I don't like it enough to watch, but love telling people of my fave shows, so hopefully someone will tell me the story about....

How did Fonzie come to live near the family?

How old was he compared to the teenagers?

Did he and Richie have a goodbye moment when Howard left?

When did the audience start cheering like Married with Children did?

Why did Mr. Miyagi leave and come back years later?

Did Potsie start directing while on the show?

The whole Mork thing?

How'd they meet Laverne and Shirley?

Well, that's all for now.

How did Fonzie come to live near the family? - the Fonz was looking for a new place for his Grandma Nussbaum, but she didn't like all those stairs in the apartment over the garage (or the tubby landlord) - so the Fonz moved in instead.

How old was he compared to the teenagers? - although it is never mentioned, the Fonz was probably about 2-3 years older than the rest of the gang (still young enough to "drop-in" back into the same grade of highchool as the rest of the guys)

Did he and Richie have a goodbye moment when Howard left? - nope; Richie left not Howard, and it happened when Ron Howard didn't renew his contract after the end of the 1980 season (to start directing for NBC), so there was no "goodbye" episode

When did the audience start cheering like Married with Children did? when they went from a single-camera format to a multi-camera, filmed in front of a studio audience in the third season

Why did Mr. Miyagi leave and come back years later? - if you are referring to "Arnold Takahashi"/'Pat' Morita he left to work on other projects, like "Blansky's Beauties" (1977) TV Series (as "Arnold") and "Mr. T and Tina" (1976) TV Series (as Taro Takahashi)

Did Potsie start directing while on the show? - apparently not - at least according to imdb (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0930041/)

The whole Mork thing? - explained on the show as a dream, believe what you want though...

How'd they meet Laverne and Shirley? - never mentioned, but Fonzie introduced them to everyone else (and the Fonz was buddies with Carmine Ragusa aka "the Big Ragoo" first)

Did he and Richie have a goodbye moment when Howard left? - nope; Richie left not Howard, and it happened when Ron Howard didn't renew his contract after the end of the 1980 season (to start directing for NBC), so there was no "goodbye" episode

I do remember one episode when Richie was leaving and had written a letter to Fonzie.

Thanks, Roby, interesting stuff. Although what does "Richie left, not Howard" mean?

I think robyrob thought you were referring to Howard Cunningham, not Ron Howard.

when richie left in 1980 they kept the character alive by saying he and ralph joined the army both richie and ralph returned in the fall of 1983 in a two part episode called welcome home in this episode richie decides to move to california to become a screen writer.he says goodbye to fonzie and also leaves him a note.richie came back once more in the series final when joannie and chachi got married.

its a television classic you really should watch it.

its a television classic you really should watch it.
i have seen it :) - I assumed that the original poster was referring to when Ron Howard left after the 7th season