Just got my DVD set in the mail. It looks very nice.

I'm sure the video quality is just as good.

Can't wait!!


Will post my "fuller" review tomorrow.

I'm not a big fan of the first season, but after watching the first episode on DVD I like it better than I did. N@N and TV Land cut out a lot of great scenes that were thankfully restored here. The lack of bonus features is made up for by finally getting to watch the series UNCUT!

I'm rating it an A-, only because of no bonus features.

The video quality is SO much better than anything you'll ever see on TV. I thought TV Land's quality was pretty good, but it's nothing compared to what Paramount has done for the DVDs. It's pretty cool how they put the original Paramount logo at the end from when the show first aired. I did notice, however, that William S. Bickley's producer credits are missing. I've only looked at the first few episodes so far, so I'll have to see if he's there for any of the others. Very strange. Anyway, this is a great set.

i ordered mine today with 2 day shipping so i should get it friday

Scratch what I said about William Bickley. He's there.

Mine arrived today - the video quality is amazing, and it is so good to see those missing scenes again!!

I have to give it an A - it is soo much better than watching those badly cut episodes in syndication, it doesnt need any bonus features in this set, and the artwork/package design is great (the dvd's look like records, and the cases/box is all multi-colored and jukebox themed)

My one complaint is the scene to scene edits; i miss the familiar voices of Tom Bosley and Ron Howard telling us that "Happy days will return after these messages" and the star- and checkered- screen wipes between scenes. I wonder if they'll include those on the two- and three- part episodes?

Is there any bonus stuff on season 1 & what is there if any?

Tiff7

Tiff7

There is NO bonus stuff on here.


Now, I watched the first 2 DVDs and so far I LOVE IT!!!

Watching these unedited episodes is like seeing something totally new....I see these episodes in a new light!!

Notice:

On some episodes, the cuts around the "lost footage"- the picture is fuzzy and/or the film is scratched - but I'd rather have that fuzziness/scratches than nothing at all

BTW, check out the little scene mistakes on "All The Way" and "Richie's Cup Runneth Over".

All The Way - Right before the fadeout - as the camera pulls away from Arthur's at night - you can see people on the building and stage lights in the center of the screen.

RCRO - on the exterior shot of Arnold's before you see Richie & Potsie are seen inside drinking all the milks -- check out Howard's disota - the waitress is putting the tray on it - with what looks like Howard peering out of the Window!!!! A simliar scene was done in The Lemon - but only closer up and at a different angle!!!!

Funny stuff.

Again check it out!

Now on to Season 2..

A+++

I haven't been to all the stores in Traverse City, but I have checked in Meijers and it's not there!!!!! What's the deal???

This has been a very bad week. I can't get a ride into town to check out all the stores to find it. My stupid car broke down last week. My check is late, so I have no money to buy the DVD when I find it.

I have to go to my sister's wedding this weekend, so I will have to wait for Monday afternoon to go into town. I worked my butt off, just to buy the Happy Days DVD this week and I can't even get into town. Oh well, next week I will look in Suncoast and if it's sold out or whatever then I will order the damn thing.

I am dying to watch it after all your guys' comments on it. It sounds great!!!!!

If only I could get it :(

I hope mine comes soon :(

I just watched "All the Way" again and I was mistaken - what I thought were the "crew" on top of Arthurs were actually the flags that hold the sign up.

BUT you can still see what looks to be stage lights to the right of thar.

For anyone who can't find it, I recommend buying it on Amazon. It's only $27 and change plus for an extra six bucks you can get two day shipping. I ordered mine Tuesday night and although they said I'd get Friday I actually already got it today.
I've only wqatched the first two episodes so far, but it's awesome. There might be no official special features but seeing the episodes uncut after is enough of a special feature for me.
The video quality is excellent. If you have these eps on tape from TV Land or Nick At Nite to compare do so and you'll be blown away at how nice the DVD looks. Having the original music there is cool too. As much as it's great the show has been on in reruns for those of us who love it, this is the way the show was MEANT to be seen. If you've only seen the reruns then this DVD will be an extra treat.

I got mine today, aug 19th!! So far, I've seen the "arthurs" logo in "all the way" plus Fonzie & Rich talking to the principal in "Fonzie drops in.'' Chuck makes an appearance in "give the band a hand" & it's right at the end in which the family has a not too appetizing dinner by Joannie & Mr. C wants to get them cheeseburgers. Other scenes include Rich moving in on Jeanne, & Schizzy gets jealous in "Guess who's coming to visit.'' Some of those I've never seen before, & its quite a treat to see them. I hope Paramont does other seasons. Mine cost $27, shipping included.

Garry Marshall should have at least done a commentary for the first episode, just to set the tone and talk about his creation. I wonder why they didn't include the original pilot, "Love And The Happy Day," which ended up airing as an episode of Love, American Style when it wasn't picked up by the network (ABC) initially.

I haven't picked up the set yet, but I'm sure it's good, regardless of what I just said. But a couple of bonuses like the ones I mentioned wouldn't hurt...

The Onion did a really good review of the Happy Days DVD.

Check out this weeks issue.

Originally posted by Dr. Thong
Garry Marshall should have at least done a commentary for the first episode, just to set the tone and talk about his creation. I wonder why they didn't include the original pilot, "Love And The Happy Day," which ended up airing as an episode of Love, American Style when it wasn't picked up by the network (ABC) initially.

I haven't picked up the set yet, but I'm sure it's good, regardless of what I just said. But a couple of bonuses like the ones I mentioned wouldn't hurt... i still think that they are saving all the good bonus stuff for the later seasons; they know that the first season will sell well

so far i have been just overwhelmed by how good it is , and i havent missed the lack of bonus material yet :)

I picked up my season one set of Happy Days the other day at Wal-Mart. I thought it was great because I couldn't remember what the episodes from season one were like. I haven't seen reruns of Happy Days in 20 years. I do hope that the remaining 10 seasons will be released in time. I also picked up Laverne & Shirley the same day too!

Originally posted by TVAdam
I'm not a big fan of the first season, but after watching the first episode on DVD I like it better than I did. N@N and TV Land cut out a lot of great scenes that were thankfully restored here. The lack of bonus features is made up for by finally getting to watch the series UNCUT!

I'm rating it an A-, only because of no bonus features.

Yeah, they sure restored quite a few scenes that I never saw on syndication before like Richie hesitating in the parking lot right before seeing Mary Lou Milligan with Nat King Cole singing "Pretend", and Mary Lou misunderstanding that game of chess by taking Richie's king. I've never seen that many scenes edited in syndication before, so you sure can see the difference in these restored eps which make these Happy Days DVDs so worth the wait. And I'm not even disappointed about no bonus features either. :)

Originally posted by TJL
The Onion did a really good review of the Happy Days DVD.

Check out this weeks issue. I finally found it ! (seems more of a review of the series rather than the dvd to me)
http://www.theonionavclub.com/video/index.php?issue=4033#review2

Happy Days: The Complete First Season
(Paramount)

Happy Days benefits from a peculiar sort of double nostalgia: The venerable series' affection for a clean-cut '50s is augmented by a more recent nostalgia for the much-fetishized '70s that spawned it. The show's runaway success helped cement the image of the Eisenhower era as an idyllic calm before the raging storm of the '60s, but the DVD release of the show's first season reveals some surprisingly salacious undercurrents. Before Henry Winkler's family-friendly greaser hood became an American icon, Ron Howard's raging hormones drove the show. Not even the looming threat of nuclear war could cool his romantic ardor: In the last episode of the first season, Howard seizes upon his family's planned bomb shelter primarily as a surefire make-out spot.

An underrated comic actor who (thanks to iconic turns in The Music Man, The Andy Griffith Show, and American Graffiti) embodied boyish all-Americanism before Happy Days' first episode ever aired, Howard winningly combines sexual curiosity with empathetic innocence. The show followed suit, tempering teenaged high spirits with Tom Bosley's kindly paternalism. A Love, American Style spin-off that spawned its own cottage industry of spin-offs, Happy Days boasted a dynamic both predictable and dependable. In most episodes, Howard ventured unsteadily into the frightening waters of adult society, whether by going to a stag party, visiting a chaste strip club, or gambling with the morally challenged members of a fraternity. There, Howard would inevitably get in over his head, only to be bailed out by Bosley's wise words or judicious action. Life lessons would then get imparted just in time for an episode-capping freeze-frame. (The show did occasionally abandon its light touch, most notably in a "very special" racism episode that was so ham-fisted, it could make Stanley Kramer rip up his NAACP membership card in shame.)

The period sitcom relied heavily on the chemistry and charm of Howard and Bosley, whose understated, finely tuned performances kept it sentimental but seldom saccharine. Creator Garry Marshall later specialized in directing feature films that look and feel like extended sitcoms, but on Happy Days, he achieved the exact opposite. The series premièred as a one-camera show, which freed it from the constrictions of staging its action on two or three permanent sets and gave it a visual sophistication and looseness rare for sitcoms.

Howard's less-wholesome father figure, high-school dropout Fonzie (Henry Winkler), turned into a pop-culture sensation. Since nothing about Winkler's nebbishy looks or diminutive stature screams—or even whispers—rebellious Italian cool, his performance becomes a master class in attitude and economy overcoming biology. Nothing is less cool than trying to be cool, so the actor never exerts any undue effort, never wastes a line or a gesture. Winkler epitomized unforced studliness for a generation, but he never ignored his character's underlying sad, even pathetic qualities. In many ways, his greaser, who hangs around with high-school boys and constantly macks on high-school girls, represents an idealized version of Matthew McConaughey's vastly creepier horn-dog in Dazed And Confused.

In addition to the spin-offs Laverne & Shirley (which also sees release on DVD this week), Mork & Mindy, and Joanie Loves Chachi, Happy Days gave pop culture the enduring phrase "Jump The Shark" after a notorious late-series episode in which Winkler literally did jump over a shark tank on his bike, signaling the beginning of a steep decline in quality. But before it made that jump, the show's marvelous first season scaled some formidable heights. —Nathan Rabin

another great review is on the www.tvshowsondvd.com site (although we're ALL members there arent we ;) )

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/sitereviews.cfm?ReleaseID=3664

I received my dvd set yesterday and have watched most of the first disk. I have not seen the uncut versions of these episodes in so many years that I forgot a lot of the funny dialogue and scenes. I really think Paramount did a great job with the quality of the dvd's. The colors are so much more vibrant and the sound is fantastic. I can't wait for season 2 to come out.

Yeah, there sure are a lot of surprise scenes.