Original subtitles

[narrator] The golden age of television.

I Love Lucy didn't just change American television,

it invented American television.

[narrator] Back when one screen

brought everyone together.

Watching television was a family event.

[narrator] The shows that shaped us.

[Gary] The Brady Bunch was part of the American soul.

It's timeless.

[narrator] The familiar faces.

[man] Ralph Kramden was loved on The Honeymooners.

Pow, right in the kisser!

He was a presence.

[narrator] The unforgettable moments.

[Jeff] Dynasty captured the essence

of what the 1980s were about in America.

[narrator] These are their stories.

[Jeff] Cheers is the pinnacle

of how great the sitcom can be.

[narrator] This is TV We Love.

[narrator] It's 1974.

1974 was a rather fraught time

in America's history.

The Vietnam War was still raging.

[narrator] America is in the grips of the oil crisis.

And that was eventually the year

that Richard Nixon would resign the presidency

due to the Watergate scandal.

I have never been a quitter.

[narrator] But a new television series

provides some welcome relief.

[laughter]

♪ Sunday, Monday, happy days ♪

[Brian] It was set in a more innocent time.

Let's take a step back and go back to cruising

and poodle skirts, fancy hot rods, the drive-in.

Ay!

Happy Days was really one of the masterpieces of '70s TV.

You have all these great, hilarious characters.

-Okay, bucko. -I still got it.

-"I still got it." -Sit on it, Malph.

There were so many catchphrases on the show.

Wah, wah, wah.

The show was fantastically successful.

And they all lost it for Fonzie.

Correctamundo.

He became this bigger-than-life character.

[engine revving]

[Henry] It's amazing to me

that the show and the character

was so important to so many people.

[Richie] Here we go, Fonz. I'm heading for the ramp.

[William] But the show was in danger of being canceled

from the day it was on air.

♪ Are yours and mine ♪

♪ Happy days ♪

Doesn't Richard look nice tonight?

He's got stinky stuff on his hair.

Is that what that smell is? I thought the milk was sour.

[laughter]

The origins of Happy Days begin circa 1971

with two important TV executives,

Tom Miller and Michael Eisner.

They are snowed in at the Newark Airport

in Newark, New Jersey.

So I said, Tom, this is ridiculous.

We're wasting our time here.

Let's write a show.

[Brian] They started talking about the kinds of shows

that ABC did not make anymore.

And it was intended to be a throwback,

to be a return to the kind of series

that dominated television in the 1950s,

the family situation comedy.

[Joe] And to make this show a reality,

they handed it off to a producer named Garry Marshall.

Garry's just an incredible, talented gentleman.

[Garry] We had a big hit with The Old Couple.

And Tom Miller came along and said, "You're very good.

I'm a producer. We'll be great."

And so he and Michael Eisner

wanted to do this show of nostalgia.

I said, "Let's try the '50s." And they said, "Okay."

[Joe] And what he came up with was a pilot

called "Love and the Happy Days."

And that original pilot does feature three cast members

who would go on to be in the regular show,

Ron Howard, Marion Ross, and Anson Williams,

all playing the characters that we know them for.

I had a chance to do this episode

called "Love and the Happy Days."

And it came at a time where I wasn't getting any work,

because I was in that sort of awkward period

between 16 and 18.

It was a cool part, and I thought I should do it.

Do you think maybe there's something wrong with us?

Yeah.

He did a lot of playing in the set.

Richard seems upset about something.

Maybe you should go and talk to him.

As soon as this is over.

[laughter]

The plot of the original pilot

revolves around the Cunninghams

getting a television set.

[Richie] Today's a big day.

We are going to be the first family on the block

to get a television set.

And neighbors and friends are trying to invite themselves

to this unveiling of the television set.

And Richie has a decision to make.

My mom didn't like you climbing through there.

[Joe] Invite his good friend Potsie Weber

or the girl that he's trying to impress.

Tell her you got a television and you're in like Flynn.

And Richie chooses the girl.

[commentator] Round one from Madison Square Garden...

There's the fighters!

It was a beautiful pilot for a TV show.

[Michael] I then took it to the program board

and the head of research was there.

And he convinced the program board

that the '50s wouldn't work.

Now all I have to do is stand here all night.

[Brian] They couldn't sell it

because period shows were frowned upon

by and large by the networks.

One of the things I think about Happy Days

is that it wasn't of its time

as opposed to a Norman Lear show like All in the Family.

But they did air it in 1972

as an episode of its anthology series

Love, American Style on ABC.

[theme music playing]

And then George Lucas would watch that failed pilot

and it became the springboard for Ron Howard

to appear in American Graffiti.

Happy Days owed its existence

to the popularity of American Graffiti.

A hugely popular sleeper hit in the early 1970s.

And then ABC in looking at how successful American Graffiti was

got more interested in turning Happy Days into a series.

And there was a new Happy Days pilot

written by Garry Marshall along with Rob Reiner

who was his then brother-in-law married to Penny Marshall.

And Harold Gould who played the father

in the original pilot was unavailable.

And so they kind of seduced Tom Bosley.

He was well known. He was the professional actor.

[Brian] So he was very reluctant to get on board.

When an actor is waiting for the new TV season,

he's hoping for a series.

He's somewhat reluctant to take the first one that comes along.

But they talked him into it

and they added Erin Moran as Joanie.

[William] Erin Moran was a sweet kid

that you just fell in love with.

Erin was perfect for that show.

[Brian] And then Don Most

had originally auditioned to play Potsie.

[Don] I was auditioning for Potsie.

And then my agent called me a few days later,

said that, "You didn't get the role of Potsie.

But the producers, they really loved your screen test."

They liked him so much that they decided

to create a role for him.

And Ralph Malph was born.

[Don] He's a guy that he's into cars

and he's kind of a wisecracking guy.

You're weird, Richie.

And I just had a ball doing it, so.

[Joe] And they cast Gavan O'Herlihy as Chuck,

as the very mysterious older brother

of Richie and Joanie Cunningham.

But there was still no Fonzie.

Arthur "the Fonz" Fonzarelli.

The character was envisioned to be

a big, tall, tough Italian guy from the East Coast.

[Joe] But instead, this nice young Jewish man,

this graduate of Yale Drama School,

Henry Winkler, very much unlike Fonzie, got the role.

They were looking for a big Italian kid,

you know, and they got a short German Jew.

Tom Miller brought me in and had my eyebrows plucked.

And they cut my hair

and they combed it into a ducktail.

They got me a T-shirt and a jacket

and I auditioned in character.

[William] When he put that comb in his hand

and slicked his hair back,

he became this bigger-than-life character.

[Joe] But ABC was a little concerned

about the look of the Arthur Fonzarelli character.

With his leather jacket

and pompadour and motorcycle,

he looked like a hoodlum.

[William] I was the showrunner of Happy Days

for the first two seasons.

And the network had the idea

that Fonzie would be perceived as a bad person.

And so, to make him look less like a hoodlum,

they dressed him a little bit more respectably.

They gave him a windbreaker.

Yeah, well, that was kind of dumb.

[William] The network wanted us to deliver a one-camera show,

which means it's shot like a movie,

not in front of an audience.

[Brian] So, it was a different show than what it became

when it became the most popular show on Earth.

There was a hope that the show might succeed.

[William] But nobody thought it would work.

Not in a million years did anybody think

it would stay on the air.

[gentle music playing]

[Joe] Happy Days premiered in 1974,

two years after the original pilot for the show aired.

Bottoms up!

[Brian] A lot of them are about growing up

and your first drink, your first bachelor party...

[all cheering]

...your first car, your first prom,

your first tragic breakup.

Good night, Richard Cunningham.

[William] But not so much about Fonzie.

Fonzie started out as very much a supporting character.

He was this cool but mysterious guy

that Richie sort of knew.

[Brian] And the first episode they did,

he doesn't speak for the first 22 minutes.

Hey, Fonzie, can I talk to you for a minute?

Well, remember the other day I was telling you

about me and Mary Lou Milligan?

He speaks in one little scene at the end.

The fact is...

I played chess.

You played with her chest?

[Joe] But we're starting to see,

"Oh, maybe there's more to this guy

who rides around on a motorcycle.

Maybe there's something more to him."

But their windbreaker kind of made him look like a dork.

So reluctantly, the network allowed Fonzie

to wear the leather jacket.

That's his superhero costume.

And you can instantly see why this character at this time

resonated with so many people

and why that character still resonates today.

In my opinion,

the very first year of Happy Days was the best year.

I thought it was fantastic.

Oh, brother.

The episode where Richie has to dress up

as a girl with Potsie for the fraternity,

it was so funny.

That's an excellent one where Fonzie plucks Richie

by the hand, pulls him onto the dance floor,

going, "Hey, wallflower." [laughs]

Wallflower, let's dance.

[Don] I could look at that scene and laugh every time.

And then all of a sudden,

Fonzie starts blowing into Richie's ear.

[laughter]

And then Richie finally can't take it.

-He says... -[Richie] It's me, Richie.

See, this is all part of the Demons initiation.

I knew that.

And then Richie's walking around looking for Potsie,

and he looks over, and Ralph is dancing with Potsie.

It was a classic. That was a classic.

[laughter]

Happy Days did very well in its first season.

It came in 16th for ABC, third place Network,

a blessing at that time.

And we were picked up before the wrap party

at the end of the first season for the next season.

But Garry Marshall wanted to change the theme song.

Originally, the theme song was "Rock Around the Clock."

And so "Happy Days," the song,

became the theme song for the entire sitcom.

Which is really what we remember now.

♪ Sunday, Monday, happy days ♪

♪ Tuesday, Wednesday, happy days ♪

[Don] And it was a hit record.

♪ The weekend comes, my cycle hums ♪

♪ Ready to race to you ♪

[Jim] But what really changed,

especially as the series progresses,

some of the more involving episodes

actually happen to revolve around Fonzie.

"Guess Who's Coming to Christmas"

is one of the most classic Christmas episodes

of not just Happy Days,

but of any American television series.

What does it look like, Marion?

Like you're being mugged by Santa Claus.

Ho, ho, ho.

Richie is the only one that can see

that when Fonzie says he doesn't need

to go share Christmas with any family,

well, he's lying.

He has no place. He has no one.

And Richie is the only one that can perceive that.

And then it's about Fonzie being able to accept the help

from the Cunninghams because he's a proud person.

Hey, God.

Thanks.

[William] Henry made Fonzie come alive

in such a powerful way

that, well, you've got to do stories about that character.

[Joe] And Linda Purl had a recurring role

as Richie's girlfriend in a few episodes.

Donnie Most was a dear friend, and he called and said,

"I'm doing this show called Happy Days,

and there's a role that you might be right for."

I introduced her to the casting director,

and I said, you know, "She'd be great on the show."

So she got the part.

And it was for Gloria. She was Ron Howard's girlfriend.

Is this your new car?

Yeah, this is it. Do you like it?

Oh, I love it.

[Linda] And I remember Jerry Paris,

who was the director, who was so wonderful.

He had me chewing gum all the time.

And when I would go to kiss Richie,

I would have to take the gum out, kiss,

and then put the gum back.

Well, okay.

And any time he even got close to getting a kiss...

Do you want something, Richard?

[Brian] ...something terrible would happen.

[Fred] And she played it brilliantly.

No, Mom.

Unfortunately, the second season of Happy Days,

the ratings crashed.

The nostalgia angle

is really what sold the show at the beginning,

but the novelty appeal of Happy Days

started to wear off.

And we were in danger of not getting picked up.

[Brian] So Garry Marshall tried a last-ditch effort

to save the show.

He turned it into a three-camera show

in front of an audience.

[William] Garry felt that that would give it

the boost it needed,

but I had never done a multi-camera show

in front of an audience.

I had no experience in that.

[Lowell] We were pretty experienced in that format,

so we were supposed to help Garry

transition the show from the single-camera format

to the live audience format.

[William] So we did that experimental episode

at the end of season two in front of an audience.

[announcer] Tonight's Happy Days

was filmed before a live audience.

Everybody quiet!

That was an episode called "Fonzie's Getting Married."

He met a librarian, so he thought,

who was really a stripper.

The one and only Lone Stripper!

[audience cheering]

[Brian] So Fonzie had his heart broken.

I'm in love.

[Brian] It was a great emotional ride,

and it gave a new dimension to Fonzie's character.

[audience exclaiming]

Fonzie! [sobbing]

The audience told everybody

that Fonzie was the, quote, "breakout character."

We could see how the character Fonzie was really catching on.

[Lynda] He was very sexy and funny,

and I think that's what people hooked into in his character.

[William] So for the next season,

it changed to multi-camera in front of an audience,

which was when Lowell took over the show.

And when the big transition

from it being a show about Richie

to a show about Fonzie began.

[Joe] But when it became clear

that Fonzie was the most popular aspect of the show,

ABC wanted to change the name of the show

to Fonzie's Happy Days.

And they approached Ron Howard,

who was still the nominal star of the show,

and he said, "I just can't do it."

[upbeat rock music playing]

[Brian] Henry's popularity had been growing massively.

On the boys' first publicity tour,

they discovered 25,000 people waiting for them

to see Henry, not so much the other guys.

And it was a little bit like we were a boy band.

Henry was the lead singer.

But it was that kind of NSYNC

sort of egomania kind of thing.

It was kind of wild.

There was a point where you almost left the show, right?

They did come to me and say, the network would kind of like

to change the name of the show to Fonzie's Happy Days.

And I said, "Well, I don't think I want to be in that show."

The one producer who wasn't there was Garry Marshall,

and he said, "It's not going to happen then."

And that was that.

[Brian] Garry, I think he just felt

he wasn't going to disrespect Ron.

One of the stipulations for renewing the show

was that it be filmed in front of a live studio audience.

This required the main sets,

like the Cunningham's living room,

to be totally redesigned.

[Don] The other big thing that they did at ABC

was having Fonzie move into the guest apartment

that was above the Cunningham's garage.

That was logical, that I moved in

with the Cunninghams and I lived over the garage,

and, you know, then I could be closer to the action.

Okay, I'll tell you what, I'll stay here for a week.

And if I don't like it, I'll leave.

[laughter]

And Chuck was written out.

In season two,

they tried recasting the role

with an actor named Randolph Roberts,

and it just didn't take.

[Lowell] We started doing the show,

but we didn't write Chuck into the first few episodes.

And nobody said anything. [laughs]

Nobody called us on it.

[Joe] And from there on out, Chuck is never mentioned again.

Poor Chuck.

[Lowell] But that season of Happy Days

was the most exciting work season of my life.

It was exciting, it was fresh,

and the audience discovered the show in a whole new way.

"Fearless Fonzarelli" was a two-part episode

in season three,

and in it, Fonzie appeared on a TV show,

and he was to break the record

by jumping over 14 garbage cans with his motorcycle.

[engine revving]

[all cheering]

[Don] And he smashed into a chicken stand.

Am I dead?

But my personal favorite episode

is called "A Date with Fonzie."

It's about Fonzie and Richie going on a double date

with a couple of working-class girls

named Laverne and Shirley.

[Brian] And they would become played

by Garry Marshall's sister Penny

and Ron Howard's castmate from American Graffiti,

Cindy Williams.

Hey, Fonzie!

Hey, DeFazio! They're here.

I remember having a lot of fun in that show

because they were so great.

I just remembered laughing a lot.

So Shirl, what do you think of this kid?

-You been with worse. -Oh, he's nice and a tie too.

And a hanky, is that for showin' or for blowin'?

[laughter]

Well, it's been quite an evening.

What do you say we go to Richie's house?

Richie's seduction could not have gone worse

with Shirley Feeney.

So she curled up her chubby little hand and boom.

Oh!

And they start effectively making out on the floor.

Oh, Richie, I'm so sorry! Oh, dear.

Oh, here, let me kiss your boo-boo.

Richie, we're home!

And his mother, father, and sister come in.

Oh, no, nothing here's--- there's nothing going on.

[Lowell] And the audience went crazy.

Oh, I missed it!

And 114 days after "A Date with Fonzie" filmed,

Laverne & Shirley debuted

as the number one show in television.

And eventually, Happy Days became

the number one series in television.

And the show became an international sensation.

They all lost it for Fonzie.

It's amazing to me that the show and the character

was so important to so many people.

One of the things that made Happy Days truly unique

as an international powerhouse

was they marketed it to the hilt.

There are over 2,000 licensed products from Happy Days.

[Jim] When I was going into first grade,

I think everyone had that Happy Days lunchbox.

[Brian] It's almost unheard of, but it just shows

how the show kept growing in popularity.

And then as the show matured, they added new characters

that gave a new spark and purpose to the series.

There's Pat Morita, who would find fame doing The Karate Kid.

You write this stuff?

Huh, I always thought the kids did it.

Oh, the kids not funny. I write the good stuff.

And Al Molinaro.

You know, my first date with Rosa Colletti

was a picnic.

[laughter]

Yeah.

[Brian] And Scott Baio came on as Chachi.

I had done a movie called Bugsy Malone,

and when the film was done, they screened it

for all the executives at Paramount Studios,

and one of the people in that room was Garry Marshall.

And Garry said, "He looks like somebody that girls might like."

So they brought me on to attract girls to the show.

Well, I guess it worked.

And he, of course, becomes a huge heartthrob.

Now, you all know my cousin Chachi.

-There's your little boyfriend. -How you doing, blue eyes?

What are you selling today, shrimp?

[Don] Seeing those scenes with Erin, they were always a kick.

It was always so much fun to watch the two of them together.

[gentle music playing]

[Brian] And Richie would meet a woman

who would eventually become his wife in the series,

Lynda Goodfriend.

I got cast as Lori Beth.

The doors are locked.

She's stuck in here until five tomorrow.

Oh, nuts.

I think they wanted to give Ron more of a life

outside of just his family now that he was growing up.

I loved working with Ron. He called me Sweet Knees.

You love it when I call you Sweet Knees!

[Lynda] And that became a catchphrase

for the rest of the series.

There were so many catchphrases on the show.

I created "Sit on it."

"Sit on it" definitely became part of the vernacular

in my elementary school.

Sit on it, Malph.

-Sit on it, Potts. -Sit on it, Fonzie.

Ay!

And once they took a bite of that "Sit on it" apple,

they were trying every kind of catchphrase they could think of.

Correctamundo.

-You're stupid, bucko. -Ay!

-Wah, wah, wah! -Wah, wah, wah.

I have no idea where it came from.

Some of those originated from the actor,

so I came up with "I still got it."

I still got it. That became a big catchphrase.

I still got it.

But as the show progressed, one of the common complaints

is that the writing gradually became more cartoonish.

Fonzie got more and more powerful.

[Scott] The episode where it really started

was when Richie, Potsie, and Ralph...

Hi, boys.

-...go to a cabin... -Excuse us.

[Scott] ...and they meet some girls.

We'll take it.

And it ends with one of the classic moments

in Happy Days history

where Fonzie, sleeping outside,

can't get to sleep because the owls, the birds,

the squirrels, everybody's making noise.

-[owl hooting] -[squirrel squeaking]

And then Fonzie, his eyes kind of open up slowly,

he's looking around, and he sits up,

and then he goes...

Cool it!

[Brian] And the forest goes quiet.

A great step in his expanding powers.

Let's see Tarzan do that.

And because he seems to have,

especially as the series progresses,

more and more magic powers,

he can romance women by snapping his finger.

He could pop a jukebox in a certain way

that would bring it to life.

He seems to be able to do anything.

And then it just got, you know, it just started getting crazy.

Like, all of a sudden, now Fonzie's like Superman.

And of course, the most infamous example of that

is a three-parter from the beginning of season five

called "Hollywood,"

leading to the catchphrase that will not die.

[Brian] The fact that

we're still talking about jumping the shark

45 years later is unbelievable to me.

[Joe] The catchphrase "jumping the shark"

is the point at which something in popular culture

is less good than it used to be.

This is the breaking point where the show starts to go downhill.

Happy Days did a three-parter

called "Hollywood" parts one, two, and three...

-[man] Fonzarelli! -Yeah.

Now here's the script for your screen test.

...in which the Cunninghams and Fonzie

travel out to Hollywood

so that Fonzie can do a screen test to be in the movie.

I ended up writing that episode.

And all of us tease Fred Fox mercilessly

about his involvement with it.

So they go out to Hollywood for a screen test for Fonzie,

and the family goes with him.

And there was this very cocky California kid on the beach.

He and Fonzie are at odds.

They don't like one another at all.

You up for a real challenge?

Fonz never ignores a challenge.

We both make one jump.

Well, let's make it something big.

Oh, it's big all right.

[Joe] And the California kid taunts him

into performing a risky stunt,

water skiing over a shark.

Henry was really a pretty good water skier.

[dramatic music playing]

[Brian] And now jumping the shark has become

its own thing.

[Scott] It's a great metaphor.

Supposedly that's where the show started going downhill.

We were number one for, like, six years after that,

so nobody else thought we jumped the shark.

[Jim] Talk about jumping the shark.

Or is it an episode where an alien comes

and meets Richie and what?

Up in the sky, it was fantastic.

It's a flying saucer. Come on, you gotta see this.

[Don] When we read that script, we were like--

We we're thinking this is like the worst script that we've had.

This is like, "What the hell is going on here?"

Fonz, I just saw a flying saucer.

Hey, what are you, a nutso?

But that episode became the launch pad

for Robin Williams' career playing Mork from Ork.

[laughter]

Wait a minute, who are you?

I am Mork from Ork. [speaking in other language]

I didn't know who he was.

And went to the set and I saw Robin Williams.

And you went, "Oh, man, what is going on here?"

You know, this is-- this is remarkable.

It's Robin [muted] Williams.

He made it a lot-- Hell of a lot better than what it was.

He was just coming up with all the stuff

that wasn't in the script, improvising,

and it started becoming really funny.

Look, would you mind if I just ask you a few questions?

Right away, bucko.

That's great, okay, would you just mind having a seat?

-Seat. -Yeah.

[speaking in other language]

The episode is so popular that it spins off

onto its own show, Mork & Mindy,

which made a star of Robin Williams.

[William] I get choked up thinking about Robin,

who was an absolute genius

and a really lovely human being.

But the cast was expressing some level

of dissatisfaction with the show.

At a certain point, the show just became,

and I'm sorry, the show became silly.

[Don] It started getting a little too, you know,

I thought far-fetched, ridiculous,

whatever you want to call it, and I think that hurt the show.

Not only do you get "Westward Ho,"

which is a three-part Western episode...

Help! Help!

...with Joanie having to be rescued

from a runaway stagecoach

and Fonzie riding a bull.

-What's this rope for? -You hold onto that!

I knew that. I knew that.

You get episodes like "The Claw Meets the Fonz"

in which gangsters are moving in on Arnold's territory,

one of whom has a mechanical claw hand

like a James Bond villain.

[laughs] It was...

weird!

It was-- it was dumb.

[William] So Ronnie Howard came out to my house

and he felt like he had lost the show that he had had.

It was pushing too hard.

He understood why it was happening,

but he just felt bad that it was.

[Brian] And Donnie always felt

that it was also restricting what he could do,

and I think that's why when both his

and Ron Howard's initial contract was up,

Ron and Don chose to leave the show.

[Joe] At the end of season seven,

Ron Howard and Don Most decided not to go on with the show.

We kind of knew that Ron Howard was going to leave.

Ron always wanted to direct.

My contract was up, and I wanted to become a director,

-and it was very hard. -How did that work out?

-I'm still working on it. -You're still working on it.

Ron, you might make it.

Don leaving the show

was a bit of a shock.

I'd done seven seasons, and I felt like it was changing,

and it wasn't, to me, growing anymore.

It was-- So, I wasn't real happy.

[Joe] And so, it is explained

that Richie and Ralph joined the Army,

and they are stationed in Greenland.

And we only get occasional updates

about what they are doing up in Greenland.

I want you to perk up your ears

because you're going to have an audio party here.

Richie wrote me a letter.

I wasn't worried about the show failing

after Don and Ron left at all,

because at that point, I was about as big

as you could get on television.

I don't want to say I was carrying the show,

but Henry and I were the show.

Henry and I and Erin. That was the show.

[Joe] Happy Days got very lucky

because they brought in a young man

to play Marion's nephew, Roger.

He was played by Ted McGinley, who fit in really well.

-Joanie! -[screams] It's good to see you!

-It's been so long! -Boy, you've grown!

But not even he is the greatest addition to the show.

That title goes to Cathy Silvers,

daughter of legendary comedian Phil Silvers,

who plays Jenny Piccalo,

the boy-crazy, wild-acting friend of Joanie Cunningham.

I'll be right outside the door

if you want to get married or anything.

And I'm talking anything.

And then we looked at Fonzie's life

and said that he's never had a serious relationship.

[Joe] And so when they're looking for

a regular girlfriend for Fonzie,

they think, "We need a Linda Purl type."

My agent called

and said, "They're looking for a Linda Purl type."

So we called and said, "Well, can Linda audition

for a Linda Purl type?"

So it was so much fun to come back to that show

because it allowed me to come back in

as a different character, entirely different character.

Look, I don't know who you are or why you are following me,

but if you don't stop, I will have the owner throw you out.

It's going to be a little difficult to do

because I am the owner.

And we really did get to see a different part of Fonzie.

Call me Fonzie.

-Fonzie? -Yeah.

Let go of my hand.

[Joe] There is an episode guest-starring a young man

named Mr. Tom Hanks

called "A Little Case of Revenge."

He has hated the Fonz for decades,

and it all comes to a head

with a spectacular martial arts battle...

Are you ready to face oblivion?

[Joe] ...between Henry Winkler...

I'm ready for you and him.

[Joe] ...and Tom Hanks at Arnold's.

Tom Hanks was fantastic.

[Brian] Garry Marshall was very good

at finding people that became very popular.

[Joe] And Garry Marshall wanted to continue

to capitalize on that.

So Erin Moran and Scott Baio were moved over

to their own show, Joanie Loves Chachi.

[Scott] We went on to do Joanie Loves Chachi,

which was a mistake because she and I didn't like each other.

We started dating,

and I don't recommend anybody to ever do that on a TV show.

Ever. Because it...

always ends up badly.

And it did.

And the premise was no good.

It just wasn't a good idea.

And it just-- it just fizzled.

[Brian] So Joanie and Chachi did not get picked up,

and they returned to the show.

And we're fortunate that Ron Howard and Don Most

wanted to come home for a visit.

-Joanie? Wow! -[Joanie screams]

Ralph!

Give me a break, I just got out of the Army!

It had been four years since we'd done the show.

And it was really great coming back

and reuniting with everybody.

And it came back for probably one of the most impactful...

-Yeah. -...shows we ever did.

The scene where Richie and Fonzie

say goodbye to one another just blows me away every time.

Tears, tears. [laughs]

I just want to tell you that I love you.

Very much.

But unfortunately, the ratings were down.

The A-Team with Mr. T

became the biggest thing on TV since Fonzie.

The powers that be certainly thought

that this was going to be the end.

[Joe] Happy Days was in definite peril

at the end of its 11th season.

[Brian] The ratings were down,

and Garry Marshall was fearful that the show would be canceled.

[Joe] And unfortunately, Happy Days is canceled

in the summer of 1984.

[Brian] And there were some people on the show

who felt that it was kind of time.

That this engine that had brought

so much to so many for so long

had kind of run out of gas.

[William] But some of the cast was absolutely stricken

that the show was not going to continue.

But there was nothing ultimately really to be sad about

because what a ride.

[Lowell] Very few shows actually need to do a final episode.

But I thought the audience was owed that.

I thought it was really the kind of thing a show

that meant that much to that many people

for that long needed to do.

[Joe] Happy Days, the final two-parter was titled "Passages"

which ends with Joanie and Chachi getting married.

[Al] We are gathered here to join together

Joanie Louise Cunningham

and Charles Chachi, Chachi, Chachi.

We wanted to do something really special,

and we were fortunate to have Ron back in "Passages,"

our hour-long finale.

At the end when Tom Bosley breaks the fourth wall,

talks to the audience and thanks everyone,

and we kind of lost it.

So thank you all for being part of our family.

To Happy Days.

[Scott] I don't think anybody up until that moment

realized what was happening.

I watched the final episode at home,

just sitting there with my wife, and the end credits ended,

and the instant it went to black,

I broke out in tears,

the likes of which I had never shed.

It was very hard, very tough to say goodbye.

It had been my life for eight years.

[Lowell] Working on the show was the most exciting time

of my life still to this day.

It was a tremendous experience.

[William] That cast was probably

the single best cast overall I've ever worked with.

It was just an amazing, amazing time.

For me, it was-- it was sad,

because I felt like that was a big chunk of my life.

It was tough, but it was great

because I had another show to go to.

I got offered Charles in Charge

right in the last season of Happy Days.

I was like, "Okay, see ya!

I got this gig to go to."

[Don] I had mixed feelings because I had

such an unbelievably wonderful experience

doing the show.

I wouldn't have traded it for anything.

I mean, working with these people

behind the scenes and in front of the camera,

working with Jerry Paris and Garry Marshall

and Bill Bickley and Lowell Ganz

and Brian and Freddie, you know,

wonderful, wonderful experiences.

[Lowell] And people are still watching it.

People are talking about it.

We get references to Happy Days turning up

in movies and television shows all the time.

We're all gonna be like three little Fonzies here.

And what's Fonzie like?

Come on, Yolanda, what's Fonzie like?

-Cool. -[Jules] What?

-Cool. -Correctamundo!

There's so many references in shows like The Simpsons...

It'll be great to see the old gang again.

Potsie, Ralph Malph, the Fonz.

...Family Guy.

Please rise. Now sit on it.

And if you look at television and film history,

you'll see how it's dominated

by the people who worked on and acted in

and directed Happy Days.

You look at the 200 films and television shows

that Ron Howard has produced and directed.

You look at Henry Winkler's career,

and Anson's directed over 150 episodes of television.

We recently had a reunion.

The four guys back together again for the first time.

[reporter] The Happy Days core four,

Ron Howard, Henry Winkler, Anson Williams, and Donnie Most

came together for Steel City Con

in Pittsburgh over the weekend.

My gosh, it was a little surreal,

but at the same time, it was like

we had just gone back in time

and all those years hadn't passed.

And I was so surprised.

So many people coming up to me, getting emotional and telling,

"You have no idea how much-- What that show meant to me."

It was incredibly rewarding, fulfilling

to hear people say that, and so surprising.

You know, really surprising. It was quite amazing.

It just shows you the power of that show.

It's powerful.

Ay.

♪