Podcast Tuesday: "The Chachination Process Has Begun"

Erin Moran and Scott Baio in "My Cousin the Cheat."

The competition: Jimmie Walker

Happy Days had been a modest ratings success during its first season on ABC in early 1974, but the show's Nielsen numbers dwindled badly during its second season. The gang from Milwaukee just couldn't compete with CBS' Good Times and its hugely popular character, J.J. Evans (played by Jimmie Walker). While J.J. was captivating the nation's youth with his "Dyn-o-mite!" catchphrase, Happy Days was in serious danger of getting canceled by mid-1975.

In order to keep the show alive for a third season, producer Garry Marshall made a number of changes demanded by the network. First, the popular character of Fonzie (Henry Winkler) would move in with the Cunninghams, the show's central family. Secondly, the show would switch from a single-camera format to a three-camera format and would be filmed in front of a raucous live studio audience. And third, the previously unseen character of Arnold, proprietor of the local hamburger stand, would now regularly appear on camera. Oddly enough, this third demand proved the most challenging, with the producers auditioning one potential Arnold after another before eventually hiring comedian Pat Morita.

Happy Days' third season premiere, "Fonzie Moves In," also introduced the show's new catchphrase, "Sit on it!" In retrospect, it is obvious that the producers wanted to make "Sit on it!" the next "Dyn-o-mite!" The phrase is featured prominently in the revamped opening credits, and the characters repeat it often in conversation. Amazingly, the ploy worked. "Sit on it!" did become a popular phrase in America, and Happy Days bounded back into the Top 20, even getting a spin-off, Laverne & Shirley in early 1976. By the next season, Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley were the #1 and #2 shows respectively on all of television.

But for the fifth season, with many of the main characters aging out of high school, Happy Days was eager to inject some more youth into the program. Enter Scott Baio (previously of Bugsy Malone fame) as Fonzie's obnoxious cousin Chachi. This brash newcomer was given his own catchphrase, and for my money, it's one of the feeblest such phrases in TV history: "Wa wa wa!" As with "Sit on it!" from Season 3, "Wa wa wa!" was introduced via a saturation-bombing technique. Not only does Chachi say it several times per show, the other characters wind up saying it, too.

This week on These Days Are Ours: A Happy Days Podcast, my cohost and I review Season 5's "My Cousin the Cheat," the first episode to focus exclusively on Chachi. Much more so than the shark-jumping stunt a few weeks ago, this marks a real turning point for the series. Happy Days had officially become Chachinated. Is there any recovering from this? Tune in and find out!