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. blutiga

    blutiga Forum Resident

    :laugh:
     
  2. seed_drill

    seed_drill Senior Member

    Location:
    Tryon, NC, USA
    like Chad in Zits. They were named after Chad and Jeremy.
     
  3. Jack Lord

    Jack Lord Forum Resident

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    I was a big fan of the show until just after the Jump the Shark Episode. I recall reading an interview back then with Winkler where he spoke of wanting to avoid being typecast. I thought he was not long for the show. I was amazed to accidentally happen upon it in the early 80s and see that not only was the show was still running, but also that he was still there.
     
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  4. SomeCallMeTim

    SomeCallMeTim Forum Resident

    Location:
    Rockville, CT
    I hear ya there. I got my first car in 1982 and stopped by an appliance store (remember those prehistoric ancestors of big box stores?) looking for an FM converter. They sold TV sets, too, and all of them were tuned to that evening's prime time Happy Days episode. I remember marveling to my friends, "This **** is still on?!"
     
  5. SteveRes

    SteveRes Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Love me some Happy Days but in all honesty the most ridiculous thing about is the fact that a 30 year old man hangs out with teenagers and his "office" is a public toilet and they think he's cool.
     
  6. SteveRes

    SteveRes Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Oh, also the fact that after a while they just gave up on the 50's thing and everyone had 70's haircuts :D
     
  7. knob twirler

    knob twirler Senior Member

    Location:
    Cleveland, Ohio
    My recollection is that he had about three shots at headlining a movie, and they all failed. People just didn’t want to see him as anything other than Fonzie. Ron Howard gave him a good role in 82 or so in Night Shift, but by then the TV show was on autopilot.
     
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  8. spanky1

    spanky1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    East Tennessee
    As an ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT fan, I think knowing Winkler as The Fonz makes his Barry Zuckerkorn character even funnier. The same for Scott Baio as Bob Loblaw. Ron Howard's narration is excellent, and the dry humor fits the show quite well. It's fun seeing the reunion of these 3, almost 30 years after the Happy days run.
     
  9. OldSoul

    OldSoul Don't you hear the wind blowin'?

    Location:
    NYC
    NCIS
    The Big Bang Theory
    Law & Order (SVU)
    Family Guy
    The Simpsons
    Southpark
    American Idol
    (and similar competition shows)

    I would say it happens more now than in the past.
     
    Last edited: Sep 1, 2020
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  10. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    I worked on Happy Days for the last two seasons and just shook my head at Scott Baio's haircut. I asked the Paramount exec about it, and he sighed and said, "trust me, there's been many terse conversations about it, and he won't cut it. Garry Marshall basically let it go because the ratings are still OK and viewers don't seem to care." There were a ton of anachronisms in the show, so that was just the tip of the iceberg.

    Coincidentally, I got to interview Anson Williams a few years later (long after he left the show), and he was the nicest guy in the world and very grateful that he'd gotten the series. He said that he and Ron Howard had hit it off in the lobby while waiting to audition, and they both wound up with their respective parts. Williams knew his talent as an actor was limited and said several times, "I'm the luckiest guy in Hollywood."
     
  11. Grand_Ennui

    Grand_Ennui Forum Resident

    Location:
    WI

    Regarding Scott Baio's hair-do: By the last two seasons, I can see the producers not giving a flip... By that I mean when he started on the show, his hair was pretty much what it was throughout the duration of the show, so why bother changing at the end? Why change it when the end of the show was just after The Beatles stormed America and his hairstyle might not have been as unusual at the end of the series as it was at the start of his run.

    He could have easily kept his 'do as it was on the show, but altered it while filming... A little hairspray or even fresh out of the shower hair combed into place would have/could have went a long way... When the shooting was done, he could have washed the spray out of his hair, or if he went with outta the shower wet hair, he could have just toweled it off and combed it into the semi-bowl 'do he had in real life.

    The whole thing could have been avoided though if they just made Spike a regular. His three appearances on the show were better than anything Chachi ever did anyway.
     
  12. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    It's too late: the show ended in September 1984, and no one cares anymore. Again, the studio and the producers knew there were anachronisms in the show, but they let them go as long as the ratings were good. And Baio did get a ton of fan mail for quite a few years... though not enough for Joanie Loves Chachi to be a hit.
     
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  13. sloaches

    sloaches Forum Resident

    I happened to be watching an episode of Star Trek Deep Space Nine the other day, and I saw that it was directed by Anson Williams. Turns out he has directed quite a few Star Trek episodes. Plus, Don Most (Ralph Malph) showed up in an episode of Star Trek: Voyager.

    And say what you will about Happy Days, at least the legacy of the show gave us (among other things) the "Buddy Holly" video by Weezer, and this little scene from Pulp Fiction (NSFW LANGUAGE)...

     
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  14. Jack Lord

    Jack Lord Forum Resident

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    Ron Howard, Anson Williams, and Henry Winkler all did well with directing and production after Happy Days. I recall a documentary about Michael Landon. Described how he would do his lines and then hang around with the production team and observe. Basically expanded his skill set. I guess those three did the same.
     
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  15. MekkaGodzilla

    MekkaGodzilla Forum Resident

    Location:
    Westerville, Ohio
    He's STILL got it!

     
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  16. SteveRes

    SteveRes Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Cool that you worked on the show, any of the cast particularly difficult?
     
  17. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    I was strictly a post guy, and color-timed about 100 episodes for syndication, plus the 82-83 and 83-84 seasons for ABC network and syndication. Only on the set a few times.
     
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  18. SteveRes

    SteveRes Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Still, cool job!
     
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  19. Jack Lord

    Jack Lord Forum Resident

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    Linda Purl still looking good.
     
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  20. Before he started singing.
     
  21. antoniod

    antoniod Forum Resident

    And Quatro("Leather)singing a 70s MOR song as the characters waited for Richie to wake up in the hospital.
     
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  22. antoniod

    antoniod Forum Resident

    A Hollywood talent scout in the Midwest picking out Fonzie as "The next James Dean", in spite of A: there being plenty of leather-jacketed greasers in Los Angeles he could have bumped into, and B: Fonzie having no acting experience save playing Hamlet without knowing the lines! THEN the studio wants to sign RICHIE, who has about as much experience as Fonzie, as if there weren't enough real actors hanging around LA!
     
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  23. milankey

    milankey Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kent, Ohio, USA
    I saw an episode last night where they were on a ranch out west and Richie and Fonzie had a dance scene where they danced a western square dance type thing, it was pretty bad.
     
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  24. Michael

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

    and the point of trashing this show?
     
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  25. Manapua

    Manapua Forum Resident

    Location:
    Honolulu
    And who knows, it might have lasted longer than eleven seasons.
     
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