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Tuesday, August 15, 2023

Podcast Tuesday: "Turn Around... And You're Canceled"

Scott Baio and Erin Moran on Happy Days.

In casual conversation, I usually avoid mentioning the fact that I cohost a Happy Days podcast. It's not that I'm ashamed of These Days Are Ours. Far from it. This is a five-year labor of love for me. But I don't know how people feel about Happy Days, and I'm hesitant to mention the show to people I don't know well. Maybe they've never heard of Happy Days. Maybe they've heard of it but don't like it. Maybe they even despise it. 

(True story: at work one day, I just happened to be walking through another department when someone yelled to a coworker, "AND I HATE HAPPY DAYS!" I got out of there quickly before I could hear more.)

On those rare occasions when I talk to people about Happy Days, three are three specific topics that come up with surprising regularity: Chuck Cunningham, jumping the shark, and Joanie Loves Chachi. We've talked about all of these on TDAO. Many times, in fact. This week, we get to talk about Joanie Loves Chachi for perhaps the final time. That spinoff was canceled at the end of its second season in 1983, and its stars, Erin Moran and Scott Baio, dutifully returned to Happy Days in an episode called "Turn Around... And You're Home."

You can hear what we thought of this episode by clicking on the podcast below.