Podcast Tuesday: "Abraham, Martin & Fonz"

David Hubbard, Gary Grubbs, Henry Winkler, and Al Molinaro on Happy Days.

Black characters rarely have much fun on Happy Days, largely because the sitcom only seems to bring them on when it wants to make a point about racism. 

As early as Season 1, there was "The Best Man," an episode in which Howard Cunningham (Tom Bosley) has misgivings about being the best man at the wedding of his Black former army buddy, Fred (Nashville star Robert DoQui). In Season 3, there was "Fonzie's New Friend," in which a young drummer named Sticks Downey (Jack Baker) can't perform with Richie's band at Arnold's because of the color of his skin. And Season 5 gave us "Fonzie for the Defense," in which Fonzie (Henry Winkler) and Howard serve as jurors at a trial where the defendant, Jason (Ralph Wilcox), has been falsely accused of robbery at least partially because of his race.

Then, in Season 9, Happy Days made its ultimate statement about racism: "Southern Crossing," an episode in which Fonzie and his business partner Al (Al Molinaro) head down South in 1962 to protest segregated lunch counters. There, in some unspecified city, they clash with but ultimately befriend a young Black man named Charles (David Hubbard aka David Raynr), who wonders what these meddling white folks from Milwaukee are really trying to accomplish.

On the one hand, it's understandable that Happy Days would want to do an episode like this. After all, Season 9 of the show is set in the early 1960s, a time when the headlines were dominated by stories of the civil rights movement and protests in the South. If you're really looking back on this era of American history, you have to acknowledge this subject matter to some extent. 

On the other hand, Happy Days is a featherweight family comedy that has done such amusing but less-than-realistic episodes as "My Favorite Orkan," "The Evil Eye," "Fonzie's Funeral," and "Hollywood (Part 3)." How do you go from shark jumping to civil rights? Can you?

This week on These Days Are Ours: A Happy Days Podcast, we try to find out as we review "Southern Crossing." We hope you join us for what should be a very interesting episode.

Podcast Tuesday: "Shump the Jark"

(from left to right) Laurette Spang, Henry Winkler, and Ron Howard in "Hollywood: Part 3."

Don't blame the shark! Yes, Arthur Fonzarelli (Henry Winkler) water skis over a tiger shark in the 1977 episode "Hollywood: Part 3" from the fifth season of Happy Days. And, yes, a radio host named Jon Hein made a lot of money in the late '90s and early 2000s from the catchphrase "jumping the shark," meaning the moment that a TV show starts to go downhill in quality. If people know nothing else about Happy Days, they know about this one very silly moment. But I say the shark has been scapegoated. Or scapesharked, whatever.

For some arcane reason, Fonzie's shark-jumping stunt has become emblematic of Happy Days' overall decline, even though it's really not much more extreme than Fonzie's garbage-can-jumping stunt from the third season or his wild demolition derby against the villainous Malachi Brothers from the fourth season. Not to mention that the "Hollywood" story arc was highly rated when it first aired in the fall of 1977 or that the series wasn't even halfway through its run!

But, somehow, all the blame gets put on the shark. Did you know that Jon Hein himself didn't even identify this episode as the pivotal moment in Happy Days history? Nope, it was his college roommate at the University of Michigan who had a beef with this one. And from this one guy's complaint, we get a catchphrase that refuses to die. Go figure. What people forget is that the "Hollywood" three-parter also introduced the character of Chachi Arcola (Scott Baio). That has way more of an impact on Happy Days' future than the shark.

Anyway, my cohost and I discuss these issues and many more in our review of "Hollywood: Part 3." I do hope you'll join us.

Podcast Tuesday: "America's Next Top James Dean"

Henry Winkler and Ron Howard relax on the beaches of Malibu.

James Daughton on Happy Days.

Okay, let's just get this out of the way. In today's installment of These Days Are Ours, we are covering the episodes "Hollywood (Part One)" and "Hollywood (Part Two)" from the beginning of Happy Days' fifth season in September 1977. The story has Fonzie (Henry Winkler) going to Hollywood for a screen test at Paramount. Along the way, he develops a rivalry with an arrogant young man named Harold (James Daughton of Animal House) who eventually challenges him to jump over a shark on water skis.

The term "jump the shark" has since become synonymous with creative decline, largely thanks to a radio personality named Jon Hein. Remembering a conversation he had with his college roommate in the '80s, Hein created a popular Jump the Shark website devoted to TV shows that had overstayed their welcome, using Happy Days as the poster child. Because the internet loves a catchphrase, especially a snarky one, "jump the shark" entered the lexicon. Thanks to Jon Hein, Henry Winkler now has to answer at least one question about shark-jumping in seemingly every interview.

But do these episodes actually deserve the scorn that Hein has heaped upon them? Well, it's complicated.

The "Hollywood" story arc certainly did not signal the decline of Happy Days' popularity. The episodes were highly rated, and the sitcom itself remained on the air until September 1984. As for whether the show was "never as good again," that's debatable. The show had already done multi-part stories like "Fearless Fonzarelli," in which Fonzie jumps over garbage cans on his motorcycle, and "Fonzie Loves Pinky," in which Fonzie competes in a demolition derby against the cartoonish villains the Malachi Brothers. Was "Hollywood" really that much of a departure?

We talk about these issues and many more in today's brand new podcast. Enjoy!