Podcast Tuesday: "By the Power of Fonzie, I HAVE THE POWER!"

Scott Baio and Erin Moran on Happy Days.

There's something going on with Chachi (Scott Baio) in the eleventh season of Happy Days. Quite simply, this young man is in serious trouble, lacking direction, purpose, and any semblance of structure in his life. A year earlier, he'd been living in Chicago and pursuing his dream of being a professional musician with his girlfriend Joanie (Erin Moran). But Joanie decided to give up music, move back home to Milwaukee, and pursue a teaching career.

This is where things start to spiral downhill for Chachi. His music gigs seem to dry up, and Joanie dumps him just a few weeks after returning to Milwaukee. He's unemployed and doesn't go to school, so he has a lot of free time on his hands. His days revolve around Arnold's, the local hamburger joint owned by his cousin Fonzie (Henry Winkler). Chachi plays on the Arnold's softball team and makes some half-assed attempt at helping Fonzie run the place, but he is not compensated for this. It's not clear where Chachi is living during this time, and he seemingly has problems getting food. This forces him to beg for meals at Joanie's house.

Chachi's woes are in the background for most of Season 11, but they come to the forefront in "Social Studies," an episode in which Fonzie attempts to help Chachi move on from Joanie. (It doesn't go well.) You can find out what we thought of this episode by listening to the latest installment of These Days Are Ours: A Happy Days Podcast. 

Podcast Tuesday: "I Married Joanie's Boyfriend's Mom"

Al Molinaro and Ellen Travolta on Happy Days.

The once-mighty Happy Days empire was in definite decline by the end of the 1981-82 television season. Two of its spinoffs, Blansky's Beauties and Out of the Blue, had failed outright by then. A third, Mork & Mindy, was ending after four tumultuous seasons. That left only Happy Days itself and the most successful of its spinoffs, Laverne & Shirley, still on the air. Neither was a ratings powerhouse anymore, though, and Laverne was in its death throes due to the imminent departure of costar Cindy Williams. (That show limped along for one last season without Williams before expiring in 1983.)

Nevertheless, Happy Days still managed to end the 1981-82 season in the Nielsen Top 20, which meant someone was still tuning in. Was there any juice left in this turnip? If so, it was mostly due to Scott Baio, who had become a second-tier teen heartthrob as the wisecracking Chachi Arcola. The producers of Happy Days, no doubt prompted by network executives, decided to give Chachi his own show. Naturally, he brought his girlfriend Joanie (Erin Moran) along with him. Joanie Loves Chachi, the last and most infamous of the Happy Days spinoffs, premiered to great fanfare on March 23, 1982, immediately after the Happy Days Season 9 finale.

When Joanie and Chachi departed Milwaukee for Chicago and a show of their own, they took two of Happy Days' supporting players, Al Molinaro and Ellen Travolta, with them. Ellen had only appeared a couple of times as Chachi's loving mother, Louisa, so her exit was no great shock. But Al had been a mainstay of the show since Season 4 as local restauranteur (and perennial bachelor) Al Delvecchio. Why would Al ever leave Milwaukee and his beloved hamburger joint, Arnold's? Simple: to marry Louisa and become a stepdad to Chachi on the new show.

This week on These Days Are Ours: A Happy Days Podcast, we review "Love and Marriage," the episode that (sort of) sets up Joanie Loves Chachi. The plot centers around Al and Louisa getting hitched after only a month of dating. Talk about a whirlwind romance! But does it make for a good episode? Only one way to find out...

Podcast Tuesday: "College is for Suckers!"

Tom Bosley, Henry Winkler, and Marion Ross on Happy Days.

In March 1982, Happy Days launched the fifth and last of its spinoffs, the short-lived and much-mocked Joanie Loves Chachi. By then, Happy Days itself was in its ninth season and drifting slowly but surely into total irrelevance. The Grim Reaper was looming. Two successful Happy Days spinoffs, Mork & Mindy and Laverne & Shirley, were both nearing their ends as well, expiring in May 1982 and May 1983 respectively. 

Producer Garry Marshall must have figured that the only way to keep his TV empire alive was to make a Hail Mary play for the youth audience with a new series focusing on teenage lovebirds Joanie Cunningham (Erin Moran) and Chachi Arcola (Scott Baio) and their suspiciously 1980s-sounding music.  Don't forget that the MTV cable network had just launched in August 1981. This was definitely the golden age of music videos, and Garry wanted a piece of the action.

In retrospect, Marshall and company spent much of Season 9 of Happy Days setting up Joanie Loves Chachi. So many of the plots that year were about the young couple that even Fonzie (top-billed Henry Winkler) seemed to take a backseat to them. This week on These Days Are Ours: A Happy Days Podcast, we're reviewing "To Beanie or Not to Beanie," an episode in which Joanie makes some crucial decisions about her future, including taking a gap year between high school and college. Her parents, Howard (Tom Bosley) and Marion (Marion Ross), are horrified, but Fonzie tries to argue on Joanie's behalf.

"To Beanie or Not to Beanie" originally aired in January 1982, just two months before the start of Joanie Loves Chachi. The spinoff must have already been in the planning and production stages by then, so I'm guessing "To Beanie" was intended to ease viewers into the new show. Appropriately, then, the episode includes one of Joanie and Chachi's many, many musical numbers: an uptempo rock number called "Call." Joanie Loves Chachi would likewise feature many songs by the duo and their newly-formed band.

But does any of this make "To Beanie or Not to Beanie" a good episode? You can find out by listening to the latest installment of These Days Are Ours: A Happy Days Podcast.

Podcast Tuesday: "Just Break Up Already, You Two"

Erin Moran and Scott Baio on Happy Days.

As I wrote last week, Happy Days was in flux at the start of its ninth (and antepenultimate) season in 1981. With Richie (Ron Howard) and Ralph (Donny Most) long gone and cool guy Fonzie (Henry Winkler) becoming a grownup with responsibilities, the sitcom was in danger of losing touch with its roots. From the first season onward, Happy Days was mostly about high school-aged kids and their various triumphs and tragedies. It was a happy-go-lucky world of sock hops, malt shops, and double dates. How do you keep that going after nine seasons?

The obvious answer was to shift the show's focus to its younger characters, Joanie (Erin Moran) and Chachi (Scott Baio). Never mind that these two were already supposed to be college-bound high school seniors during Season 8. They were given a second senior year in Season 9. Anything to keep the high school setting. Naturally, Joanie and Chachi's budding, troubled romance became a major source of storylines. Younger viewers could tune in each week to see if J&C were breaking up or making up.

The problem is that Joanie and Chachi are a fundamentally bad couple. When Chachi joined the show in Season 5, he was a  sleazy little schemer, always selling something or trying to con people out of a little money. He brought that dishonesty and insincerity to his relationship with Joanie. He's also a petulant and selfish little twerp, prone to temper tantrums. And Joanie, apparently lovestruck, forgives him for his many, many flaws. The relationship turns her into a weak character when she'd previously been the show's resident firebrand.

These issues are on full display in the episode we're reviewing this week, "Another Night at Antoine's." The plot has Chachi breaking up with Joanie so they can date other people for a while. Sort of a sexual Rumspringa. But then he decides he wants her back, and it all leads to a big, public kerfuffle at a fancy French restaurant. (No points for guessing that it ends with a reconciliation.)

So Joanie and Chachi are a bad couple, but does that make "Another Night at Antoine's" a bad episode? Find out by listening to the latest installment of These Days Are Ours: A Happy Days Podcast.

Podcast Tuesday: "Chachi's Mom Has Got It Going On"

Scott Baio and Ellen Travolta on Happy Days.

When Happy Days came back for its ninth season in the fall of 1981, the show's focus had obviously shifted to brash teen lothario Chachi Arcola (played by then-heartthrob Scott Baio). Chachi's off-again, on-again relationship with Joanie Cunningham (Erin Moran) was at the heart of the season-opening two-parter "Home Movies," while the next episode, "Not With My Mother, You Don't" focused on Chachi's sometimes strained relationship with his widowed mother Louisa (Ellen Travolta). By the next episode, "Another Night at Antoine's," the show had already returned to Joanie/Chachi relationship drama. With Richie (Ron Howard) absent and Fonzie (Henry Winkler) getting older and less relatable to kids, Chachi had essentially been promoted to the status of protagonist

Chachi is an irritating character in a whole host of ways and typifies what many viewers dislike about the later seasons of Happy Days. His rise coincides with the show's fall. Having only debuted in Season 5, the wisecracking Arcola boy felt like an interloper, a usurper, a carpetbagger. I'll admit that I'm a Chachi hater myself. I hate his smug face, his arrogant personality, his nasal voice, his very '80s haircut, and that stupid bandana he wears around his leg in most scenes. I especially hate the way he treats Joanie, turning her into a simpering fangirl who forgives him time and again for his indiscretions and his insensitivity. Where's the firebrand Joanie from the early seasons of Happy Days?

This week on These Days Are Ours: A Happy Days Podcast, we're reviewing the aforementioned "Not With My Mother, You Don't." Blessedly, this one sidelines Joanie for the most part and turns its attentions to Louisa. Her husband, Chachi's father, has been dead for several years, and she is now gingerly reentering the dating scene. But she is doing so behind Chachi's back, leading some some tense moments. First, Chachi publicly shames his mother in front of the Cunninghams, then he seeks out his mother's boyfriend, a very pleasant obstetrician named Walter Danzig (guest star Michael Byron Taylor). It's all very awkward.

But does it make for a good episode? Find out by listening to the latest installment of These Days Are Ours: A Happy Days Podcast!

Podcast Tuesday: "Scenes from the Class Struggle in Milwaukee"

Ellen Travolta and Scott Baio on Happy Days.

Like most TV producers, Garry Marshall had his share of hits and misses. For every Happy Days or Laverne & Shirley, there was a Me and the Chimp or Hey, Landlord!  But of all the Marshall series, the one most likely to be on those "worst TV shows of all time" lists is the extremely short-lived 1979 sitcom Makin' It. The series centers around Billy Manucci (David Naughton, best known at the time for his Dr. Pepper commercials), a young man from New Jersey who spends his days working at an ice cream parlor and his nights dancing at the local disco. An obvious attempt to cash in on the success of the film Saturday Night Fever (1977), Makin' It flopped hard with critics and audiences and vanished from the airwaves after just a few weeks.

A gimmicky, fad-driven show like Makin' It was probably doomed to failure from the start, and I wouldn't exactly describe it as a brilliant, misunderstood classic. But it doesn't belong on those "worst ever" lists either. At heart, Makin' It is just harmless sitcom fluff, no worse than the average laffer. To me, the show is simply "disco Happy Days." If Richie and his pals lived in the '70s and went to a dance club instead of a malt shop, the results would be a lot like Makin' It.

Even though the show only lasted a handful of episodes, some good did come of it. David Naughton scored a Top 10 hit with the extremely catchy theme song, for instance. Makin' It was also the show that put Garry Marshall in contact with actress Ellen Travolta. Now, if you're blatantly ripping off Saturday Night Fever, it makes sense to hire someone from the Travolta family. But Ellen (John's older sister, by the way) proved herself more than a capable actress in the role of Dorothy Manucci, Billy's harried mother. Three years after the cancellation of Makin' It, Ellen Travolta was called upon to play a very similar character on Happy Days. Specifically, she portrayed Louisa Arcola, mother of Chachi (Scott Baio) and manager of the apartment building where Potsie (Anson Williams) lives.

This week on These Days Are Ours: A Happy Days Podcast, we review "Hello, Mrs. Arcola," the episode that introduces Ellen Travolta as Louisa. Is it a hit or a miss? Listen and find out!

Podcast Tuesday: "Chachi Threatens a Small Child"

Erin Moran and Scott Baio on Happy Days.

For seven of its eleven seasons, Happy Days featured a character named Chachi Arcola. This character, introduced as the cousin of Arthur Fonzarelli (Henry Winkler), was played by an actor named Scott Baio. Many people have strong negative feelings associated with Chachi Arcola, and many more have strong negative feelings associated with Scott Baio. Mr. Baio is very politically outspoken on a number of issues and has been accused of sexual misconduct by coworkers. Chachi is just kind of an annoying little twerp with a dumb catchphrase. ("Wa wa wa!")

The question is, do we equate Chachi Arcola and Scott Baio? I have been cohosting a Happy Days podcast for over three years, and in that time, I have said little to nothing about Mr. Baio's life and career after the show ended in 1984. My cohost has been more outspoken on this topic. I choose to ignore it. Not that I condone Mr. Baio's actions, far from it, but I try to focus on the fact that we are talking about a fictional character played by an actor who was in his teens and early 20s at the time. When I comment on the Chachi Arcola character, I try to focus on Scott Baio's acting and the types of scenes and situations the writers invent for him. Here, too, there is room for criticism, but is of an aesthetic nature rather than political or moral.

This week on These Days Are Ours: A Happy Days Podcast, we are reviewing the Season 7 episode "Fools Rush In," which casts a spotlight on the relationship between Joanie Cunningham (Erin Moran) and Chachi. In fact, it's about their first real date and the trepidation they both feel. As I reviewed this episode, I tried to concentrate on the inner reality of Happy Days, i.e. the fictional universe these characters inhabit. My cohost was more concerned with the outer reality of Happy Days, i.e. the real lives of the actors who appeared on the show.

Whose viewpoint ultimately wins out? Find out when you listen to the latest installment of These Days Are Ours!