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| Lynda Goodfriend and Henry Winkler on Happy Days. |
Richie Cunningham is like a ghost who haunts Happy Days during its eighth season. Actor Ron Howard departed the series (and the leading role of Richie Cunningham) after his contract expired in 1980, but the long-running sitcom bravely tried to carry on without him. What other options did they have? The writers couldn't treat Richie like they did Chuck Cunningham, i.e. pretend he never existed. Richie was too integral to the show by then. How would Happy Days handle Richie's onscreen absence?
There was no single answer to this question. The producers had several strategies. Naturally, even more of the show's attention shifted to the characters of Fonzie (Henry Winkler) and Chachi (Scott Baio). In addition, new characters like Roger (Ted McGinley) and Jenny (Cathy Silvers) were added to the cast, along with a new gang of students at Jefferson High. But Richie did not vanish entirely from Happy Days. The remaining characters still talk about him frequently during Season 8, and he still even gets storylines occasionally.
Case in point: "R.C. and L.B. Forever." In this memorable episode, Richie finally marries his longtime girlfriend, Lori Beth (Lynda Goodfriend). The script explains that Richie is stationed at a top secret Army base in Greenland and can't fly back to Milwaukee for the ceremony. Instead, Richie gets married "by proxy" over the phone, with Fonzie standing in for him! Ron Howard was apparently too busy to record even an audio-only cameo for the episode, so his character is represented entirely by that white Bakelite phone -- an inanimate object!
Does this work? Can you do a Richie episode without Richie ever appearing on camera? You can find out when we review "R.C. and L.B. Forever" on the latest installment of These Days Are Ours: A Happy Days Podcast.