I fear for Happy Days (1 Viewer)

[Chris:L]

I fear this show will not do well in the releasing of the series. I wish all 11 seasons would be released but I fear only the first two will sell. Maybe not even that.

The intention of Happy Days only lasted about 2 seasons before the character of Fonzie dominated the writers. I hope this isn't the deathnail for the release.

 

[Mark To]

I will buy the first 2 seasons definitely. Those were the only 2 seasons of Happy Days. Seasons 3-11 were The Fonzie Show, of which I have no interest in having.

 

[Randy A Salas]

I've been watching the first-season set, and I must say that it looks spectacular. I don't recall it looking that good even in the original broadcasts.

 

[Mark Lx]

Yes it sounds from the review I read, that the original music is all in there, and the episodes are complete at about 25'30". No extras apparently.

 

[Carlos Garcia]

Your fears are well thought out. In my heart I already am prepared to see Happy Days end after 2 seasons on DVD. Let's face it, once the show became the silly "Fonzie Show", it became a kid farce. Not that it wasn't entertaining at times, but I doubt most people will want to buy seasons 3-11. People who think the "Jumping the Shark" episode was the series' low point should watch the pathetic "Pinky Tuscadero" episode that's loaded with awful editing, continuity, no sense plotholes (Fonzie shooting a 1970's electric blow drier running on a car battery in the 50s!) and other bad filming techniques. Yikes, I cringe just thinking about it. I will be buying the first 2 seasons though, before Chachi arrived. WAH WAH WAH!

 

[Chris:L]

I also only think that if the set does well, past the second season.... only the true Happy Days fans will buy the Fonzie Show. It does well on TVLand... because TVLand hasn't pulled teh plug on that show. The episodes after the thrid season aren't that bad. Only hopefully the fonzie pandemonium will save the Happy Days extinction.

If you want to talk about a show I think will not sell... is possibly The Brady Bunch. Bad KARMA.

As a collector, I'll be getting all eleven. My favorite season as the last few. The one where Joanie and Chacie had begun dating.

The first two seasons, too me, were the worst.

Fonzie hadn't fully developed. And other character's hadn't fully developed.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

Like many, I prefer the first two seasons of HAPPY DAYS, and they're all I wish to own. However, a big majority of fans liked when it became "The Fonzie Show". That's the whole reason it went that way.

 

[AnthonyC]

I'd possibly pick them up until Richie left. The show was crap after that, IMHO.

 

[Chris:L]

What about the episode when Richie comes back to his home in Welcome Back, Part 1 and Part 2? That two part episode was a tear-jerker.

Pinky was a female Fonzie. Nothing wrong there. I just don't like that Roz Kelly, who played her, was a real winner - if you know what I mean. Probably why they didn't write her in after that trilogy.

I'd like to know why everybody thinks the show became the fonzie show after the first two seasons. there was still episodes about richie and his family. it was poignant. I don't understand. Give me some examples. Yeah, there were episodes about Fonzie, but that didn't make it become Fonzie's Happy Days.

 

[Matt.Koz]

Any links to this review?

 

[Mark Lx]

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/happyda...dvdreview.html

 

[Carlos Garcia]

When the show originally started, it was about Richie, his friends Potsie and Ralph, and Richie's family (including Chuck who was eventually written out). Originally, Fonzie was just a minor character, I believe he only had 1 or 2 lines in the first few episodes. The producers started to get lots of fan mail for Fonzie, so they started to write more for him to do in the show. By the time the show went before a live audience, Fonzie's popularity was so huge that the producers went to Henry Winkler, and they told him they wanted to change the name of the show to "Fonzie's Happys Days". Winkler didn't feel this was right, because the show was originally supposed to be centered around Richie, so he told the producers thanks but no thanks. As a result, they turned the show into the Fonzie show anyway. Just listen to the live audience (which in my opinion is what ruined the show), everytime Fonzie appears, they cheer at the top of their lungs. What started out as a charming show about teenage friends growing up in the 50s soon evolved into an unbelieveable comedy, with Fonzie snapping his fingers and doors falling off their hinges, chairs collapsing, Fonzie jumping over sharks, riding bulls and other such nonsense. Then to make matters worse, drama was introduced, with episodes ranging from Fonzie going blind, to Richie being in a Coma and Joanie almost being raped. The show might as well have been retitled "Sappy Days". Add to this the fact that little or no care was taken for continuity in most of the later episodes (Characters wearing long hair, clothes from the 80s that was supposed to be worn in the 50s-60s, etc.) and you have why many people love the first couple of seasons, but don't particularly care for most of the episodes after that.

 

[Jaime_Weinman]

I actually had the opposite worry, that people would be disappointed with the first season because it's so different in style from the seasons most people are accustomed to. People who grew up watching Happy Days tend to think of the style of seasons 3-7 as being definitive. However, I think season 1 will sell well. (Too bad they didn't have a Garry Marshall commentary; he's great in his one DVD commentary for the Dick Van Dyke Show.)

The biggest difference after season 2 was that Marshall and the director, Jerry Paris (Dick Van Dyke Show) switched from filming it one-camera, no studio audience, to filming with three cameras in front of a studio audience. They'd done the same thing with "The Odd Couple" and it worked there, but that show was very theatrical (based on a play) and Tony Randall and Jack Klugman worked better with the live audience. With "Happy Days," not only did the live audience kill the nostalgic, low-key mood of the first two seasons (plus they could no longer shoot outdoor scenes, which gave a lot of atmosphere to the early episodes), but Ron Howard had never performed in front of a live audience before, and he was visibly nervous.

The way the show became more Fonzie-centric in season 3 is that a) there were more episodes focusing on Fonzie (like the two-parter about him doing the daredevil motorcycle jumping stunt), b) More episodes where Fonzie solved Richie or Howard's problems, c) Fonzie moved in with the Cunninghams, which meant he was around more, d) The studio audience screamed every time Fonzie entered. There was just a whole campaign to make sure that Fonzie was the center of attention, to cash in on his popularity. It worked, but the show had totally sold its soul.

 

[Mark Lx]

I was into the Fonz thing as a kid, but how many times do we need to hear his limited set of cliches before it isn't funny. There's atmosphere in the early episodes. They were faithful to the period. You had tough guys and waitresses on rollerskates, and Fonzie was a minor character (the way it should be). It was like American Graffiti Lite.

 

[Zen Butler]

I have a premonition that The Brady Bunch will be huge. Everyone I know is anticipating it.

 

[Rob Gardiner]

In which season did Weezer appear?

 

[Tory]

Fonziw is cool, it will sell. If I buy oe I buy them all and even if this mentality you fear does take place Season three will happen to test your waters but people do like Fonzie and he will sell the series better than less Fonzie.



Weezer was too young to appear on the show unless they were little kids. They did a video set in the Happy Days continuity called Undone(The Sweater Song) which can be found on DVD in Directors Label Volume 1 The Works of Director Spike Jonze. Using that Forrest Gump tech they mixed together multiple scenes from the run of Happy Days centered around Arnold's where they were performing. This is not a specific episode though.

 

[Craig Sherman]

Tory, let's try again.

1. Obviously Rob was joshing.

2. The Weezer video was Buddy Holly, not Undone.

And hey, they got Big Al in a cameo! "Try the fish!"

But what was the episode where Fonzie wowed them all with his Russian dance moves? That served as the climax of the video, after all.

CDE,

CS

 

[Mikel_Cooperman]

Is this the same audience that was interested in MTM and we all know what happened to the later seasons of that show.

I watched both when I was younger but I would only purchase MTM since Happy Days has not aged as well and is not as funny.

 

[Zen Butler]

Oh, the one where his ride broke down and he was in that marathon with Joanie. Then he got all ticked at the blonde bim, atagonizing him. Then did that Russian style kick dance. That was a great episode.Not sure of the season. I can't wait for this set.