departure of leading man Ron Howard, both of which occurred long after the notorious stunt involving the shark. Seasons 1 and 2 of the series used an edited version of " Rock Around The Clock " by Bill Haley and His Comets as the opening theme song. This edited recording, as of summer 2004, has never been commercially released, although the original 1954 recording returned to the American Billboard charts in 1974 as a result of its use on the show. Eventually, the show's closing theme song, "Happy Days," became a major hit in its own right and replaced "Rock Around the Clock" at the beginning of the show. Released as a single in 1976 , "Happy Days " by Pratt & McClain cracked the Top 5. The show itself finished the 1975-76 television season #1, ending the five-year Nielsen reign of " All In The Family ". Before the 1997 re-release of the 1994 Paramount movie Andre, a Paramount Family Favorites promo played with a 1997 version of the Happy Days theme. EPISODES An episode guide to the series can be found at List Of Happy Days Episodes . SPINOFFS ''Happy Days'' '', '' Blansky's Beauties '', '' Mork And Mindy '', and '' Joanie Loves Chachi ''. The most successful of these spinoffs, ''Laverne and Shirley'' (co-starring Cindy Williams and Penny Marshall ), also took place in early/mid 1960s Milwaukee, though the two starring characters eventually moved to Los Angeles , in the show's latter years. ''Joanie Loves Chachi'' was a short-lived show about Richie's younger sister Joanie and Fonzie's younger cousin Chachi's relationship. Robin Williams made his first appearance as " Mork " on ''Happy Days''. '' Out Of The Blue '', a short-lived series about an angel who lives with a 1970s family, was an indirect spin-off, as the lead character of that series originated on ''Mork & Mindy'' but also appeared on ''Happy Days'' in the episode where Chachi sells his soul to the devil's nephew. There was also an animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera entitled '' Fonz And The Happy Days Gang '' which ran from 1980-1982. Animated spin-offs of ''Laverne and Shirley'' and ''Mork and Mindy'' soon followed. TRIVIA
: The character of Chuck Cunningham was written out during the series' second season, and no explanation was ever given. Chuck was never referred to; scripts from later seasons suggested the Cunninghams had two, not three children. However, in the sixth-season Christmas episode, "Christmas Time," Fonzie – recalling his first Christmas with the Cunninghams – tells Chachi that "Chuck was away at college." : In a Happy Days reunion show from 2005 , the cast mentioned that Chuck had won a scholarship to the "University of Outer Mongolia" to play basketball, as a sort of an inside joke to the cast and writers. Such a situation - of a character disappearing with little or no explanation, then subsequent scripts continuing as if the character had never existed - has become known as Chuck Cunningham Syndrome . : An officially circulated blooper from the final episode has Mr. Cunningham raising a glass to the entire cast and saying "to Happy Days." After taking a sip, he blurts out in mock surprise "wait, where's Chuck?!"
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