I liked Happy Days for what it was, but I didn't like Happy Days itself. I didn't connect with the 50s, really didn't get to see all the characters I wanted to (Pat Morita's the ORIGINAL Arnold as an example), and when the show really took off, I felt put out by the long pauses taken for audience applause and cheers as familiar faces would come onto the scene.It was a kind of idolatry that I just didn't get. And, to be exceedingly honest, I still don't understand. I liked the Mork from Ork episode, and some of the earlier mundane ones that seemed to have real slices of 1950s Americana. But beyond that... I just really didn't get into it. In fact, if anything, I liked the spin-offs that were born of the Happy Days effort more than anything else. Laverne and Shirley, or Mork and Mindy as examples. But Happy Days?Well, everything I'd heard about the 50s seemed to give me mixed messages as to what that time period was all about. And as far as I knew, they weren't exactly "Happy" days. Then again, it depended on your social circles, much like anything else.Some puzzlements abound; Richies older brother, the basketball star, mysteriously vanished after the first or second season. Then Chachi becomes part of the cast. And Ralph and Potsie never seemed to graduate while Richie goes off to become a Vietnam War correspondent or something.You know, again, I liked the show for being filled with familiar faces and a staple that I could always tune into when there was nothing else to do. But it all seemed so contrived after the first couple of seasons. So much that I had to just forget about it. People liked it, and I suppose that was enough.Me? I was a sci-fi guy, and was hoping that Space 1999 would expand, or after Star Wars had hit the screen that the much talked about TV series would manifest. But it never happened. I was stuck with Kirk and Spock reruns, which, to be honest, wasn't so bad given the alternative of watching shows like "Happy Days".Like I say, people liked it, it his some right warm emotional chords with folks, so can you really ask for too much more? Maybe not.

Once upon a time this show was legendary. The first 2 seasons were fantastic. Basically Fonzie was simply used in few spots and it worked. The mystique was there. It was a show about adolescence in the 50s and had a wonderful character named Chuck. Richies older brother that worked with added plot lines. Than they ditched Chuck for the second phase of HD and you still had a nice show but the mystique of Fonzie was gone. Also the original reason why the show was made was gone. The plots became somewhat sillier but they were acceptable. Bringing in Mork for an episode was silly and may have been the start of the downfall with all due respect for JUMP THE SHARK ep. Mork was not realistic. All of a sudden you had alien existence in a show intended to be realistic viewpoints of growing up adolescents in 1950s Midwest. The show would continue to get sillier with the addition of Chachi. Thus entering the 3rd stage of this show. With an occasional good episode but still a mere shell of its origins. The show at this time was full of itself. More for the marketing of products than anything else. Gary Marshall should be ashamed. Ron Howard left the show for the final stage of this train wreck and has made many wonderful movies as a director. The 4th stage was absolutely horrible. No Richie, but a parade of characters that very few had any affection for. Just sad the way this show was destroyed. I will always cherish the first couple of seasons and tolerate a few more toward the middle of this run. Just a bad way this show went out. The last episode was even so classless as to not show brother CHUCK in the collage ending this show . Thank goodness for earlier seasons coming out on DVD first.

HAPPY DAYS was one of my favorite shows when it aired in 1974. But the critics were quick to show their ignorance combined with a total lack of a sense of humor by slamming this show because they thought it was a cheap attempt to cash-in on the success of American GRAFFITTI.There were some similarities between American GRAFFITTI and HAPPY DAYS.Both opened with "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley & the Comets. Both took place in a bygone era and both featured Ron Howard as one of the leading roles. But there were also some major differences. While American GRAFFITTI took place in 1962 California and centered around a group of newly graduated high school students about to take that big step into adulthood, HAPPY DAYS took place in Milwaulkee, Wisconson and centered around a group of teenagers in high school, dealing with the joys and tribulations of adolescence.HAPPY DAYS originally opened with the juke box playing the original version of Bill Haley & the Comets' ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK. But when oldies became hot, thanks to the success of American GRAFFITTI, , and the original 1954 version of ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK, entered the Billboard Hot 100 and became a hit again in 1974, royalty payments went through the roof. So a "remake" of the song (the correct term is now "new stereo recording") was quickly substituted.The current theme song for HAPPY DAYS was then introduced for the second season if memory serves me right.Fans and foes alike agree that this show is escapist. Liberties were taken and details overlooked, making this show less than completely authentic.This is perfectly fine. HAPPY DAYS is supposed to be a comedy, not a history lesson. But occasionally the writers did sometimes stick their necks out by hitting on controversial topics. One episode centered around the Cunninghams building of a fall out shelter. Another episode was about a divorced woman moving into the neighborhood with a dream of starting a new life. The topic of prejudice was addressed when Howard was invited to the wedding of an old army buddy who just happened to be black (in an era when prejudice and discrimination was sadly an acceptable part of the American way of life). The issue of the draft even came up on a later episode!The show as originally set in 1955. One problem that was dealt wisely was with the cast. Most of them were teenagers and as each year passed, it was obvious that they grew older so the series aged with the cast, moving the series out of the safe waters of the Eisenhower years into the Age of Camelot, all the way with JFK and then into the turbulent later half of the 1960s. That, along with the writers running out of ideas, and later, cast members like Ron Howard leaving the series, wisely quitting while they were ahead, left me wishing that they had all done the right thing by pulling the plug on this show and quitting while they were ahead. That, along with the idol worshiping studio audience who just couldn't control themselves every time the Great Fonzie entered the scene, began to wear very thin very fast.This show originally portrayed the Fabulous Fifties as we LIKE to remember that era. Time heals wounds, you know. Everything has its place and though I would prefer hearing the "original hit versions" over those "new stereo recordings", those "new stereo recordings" worked very well on HAPPY DAYS. And this is where I find myself regretting my buying the DVD! Unlike the complete first season DVD, the original music on the complete second season, has been replaced with different generic music. While it is great that the original episodes were digitally restored to digital perfection, the removal of the original music destroyed what it was that made this show so much fun to watch!

Growing up in the 1980s where seeing shows in reruns or syndication was the norm, I remember Happy Days as a silly, conventional family comedy with Marion Ross as the mother and Tom Bosley as the father with children, Ron Howard and Erin Moran as Richie and Joanie Cunningham. Who could forget Henry Winkler as the Fonz with his black leather jacket? The show appeared light-hearted and rarely did anything more than entertain audiences and families without being so offensive. There was no bathroom humor and we were introduced to characters such as Laverne and Shirley and Mork played by Robin Williams. Happy Days was the opposite of All in the Family where it was more friendly and kind to it's family. We remember the Cunninghams owned a hardware store and Mama Cunningham stayed home but the characters were more than just one notes. They became full-fledged as time went on and the show lasted 10 years but the memories are still intact.