HAPPY DAYS [TV SHOW] - DVD review

People generally think that "Happy Days," which debuted as a mid-season ABC replacement show on January 15, 1974, was inspired by "American Graffiti." It's easy to think that, because Ron Howard and Cindy Williams were among the stars of George Lucas's 1973 film and both appear in this iconic sitcom, which ended its long run in 1984. But the idea actually stemmed from an episode of "Love American Style" which was written by "Happy Days" creator Garry Marshall. Titled "Love and the Happy Days," the third-season comedy sketch starred three actors who would go on to become regulars in "Happy Days": Marion Ross as Marion, Ron Howard as Richie, and Anson Williams as Potsie. Richie's siblings Joanie and Chuck were also in the segment, but cast with different actors who would go on to play those roles in Marshall's half-hour sitcom.

"Happy Days" went on to become a phenomenal success. Though the show received only nine Emmy nominations over 11 years and won just once (for editing), it was a big hit with viewers. "Happy Days" climbed to #1 in the Nielsons its fourth season and remained in the Top-30 in all but one year of its run. Leather-jacketed Fonzie's "He-e-e-ey!" and "Sit on it" became popular catch-phrases, and after the show ended, Fonzie's jacket was put on display in the Smithsonian alongside Dorothy's ruby slippers and Archie Bunker's chair. More recently, both Ron Howard (Richie Cunningham) and Henry Winkler (Fonzie) were named by Entertainment Weekly and TV-Land as two of the Top-100 TV Icons.

After a slow-starting first season that eventually saw Marshall jettison Chuck's character, the show hit its stride in Season Two. By Season Three, fans were clamoring for more Fonzie, and Marshall obliged by having America's favorite greaser move into an apartment above the Cunningham's garage and become "part of the family." The fourth season, the Japanese proprietor of Arnold's Drive-In (Pat Morita) was replaced by hook-nosed Al Delvecchio (Al Molinaro, "The Odd Couple"), and a bullying, obnoxious version of Barney Fife named Officer Kirk (Ed Peck) starts to bother the gang at Arnold's.

The website Jumptheshark.com gets its name from "Happy Days." This site is a forum for fans to vote at what point their beloved TV shows began to go downhill. For "Happy Days," Jumptheshark.com readers say it was a three-part Season Five episode that has a leather-jacketed Fonzie jumping a shark cage on water skis on a dare. But I think the show began to go downhill this fourth season, which, coincidentally, also begins with an over-the-top three-part episode.

Pinky Tuscadero (Roz Kelly), a sort of Evel Knievel in tight pants and bare midriff, shows up in Milwaukee with her Pinkettes (Doris Hess, Kelly Sanders) hoping to team up with her old flame Fonzie for the annual Leopard Lodge Demolition Derby. The bad guys in this derby are a couple of clowns named the Mallachi brothers, including one who dresses like a cross between a pimp and one of the Village People because he apparently just watched "The Three Musketeers." The episode is so over-the-top that it's downright silly. And yet, Pinky was inexplicably one of the most popular non-regular characters to work the show, and so somebody liked this sequence. I just think that it gets a little too weird, too drawn out, and too far removed from the simple formula that made "Happy Days" such a hit: the comic and often poignant relationship between nerdy "duper" Richie Cunningham and super-cool and dangerous bad-boy greaser Arthur Fonzarelli, interwoven with Fifties' nostalgia. There's none of that in the opening three-part episode, but the show gets closer to its roots the farther it gets from pandering to the public's cry for Fonzie and more Fonzie. The character really works when he's not the center of the show's universe, and he serves as a foil to the nerdy trio of Richie, Potsie, and Ralph.

Here's a rundown on the 23 episodes on three single-sided discs, housed in a single-width keep-case with center plastic "page" that holds two of the discs:

1) "Fonzie Loves Pinky," Parts 1&2. Things heat up between Fonzie and old flame Pinky Tuscadero, but not in a romantic way. Pinky gets steamed that Fonzie picks Potsie to be his partner in the Demolition Derby instead of her.

2) "Fonzie Loves Pinky," Part 3. Winning seems like losing as Pinky's newfound fame lands her an invitation to appear on "The Ed Sullivan Show," much to Fonzie's dismay.

3) "A Mind of Their Own." Fonzie sees a psychiatrist in order to deal with his increasing tendency to get into fights. So what does the doctor prescribe? Building birdhouses.

4) "Fonzie the Father." The Fonz has a date with the Aloha Pussycats, and that leaves Richie babysitting Fonzie's pregnant friend, Louisa, while the rest of the family is away. So much for that wild party.

5) "Fonzie's Hero." Potsie saves Fonzie from a fire, and the Fonz's code dictates that he has to do whatever Potsie wants as payback-even if it means being Potsie's best friend.

6) "A Place of His Own." Richie borrows Fonzie's apartment so he can impress an art student.

7) "They Shoot Fonzies, Don't They?" Joanie (Erin Moran) asks Fonzie to be her partner in a dance marathon, but when Fonzie arrives after pushing his broken-down motorcycle 12 miles he's in no shape to dance.

8) "The Muckrakers." Richie goes undercover to do a high-school newspaper story about bad cafeteria food.

9) "A.K.A. The Fonz." A tough new sheriff named Kirk wants hoodlums like Fonzie out of town, and he starts leaning on Fonzie.

10) "Richie Branches Out." Richie pretends to be a professional photographer in order to get close to a pin-up girl.

11) "Fonzie's Old Lady." The Fonz is dating an older woman, and Richie and Potsie are convinced she's married.

12) "Time Capsule." When the gang creates a time capsule to put in a vault at Howard's hardware store, they all get locked inside with their girlfriends. And no food.

13) "The Book of Records." Trying to drum up publicity, Al offers $100 to anyone who can get into the Magilla Book of Records, and it falls to Fonzie's clumsy cousin to come up with a viable idea.

14) "A Shot in the Dark." Richie scores a lucky basket and becomes an instant hero. Now the pressure is on to deliver again. One of the better episodes.

15) "Marioin Rebels." Marion gets a job at Arnold's because she's tired of being "just a housewife," but she doesn't exactly fit in.

16-17) "The Graduation," Parts 1&2. Fonzie has secretly been going to night school, but some technicalities might keep him from participating in Commencement.

18) "The Physical." The draft forces the guys to get physicals, but the nurse is most impressed by Fonzie's fitness. One of the funnier episodes.

19) "Joanie's Weird Boyfriend." First Mom rebels, not Joanie. Tired of being a good girl, Joanie joins a motorcycle gang called the Red Devils, but the initiation turns out to be more than she bargained for.

20) "Fonz-How, Inc." Howard and Fonzie team up to invent a trash compactor called the Garbage Gulper.

21) "Spunky Come Home." Ralph and Potsie accidentally let Fonzie's new dog out of the backyard, and so of course they have to make up a cockeyed story about a dognapping.

22) "Last of the Big-Time Malplhs." Ralph loses a big bet and finds himself in serious trouble with a local bookie who's ominously named Bruiser. Also a decent episode.

23) "Fonzie's Baptism." When Fonzie survives a crash in a stock car race, he decides to give up his motorcycle and sees the Light.

Video:
1976 wasn't a good vintage for color TV shows. Most of them haven't aged well, with fading colors and lots of grain. But this fourth season of "Happy Days" looks remarkably sharp and vivid, as if CBS/Paramount invested a little in clean-up, and fans ought to be pleased. "Happy Days" is presented in 1.33:1 aspect ratio.

Audio:
The audio, however, is a nothing-special Dolby Digital Mono. You have to wonder what all these great background songs would sound like with a better soundtrack. This one is good but not great. There's a flatness that Mono simply can't get beyond.

Extras:
Included here, as on the previous season's release, is a special episode that finds the characters reminiscing as we at home watch clips from earlier episodes. "The Third Anniversary Show" aired in the middle of the season on February 4, 1977, with the occasion a surprise party for Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham's 20th anniversary. It's not bad, if you like clip shows.

Bottom Line:
The fourth season isn't quite as strong as previous ones because it's so uneven, but there's still enough wholesome '50s nostalgia to make for decent family entertainment.