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. Manapua

    Manapua Forum Resident

    Location:
    Honolulu
    Well, the thread is titled Top Stupid Things about the Happy Days TV series so it's kinda built in.
     
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  2. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    yes, I bow in disgrace...but still, why trash it? LOL.
     
  3. OldSoul

    OldSoul Don't you hear the wind blowin'?

    Location:
    NYC
    It's generally one of the most bashed sitcoms, isn't it? That's what happens when you change gears about five times. The praise for the show invariably lies in the first two-five seasons, depending on who you ask.
     
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  4. Manapua

    Manapua Forum Resident

    Location:
    Honolulu
    Probably because there's just so much to work with. However, if the OP wants to, maybe he can have it changed by adding on "that make me love it even more".
     
  5. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    that sounds better! ; ) LOL.
     
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  6. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    fair enough...: )
     
  7. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    The worst was Laverne & Shirley: it was a troubled production, lots of drugs, and they spent so much money on the actors, they had none left to pay for lighting and film, so it wound up looking like absolute crap on the air. Happy Days was a very happy set and everybody was cooperative, plus it was the "A-list" of the best sitcom technicians in Hollywood... and that looked like a million bucks on the air. Laverne & Shirley looked like 50 cents on the air.
     
  8. Kassonica

    Kassonica Forum Resident

    getting made in the first place was the top stupid thing about it tbh :shrug:
     
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  9. OldSoul

    OldSoul Don't you hear the wind blowin'?

    Location:
    NYC
    Aw, c'mon, there's nothing wrong with the early episodes.
     
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  10. Johnny66

    Johnny66 Laird of Boleskine

    Location:
    Australia.
    No disrespect to (the now deceased) Erin Moran, but when in later seasons she descended the stairs to audience wolf-whistles and hoots and hollerin' (as if she was some kind of rival to Raquel Welch or Farrah Fawcett), one couldn't help but be mystified.
     
  11. MikeInFla

    MikeInFla Glad to be out of Florida

    Location:
    Kalamazoo, MI
    Funny you mention this. When I was waiting for MASH to come on the other night I saw the tail end of an episode with Suzi. It was snowing outside and it looked like they were at some kind of ski lodge. The first thing I noticed was the 70's disco look from everyone. The music was terrible, not resembling anything from the 50's era. Scott Baio looked like an early 80's teen. I ended up muting it while patiently waiting on MASH. My wife commented "this show is so lame". I remember loving the show as a kid but I don't think I could sit thru anything after season 2 these days (much like The Dukes Of Hazzard - loved it as a kid, can't sit thru 5 minutes of it now).
     
  12. Honey Bunches of Sadness

    Honey Bunches of Sadness Forum Resident

    Location:
    SF Bay Area
    Williams became an apparently well-regarded TV director. Glad he had a happy ending in the biz.
     
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  13. Honey Bunches of Sadness

    Honey Bunches of Sadness Forum Resident

    Location:
    SF Bay Area
    OMG, another horrible memory. This thread is bringing back so many of them.

    Still, I have mostly fond memories of watching the first few years of series.
     
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  14. Honey Bunches of Sadness

    Honey Bunches of Sadness Forum Resident

    Location:
    SF Bay Area
    I think it was a dude ranch setting, and the gang was somehow helping it stave off going out of business. Another disastrous episode in the mid- to later-years of the run.
     
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  15. Honey Bunches of Sadness

    Honey Bunches of Sadness Forum Resident

    Location:
    SF Bay Area
    And yet it was the #1 show on television for a brief period. Somehow they pulled it off. (I believe it aired immediately after Happy Days, which certainly helped.)

    I'm surprised the cast salaries were high. Cindy Williams and Penny Marshall weren't exactly big stars at the time.
     
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  16. Grand_Ennui

    Grand_Ennui Forum Resident

    Location:
    WI
    I liked "Laverne and Shirley" although not very much once they moved to CA, and even less than that when Cindy Williams left the show.
     
  17. MikeInFla

    MikeInFla Glad to be out of Florida

    Location:
    Kalamazoo, MI
    There are 2 scenes that pay tribute to Happy Days. One is Barry jumping a shark. The other was this:

     
  18. Panther

    Panther Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Tokyo, Japan
    That dude ranch nonsense was, I think, the opener of the 1978-79 season, and was absolutely atrocious. If you think the jumping the shark thing a year earlier was bad, the dude ranch one makes it look like 'Citizen Kane'.
     
  19. nano nano

    nano nano Forum Resident

    Location:
    IN
    Episode 254 from the 11th season: Chachi is devastated when he learns he has diabetes.
     
  20. rjp

    rjp Senior Member

    Location:
    Ohio
    i always wondered why tough guy biker fonzie was hanging out in an ice cream parlor with normal run of the mill teenagers of the day? did his gang kick him out? was he not tough enough for the gang? did he wreck his motorcycle? makes no sense at all.
     
  21. MikeInFla

    MikeInFla Glad to be out of Florida

    Location:
    Kalamazoo, MI
    Whhhaaattt? I don't remember this. Did they ever follow up or did it miraculously disappear? The only reason I ask is because I have a diabetic child.
     
  22. MikeInFla

    MikeInFla Glad to be out of Florida

    Location:
    Kalamazoo, MI
    I found a website (looks very old) with a long discussion (looks like old forum comments pasted to a blog) that tell everything wrong with Happy Days. If you have time to read happy days
     
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  23. Kyle B

    Kyle B Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago
    Laverne & Shirley may have been a troubled production, but it was funnier than HD, and regularly outrated it in the late 70s
     
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  24. luckybaer

    luckybaer Thinks The Devil actually beat Johnny

    Location:
    Missouri
    The show sucked after a while. I found Laverne & Shirley more interesting.

    At least Happy Days introduced me to Robin Williams.
     
  25. Solitaire1

    Solitaire1 Carpenters Fan

    Many shows that ended up being successful wouldn't have remained on the air now with their ratings at that time. An example of this is Cheers, which was literally the bottom-rated show and the reason it wasn't cancelled is that NBC had nothing else to put on. M*A*S*H and All In The Family were also very low-rated shows during their first season, yet the went on to be very successful.

    One of the things I respected about The Carol Burnett Show is that they chose the end the show while it was still doing well both in the ratings and as a show (it didn't keep going until it couldn't go on anymore). Often, it seems like they keep shows going on and on and on when it would be better to end them with a proper ending.
     
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