One of the things that got me about the final seasons of Happy Days was that Garry Marshall seemed to have been trying to turn the show into a Dramedy. The show was good when it had dramatic episodes like Ritchie almost dying, Fonzie going blind and his dad showing up to leave a Christmas present, etc. But, it got a little heavy on themes like Chachi and Joanie breaking up, Joanie almost getting raped and even the final episode with Fonzie trying to adopt a son. I like the dramatic episodes, one of the best from the final seasons is the Mother & Child Reunion where Fonzie thinks he found his mother, but do others think Marshall was trying to turn Happy Days more dramatic towards the end of the series? What do you think?

i thought that they were trying to find a balance between the heavy and light moments, but there were definitely some storylines that were too dramatic (i never liked the Joanie and Chachi together/apart tug-of-war)

I liked them. There was no problem with me. It was the beginning/mid 80's. The writing was more intense and flexible which allowed the writers to go further with some ideas for the show.

I never gave it a thought and just enjoyed what I seen, to me it was always been a comedy.

I do see where you are coming from,but i feel that the more dramatic episodes were a natural progression,anyone who watch the show while growing up in the seventies by the eighties were in their upper teens so as we grow things get more dramatic and a little more serious. to keep the show some what believable the episodes had to get a little darker.i mean dont you think that it would have looked sill by the series end the characters telling each other to SIT ON IT or calling each other nerds,it had to go that route i mean they didnt turn the show a complete 360 like they tried to do with THE BRADY BUNCH in the 90s that horrible update called THE BRADYS.I liked the more serious episodes
as well as the more classic lighthearted episodes.