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| Scott Baio and Erin Moran on Happy Days. |
Let me set the scene for you. It's late 1980 and Happy Days is hobbling through its eighth season, the first without star Ron Howard. Not quite the ratings powerhouse it had been just a year and a half ago, the nostalgic sitcom is still a Top 20 hit and winning its Tuesday night time slot. In Ron Howard's absence, the long-running show has shifted its focus to Erin Moran as young Joanie Cunningham and Scott Baio as her boyfriend, Chachi Arcola. Happy Days creator Garry Marshall has given his writers an edict: more Joanie and Chachi stories. It's what the public wants.
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| Writer-actor David Ketchum |
Enter Anthony DiMarco and David Ketchum. They've written numerous episodes of Happy Days already, and David has even acted on the show several times. In other words, these guys know Happy Days inside out. Now they have a new idea that they want to pitch to Garry Marshall. He knows and trusts these guys, so he's receptive to whatever they have to say.
"Okay," says Anthony, "it starts with Joanie and Chachi staggering into Arnold's. Their clothing is tattered and torn, they're limping, and Chachi is sporting a large bruise on his face."
"They barely make it to a booth," adds David, "and Al asks them what the heck happened. I mean, how did these two wind up like this?"
Garry leans forward. He's rarely been this intrigued by a story pitch. Why can't all his meetings be this exciting?
"So Chachi explains the whole thing to Al," Anthony continues. "They were on their way to a Bobby Rydell concert. But neither he nor Joanie has a car, so they had to double date with a couple named Gus and Ginger."
David takes it from there. "Well, it turns out that Gus and Ginger have monkeys."
"Monkeys?" Garry asks, flabbergasted.
"Yeah," says David. "They brought these monkeys in the car with them on the way to the concert, and the monkeys viciously attacked Joanie and Chachi. And then..."
But Garry has heard enough.
"Stop right there!" he shouts. "You've already sold me! I'm hooked! This is the episode that puts Happy Days back on top! Go write it!"
This week on These Days Are Ours: A Happy Days Podcast, we review the episode that resulted from this (theoretical) pitch meeting: "Joanie Gets Wheels." It starts exactly as I've described above. Does the rest of the episode live up to that intriguing early scene? Listen and find out!