Happy Days - Les jours heureux

"American Graffiti"-styled television show that ran a decade (1974-1984) and completed a mind-blowing 255 episodes in all. The show followed the Cunningham family (father Tom Bosley, mother Marion Ross, son Ron Howard and daughter Erin Moran) in Milwaukee throughout the 1950s. Howard, his friends (Don Most and Anson Williams) and their misadventures with school and girls dominated the show's story-lines early on. Would-be motorcycle tough guy punk Henry Winkler (aka Fonzie) stole the show from minute one and he was the main reason why the show survived so long. Cast departures (Howard, Most and diner owner Pat Morita) and additions (Ted McGinley, Scott Baio, Al Molinaro and Morita again) did nothing to change ratings as the show consistently stayed high on the Nielsen scale. Also the father of two lesser spin-offs ("Laverne & Shirley" and "Joanie Loves Chachi"), "Happy Days" proved that one amazing character (Fonz) could basically carry a program's list of shortcomings. 4 stars out of 5.

This was one of the greatest shows of the 1970's. Many people think of it as a simple comedy, but in the early years the series tackled some serious issues such as racism and nuclear war. The strength of the show was the friendship between Richie and Fonzie. The chemistry between Ron Howard and Henry Winkler made this show a classic. Unfortunately, after Howard left, they tried to keep the show going by focusing on Joanie and Chachi and that was when the show began to go downhill. However, just ignore the final years of the show and pay attention to the early years.

Cool show, lots of fun, heart warming and really charming and entertaining, and, last but no least, Happy Days got Arthur 'Fonzie' Fonzarell, the coolest cast in town. Like Mork & Mindy, I Dream of Jeannie or Get Smart and many other shows, this one is still excellent entertainment now flavored with a good shot of nostalgic superpowers. There is just one question left: what happened to the movie business? Neflixed, disneyed and superheroed to death, I guess. At least we got still all those exquisite shows of gone times just waiting for us to visit them again.

I don't know what Joel S. was watching when he was making comments about Fonzie being a loser.

Fonzie was supposed to be older than the rest of the gang, but not by that many years. Perhaps it was because Henry Winkler was older than the rest of the cast that he looked, as you said, twenty years older.

Fonzie never dated high school girls. He knew they were too young for him. He had morals.

Fonzie being an illiterate high school drop-out? I don't know where you got that from. Fonzie had dropped out of high school when the show started, but one of plot points of the episode where Richie graduated high school was that Fonzie revealed that he'd been secretly going to night school to earn his high school diploma. He graduated with the rest of the gang.

Fonzie living above the Cunningham's garage. That was because he'd given up his own apartment to his grandmother after she'd been forced to leave her own place. He stayed above the garage for so long because he loved he Cunninghams like his own family. He essentially was a part of the family. In the last season, he did move out into a regular apartment. In the last episode he bought a house so that he would be allowed to adopt an orphaned boy he'd befriended. Gee...buying a house so you can provide a good home and be a good parent? Doesn't sound like a loser.

As well, Fonzie also worked several jobs at once. He was (or became) the owner of the garage he worked at. When Arnold's burned down, he put up money to help Al rebuild and became the part-owner. Then, he started teaching shop class at Jefferson High. He later went to a tough school and became the Dean of Boys, so he could help kids who needed guidance.

So, I think Fonzie was a cool character not because of his leather jacket, or motorcycle, or his prowess with girls. I think he was cool because he was a good person who was always willing to help a friend in need. Did you ever see the episode where Al wants to go down to Alabama to join a Civil Rights march? (This was a later episode when the time was the 1960's). Fonzie is concerned about Al's safety and goes with him to look out for him. Fonzie joins Al and a young African-American man in a sit-in at a diner. That doesn't sound like something a loser would do.

I guess I'm like most people. The first couple of years of Happy Days were terrific but then things went downhill. The show shouldn't have made Fonzie into such an unbelievable character. In the first couple of seasons he was just kind of a greaseball who was on the outskirts then they made him into some kind of superhuman character who could do no wrong. It took away any semblance of reality. Also whatever happened to Chuck (the older brother). If they wanted to get rid of him they should have come up with some kind of excuse instead of just forgetting about him.