Top Stupid Things about the 'Happy Days' TV series (1974-1984)

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Panther, Mar 25, 2020.

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  1. rebellovw

    rebellovw Forum Resident

    Location:
    hell
    Great show at the time.
     
  2. James Slattery

    James Slattery Forum Resident

    Location:
    Long Island
    Garry Marshall once said, he could do a good show (which didn't get viewers) and last 2 seasons or a dopey show that appealed to the masses and last 11 seasons.
     
    bmasters9, Steve Litos and rod like this.
  3. James Slattery

    James Slattery Forum Resident

    Location:
    Long Island
    Music like that explains why I stopped listening to any new music after the 80s.
     
  4. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dixie
    "At Twelve Salutes Happy Days" at Northridge & Southridge Malls in Milwaukee. The cast of Happy Days making burgers in front of the crowd. (1983)

    28:05

     
    thestereofan likes this.
  5. TwentySmallCigars

    TwentySmallCigars Forum Resident

    Yes, because all new music after the 80's sounds like Weezer.
     
  6. milankey

    milankey Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kent, Ohio, USA
    Marion Ross looking pretty good to me! Am I wrong or have I been quarantined too long? :eek:
     
    goodiesguy, Sean, cleandan and 2 others like this.
  7. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA
    BINGO. Worst idea ever.
     
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  8. Jerrika

    Jerrika Mysterious Ways

    Location:
    Canada
    Who sets up an office in a john? Need an air freshener just to do some thinking in there.
     
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  9. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA
    You know, if you really think about it, “Happy Days” was pretty lame. Yet, it got green lighted due to American Graffiti. Unfortunately, with Garry Marshall at the helm it had little chance but being a tad above cheesy and then the depths beyond that were endless.
     
  10. James Slattery

    James Slattery Forum Resident

    Location:
    Long Island
    You have to take it as 2 separate shows. The first season and a half, it was a filmed show in the American Graffiti vein, afterwards, it became the Fonzi show and aimed at children. Just like My Three Sons. The first 5 black and white seasons, it was a good show. The 7 color episodes are a different and far worse show.
     
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  11. CoryS

    CoryS Forum Resident

    This show is screaming for a satire reboot as was done about The Brady Bunch.

    If I were the show runner, I would take a page or two from Breaking Bad and have a character (Chatchi?) turn dark and ultimately be revealed as Chuck's killer.
     
  12. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dixie
    I can't agree with that:

    1) It wasn't a bad show at first

    2) GM was in charge of one of the all time greatest sitcoms, The Odd Couple.
     
  13. cboldman

    cboldman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hamilton, OH USA
    As I recall, they ended up shooting a new ending for that episode, for repeats and syndication, to explain Mork’s time-jump to the Seventies for his own series. I don’t remember how the Happy Days episode originally ended. Maybe it turned out to be a dream or something.
     
  14. PH416156

    PH416156 Alea Iacta Est

    Location:
    Europe
    The vanishing of Chuck Cunnigham....
     
  15. Dr. Funk

    Dr. Funk Vintage Dust

    Location:
    Fort Worth TX
    I think the show lost its street cred when Al replaced Arnold.
     
    Moshe, bababooey, goodiesguy and 6 others like this.
  16. tomhayes

    tomhayes Senior Member

    Location:
    San Diego, Ca
    Even as I child I knew Laverne and Shirley was a better show.

    But the Tuscaderos were awesome.

    Exhibit A:
    [​IMG]

    Exhibit B:
    [​IMG]

    So was Paula:
    [​IMG]

    And Boom Boom (Judy Landers):
    [​IMG]

    You know, maybe I'm just a creep and was watching for the wrong reasons.
     
  17. Grunge Master

    Grunge Master 8 Bit Enthusiast

    Location:
    Michigan
  18. SomeCallMeTim

    SomeCallMeTim Forum Resident

    Location:
    Rockville, CT
    "Happy Days" rode in on a wave of nostalgia. I was eight when it debuted and fascinated by the sights and sounds of an era before my time. I'd already been entranced by the folks on "The Waltons" staring at a radio in a semi-circle, and "Happy Days" showed me another, lighter, view of family life in a slightly more modern setting. I credit both with fostering an interest in cultural history (especially music, the reason for my presence here).

    Then Fonzie lost his menace, the live audience of screaming girls replaced the laugh track, and the scaled-down Cunningham efficiency apartment somehow filled the pillared mansion of exterior shots. I was maybe ten, well within the show's desired demographic, and I forgave most of this because it made me laugh, our whole family watched it together, and almost every week, there was a bland, 70's Muzak version of another classic track or two for me to track down at the record store. (I discovered doo-wop entirely thanks to "Happy Days.")

    I checked out at the beginning of Season 4. They kicked off the season with another 3-part cliffhanger, putting Fonzie in peril yet again, this time in a demolition derby setting. Among the dirty tricks the drivers used to cheat one another was a convoluted ploy in which a driver, while swerving around competitors on a dusty dirt track, would use a hair dryer to blow talcum powder into the face of a rival driving another car, temporarily blinding them and setting off a volley of sneezes. Remember, I WAS TEN. I wasn't any smarter or more worldly than any of my contemporaries. But still...

    Okay, one, at speed and with the windows down, that talc should have been swept away the second it left the car. And where was the hair dryer plugged in, anyway?

    Two, how did Pinky (or maybe Leather...it was one of the ladies, as this episode bore a none-too-subtle women's rights subtext) manage to open the powder, hold it steady, and activate the hair dryer at the right moment, without simultaneously converting herself and her car into a fiery ball?

    Three, why was Pinky/Leather using my sister's exact same three-speed blow dryer (it and its attachments dominated our bathroom counter, so I was very familiar with it) in 1950-whatever?

    I turned and asked my mother, "Did they have blow dryers like that in the fifties?" She smirked and said she didn't remember there being ANY blow dryers in the fifties, other than the giant Martian helmet kinds in the beauty parlors. I said, "Wow, this has gotten really stupid," and found something else to do. I give those of you who made it through the next hundred and four seasons a lot of credit for enduring that torture.
     
    Last edited: Mar 29, 2020
  19. Jay_Z

    Jay_Z Forum Resident

    It was Richie's dream. Then Robin Williams shows up at the Cunningham's door, dressed in normal 1950s fashion, to freak Richie out. After the door closes there was a scene added to show Mork time travelling to the 1970s.
     
  20. Scope J

    Scope J Senior Member

    Location:
    Michigan
    Things started to go awry
    when they wrote Chuck out.
     
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  21. neo123

    neo123 Senior Member

    Location:
    Northern Kentucky
    If I remember, after Richie's dream, when Robin Williams character showed up, he was supposed to be some hick truck driver asking for directions or something like that.
     
  22. neo123

    neo123 Senior Member

    Location:
    Northern Kentucky
    I think I said this before in other Happy Days threads, but two of my favorite episodes are from the early seasons.

    1. Richie gets hustled by college kids in a poker game and loses all his money and watch. Mr. Cunningham takes Richie back to the college kids house/dorms and he hustles them, winning everything (and more) back.

    2. Richie and Potsie lose a bet and have to dress in drag at the local (school?) dance. Fonzie is there scoping out the chicks and picks Richie for a slow dance and starts blowing in his ear. LOL. Someone else, maybe it was Ralph (can't remember,) picks Potsie for a slow dance.

    I also liked the episodes with the Malachi Brothers and Pinky Tuscadero.
     
  23. SmallDarkCloud

    SmallDarkCloud Forum Resident

    Location:
    NYC
    One episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air used a similar plot, with a pool hall instead of a poker game, and it was just as good. Uncle Phil saying “Break out Lucille” (his pool stick) still makes me laugh.

    I don’t have anything else to add to the conversation, except to say the fact Happy Days was on air until almost 1985 amazes me. This is a show about the 50s that lasted, somehow, from the era of James Taylor and T. Rex until the era of The Replacements and Prince. If it had run in accurate chronological order, the last season should have been set in 1964 at the earliest.
     
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  24. Manapua

    Manapua Forum Resident

    Location:
    Honolulu
    It was actually about the 50s, it just happened to look like the 70s.
     
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  25. SmallDarkCloud

    SmallDarkCloud Forum Resident

    Location:
    NYC
    Ack! Typo on my part. I corrected it. Thanks!
     
    Manapua likes this.
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