Happy Days TV Sitcom

[YEKIMI]

as well as a fleet of STDs.

 

[nightfly61]

When Weezer made the Buddy Holly video I wonder how much make up they had to put on Al Molinaro to take him back 20 years (at least). "yep, yep, yep".

 

[Dave Andrews]

I have a question!!!

Did the Cunninghams had two different homes? or did they remodeled their same home in the later seasons?

Seasons 1 & 2 their living room were dark green color and the later seasons their living room were all bright colors.

I often wondered about that....

So THAT's what happened to Chuck Cunningham -- they forgot and left him at the old house when they moved into the new one! ;D

 

[Tom Wells]

I remember how I had to have my hair cut back then, and wondered how they got away with such LONG HAIR after season one or two.
I suspect the principal male players did not like having to maintain 1950's haircuts in 197x.
At least while Fonzie's character changed, it did not become quite the parody of itself like happened with Jimmy Walker's JJ on "Good Times".

 

[anotherguyTN]

It was pretty much the same way with MASH and The Waltons, and possibly other shows from the 70's or 80's that were set in the past.

 

[nightfly61]

I didn't wuite get the time/ era setting on Laverne & Shirley. I know it took place at the exact same time as Happy Days, but after they moved to California & had the life sized early Beatles figures, it seemed they went from '57 to '77.
Come to think of it, Mork from Ork took place in (then) present day...except for the show he was spun off from. HAPPY DAYS. Was Mork also a time traveler, from late '50's to 1978? ???

 

[cowboybud]

I didn't wuite get the time/ era setting on Laverne & Shirley. I know it took place at the exact same time as Happy Days, but after they moved to California & had the life sized early Beatles figures, it seemed they went from '57 to '77.
Come to think of it, Mork from Ork took place in (then) present day...except for the show he was spun off from. HAPPY DAYS. Was Mork also a time traveler, from late '50's to 1978? ???

Both shows de-emphasized the nostalgia angle the last few years they were on the air.

 

[Dave Andrews]

I didn't wuite get the time/ era setting on Laverne & Shirley. I know it took place at the exact same time as Happy Days, but after they moved to California & had the life sized early Beatles figures, it seemed they went from '57 to '77.
Come to think of it, Mork from Ork took place in (then) present day...except for the show he was spun off from. HAPPY DAYS. Was Mork also a time traveler, from late '50's to 1978? ???

I thought L&S only went up to the 60s (after I saw the Beatle figures).

After Richie met Mork, he received a message to travel to 1978.

 

[Pratte4Life]

Yeah, Laverne and Shirley went up to the mid-to-late '60s. They'd reveal what year they were in at the beginning of the opening credits.

I was always told that Happy Days was supposed to have begun in 1953 (although Richie did tell a date that he had heard the Giants were going to move to San Francisco- which they did after the 1957 season- in an early "Rock Around the Clock" episode). There is an episode late in Happy Days' run, after Richie and Ralph left, that had Joanie hold up a sign that dated the episode in 1962.

Some instances in the show that relate to earlier topics about sex-

1. Remember when Laverne and Shirley first debuted? How Shirley accidentally knocked Richie out, and then with Rich on the floor suggestively told him she kiss his "boo-boo" right as the family walked through the door?

I have a friend who INSISTS this was to initially set Laverne and Shirley as promiscous girls that Fonzie thought he and Rich could score with- while in later L & S episodes they were made out to be virgins who never "foe-dee-oh-doed."

2 Or when a young woman came into Arnolds or somewhere with a baby in her arms looking for Fonzie- upon which when she saw him he introduced himself as Potsie?

3 Early in the show when Rich has the house to himself, is going to have an all night poker game with Potsie and his pals, but then some college age women break down and they cancel the game, hoping they can score with the women, only to realize the young ladies think of Rich and Potsie as kids and not anyone to be romantic with?

4 What about when Fonzie lends Rich his apartment for a date so he doesn't have to admit he lives with his parents, and Rich loses something in Fonzie's sleeper sofa?

"Where is it?"

"It's in the bed, Fonz!"

"That's my boy!"

5 Three words- Tunisian Camel Jockeys.

 

[nightfly61]

The episode that introduced Chachi had him as a rough & tumble kid until Fonzie set him straight, but Fonzie "got" all the chicks...but I wonder if Fonzie ever taught him about "birds & bees"/birth control...
...unless in Happy Days land everyone just made out at Inspiration Point & never used the back seat of the car for anything else!

 

[therealjm12]

I have a friend who INSISTS this was to initially set Laverne and Shirley as promiscous girls that Fonzie thought he and Rich could score with-

Your friend is correct. In the pilot of L & S which was an episode of Happy Days, the girls were portrayed as a couple loose women. Shirley even had a tough girl accent.

 

[Pratte4Life]

Judge for yourself-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvL-pEeu3iw&feature=related

I will say this. I have debated this on message boards before, and most Happy Days fans I know tend to have a sympathetic view of the Laverne and Shirley's virtue in this episode.

Meanwhile, based on this episode, I feel it is my loss for not ever having dated Shirley Feeney.

 

[cd637299]

@Pratte:

I believe that the "Love and the Happy Days" pilot, which was an episode of "Love American Style," was set in 1953. I haven't seen it in ages, but I recall Richie getting the attention of a gal by saying "...umm...we have television!"

As "Rock Around the Clock" was a 1955 tune, I suppose they decided to bump it up into the rock era when it became a series.

I'm not sure if a pre-rock-era sitcom woulda worked by 1974.

cd

 

[radiorob2.0]

I didn't wuite get the time/ era setting on Laverne & Shirley. I know it took place at the exact same time as Happy Days, but after they moved to California & had the life sized early Beatles figures, it seemed they went from '57 to '77.
Come to think of it, Mork from Ork took place in (then) present day...except for the show he was spun off from. HAPPY DAYS. Was Mork also a time traveler, from late '50's to 1978? ???

Let's not forget about "Blansky's Beauties", an alleged spin-off of "Happy Days". Nancy Walker's character was introduced on "Happy Days", circa 1950's", related to the Cunningham's. But "Blansky's Beauties" took place modern day, circa late seventies.

 

[Markxxx]

You're correct Laverne and Shirley were "worldy" woman at first. Cindy Williams said they de-emphasized that after the first season.

As for the "Odd Couple," Tony Randall, in an interview said, BOTH he and Jack Klugman had requested the change from film to live audience, as they both responded to live audiences better than film.

 

[1st of 5]

I recall either Laverne or Shirley was a cousin of Fonzie's and he set up a blind date with them and Ritchie and Potsy. In that episode, both L & S were "worldy, fast, easy" women, or today they would be called skanks or even worse. When they got their own show, their, (just like Fonzie's and Radar's on MASH), entire history and personality were completely changed, for the benefit of marketing to a wider audience.

 

[Markxxx]

Laverne was Fonzie's date and Shirley was her friend. They weren't related to Fonzie in anyway. The idea behind the introduction was that Richie was on a dull "dateless" streak and L&S were the "type" of girls to "get him back on track"

Besides L&S had the best euphemism for prostitution = "Loosey Goosey for Money"

Plus I love Laverne's answer to Shirley when she suggested that Laverne was too loose, "Watch it Shirl, I'm wearing white"

 

[flytrap]

The word "nerd" was hardly ever used until Joannie used it on a episode of Happy Days. Within days of that show airing, the word "nerd" started turning up all over the school yard and everywhere else. And its still being used today. Just goes to show just how popular that show was.

 

[Tom Wells]

The word "nerd" was hardly ever used until Joannie used it on a episode of Happy Days. Within days of that show airing, the word "nerd" started turning up all over the school yard and everywhere else. And its still being used today. Just goes to show just how popular that show was.

I'm knda disappointed that Erin Moran (Joannie) did not go on to have more work in the industry.
Was she hopelessly connected to the Joannie character, like some other TV sitcom players were, or did she decide she'd had enough?

 

[ShawnHill1]

The word "nerd" was hardly ever used until Joannie used it on a episode of Happy Days. Within days of that show airing, the word "nerd" started turning up all over the school yard and everywhere else. And its still being used today. Just goes to show just how popular that show was.

I'm knda disappointed that Erin Moran (Joannie) did not go on to have more work in the industry.
Was she hopelessly connected to the Joannie character, like some other TV sitcom players were, or did she decide she'd had enough?

Erin Moran is an interesting case...I know she made numerous TV appearances in the years immediately after "Happy Days". It was later reported in later years that she was having personal problems in her marriage, plus been estranged from certain HD castmates (she missed the earlier Happy Days reunion several years ago).