OK,

I know, this seems to be a recurring theme with me ranting about the house, but as I rewatch the series I notice more and more things when I really pay attention. I'll swipe a few of the things I've already written in other places, just to keep the subject together here.

For starters:

<<Inside the house:
The scenes showing the interior of the Cunningham house.... well, the first season at least is TOTALLY different layout than the later years. Where did that dining room come from??? Did you notice in this 4th episode (and others) the entrance to the house (front door) is on the LEFT of the living room, and not the right as we've come to know it? To the left is where the fireplace is! So, as they entered in episodes 1-4 from left to right we see: the front door, the stairs leading to upstairs, the fireplace, then the dining ROOM with 4 walls and china cabinets, as opposed to the open dining room we've also come to know just off to the side of the living room. >>

...and THEN the kitchen on the far right side of the dining room I guess.

Along with this layout, if you pay attention, the stairs are also along the left side of the room, same side as the door in earlier seasons. That's all fine, except as you walk up the steps, they turn to the LEFT...which would take them outside into the front yard...LOL. MAYBE we can argue that there's enough space between the front wall and the steps to curve around. But then, if you look at the FRONT of the house, where the stairs would be, we see windows on the other side left of the doorway entrance. Is there a secret room under the steps? So, this setup is in seasons 1 & 2.

We now get to season 3, and the house has been remodeled apparently. :) NOW the door is on the far RIGHT side, so basically everything was flipped. NOW where the door USED to be is the fireplace, panning clockwise to the bookshelves, stairs, THEN the front windows and front door entrance, then the dining room has disappeared with the "new" dining area just off to the side of the living room, and then the kitchen I guess same general area as it used to be. The wiki episode guide explains this as:

"Note: Beginning with this episode, Happy Days switched permanently from a single-camera comedy to multi-camera with a live audience. To accommodate the audience, the main sets were redesigned."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Happy_Days_episodes

BTW, the guide has all kinds of great info in there, if you read it along with watching the nightly shows on the Hub.

Anyway, I guess the addition of the audience was THE reason the set was remodeled, I guess the layout better suited the camera angles and a set audience point of view. I suppose this is the best explanation I /we will get for why the setup was changed.

Yet, I digress. :)

Soooooo....let's enter thru the NEW front door in season 3 onwards. Well, the front view of the house shows the driveway to the right of the house, with the front door about center on the front of the house. Yet, from the INSIDE of the house, Howard sometimes looks out the left front window and directly into the driveway, looking at it from the FRONT of the house, driveway is on the right side...to where the ...ahem...driveway and garage are. We'll come back to this!). So, from the inside, it seems the driveway is about 2-3 feet from the front door. But, I thought the front door was in the center of the house??? Ok, ok...but then...if the driveway runs alongside (looking at the front door from the inside), and the driveway is only a few feet away to the left of the door....then how the hell does the stairway ALSO go into the driveway...and thusly....yep...thru Fonzie's attic/ apartment? :)

Let's go back to the kitchen and driveway garage setup next.

Here's what I wrote before about the kitchen and driveway setup:

<<
THIS has bothered me all through the series, anybody else ever notice.... the stairs going to Fonzie's room above the Cunningham garage? The bottom of the stairs are always shown (with the sign with the arrow pointing to "Fonzie") to the left of the garage, between the garage and the house. OK, then if the apartment is directly above the garage....from inside Fonzie's apartment, we see the top of the stairs to the RIGHT of his apartment entrance, where they SHOULD be on the LEFT side, right?

But then, when exiting the kitchen to the RIGHT, that would make the driveway to the LEFT of the house if you're facing it, but of course we don't see the garage to the left side of the house ever. >>

So now, in season 3, assuming the kitchen is (looking from the inside) to the right side of the front door....then when people come in and out of the house thru the kitchen, including Fonzie....they go towards the street. Yet, as has been noted, the DRIVEWAY has always been established as being on the OTHER side of the house (far LEFT if your looking at the front door from the inside, remember???). So, how do they drive up the driveway on the RIGHT side of the house, then enter thru the kitchen on the OTHER side of the house??? And of course, where's Fonzie's attic/ apartment, if he's always entering thru the kitchen on the OTHER side of the house?

<<...where exactly IS this attic/ room/ apartment in the house layout? Is it over the actual HOUSE, where most attics are, or as I always THOUGHT, was over the garage? And then there's the stairs...I guess they must enter between the garage and house to the LEFT of the garage, then wrap around the house so the entrance somehow comes in on the RIGHT side of the apartment. Why is this apartment so small also, especially if it's over the entire house? In the earlier seasons, we see NO staircase between the house and garage, then suddenly...poof! >>

I GUESS the staircase was added during the remodelling of the interior as well...:) ...but still not sure how they go between the house and garage, and the entrance to the apartment is on the RIGHT side of Fonzie's apartment? IF Fonzie lives above the GARAGE, the stairs don't work. IF Fonzie lives above the main house (which has always been established he doesn't) then the stairs COULD work....until Fonzie enters the door going into the kitchen that apparently takes him into a wormhole on the OTHER side of the house, and then into the kitchen on the OTHER side of the house.

Just for kicks, take a piece of paper and draw the layout of the house and garage and tell me how it works. I'd LOVE to get a writer/ producer's explanation of how, why these things were the way they were. Somebody HAD to be paying attention to the inconsistenet layout, no? Was there EVER any explanation of this stuff ANYWHERE officially? Any interviews?

:horse:

It always drove me crazy that the front door and the back door were on the same side of the house.

Holy crap, I never noticed that. Good eye, Old Grouch.

but for whatever reason it worked i liked the season three onward set.on this type of subject on the first few episodes of HANGING WITH MR.COOPER they used the old GROWING PAINS set that show had stopped production a year earlier,he even said at the end of one of those early episodes "you guys probably know this is the set from growing pains we will have a new set next week" i thought it was kinda funny.

I guess now that I'm studying it...if you REALLY look at it, the whole living room is set up in more of a trapezoid shape! Obviously it's set up that way in light of the discovery they accomodated the set for the studio audience. It's kinda cool to discover these things all these years later, as they were never meant to be analyzed way back then, just trying to get the show done. I suppose George Lucas has gone through all the analysis for years over the early Star Wars movies before technology finally caught up and they could do things better. :)