 |
| Erin Moran and Scott Baio on Happy Days. |
For about a year in the early 2000s, I lived at a motel. Sort of. See, I was teaching at a high school in a small, somewhat isolated town in northern Illinois, and apartments were not especially common in this part of the world. The principal suggested that I try the local motel, since it had some apartment units on the property. They were small apartments, to be sure, but extremely cheap. Since I was pretty much broke at the time, this seemed like an acceptable option.
The motel was quite a find, a relic of the 1950s "See the USA in your Chevrolet" era. There was nothing of real interest in this town to make it a destination for travelers, so the motel mainly existed to give families a place to stop on their way to someplace else. But even this type of business had become scarce by the early 2000s. I guess that's why they turned some of the units into apartments.
My own little one-bedroom bachelor pad had decades-old appliances from companies that didn't exist anymore and genuine shag carpeting that was impossible to keep clean. The actual "motel" part of the motel had developed a somewhat sleazy reputation by the time I lived there, not helped by the fact that its next door neighbors were a pawn shop and a massage parlor that stayed open all night. I kind of loved this place. I'm all about faded glory. Plus, they let me use the pool. Sweet.
Anyway, my memories of motel life were rekindled this week when I reviewed "No Tell Motel," the Season 8 premiere of Happy Days. As the title indicates, the story largely takes place at a sleazy motel. Joanie (Erin Moran) and Chachi (Scott Baio) reluctantly take shelter in such an establishment after their car breaks down, leading to a tense evening. This was the first episode to air after the departure of Ron Howard and Don Most, and it shows the direction the show will take: a whole lotta Joanie and Chachi.
Is it good? Is it bad? Find out when we review "No Tell Motel" on These Days Are Ours: A Happy Days Podcast.