Seasons 1-2: The "Rock Around the Clock", shot w/ one camera period

Seasons 3-5: The peak years when Happy Days was I think, the number one show in the Nielsen ratings

Seasons 6-7: The post-"jumped the shark" era

Seasons 8-11: The post-Richie/Ralph era

if we were to break it down even further...

Seasons 1-2. the "rock around the clock era." nearly all filmed like a movie, w/o a stuido audience. more "serious." Fonzie begins to gradually take on a bigger role in season 2.

Season 3. the new Happy days. Fonz moves in with the Cunninghams, filmed b4 a studio audience. most episodes written featuring the Fonz.

season 4. The show is at its most popular.

Season 5. The infamous "Jump the Shark" trilogy. Despite this stigma, the show is still popular enough to stay on for 6 more seasons! Richie & friends are off to college.

Seasons 6-7. College years for richie & gang.

Seasons 8-9. Richie & Ralph leave the show, stationed in the Army in Greenland. Joanie & Chachi and their peers take over the youth focus of the show. Fonzie continues to mature. Already a part-owner of Aronld's, he becomes an auto shop teacher.

Season 10. Joanie & Chachi are off to their own series, but never really leave, as one or both frequently guest star. For the first time, Fonzie is in a serious, stable relationship. Marion adjusts to her children being grown up and out of the house.

Season 11. Joanie and Chachi are back, but are broken up. Fonzie is single again also. For most of the season, everyone is settling into their lives, like Joanie becoming a teacher. But near the end of the season and series, we see Fonzie moving out of the Cunningham's and into a new place; Richie returns from the Army a man with new, different dreams, taking his own family to the west coast; and in the series finale, we see Fonzie becoming an adoptive father, and Joanie and Chachi not only getting back together but tying the not.

Happy Days!

http://web.archive.org/web/20070124215705/www.jumptheshark.com/h/happydays.htm

One must remember when critiquing this show, that 11 years is a VERY LONG time for any sitcom, even the very best. Happy Days probably should have called it quits after 5 or 6. It is rather easy to break this show into 3 different sections: 1) The "Rock Around the Clock"/Filmed years (1st 2 seasons) 2) The "Fonzie lives in the Cunningham house WITH Ritchie Cunningham? filmed live before studio audience years (seasons 3 through seven) and 3) the post-Ritchie episodes (seasons 8-11). Now, contrary to what has been written before, season 3 was not THAT MUCH different from the 1st 2 seasons. Some people complain for example that Potsie was "derebelized", I seem to recall the idea that he was supposed to be uncool from DAY ONE. It was actually Ralph who got derebelized he started out being cooler than Ritchie, and soon became interchangeable with Potsie. Also there is this idea that Potsie did not start singing until the show was aired live, but I can remember 2 DIFFERENT filmed episodes where the gang forms a band (with Bag) and Potsie sings in those episodes. Also, even early on Fonzie might have a large role in an episode, such as the episode with the drag race or the one where he went back to school. Chuck was always a very minor character, there was only the one episode in season 2 that he had a substantial role. Chuck was gone for good mid-way through season 2. It IS true (IMHO, at least) that the show was much more realistic to the 1950s in the "Rock around the Clock" days. I think Chachi really signaled the downfall of keeping the continuity of the past. By the time, Richie left the show is deeply into the 1970s styles. The show was able to maintain a high quality level through most of the first seven seasons. I do believe that the Tuscaderos were a bad addition to the cast, and they did go overboard with Fonzie. I do sometimes wonder if the show would have been better if it stayed with its original format. Unfortunately, we'll never know. When Ritchie left, the show was pointless. HOW CAN YOU CONTINUE A SITCOM WITHOUT ITS LEAD CHARACTER. The show reached its nadir in the 1982-1983 season (coincidentally the very time I was born) when Fonzie had a STEADY GIRLFRIEND and was CONTEMPLATING MARRIAGE. Ridiculous. The character of KC was pointless as well. The show definitely jumped the shark when Ritchie left. The episodes with Ritchie make this one of my all time favorite TV shows.

I watch the whole series of Happy Days. I like it but I think Happy Days was at its peak from the time it started until they went to college. I just think, like a lot of other shows, when the main characters go to college, usually its a jumping off point.

if we were to break it down even further...

Seasons 1-2. the "rock around the clock era." nearly all filmed like a movie, w/o a stuido audience. more "serious." Fonzie begins to gradually take on a bigger role in season 2.

Season 3. the new Happy days. Fonz moves in with the Cunninghams, filmed b4 a studio audience. most episodes written featuring the Fonz.

season 4. The show is at its most popular.

Season 5. The infamous "Jump the Shark" trilogy. Despite this stigma, the show is still popular enough to stay on for 6 more seasons! Richie & friends are off to college.

Seasons 6-7. College years for richie & gang.

Seasons 8-9. Richie & Ralph leave the show, stationed in the Army in Greenland. Joanie & Chachi and their peers take over the youth focus of the show. Fonzie continues to mature. Already a part-owner of Aronld's, he becomes an auto shop teacher.

Season 10. Joanie & Chachi are off to their own series, but never really leave, as one or both frequently guest star. For the first time, Fonzie is in a serious, stable relationship. Marion adjusts to her children being grown up and out of the house.

Season 11. Joanie and Chachi are back, but are broken up. Fonzie is single again also. For most of the season, everyone is settling into their lives, like Joanie becoming a teacher. But near the end of the season and series, we see Fonzie moving out of the Cunningham's and into a new place; Richie returns from the Army a man with new, different dreams, taking his own family to the west coast; and in the series finale, we see Fonzie becoming an adoptive father, and Joanie and Chachi not only getting back together but tying the not.

Happy Days!

S3 -was the 1st to introduce the more familiar "Happy Days" theme for the opening credits.

S4 - was the 1st where Al Molinaro was added as Al Delvecchio and became the new owner of Arnold's.