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| Henry Winkler, Heather O'Rourke, and Linda Purl on Happy Days. |
Millions of people watched Happy Days during its original run on ABC from 1974 to 1984, but countless millions more around the world discovered the show through reruns. The nostalgic sitcom was a staple of syndication for decades and truly spanned the globe in terms of popularity. Imagine how baffled those viewers would have been when they arrived at Season 10 of Happy Days. Right away, during the opening credits, they were bombarded with a bevy of unfamiliar and semi-familiar characters. Where was the show they knew and liked? Who were all these new people?
What's necessary here is context. Happy Days was again in a state of flux in the fall of 1982. The show's focus had been shifting to Joanie (Erin Moran) and Chachi (Scott Baio) for some time, but those characters were now on a show of their own, the ill-fated Joanie Loves Chachi. In their absence, Happy Days decided to spotlight such late-arriving characters as Roger (Ted McGinley), Jenny (Cathy Silvers), and Flip (Billy Warlock). The producers also added some brand-new characters to round out the cast, like K.C. (Crystal Bernard), Heather (Heather O'Rourke), and Ashley (Linda Purl).
Despite her prominence in new title sequence, K.C. didn't show up until the fourth episode of the season. Ashley and Heather, however, were there from the season premiere. In fact, that episode, "A Woman Not Under the Influence," is built around them. The plot has Fonzie (Henry Winkler) falling madly in love with a classy blonde divorcee, Ashley, only to learn she has a young daughter, Heather. Complicating matters further, Ashley is reluctant to get into a relationship with Fonzie because he reminds her of her ex-husband.
Does "A Woman Not Under the Influence" mark a bold new beginning for Happy Days or just the beginning of the end? Find out on the latest episode of These Days Are Ours: A Happy Days Podcast.