Although Fonzie loved motorcycles, Henry Winkler was terrified of them. Most of the scenes of Fonzie riding the motorcycle were shot with the bike attached to a platform, and being pulled by a truck.
By the time of "Happy Days," a cliché was for greasers and hoodlums constantly to be combing their hair. Henry Winkler argued against doing this, saying it would make the Fonz look like an ordinary hoodlum. On the spur of the moment, Winkler made up the gag where the Fonz goes to comb his hair, looks in the mirror, and shrugs as if to say, "Ayyy, my hair's perfect. I don't need to comb it!" The gag got a big laugh from the studio audience and became a Fonzie trademark. Later in the series, Fonzie shows Richie his comb and says, "Do you know I have had this comb for nine years, and it has never once touched my hair." They repeated the Fonzie doesn't comb his hair gag in another clip, which was shown in the montage for the show's opening.
At the height of the show's popularity, a call came through to "Paramount Studios," from a teenage boy who was contemplating suicide and "wanted to talk to Fonzie." Henry Winkler took the call, and gave the boy a pep-talk about life, convincing him to give it another chance.
After the show became successful, Garry Marshall was approached and asked if the show could do anything that would help convince kids to read. In one episode, Fonzie decides to go to the library and check out a book, despite his reputation, followed by the line "Everybody is allowed to read." According to a rumor, registration for library cards went up 500 percent. However, this later turned out to be false, as the American Library Association found no report in an increased library interest.
Many fans agree that the show's quality deteriorated after the three-part season 5 opener, "Hollywood," where Fonzie jumps a shark while water-skiing. Today, when a show takes a sharp drop in quality, has strayed from its original premise beyond the point of no return, or has writers insert desperate attempts for ratings, it's said to have "jumped the shark".