Welcome to Don’t Touch That Dial, a classic TV podcast. Did you grow up in the 70s and 80s? Did you rush home from school to watch reruns of the Brady Bunch and The Partridge Family? On each episode of Don't Touch That Dial, three guys who love TV will look back on those days and talk about the shows and stars that made watching television before streaming, DVRs, and even VCRs so special.
ANTHONY: Welcome to Don't Touch That Dial, a classic TV podcast and today we have what is a very special episode for us because we will be talking about one of our absolute all-time favorite shows and that is Happy Days, which made its debut 50 years ago this month. I'm Anthony Stoeckert.
JODY: I'm Jody Schwartz.
KEITH: And I’m Keith Loria
ANTHONY: But first we want to start off with one news item and that is the passing of the legendary Tom Smothers; he passed away on December 26 at the age of 86. A little before our time, the time of our podcasts as far as the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, I think it was called, but it's legendary and very influential. It made big news with censorship and people like Steve Martin, Rob Reiner and Bob Einstein, who is Super Dave and Funkhouser. So it's legendary and we just wanted to give them a nod. What does anybody have anything they want to say about the Smothers Brothers or Tom specifically?
JODY: Yes, a couple of things. First, they actually kind of took themselves off the air because of you know, they were on for three years the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and they kind of pulled themselves off the air because of censorship and because they were getting so much pressure from the network to not do certain things. And one thing that came up, this is a story that I've heard, I'm not sure if it's true or not, but Tommy Smothers once chided Bill Cosby for not taking a stand on civil rights.
ANTHONY: Really?
JODY: And Cosby was mad at him apparently for a couple of years. And as the story goes, Cosby punched Tommy Smothers at the Playboy Mansion at a party.
KEITH: That's a good party.
JODY: I'm sorry to miss that.
ANTHONY: The only joke of theirs that I really remember is I think the other brother, Dick Smothers, he would like start playing a song and he would go Tommy, " Take it away!” and Tommy would go “No.” That’s the only joke of theirs I remember.
JODY: They actually originally wanted to be folk singers and they decided they were, had more talent for comedy than the folk singing.
ANTHONY: They were probably right. He deserves a little send off. He really was influential and oh yeah, yes, Keith.
KEITH: Well, I was gonna say something but you chose Jody to go first. So Anthony always likes Jody best. That's the one thing I know about the Smothers Brothers.
JODY: Mother always did like you best.
ANTHONY: Okay, we are recording this on a Saturday and what a day because we've been rocking all week with you and makes it the perfect day to talk about Happy Days. Let's get through a little bit of history. I think a lot of people think Happy Days was made in response to American Graffiti. And it wasn't. It was actually– the first pilot of Happy Days was made before American Graffiti. It was called New Family in Town and I think it was retitled Love in the Happy Days for Love American Style, and it started with Ron Howard, Marion Ross and Anson Williams playing their characters. Harold Gould played Mr. Cunningham, and it was about the family who was the first in the neighborhood to get a TV. It was not picked up. Then, American Graffiti movie came out and that sparked an interest in revival in the 50s along with Grease and then ABC said “Hey, we have this show that's about the 50s and it even has the guy in American Graffiti in it” and they picked it up from there. And so the 50th anniversary is when Happy Days aired for the first time and I think that was like a year after that Love American Style.
JODY: They put in on Love American Style first because that’s what ABC did with pilots they didn't want, they just put up as a segment on Love American Style that wasn't…
ANTHONY: Yeah, Garry Marshall, the creator of Happy Days called Love American Style where pilots went to die or something like that. And then it aired on Tuesdays on ABC at 8 I think for its entire run …
JODY: Its entire run.
ANTHONY: …which is 11 years, which is pretty amazing. Does anyone know the name of the show that aired on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. before Happy Days because Happy Days was a midseason replacement?
JODY: I do not.
ANTHONY: It was called New Temperatures Rising, and there was some kind of a doctor show. I just did a little bit of research on it. Cleavon Little was on it. There were several versions of it. Paul Lynde ended up being on a version of it.
KEITH: Was it a comedy?
ANTHONY: Yes, it was a comedy and it was like an hour long. And then like I really don't know the full story, but it was a show that was about a hospital and then like they completely revamped the show and then they kind of went back to the older format of the show if I understand it correctly.
JODY: I have to say my earliest memories of television is Happy Days being on at 8 o'clock on Tuesdays.
ANTHONY: Yeah, definitely. Definitely. I was gonna ask you: do either of you– like what's your earliest memories? Do you remember watching from beginning, Jody?
JODY: No. Here's what, here's actually, the first episode I ever saw was Fearless Fonzarelli which was season three in September of 75 and it's where Fonzie jumps over 14 garbage cans on his motorcycle, which was a record at the time and it's a two-part episode where he jumped successfully, he jumps but then he hurts his knee in the process. And that's the first one I ever watched. And oh, by the way, it was the first appearance of Pat Morita as Arnold and season three, as we’ve discussed, was the first season where they permanently had the “in front of the live audience” with the three cameras.
ANTHONY: Right.
JODY: So I saw that episode, that two-part episode and I was kind of hooked after that. And then, I forget, some channel had the reruns simultaneously.
ANTHONY: Channel seven showed them during the day, like 11 in the morning.
JODY: Right. Yeah, during the day.
ANTHONY: And people were at work anyway.
JODY: Yeah, I watched the first two seasons that way. So I have watched several of season three and then I saw some of the reruns of season one and two and it went from there.
ANTHONY: What about you, Keith?
KEITH: I really have no memory of when I started watching it. It seems like I just always watched it so I'm not really sure it was very early though. Probably one of the first shows I watched regularly.
ANTHONY: It's funny that Jody mentioned Fearless Fonzarelli. I think I was already watching it but I vividly remember people in school talking about that episode and probably the cliffhanger had something to do with it and also, at the beginning of part two, Fonzie successfully jumps over the cans, crashes into the chicken stand, and he says, “Am I dead?” And I remember a kid in school – I was in second or third grade – I remember a kid in school that thought that was the funniest thing ever. Like all day long the next day in school, he was saying, “Am I dead?”
JODY: You were in the second grade, by the way.
ANTHONY: I was in the second grade? Yeah, so.
KEITH: By that time, they already had the dolls out I think, because I remember putting Fonzie on my Evil Knievel bike and having books set up as ramps in my living room and doing that.
ANTHONY: Evil Knievel thing, was that that thing that you cranked?
KEITH: Yeah.
ANTHONY: I had that.
KEITH: Everyone had that.
ANTHONY: Yeah, that was awesome. Let's backtrack a little bit as Jody just said the first two seasons on Happy Days were shot on film. They were very good. Genuinely really good shows. And as Fonzie became more popular…
JODY: Single camera, no audience.
ANTHONY: Right; they were shot on film, single camera, no audience and Fonzie became very popular and then they did have, they had at least one episode in season two that was filmed in front of a live audience when Fonzie is going to marry the stripper.
JODY: Yep, that's the only episode.
ANTHONY: That was the only one?
JODY: That's the only one in season two and the first one that they filmed in front of a live audience called “Fonzie’s Getting Married.”
KEITH: Same live set?
ANTHONY: Yes, it was the old Cunningham house layout and then they had to change for some reason, they had to change the layout of the house.
JODY: Garry Marshall has mentioned they just couldn't do the live audience with the number of cameras with the layout of the old house, the way it used to be.
ANTHONY: Also the first few seasons the theme song, the opening theme song, was Rock Around the Clock…
JODY: Yes.
ANTHONY: … by Bill Haley & the Comets. I only found this out recently. Did you guys know that’s a different version? Bill Haley re-recorded it for Happy Days. I had no idea.
JODY: I had found thinking in Garry Marshall's book.
ANTHONY: I've been reading through his book. That's where I think that's where I saw it.
JODY: I think that’s where I found out, when I read his book, that they recorded a new version.
ANTHONY: So what do you guys think about, like, those early episodes – those first two seasons – as compared to later seasons?
JODY: I’ll tell you right now, my favorite one of those first three seasons was – it’s called “The Not Making of a President" when Richie, to impress a girl, works for the Adelaide Stevenson campaign. But then, you know, his father is a big Republican and supporting Ike and so now there's tension there and Richie gives a speech on behalf of Adelaide Stevenson and Fonzie gives the counter argument in favor of Ike. And he says, “If Ike don't win, the Fonz is going to be mad.”
ANTHONY: He also says, “I like Ike; my bike likes Ike.” What about you, Keith? Any episodes in those first two years that stand out?
KEITH: Um, one of my favorites is titled “Cunningham Caper” with Herb Edelman plays the robber and Rich is home sick and it's kind of like a Home Alone thing where trips open into the closet. But I really, that was really funny and it…
JODY: And tar on the steps.
KEITH: The Johnny Fish and the Fins episode that I believe was als, in those seasons.
ANTHONY: Yeah, that's definitely.
KEITH: That’s also a favorite episode.
JODY: That's when no one believes Richie that he knows the guy from the band?
KEITH: Right? They went to a summer camp together.
JODY: Freckles.
KEITH: Right and this big band and everyone wants to see them and so they need a place to stay and they stay there but Richie’s not allowed to tell anybody, not even Fonzie.
ANTHONY: That's a plot point that came up more than once and we’ll actually, I think we'll be talking about that in early February for a certain reason, a little preview for our many, many listeners. I was gonna say the episode with the burglar, something I never understood: They get him, at the end, they get him locked in the closet, right?
KEITH: Right.
ANTHONY: And he's hungry and they're nice enough to give him a slice of pizza under the door and I'm like, how did they get a slice of pizza on the closet door? That would create a mess.
JODY: They built the closets higher then.
ANTHONY: Maybe they had, maybe in Wisconsin they had really high closet doors.
JODY: Wisconsin in the 50s, anything goes with closets.
ANTHONY: You could not do that in my house. You could not get a slice of pizza under the closet door in my house.
JODY: No, no, no. My mother lost her mind when the pizza left the kitchen. Can you imagine?
ANTHONY: But, well for me, a favorite, I mean it's my favorite episode of television ever. And that's the Christmas episode.
KEITH: Well, of course. Yes.
ANTHONY: Yeah. Yeah
JODY: Which they repackage more than once, which they repackaged a couple of times, the Christmas episode.
ANTHONY: Yes, we need to talk about that. But I'll also say I read an interview – not read an interview, saw an interview– with Garry Marshall and for, I think the first episode – not the Love American Style the actual first episode – it was all about Richie trying to get a date with a girl to go quote "all the way" and Garry Marshall was like, at the time they were like, “We don't know how we're getting away with this,” but they just wrote it and they aired it. It was pretty explicit talk for back then.
JODY: Yep. I can also...
KEITH: Was it Gloria?
ANTHONY: It wasn't Gloria I don't know her name. She had like blonde hair.
KEITH: Eileen.I believe that's another one of his girls early on.
ANTHONY: She's only on this episode. But she had this reputation but the reputation was not accurate. But Richie, he doesn't come out and say it but he doesn't say “oh no way.” And everyone thinks that they did it.
KEITH: I do remember that. Yes.
ANTHONY: Yeah. And then at the end, Fonz is going on a date with her and Richie goes, “Well, she is a good kisser,” and Fonz is like “Oh great. All this for a kiss,” you know, like that kind of thing.
JODY: There's also a season one episode where they go to a strip club to see Bubbles McCall take it all off which – I can't even say that without laughing.
ANTHONY: How about the bachelor party one? Where …
KEITH: Teeny drinks.
ANTHONY: Yeah, he's a teeny teeny glasses. “I only had 72.”
JODY: The Bubbles McCall one, Fonzie sets them up with a guy, Pockets, who's gonna give them fake IDs and Pockets, you know, he's literally in a trench coat and he's up in Richie's room and he's trying to make the fake IDs and Mrs. C keeps popping in.
KEITH: Oh and he leaves, right? He gets mad?
JODY: Yeah. So first she brings in cookies. And he's hunched, he's hunched over a table trying to hide the fact that he's making fake IDs and they tell her because he has the hiccups. And she leaves and comes back a minute later and goes “Boo!” to try to help him get rid of the hiccups and that's enough for Pockets. He leaves after that
ANTHONY: Pockets doesn't do the talking. Isn't there another guy who does the talking?
JODY: Fonzi does the talking.
ANTHONY: Fonzie of course.
JODY: Okay, he finishes Potsie’s ID but doesn't get to do Richie's because now he's pissed off about Mrs. C and Fonzie’s like “Uh, it's a bad scene here. The lady goes boo…” (everyone laughs) The one line he has is, when Richie says “But I don't have an ID yet” and Pocket says, “I can't carry the weight of the world on my shoulders.”
KEITH: Does Richie go and get Chuck's then?
JODY: Well, Chuck had already loaned his draft card to someone else.
KEITH: Oh that’s right.
JODY: But they hook him up with an ID but it says he's 21, He's only been trying to pass for 18 but it works. In fact, the guy lets Richie in and then he looks at Potsie’s fake ID which only says he's 18 and like, you know, it's like hey, wait a minute. He's questioning that. He asks what year was he born and Potsie gives him a year and the guy doesn't know any better and goes, all right, whatever.
ANTHONY: I don't know the actor's name but isn’t Pockets played by a guy who's in Goodfellas?
JODY: Yes.
ANTHONY: Who ends up on a meathook on Goodfellas?
JODY: Yes, yeah, he's Frankie Carbone in Goodfellas. I forgot the actor's name too.
ANTHONY: I think his only two credits are Happy Days and Goodfellas.
JODY: No, I think he's been in a lot of Scorcese movies.
KEITH: Frank Sivero, by the way.
ANTHONY: Frank Sivero?
JODY: Frank Sivero, right. There you go.
KEITH: And if you want to know who played Bubbles McCall, it was Barbara Rhoades.
JODY: There you go.
ANTHONY: With this, we’re going in so many directions and it's so hard. This is a topic that's hard for us to control.
JODY: I know.
ANTHONY: But we did mention briefly Chuck and there's a lot to say about Chuck because he's a legendary character because he just disappeared from the show.
JODY: He was in a few episodes to begin with.
ANTHONY: Yeah, he never has an interesting moment.
JODY: Nope.
ANTHONY: He was on the first two seasons, two different actors played him. A third actor, by the way, played him on the Love American Style pilot and then he was just sort of written out of the show. He was mentioned twice after–the last episode Chuck was on was the Christmas episode in season two. Then they would re-air the Christmas episode and they would have this wraparound one where Fonzie is talking to Arnold one where he's talking to Al that sets up the flashback and in that, during that discussion – and by the way, Fonzi has the same exact discussion, I mean, it's word for word, the same discussion with Arnold as with Al about how the Cunninghams really want them there.
JODY: First, Arnold's not going to go to the party and then Al’s not going to go to the party and in both cases Fonzie is going to talk them into it.
ANTHONY: Yes, let's see, and Fonzie never goes, “Boy I'm having some deja vu here”
JODY: What’s with the owners of Arnold?
ANTHONY: In doing this Fonzie says, “Oh, that was when Chuck was home.”
JODY: Yeah.
ANTHONY: So that's officially the last time he was mentioned. And then very famously, in the very last episode, Mr. Cunningham refers to their two children.
JODY: Yeah.
ANTHONY: That officially really wiped Chuck off the map.
JODY: I mean throughout, after, you know, from season three on, they clearly make it that it's just the two of them: Richie and Joanie. And but there is an episode in the first two seasons where somebody is talking to Richie and analyzes that he may have a problem because there's a middle child.
ANTHONY: Yes. Absolutely. Yeah. But Keith, you have a very interesting story about one of the Chucks.
KEITH: I do. Yes. So as we mentioned before, I collect autographs and I send, I make, create cards of, you know, some of my favorite TV shows and I sent a card…
ANTHONY: They’re very cool. They’re baseball card-like cards that Keith makes. They're really, really cool.
KEITH: So I made a card of the two Chucks together because they were both on a reunion episode, but I wanted to send to both, one at a time. So I sent to Gavan O’Herliåhy was one and Randolph Roberts is the other. I sent to Randolph Roberts first and I get a call about two weeks later from Randolph Roberts’ brother. He tracked my name down in the phonebook, found my number, and he told me that Randolph had died and it wasn't reported anywhere. And if you do Wikipedia ,it's still not recorded.
ANTHONY: Yeah, yeah.
KEITH: It still doesn’t say he’s dead and this was several years ago, and he was telling me all about how he really loved his time on the show and he had a basketball that was autographed by the entire cast that he got while he was doing the reunion. And he had it in his garage and he asked me if I was interested in it. I was like “Yes!” But you know, I kind of told him, you know, this is kind of like a museum piece because Laverne and Shirley were also on the basketball. It was the entire cast and Cindy…
JODY: Wow.
KEITH: And Penny Marshall, because they were at the reunion too plus Garry Marshall and I you know, I actually found him…
JODY: That’s fairly valuable basketball.
KEITH: Yes, yes. So I got him hooked up with the email and phone number of a TV memorabilia place, an auction house that definitely, you know, could do more with it than I could have. You know, I probably could have got it from, you know, pretty cheap, but you know, I didn't want to screw the guy.
ANTHONY: That was very nice of you. Do you know if he ever sold it?
KEITH: I don't. I don’t. I still have his phone number. So I always meant to, like, give him a call again just to see what had happened to it, but I never did.
JODY: That basketball is probably worth more than one signed by LeBron.
KEITH: Oh absolutely.
ANTHONY: There are lots of basketballs signed by LeBron. There aren’t any signed by Tom Bosley and Eddie Mekka.
JODY: Yeah. I think he could get more for that than one signed by Bill Russell.
KEITH: So the ball was actually pictured in the card, like the two Chucks, in the picture that I send…
ANTHONY: Wow!
KEITH: … are holding the basketball, so that’s what kind of…
ANTHONY: Did that sort of jogged the brother’s memory? I didn’t know that part.
KEITH: Exactly. It was just in this garage. He said he got it out of the box.
ANTHONY: Wow.
JODY: I remember the reunion specially you're talking about when they were holding the basketball.
ANTHONY: Yeah. And that is not our only encounter with people who have been on Happy Days. I think we should let, we should also let Keith tell this story. I'll set it up. Quite a few years ago now we saw Gabe Kaplan.
JODY: 2001
ANTHONY: We saw – wow it’s 22 years ago – we saw Gabe Kaplan do his one-man Groucho show, I believe the Huntington Townhouse in Huntington, Long Island. In the cast was Misty Rowe who played the waitress Wendy in the first couple of seasons of Happy Days. I'll let Keith take it from there.
KEITH: First off, can it be a one-man show if there's other people in it?
ANTHONY: Did I say a one-man show? No, it's not a one-man show.
JODY: I guess it was a three-person show with Gabe Kaplan and Misty Rowe and whoever was playing Chico.
KEITH: Robert DeNiro, I think.
JODY: Yes, DeNiro.
ANTHONY: I think Harrison Ford played Chico in that production.
KEITH: I went up to Misty, and I said, what would you say if I said, “You’re the ginchiest?”
JODY: And she knew.
KEITH: She knew exactly what it was for those of you who don't, especially our younger listeners, one of the Christmas episodes for Happy Days, Fonzie gave everybody a little present, a little, I guess, locket, and it said “you're the ginchiest” on it. And yes, she knew it and then she came back with one of the greatest lines ever. Anthony, why don’t you tell us what that line is.
ANTHONY: Keith should tell this. I'm sorry. Jody should tell this because I don't remember it as well as Jody does.
JODY: First of all, she knew the year the episode aired.
KEITH: Yes. Yes.
JODY: She said the episode: Henry Winkler in 1974. Like she knew the year and then she said to us, “You guys watch a lot of TV. That's great.” And Anthony actually said to her, “I don't know how great that is.”
KEITH: And then she says something about someday you guys will be doing a podcast.
JODY: Yes. She mentioned that, too.
ANTHONY: I met Henry Winkler at a book signing in Huntington many years ago. I'm not going to get into it. It's actually a little personal for me. But I did get to say something to him that essentially something about what Fonzie meant to me in the show. He seemed very appreciative of it. And he was signing copies of his kids’ books. And I told him how I was going to read it – my daughter at the time was probably four or five – “I'm gonna read this to my daughter.” And he looked at me in the eye and went, “Really?” “Yeah, yeah, really, yeah.” Keith, you have a couple of Winkler stories.
KEITH: Yeah, I got to meet him twice, once at charity at a school, which was pretty cool, and I got to see him ahead of time and order a couple of things from me. My family was with me. I asked him to autograph, again, it was for the children's book, a book to my daughter, and I asked him to put “You’re the ginchiest.” Sadly, he really didn't know what that meant because I had to kind of explain it to him. And I had a spell ginchiest for him.
JODY: Now I know what I'm writing on Keith’s birthday card.
KEITH: And then just recently, a couple months ago, you know, I got to meet him during his book signing, it may have even been last month, and again, had a quick talk with him. Always great to meet, you know, one of your heroes.
ANTHONY: It's funny what they don't remember because I saw — like he doesn't remember you’re the ginchiest; Misty Rowe remembers when it aired, but I saw an interview with Garry…
JODY: She might not by now.
ANTHONY: But I saw or read an interview with Garry Marshall in preparing for this. And I'm pretty sure he said that Erin Moran was in the Love American Style pilot and she wasn't. So it's funny what these – the people who were there– what they remember. And speaking of that, I hate to disagree with Henry Winkler on something. But I'm bringing something up. This is very important to me. So Henry Winkler has a new book called, I believe it's called Being Henry.
KEITH: Yes.
ANTHONY: And it's a good book. Anybody who's a fan should read it. It's interesting. You learn a lot about him. It's a very easy read..
KEITH: A quick read, yes.
ANTHONY: ...great for a train ride or an airplane or something like that. And he talks about the Christmas episode, which again, that's my favorite episode of television ever. And it's a perfect episode. And the episode, for anybody who doesn't know, Fonzie doesn't have a place to stay; the Cunninghams convince him to spend Christmas with them. And it's a very touching episode. It's really, it's funny and it's sweet. And it's just perfect. And at the end, they're sitting down to dinner. And they're gonna say the pre-dinner prayer and Mr. Cunningham goes, “Oh, I thought Fonzie would do this.” And Fonzie says, “Hey, God, thanks.” And that's how it ends. And it's perfect. And Winkler in his book says he wanted Fonzie to not say thanks, but to say “whoa” and it still bothers him to this day. But he writes in the book how he wishes he had been more assertive about that. And I'm sorry Mr. Winkler, you're wrong.
KEITH: Now could it be though that you've seen the episode…
JODY: He’s wroooo...
KEITH: Hundreds of times – ah, great, Jody, great reference there – and it just so, he had said “whoa,” maybe you would have felt it was great.
ANTHONY: That's definitely possible. But I do think “whoa” makes that moment too much of about a Fonzie catchphrase than the actual moment. Yeah, so but he absolutely you could if it had gone the other way, if we had gotten his way. And then some writer wrote You know, I wanted him to say thanks. Winkler also says in the book that they wanted him to say thank you, which is a big difference from thanks.
JODY: Keep in mind, too, this was season one. "Whoa" wasn't a catchphrase yet
ANTHONY: Season two actually .
JODY: Yeah, I mean, it was early in the run, whoa and Fonzie was not yet the major character he would become. He really didn't have catchphrases yet.
ANTHONY: Yeah, I wondered that, too. He was definitely growing in popularity. For people who maybe don't remember, Fonzie was a sensation.
JODY: Oh without question.
ANTHONY: I mean, they were like the Beatles and they would have events and they were huge crowds there. And Fonzie was just all over they were Fonzie shirts, like Keith said, Fonzie dolls.
JODY: I had a T-shirt, no question. And when they did it in front of the studio audience, the reaction of the studio audience when he came on for the first time, they weren't, you know, they had to wait for the applause to die down to do the first line because always, there was always a huge ovation when he stepped onto the set. And in the first two episodes, he was kind of a minor character— first two seasons rather — kind of a minor character and almost he wasn't like part of this gang. He was almost like a mystery to them. And then one of the things we will talk about is he used to wear a windbreaker before the leather jacket, and the network was uneasy with the leather jacket, and they felt it was associated with crime. Garry Marshall felt otherwise. He only wore the leather jacket with the motorcycle because Garry Marshall told them it’s motorcycle safety equipment. That's how he sold the leather jacket to them. So there are scenes in the first few seasons where he's just randomly sitting on the motorcycle because they wouldn't let him wear the jacket without the motorcycle.
KEITH: Did he have the jacket for the Christmas episode? I thought he did.
ANTHONY: Yes. Definitely Yeah.
JODY: They were able to get it in at times. Garry Marshall was able to get in at times. He actually said there were times where maybe they didn’t notice. When they finally let him wear the jacket full-time, the way Garry Marshall explains is, he threw away the windbreaker in case they changed their minds.
KEITH: Now, do you think this was the episode – the Christmas one – that made Fonzie that popular and brought him to the next level because more people may have watched at this time?
ANTHONY: It could have been and he was definitely popular and building — he and Don Most were not in the opening credits in the first season.
JODY: Yep.
ANTHONY: And then and then Winkler and Most were added to the credits. Season three, Winkler was moved to number two, the second in the credits after Ron Howard, so that he definitely was growing in popularity. And they changed the dynamics of the show. They were, there was people wanted to change the name of the show to Fonzie’s Happy Days.
JODY: Fonzie’s Happy Days. Yeah.
ANTHONY: And he said no to that. And it caused some tension with Ron Howard, but I don't think Ron Howard ever blamed Winkler from everything I've read. It was just more tension between Ron Howard and the network.
JODY: That was really the network because they wanted to capitalize on Fonzie as much as they possibly could.
ANTHONY: Yeah, we're a little low on time should we kind of cut it here and pick up on part 2 of Happy Days, More Happy Days
KEITH: Absolutely.
JODY: Yes.
ANTHONY: We should call the second episode Happy Days Again, which is what they titled Happy Days reruns and in syndication, which I didn't understand but we can talk about a little more in part two.
JODY: And just a little teaser, some Pinky Tuscadero talk in the next one.
ANTHONY: All right.
KEITH: Maybe some Booker Brown as well.
ANTHONY: Ah, we have to mention Booker Brown. Oh my god. We might even do eight episodes.
JODY: Everyone who’s cool knows Booker Brown.
ANTHONY: Thanks for listening, everyone and stay tuned for part two.
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