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. 

Podcast Tuesday: "Jenny Loves Bingo"

Cathy Silvers and Robert Pierce on Happy Days.

Just like All in the Family, Happy Days was notorious for launching spinoff after spinoff—five in all, not counting the three (!) animated series. But Joanie Loves Chachi was different from the other Happy Days satellite shows. While Mork & Mindy and Laverne & Shirley both featured guest characters who'd only appeared fleetingly on Happy Days, JLC centered around two ongoing characters, Joanie Cunningham (Erin Moran) and Chachi Arcola (Scott Baio), who were central to the original show. Happy Days had never done this before, moving two of its regulars to another night and another show.

Because Happy Days and Joanie Loves Chachi were so intimately related, crossovers between the two sitcoms were frequent. Marion Ross, Tom Bosley, and Henry Winkler all put in appearances on JLC, while Scott Baio and Erin Moran were practically regulars during the tenth season of Happy Days. This was done to spark interest in the flailing JLC, which was struggling against the powerhouse Magnum P.I. on Thursdays. But Happy Days' own ratings were crumbling by 1982-83, so it was in no position to help its undernourished sister series.

Nevertheless, in January 1983, Happy Days did its biggest crossover episode with JLC yet: a little concoction called "Life is More Important Than Show Business." This time, Joanie and Chachi brought their whole band with them: Mario (Derrel Maury), Annette (Winifred Freedman), and even spaced-out drummer Bingo (Robert Pierce). The latter gets to have a weird, amusing quasi-romance with hormone-crazed Jenny Piccalo (Cathy Silvers).

But what else does this episode have in store for us? And is life more important than show business? Find out by listening to the podcast below.

Podcast Tuesday: "They're Baaaaaaack!"

Erin Moran and Henry Winkler on Happy Days.

Joanie Loves Chachi is remembered as one of the biggest bombs in TV history, but the infamous Happy Days spinoff had a surprisingly strong start in the prime time Nielsen ratings. ABC gave the new show a four-episode test run at the tail end of the 1981-82 season and promoted the hell out of it. With very little or no competition from the other networks, which had already switched to reruns for the summer, those first four episodes were big ratings winners. Technically, Joanie Loves Chachi was the fourth most popular show of the 1981-82 television season. Happy Days itself was only 18th.

However, the fledgling spinoff was truly put to the test when it came back for its second season in the fall of 1982. Paired with the rookie comedy Star of the Family on Thursday nights, JLC was no match for CBS' powerhouse Magnum P.I. (I mean, would you watch Scott Baio instead of Tom Selleck?) ABC did everything it could to save Joanie Loves Chachi, however. For one thing, they had Henry Winkler guest star on the September 30, 1982 episode, "Fonzie's Visit." Then, just twelve days later, Joanie and Chachi themselves made a crossover appearance on Happy Days in a surprisingly somber episode entitled "Letting Go."

This week on These Days Are Ours: A Happy Days Podcast, we're talking all about "Letting Go" and our general feelings about Joanie, Chachi, and Joanie Loves Chachi. If that sounds like a good time, you know exactly what to do.

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.