I watched it. Mostly clips but I did like the outtakes especially the one of Fonzie and Mrs "C" making out and the other of her coming down from Fonzie's apartment and straightening her dress.
I agree. I posted this earlier in the thread, but I think a great idea would have been the gang reuniting for Mr. & Mrs. C's 50th Anniversary.
Mikel - Al is still alive. He is in his early/mid 80s so I have no idea what his health is like. Even if his health prevented him from showing up, showing a minute or two of clips spotlighting his character would have been nice. Not a big complaint, but those of us who've been a fan of Big Al since his days as Murray the Cop have a fond spot in our hearts for him.
I did appreciate that they mentioned Jerry Paris several times. Jerry was a great talent who died way too soon. He got his big break on the Van Dyke show (both in front of and behind the camera).
It would have been cool for them to have a character reunion... although for some reason I picture it being like the ones the Brady's would have had.
This would make a good feature to put on the Happy Days' 9th season DVD set (it was only nine seasons right?) and didn't the show start in '74? How come ther 20th is this year then?
My only complaint was in the second half it felt like there was a commerical every five minutes. They would talk a little bit and then Gary Marshall would say, "We will be right back."
Fun show for what it was, although too much time was spent on the softball game. I'm sure much more footage was taped than what got on the air, so maybe they did mention Al and it just didn't make the final cut. Nice self-mocking jokes about Fonzie's superpowers and all the dumb catchphrases. I would have liked more background on individual episodes, such as how they burned down Arnold's in front of a live audience. I would also have liked to see how the other girls like Ashley, Lori Beth, and Jenny Piccolo are looking these days.
Incidentally, the pilot was mistakenly labeled as premiering in 1975 instead of the correct 1974. So it should have been the 31st anniversary special.
They pretty much ignored everything that happened after Ron Howard left. Scott Baio looked like he wanted to crawl under a rock.
What was particularly funny was how Gary Marshall twisted the "Jump the Shark" phrase. It means the point/event where a show turns to crap, it doesn't matter that there are 100+ crappy episodes afterwards.
Yup. Cheese-fest, but a fun one. I also wish they'd given Pat Morita a bit more to do. The "Chucks" were pretty much a waste. Yeah, Baio really didn't look like he wanted to be there, did he?
Although it was a supremely cheesy moment, I DID enjoy the very end, where Winkler smacked the wall and the lights went out. Fun moment.
I thought this reunion was pretty bad...it would have been much more interesting to see what the Cunninghams (with maybe Laverne and Shirley thrown in for good measure) were up to circa 1985 in a "new" episode.
These clipfests are cheap to produce but not very interesting. It was needlessly padded to 2 hour length also.
Yeah, I'd agree with that. The first hour elicited a "meh" from me, as it was nothing more than clips interspaced with Mr & Mrs. C talking. Whoopie.
If it HAD to be two hours, lose the Mr&MrsC segments, and have more of the cast sitting around "Arnolds" sharing memories about clips. Less of the reunion softball game, and have a few more of the well-known guests pop in to say hello. Plus, much as I enjoy Gary Marshall, much as it was his creation... more from the ACTORS, and less from him.
It was a great show for a couple of years, but when they switched to filming in front of an audience, it immediately got a whole lot worse, and it was downhill from there.
I only watched the first hour so I could watch CSI at 8:00 CST. I was actually ready to change the channel before 8:00. I agree that it would have been much more interesting if it had been an original episode, but this is what I was expecting.
Definitely, as many have mentioned. Even at the beginning of the actual "reunion" segment at Arnold's, Baio had his chair physically apart from everybody else and had to be told, literally (jokingly? or not?), to join the group. Wonder what was up with that?!?