Happy Days

This article is about the television series. For other uses, see Happy Days (disambiguation).

Happy Days
Main title screen
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Garry Marshall
Starring	Ron Howard (seasons 1–7, 11), Henry Winkler Marion Ross Anson Williams Donny Most (seasons 1–7) Erin Moran Al Molinaro (seasons 3–9) Scott Baio (seasons 5–9, 11) Lynda Goodfriend (seasons 4–9) Cathy Silvers (seasons 8-10) Ted McGinley (seasons 7–11) Tom Bosley Pat Morita (seasons 2–3, 10–11)
Theme music composer	Bill Haley & His Comets (1974–1975), Norman Gimbel with Charles Fox (1975–1983), Bobby Arvon (1983–1984)
Ending theme	Pratt and McClain (1974–1975), Norman Gimble with Charles Fox (1975–1983), Bobby Avron (1983–1984)
Composers	John Beal, Frank Comstock, James Patrick Dunne, Dan Foliart, Charles Fox, Jack Hayes, Pete King
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	11
No. of episodes	247 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Garry Marshall Thomas L. Miller Edward K. Milkis Robert L. Boyett (Seasons 8-11)
Producers	William Bickley Michael Warren Anthony W. Marshall Ronny Hallin Fred Fox, Jr.
Camera setup	Single Camera (1974) Multi-camera (1974-1984)
Running time	22–24 minutes
Production companies	Henderson Productions (Seasons 4–11) Miller-Milkis Productions (Seasons 1–8) Miller-Milkis-Boyett Productions (Seasons 9-11)
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	January 14, 1974 (1974-01-14) – May 8, 1984 (1984-05-08)
Related
Laverne & Shirley, Blansky's Beauties, Mork & Mindy, Out of the Blue, Joanie Loves Chachi

Happy Days is an American television sitcom that originally aired from 1974 to 1984 on ABC. The show presents an idealized vision of life in mid 1950s to mid 1960s America. The family consists of Howard Cunningham, a hardware store owner, his homemaker wife Marion, and the couple's children, Richie, an optimistic if somewhat naïve teenager, and Joanie, Richie's sweet but nosey younger sister. The Cunninghams originally had an older son named Chuck, a college student. Chuck was phased out of the show with no onscreen explanation for his departure.

The earlier episodes revolve around Richie and his friends, Warren "Potsie" Weber (Anson Williams), Ralph Malph (Donny Most) and local dropout Arthur "The Fonz" Fonzarelli (played by Henry Winkler). As the series progressed "Fonzie" proved to be a favorite with viewers and soon more story lines were written to reflect his growing popularity. Soon Fonzie befriended Richie and the Cunningham family. Later the focus would sometimes shift to other characters such as Fonzie's cousin, Charles "Chachi" Arcola, who became a love interest for Joanie Cunningham.

This long-running show spawned several other television series, including Laverne & Shirley, Mork & Mindy, and Joanie Loves Chachi, and is currently a musical touring the United States. The show has been syndicated under the title Happy Days Again.

Despite some inconsistencies, it is generally indicated that the events of the series begin about 1956 and, despite eleven seasons, ended around 1965 (though the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, a pivotal event, was not mentioned). As a general rule, most episodes take place about 19 years before the year of their first air date. The second season episode "The Not Making of the President" revolves around the 1956 presidential election, while two other episodes in the same season specify 1958. The sixth season episode "Christmas Time" ends with a photo dated Christmas 1960. In the 10th season episode "Babysitting," Fonzie watches the first heavyweight championship fight between Cassius Clay and Sonny Liston on television. This boxing match occurred on February 25, 1964. In the first part of the series finale, "Passages," Joanie and Chachi are wearing T-shirts that say "The Kinks – Summer 1965 Tour." Series producer Garry Marshall contracted period icons, such as Howdy Doody and The Lone Ranger, to make visits to underscore a feel of innocence and hero worship.

Cast

Full character list

• Howard "Mr. C". Cunningham (Tom Bosley) Husband, father, business owner, lodge member, family man. Frequently seen reading the daily newspaper in his easy chair.
• Marion "Mrs. C". Cunningham (Marion Ross) Wife, mother and homemaker. She was the only character whom Fonzie allowed to call him by his real first name, Arthur, which she always did affectionately.
• Richard "Richie" Cunningham (Ron Howard) Son and high school student. The protagonist for the first seven years of the series (1974–1980). When Howard left the cast, Richie was written out by leaving to join the United States Army. Howard returned for guest appearances as Richie during the show's final season.
• Joanie Cunningham (Erin Moran) Richie's younger sister. In early seasons, she is a pre-teen sometimes snooping on Richie's activities.
• Arthur "Fonzie" / "the Fonz" Fonzarelli (Henry Winkler) Initially a minor character, he was a hugely popular breakout character and was made a series regular. Known for his catchy line "(H)eyyyy!" Also well known for saying "I told Potsie I'd do this!" before performing a jump over a shark on water skis.
• Warren "Potsie" Weber (Anson Williams) Richie's closest friend, and a talented singer. He is somewhat more carefree and "worldly" than Richie in early seasons. In later seasons his character evolves to increasingly emphasise his dimwitted side.
• Ralph Malph (Donny Most) Richie's friend, and a self-styled comedian. Ralph left with Richie (1980) to join the Army. Returned as a guest star in the final season.
• Charles "Chachi" Arcola (Scott Baio) Fonzie's younger cousin and later, Al Delvecchio's stepson. Dated and eventually married Joanie Cunningham.
• Matsuo "Arnold" Takahashi (Noriyuki "Pat" Morita) In season one, Arnold was a middle-age caucasian with about ten seconds of air time. Morita later depicted the owner of Arnold's Drive-In (1975–1976), stating he obtained the moniker when he purchased the restaurant and people mistook him for "Arnold." The character explained that it was too costly to buy enough letter signs needed to rename it "Takahashi." He moonlighted as a martial arts instructor, teaching self-defense classes at the drive-in after hours. Returned after Al Molinaro departed (1982–1983).
• Al Delvecchio (Al Molinaro) Drive-in owner/cook (1976–1982). Married Chachi's mother, thereby becoming Fonzie's uncle.
• Jenny Piccalo (Cathy Silvers) Joanie's boy-crazy best friend (1980–1983). Mentioned often in early episodes, but never appeared in person until the 1980 season. Returned as a guest star in the series finale. Jenny's father appeared in one episode, played by Silvers's real-life father Phil Silvers.
• Lori Beth Allen Cunningham (Lynda Goodfriend) Richie's girlfriend and later his wife (1977–1982). Returned as a guest star in the final season.

Minor characters

• Charles "Chuck" Cunningham (Gavan O'Herlihy, Randolph Roberts): Eldest son, college student and basketball player. Chuck's character was written out of series in season two. Fonzie's character took on the role of big brother to Richie and his friends.
• Pinky Tuscadero (Roz Kelly): Former girlfriend of Fonzie the Fonz.
• Leather Tuscadero (Suzi Quatro): Musician. Sister of Pinky Tuscadero, and a former juvenile delinquent.
• Roger Phillips (Ted McGinley) : Marion's nephew and coach and teacher at Jefferson High. Introduced after Richie left the show. (1980–1984)
• Flip Phillips (Billy Warlock): Roger's brother. (10th season only)
• Krystal "KC" Cunningham (Crystal Bernard): Howard's niece. (10th season only)
• Marsha Simms (Beatrice Colen): A carhop in first two seasons.
• Spike (Danny Butch) Fonzie's even younger cousin. Made fleeting appearances before the introduction of Chachi.
• Wendy (Misty Rowe) Another carhop from Arnold's in the first two seasons.
• Louisa Arcola / Louisa Delvecchio (Ellen Travolta) Mother of Chachi Arcola and Fonzie's aunt. Married Al Delvecchio.
• Melvin Belvin (Scott Bernstein) Nerdy classmate of Joanie and Chachi.
• Eugene Belvin (Denis Mandel) Twin brother of Melvin Belvin. Also a nerd.
• Bobby (Harris Kal) Friend of Chachi and Joanie seen in episodes after Richie and Ralph left the show.
• Bill 'Sticks' Downey (Jack Baker) Friend of Richie, Potsie and Ralph and drummer for their band, hence his nickname "Sticks." (He, however, claimed he got the nickname because he's skinny.)
• Gloria (Linda Purl) Richie's occasional girlfriend in the second season.
• Ashley Pfister (Linda Purl) Divorced mother who becomes Fonzie's steady girlfriend, but later broke up with him (offscreen) (1982–1983).
• Heather Pfister (Heather O'Rourke) Ashley Pfister's daughter (1982–1983).
• Jim the Student (Kurt Krakowian) Played Student at the graduation (1977).
• Danny Fonzarelli (Danny Ponce) Fonzie's adopted son in the series finale.
• Police Officer Kirk / Army Reserve Major Kirk (Ed Peck) Fonzie's nemesis and antagonist who's eager to demonstrate his inflated sense of authority, and on the watch for delinquents and "pinkos" (communists).

History

Happy Days originated during a time of 1950s nostalgic interest evident in film, television, and music. The show began as an unsold pilot filmed in late 1971 called New Family in Town, with Harold Gould in the role of Howard Cunningham, Marion Ross as Marion, Ron Howard as Richie, Anson Williams as Potsie, Ric Carrott as Charles "Chuck" Cunningham, and Susan Neher as Joanie. While Paramount passed on making it into a weekly series, the pilot was recycled with the title Love and the Happy Days, for presentation on the television anthology series Love, American Style. In 1972, George Lucas asked to view the pilot to determine if Ron Howard would be suitable to play a teenager in American Graffiti, then in preproduction. Lucas immediately cast Howard in the film, which became one of the top-grossing films of 1973. Show creator Garry Marshall and ABC recast the unsold pilot to turn Happy Days into a series. According to Marshall on an interview, executive producer Thomas L. Miller, known professionally as "Tom Miller," was quoted as saying this while developing the sitcom: "If we do a TV series that takes place in another era, and when it goes into reruns, then it won't look old." This made sense to Marshall while on the set of the show.

Gould had originally been tabbed to reprise the role of Howard Cunningham for the TV series, but during a delay before production he went abroad to perform in a play. Midway through the play's run he was notified that the show was ready to begin shooting, but decided to honor his commitment to the stage production and passed on the part, which led to Tom Bosley being cast as the family patriarch. Gould would later state that a requirement to shave his beard was also a factor in his declining the role.

Production styles

The first two seasons of Happy Days were filmed using a single-camera setup and laugh track.

One episode of Season 2 ("Fonzie Gets Married") was filmed in front of a studio audience with three cameras as a test run.

From the third season on, the show was a three-camera production in front of a live audience (with the announcement by Tom Bosley that "Happy Days is filmed before a live audience" at the start of most episodes), giving these later seasons a markedly different style. A laugh track was still used, but only to sweeten the live reactions.

Sets

The show had two main sets: the Cunningham home, and Arnold's Drive-In.

In season 1 & 2, the Cunningham house was arranged with the front door on the left and the kitchen on the right, in a sort of triangle. Beginning with season 3, the house was radically rearranged to accommodate multiple cameras and a studio audience. However, the second season episode (mentioned above) in which Fonzie gets engaged was shot on the old set, but with multiple cameras.

The Cunninghams's official address is 565 North Clinton Drive, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Within the actual Milwaukee street grid, this would put the address somewhere in the center of Milwaukee County near the current day Interstate 94, just south of Michigan Street. It would also be an oddity, as north-south streets in the city west of downtown are numbered rather than named.

The house that served as the exterior of the Cunningham residence is actually located at 565 North Cahuenga Blvd (south of Melrose Avenue) in Los Angeles, just a few blocks from the Paramount lot on Melrose Avenue.

The Milky Way Drive-In, located on Port Washington Road in the North Shore suburb of Glendale, now Kopps, was the inspiration for the original Arnold's Drive-In; it has since been demolished. The exterior of Arnold's was a "dressed" area on the Paramount Studios lot, that has since been demolished, very close to Stage 19, where the rest of the show's sets were located.

The set of the diner in the first season was a room with the same vague details of the later set, such as the paneling, and the college pennants. When the show was changed to a studio based filming, the set was redesigned and became the Arnold's that is most remembered. The set was largely opened to show the audience the scenes that took place within it. The Diner entrance was hidden, but allowed an upstage, central entrance for cast members. The barely-seen kitchen was also upstage and seen only through a pass-through window. The diner had orange booths, downstage center for closeup conversation, as well as camera left. There were two bathroom doors camera right, labeled "Guys" and "Dolls." A Seeburg jukebox was positioned camera right, and an anachronistic "Nip-It" pinball machine (actually produced in 1972) was positioned far camera right.

College pennants adorned the walls, including Purdue and University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, along with a blue and white sign reading "Jefferson High School."

Storylines dictated that the set would be destroyed by fire, so in later seasons, a different Arnold's Drive-in emerged and lasted through the later years of the show. The new set featured wood paneling and stained glass.

In 2004, two decades after the first set was destroyed, the Happy Days 30th Anniversary Reunion requested that the reunion take place in Arnold's. The familiar set was rebuilt by Production Designer James Yarnell. Built from the original ground plan, this was the first time that the Happy Days cast had been in this set since the 1970s.

Cast changes

Season 5

The most major character changes occurred after Season 5 with the addition of Scott Baio as Fonzie's cousin, Charles "Chachi" Arcola. Originally the character Spike, mentioned as Fonzie's nephew (who's actually his cousin as he made it clear in one episode), was supposed to be the character who became Chachi.

With Season 3, Al Molinaro was added as Al Delvecchio, the new owner of Arnold's, after Pat Morita's character of Arnold moved on after his character got married. (Morita had left the program to star in a short-lived sitcom of his own, Mr. T and Tina, which was actually a spin-off of Welcome Back, Kotter. Morita also starred in a subsequent short lived Happy Days spin-off series entitled Blansky's Beauties.) Al Molinaro also played Al's twin brother Father Anthony Delvecchio, a Catholic priest. Al eventually married Chachi's mother (played by Ellen Travolta) and Father Delvecchio served in the wedding of Joanie to Chachi in the series finale.

Seasons 8 onward

Lynda Goodfriend joined the cast as semi-regular character Lori-Beth Allen, Richie's steady girlfriend, in season 5, and became a permanent member of the cast between Seasons 8 and 10, after Lori-Beth married Richie.

After Ron Howard (Richie) left the series, Ted McGinley joined the cast as Roger Phillips, the new Physical Education teacher at Jefferson High and nephew to Howard and Marion. He took over from the departed Richie Cunningham character, acting as counterpoint to Fonzie. Also joining the cast was Cathy Silvers as Jenny Piccolo, Joanie's best friend who was previously referenced in various episodes from earlier seasons who remained as a main cast member until the final season. Both actors were originally credited as guest stars but were promoted to the main cast during the 10th season after several series regulars left the show. The real focus of the series was now on the Joanie and Chachi characters, and often finding ways to incorporate Fonzie into them as a shoulder to cry on, advice-giver, and savior as needed. The Potsie character who had already been spun off from the devious best friend of Richie to Ralph's best friend and confidante, held little grist for the writers in this new age, and was now most often used as the occasional "dumb" foil for punchlines (most often from Mr. C. or Fonzie).

Billy Warlock joined the cast in season 10 as Roger's brother Flip, along with Crystal Bernard as Howard's and Marion's niece K.C. They were intended as replacements for Erin Moran and Scott Baio (who departed for their own show, Joanie Loves Chachi) and were credited as part of the semi-regular cast. Both characters left with the return of Moran and Baio, following the cancellation of Joanie Loves Chachi. Also leaving Happy Days in Season 10 for Joanie Loves Chachi was Al Delvecchio; Pat Morita returned to the cast as Arnold in his absence.

Gail Edwards, who previously guest starred in the episode "A Potsie is Born," was offered the role that Crystal Bernard would fill but was never told so by her managers, as they knew she would take the role and they didn't want her to be a "new character on an old show." Later, Edwards would appear with Bernard in 93 episodes of It's a Living.

Guest stars

• Buffalo Bob Smith and Clarabell the Clown came to town looking for Howdy-Doody look-alikes. The episode was so popular Smith launched The New Howdy Doody Show a year later.
• Robin Williams appeared in an episode as Mork from Ork, "My Favorite Orkan" from Season 5. That episode led to a series spin-off called Mork & Mindy.
• Tom Hanks appeared in an episode as a character seeking revenge on Fonzie for pushing him off a swing when the two of them were in the 3rd grade. The confrontation occurs just as Fonzie was about to be given a community leader award. Years later in 1987, Hanks asked Winkler to direct his comedy Turner and Hooch, but creative differences between the two stars led to Winkler being fired from the job.
• Herbie Faye appeared as "Pop" in the 1974 episode "Knock Around the Block."
• John Hart (television's "The Lone Ranger" from 1952–54) made a guest appearance in an episode where Fonzie meets his childhood idol. In 1981, a new Lone Ranger movie was being filmed. Controversy arose when television's original Lone Ranger, Clayton Moore, was banned, by Jack Wrather Productions, from wearing the Lone Ranger mask. Therefore, Moore was scratched and Hart was hired.
• Milwaukee Braves home run king Hank Aaron appeared in one episode.
• Ralph's father was an optometrist, played by Jack Dodson, who also played Howard Sprague on Ron Howard's previous sitcom, The Andy Griffith Show.
• Lorne Greene made a brief walk-on cameo during the first episode of Season 5, which took place in Hollywood.
• Maureen McCormick, otherwise known as Marcia Brady on The Brady Bunch, was "Hildie" in episode number 32 during Season 2.
• Christopher Knight, otherwise known as Peter Brady on The Brady Bunch, played Joanie's boyfriend on a Valentine's Day episode.

"Jumping the shark"

The term "jumping the shark", used as a metaphor to describe something that had become an unintended mockery of itself, arose from one of the most famous of these plots as featured in Happy Days. The episode aired on September 20, 1977, during the show's fifth season, involved Fonzie performing a water ski jump over a shark to overcome his fear of them, as he told Potsie he would. In later years, this episode was cited as the point where the series had passed its peak of quality and popularity. The phrase was later applied to popular culture phenomena in general. While the Fonz's literal shark jump gave rise to the phrase, some fans consider Happy Days to have had more than one such moment, occurring both before and after the stunt in question.

Theme music

Seasons 1 and 2 of the series used a newly recorded version of "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley & His Comets (recorded in the fall of 1973) as the opening theme song. This recording was not commercially released at the time, although the original 1954 recording returned to the American Billboard charts in 1974 as a result of its use on the show. The "Happy Days" recording had its first commercial release in 2005 by the German label Hydra Records. (When Happy Days entered syndication in 1979, the series was retitled Happy Days Again and used an edited version of the 1954 recording instead of the 1973 version).

The show's closing theme song in season 1 was a fragment from "Happy Days," whose music was composed by Charles Fox and whose lyrics were written by Norman Gimbel. According to SAG, this version was performed by Jimmy Haas on lead vocals, Ron Hicklin of the Ron Hicklin Singers, Stan Farber, Jerry Whitman, and Gary Garrett on backing vocals, and studio musicians.

From seasons 3–10 inclusive, a longer version of "Happy Days" replaced "Rock Around the Clock" at the beginning of the show. Released as a single in 1976 by Pratt & McClain, "Happy Days" cracked the Top 5. The show itself finished the 1976–77 television season #1, ending the five-year Nielsen reign of All in the Family. On the recently released DVD set of season 2, the song "Rock Around the Clock" was replaced with a reconstructed version of "Happy Days." This was done because of music rights issues.

For the show's 11th and final season (1983–84), the theme was rerecorded in a more modern style. It featured Bobby Arvon on lead vocals, with several back-up vocalists. To accompany this new version, new opening credits were filmed, and the flashing "Happy Days" logo was reanimated to create an overall "new" feel which incorporated 1980s sensibilities with 1950s nostalgia (although by this time the show was set in 1965).

Production & scheduling

• Jerry Paris, who played a role on The Dick Van Dyke Show and directed several episodes of that series, directed every episode of Happy Days from the third season on, except for three episodes in Season 3 ("Jailhouse Rock", "Dance Contest" and "Arnold's Wedding").
• Until the show went out of production, reruns of the show were syndicated under the title Happy Days Again.
• Happy Days was produced by Miller-Milkis Productions, a teaming of Thomas L. Miller with former film editor Edward K. Milkis, which became Miller-Milkis-Boyett Productions when Robert L. Boyett joined the company in 1980, and was the first ever show to be produced by the company's most recent incarnation, Miller-Boyett Productions, which followed Milkis's resignation from the partnership (Milkis later died on December 14, 1996, at the age of sixty-five). It was also produced by Henderson Productions and was one of the popular shows produced in association with Paramount Television.
• In its 11 seasons on the air, Happy Days still remains one of ABC's longest-running sitcoms (behind The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, which ran 14 seasons, from 1952 to 1966), and one of the longest-running prime time programs in the network's history. It is also unique in that it remained in the Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. time slot for the series' first ten seasons. The network has not had an entertainment series that has run consistently in the same slot since.
• Happy Days also proved to be quite popular in daytime reruns; they joined the ABC daytime schedule in 1975, airing reruns at 11:30 a.m. (ET), being moved to 11 a.m. in 1977, paired with Family Feud following at 11:30 a.m. It was replaced on the daytime schedule by reruns of its spin-off, Laverne & Shirley, in April 1979.
• Happy Days also reruns on Five USA in the UK between 16:00 and 17:00, it was shown on Channel 4 between the early 1990s to the early 2000s.
• ABC produced and aired a 30th-anniversary reunion special in 2005.
• Happy Days began running on FamilyNet Television in January 2009 as part of a "Families on FamilyNet" evening programming block that also featured My Three Sons and Family Ties. This block was cancelled on February 26, 2010.
• CBS programming head Fred Silverman scheduled Good Times directly against Happy Days during their respective second seasons in an attempt to kill the ABC show's growing popularity. However, he was named president of ABC in 1975, and so was given the task of saving Happy Days during its third season (which saw a rapid increase in ratings).

Ratings

• 1973–1974: #16
• 1974-1975: Not in Top 30
• 1975–1976: #11
• 1976–1977: #1
• 1977–1978: #2
• 1978–1979: #4
• 1979–1980: #17
• 1980–1981: #15
• 1981–1982: #18
• 1982–1983: #28
• 1983-1984: #55

Episodes

Further information: List of Happy Days episodes

DVD releases

Paramount Home Entertainment and CBS DVD have released the first four seasons of Happy Days on DVD in Region 1. Each release features music replacements due to copyright issues, including the theme song "Rock Around the Clock" for Season 2 (Season 1 retained the original opening which was released before CBS was involved).

Seasons 1-3 have also been released on DVD in the UK, while in region 4 the first four seasons have been released.

DVD Name	Ep #	Release Dates
		Region 1	Region 2	Region 4
The Complete First Season	16	August 17, 2004	August 27, 2007	September 19, 2007
The Second Season	23	April 17, 2007	November 12, 2007	March 6, 2008
The Third Season	24	November 27, 2007	April 7, 2008	September 4, 2008
The Fourth Season	25	December 9, 2008	N/A	February 5, 2009

Spin-offs

Happy Days, itself considered a spin-off from Love, American Style, spun off five different series, not including two animated spin-offs: Laverne & Shirley, Blansky's Beauties, Mork & Mindy, Out of the Blue, and Joanie Loves Chachi.

• The most successful of these spin-offs, Laverne & Shirley (starring Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams, respectively), also took place in early/mid 1960s Milwaukee, though the two starring characters eventually moved to Los Angeles in the show's latter years. Penny Marshall is the sister of producer Garry Marshall.
• Robin Williams made his first appearance as "Mork" on Happy Days. In his own sitcom, Mork & Mindy, his character of Mork, the alien from the planet Ork, landed in 1970s Boulder, Colorado, to study humans and took up residence with Pam Dawber's character of Mindy McConnell.
• Joanie Loves Chachi was a short-lived show about Richie's younger sister Joanie and Fonzie's younger cousin Chachi's relationship during their years as musicians in Chicago. Two myths arose around the series in recent years. The first involves the series' popularity in Korea, as "Chachi" is slang for "penis". The second rumor suggests that the show was canceled due to low ratings. Actually, the program finished in the Top 20 its first season, but ABC determined that the show was losing too much of its lead-in, suggesting low appeal if the show were moved. This type of cancellation seemed strange in the early 1980s, but soon became a commonplace part of TV audience research.
• Out of the Blue is a spin-off of Happy Days, though a scheduling error had the series airing prior to the main character's introduction on Happy Days.
• Blansky's Beauties (1977) starred Nancy Walker as former Las Vegas showgirl Nancy Blansky. One week before the show's premiere, the Blansky character appeared on Happy Days as a cousin of Howard Cunningham.

Animation

There are two animated series. One was produced by Hanna-Barbera titled The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang which ran from 1980–1982. There are also animated spin-offs of Laverne & Shirley and Mork and Mindy. Another is The Mork & Mindy/Laverne & Shirley/Fonz Hour (1982).

Musical

In the late 1990s, a touring arena show called 'Happy Days, The Arena Spectacular' toured Australia's major cities. The story featured a property developer, and former girlfriend of Fonzie called Miss Frost (Rebecca Gibney) wanting to buy the diner and redevelop it. It starred Craig McLachlan as Fonzie, Max Gillies and Wendy Hughes and Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham, Doug Parkinson as Al and Jo Beth Taylor as Richie's love interest Laura. Tom Bosley presented an introduction before each performance live on stage, and pop group Human Nature played a 50's style rock group. Based on the sitcom, Happy Days: A New Musical began touring in 2008.

External links

• Happy Days at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com show
• Encyclopedia of Television