Happy Days is such a warm show that always makes people feel good and is such a pleasure to watch. Like most family sitcoms, serious issues are tackled, but it is able to find the balance between cop-out (Full House) and very explicit (Diff'rent Strokes). But there are two things that make the show great: its characters and its time period setting in the 1950s.Happy Days is a spin off of Love American Style that was about a teenager growing up in 1950s Milwaukee. Richie Cunningham is the star of the show played by Ron Howard from the Andy Griffith Show. Richie has an older brother, Chuck, little sister Joanie (Erin Moran), his father Howard (Tom Bosley) owns a hardware store and his mother Marion (Marion Ross) is a housewife. The first season dealt with Richie's home life and his high school days with best friend Warren "Potsie" Webber. As the first season progressed, jokester Ralph Malph (Donny Most) and greaser Arthur "The Fonz/Fonzie" Fonzerelli (Henry Winkler) grew from being briefly seen to reoccurring. Although being filmed in the 70s, the show perfectly captures the look and feel of the 50s. You could swear it was filmed in the 50s.The first two seasons were done as single-cams, but was changed to a regular-sitcom setting by season 3. Fonzie's greaser look and superhuman gimmick immediately made him a fan favourite, giving him second billing after Ron Howard. Both him and Ralph grew to main characters, so there was really no point in Richie having an older brother who was rare seen. So Chuck was written out. In shows, when a character suddenly vanishes and seems like they never existed, it is known as the "Chuck Cunningham Syndrome." But whatever. The multi-cam switch gave the show more energy and all the characters were at their heights. While the show still revolved around the Cunninghams, Fonzie soon became the most popular character on TV. Personally, I find Fonzie to be the best character ever. He becomes a tenant for the family, and his relationship with them was one to savour. Potsie and Ralph eventually became the same in terms of importance and were often paired up in the backdrop of Fonzie and Richie. But the show took a dark turn in season 8. Ron Howard's movie-directing career was growing and he decided to pursue it full time and leave Happy Days. Don Most also decided to leave to pursue other interests. The show lost its edge, with many people not liking it. It was written in that Richie and Ralph join the army and get stationed to Greenland. To replace Richie was his cousin Roger Phillips (Ted McGinley) who moved to Milwaukee to be an educator. It took a long time for Roger to grow in me, I mean seasons! Fonzie becomes an auto mechanics teacher and own the new Arnold's. The hangout was changed to reflect the 60s that the show was going into, with it being the 50s before.Almost the remainder of the show focused on Joanie's relationship with Fonzie cousin Chachi (Scott Baio). I always liked this. They eventually went on to their own short-lived spin off "Joanie Loves Chachi." Season 10 was their absence. I consider that season to be "Happy Days: The Next Generation." The worst thing was it gave up on capturing the 60s style. Luckily, the new array of characters were cool. Joanie's best friend Jenny Piccolo (Cathy Silvers) became more prominent, some new high school students were seen more regularly, Fonzie settles down with divorced Ashley Pfister (Linda Purl) and her daughter Heather (Heather O'Rourke), Roger's rebellious younger brother Flip (Billy Warlock) moves to town, and Howard's goody-goody niece KC (Crystal Bernard) moves in from Houston. The only one I did not like was KC. Heather was adorable, Flip was awesome, Jenny ruled, and Fonzie's growing endeavours were compelling. Season 11 was the final season, with Joanie and Chachi moving back home after the cancellation of their show. Many of these new characters did not return. Flip and Jenny should have stayed regulars. But there were some good things to come out. Richie and Ralph return for a few episodes to pursue their dreams, Joanie and Chachi get married, and Fonzie adopts a child. It also started to push boundaries and do edgier episodes. The show could have gone on longer.This show was nearly flawless. It had some bad episodes, but what show doesn't? The time period should have been more consistent and Potsie should not have been dwindled down the last three seasons. But these flaws are forgivable. There was so many great things and people to come out of this show. The Richie era was the best, but post-Richie was fine too.

For a decade those who grew up in the Seventies got a look back at what the culture was like for their parents with Happy Days. I doubt there were ever such perfect parents as Tom Bosley and Marion Ross who were the answer to Ward and June Cleaver.Meet the Cunningham family parents already noted and their all American kids Ron Howard and Erin Moran. They hailed from Milwaukee, Wisconsin where Howard Cunningham had a hardware store and Marion was a housewife in the truest sense, she was married to both Howard and their home. The thought of a second income was anathema, but in those days of Eisenhower one income homes were not unusual.But what made Happy Days have some spark was their boarder Arthur Fonzarelli, the inimitable Fonz. Fonzie started out as a peripheral character, but Henry Winkler got such notice that he got moved into the Cunningham household where he dispensed a lot of good advice to the younger ones who might have thought the parents just didn't get it.Having grown up in the Fifties life was hardly anything like the Cunningham household any more than it was with the Cleavers. Still it was a good family show and if you liked the sounds of the later part of the decade than this was certainly your show.

Happy Days first three seasons rank among the best television made.Very funny,entertaining ,well acted.The show was perfectly cast.Authentic haircuts and fashions,cars etc from the late 1950s when the show took place.A lot of attention always goes to Ron Howard and Henry Wikler,but Donny Most as Ralph was equally good and definitely the funniest character.However when they introduced Scott Baio to the show,around season four it started to slowly decline in quality.Scott Baio was only one reason for the lower quality.A few other reasons,the story lines were not as good or funny.Once the main characters reached college for some reason the show lost some of its spark.A few seasons later Donny Most and Ron Howard left the show,that also contributed to the poorer quality of later episodes.It got to the point where the last 3 or 4 seasons were just ordinary at best but often boring and stupid.The characters even dressed in 1980s fashions and hairstyles when the later seasons took place in the early 1960s.So stick to the early seasons for great entertainment.

Ron Howard , Henry Winkler , Erin Moran and the rest of the cast made up one of the best , if not the best TV series since MASH , style and directing , other characters that came onto the show like Laverne and Shirley and Mork from Ork , even both Al's that ran the diner where everybody hung out , all made up a gem of a TV series , besides Dawn Wells from Gilligan's Island , I must admit I had a crush on when I saw her , then came Erin Moran . Happy Days I never missed an episode when it came on , they made us laugh and cry and always taught us a lesson about life . Where are these types of TV shows today ? Need more shows like Happy Days , MASH to teach us and educate us :)Happy Days are here again :) In DVD form :)