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| Tom Bosley and Ron Howard on Happy Days. |
Something very unusual happened to me when I screened the March 1980 Happy Days episode "Father and Son" recently: I cried. In three and a half years of reviewing this sitcom for our podcast, no Happy Days episode had ever moved me to tears, but this one did. And it's not a sad episode at all. It's as goofy as most of the installments of this lighthearted series. Much of it is devoted to childish pranks and novelty store gimmicks like whoopee cushions and chattering teeth. But a particular aspect of this story hit too close to home.
The plot has middle-aged hardware salesman Howard Cunningham (Tom Bosley) trying to bond with his college-aged son Richie (Ron Howard). He misses the days when they were "buddies" and wants to spend quality time with the lad before Richie moves away and starts living his own life. So he guilts Richie into attending a convention of the Leopard Lodge in Chicago with him. Richie had planned on spending the weekend with his own friends, Ralph (Don Most) and Potsie (Anson Williams), but he dutifully attends the convention with his father. Once at the convention, Richie ditches his dad to cozy up to Margo (guest star Nyla Rogers), a woman who jumps out of cakes for a living.
My dad was never a member of any fraternal organization like the Leopard Lodge, and neither he nor I ever attended a cornball convention like the one depicted in this episode. I've never even met anyone who jumps out of cakes at parties. But I do know what it's like when your dad wants to spend quality time with you and you'd rather do something else. When my father died in 2018, I was wracked with guilt because I had not spent enough time with him in his final years. He'd want to go to some concert or event with me, and I'd give him some excuse. Then, suddenly, he was dead, and I felt like I'd made a terrible mistake that could not be corrected.
All these awful feelings came flooding back when I screened "Father and Son." I was a wreck by the end of it. I didn't even know if I could review it for the podcast. But I did, and the results can be heard in the latest installment of These Days Are Ours: A Happy Days Podcast.