Today was my first time ever watching HD on ME-TV and when the show went to a commercial I saw the bumper with the voiceover of Marion saying..."Happy Days will be right back after these messages"

I never saw that in syndication before. Damm, ME-TV is really sticking to their motto......."Memorable Television. Great stuff

That was in local syndication before too.

That was in local syndication before too.


I don't even remember HD on local syndication because it was in the 80's here in philly. But that really surprised me.

Now, that's a throwback to the good old days.

I remember HD when it debuted in syndication: September, 1979 on CH 56 in Boston.

Of course, it was redubbed Happy Days Again for it's initial syndication run for some odd reason.

Weirdly enough, when my local station began airing it, they began with season three, not season one. Of course, once they ran through seasons 3-6, they aired seasons one and two.

Now, that's a throwback to the good old days.

I remember HD when it debuted in syndication: September, 1979 on CH 56 in Boston.

Of course, it was redubbed Happy Days Again for it's initial syndication run for some odd reason.

Weirdly enough, when my local station began airing it, they began with season three, not season one. Of course, once they ran through seasons 3-6, they aired seasons one and two.


Throwback is right. And I definitely didn't hear Happy Days Again during the bumper.

I get paid programming on ME-TV sometimes so I dont see Happy Days on ME-TV but I think its cool that they have the bumpers. ME-TV sticking with there motto. Hopefully, it stays that way.

Now, that's a throwback to the good old days.

I remember HD when it debuted in syndication: September, 1979 on CH 56 in Boston.

Of course, it was redubbed Happy Days Again for it's initial syndication run for some odd reason.

Weirdly enough, when my local station began airing it, they began with season three, not season one. Of course, once they ran through seasons 3-6, they aired seasons one and two.
Yea I remember the Happy Days Again years. I always thought that was kind of stupid. :lol:

I don't recall the exact source, but I read somewhere that the purpose of using the name "Happy Days Again" was to distinguish the old, already aired episodes from the new ones.

I don't recall the exact source, but I read somewhere that the purpose of using the name "Happy Days Again" was to distinguish the old, already aired episodes from the new ones.


Make sense since the show was still on the air

They also air the Laverne & Shirley bumpers.

They also air the Laverne & Shirley bumpers.


I watched L&S too and didn't see any bumpers

Make sense since the show was still on the air

Not really. M*A*S*H debuted that same fall of 1979 in syndication under its original title.

I knew that the local stations showed reruns and the networks showed the new episodes.

Not really. M*A*S*H debuted that same fall of 1979 in syndication under its original title.

I knew that the local stations showed reruns and the networks showed the new episodes.


Maybe because MASH didn't have any spinoffs like HD. I'm guessing they did it because L&S and HD were all connected and they wanted to change the title for syndication since they had several crossovers

I think the worst sitcom retitling for syndication was Laverne & Shirley & Company. Too long.

Let me ask, why did they go with Laverne & Shirley & Company?

Let me ask, why did they go with Laverne & Shirley & Company?


Because L&S was still on the air when it went into syndication so they had to create a seperate title

Because they wanted to differentiate from the still-in-first-run episodes that were airing on the network, I guess.

Personally, I never understood retitling for that reason, but whatever...

I thought I read someplace something about that the reason for the name change for the reruns was because the Network, ABC, was the one running the reruns of the series. They ran them on Saturday afternoons. So it wasn't changing the name just because it was in syndication on some local station but because the actual network that aired the original shows were also running reruns every Saturday.

:confused:

I thought I read someplace something about that the reason for the name change for the reruns was because the Network, ABC, was the one running the reruns of the series. They ran them on Saturday afternoons. So it wasn't changing the name just because it was in syndication on some local station but because the actual network that aired the original shows were also running reruns every Saturday.

:confused:

Nope. ABC was showing reruns while new episodes aired in prime time, but they were on weekday mornings at 11AM with no name change.

But ABC replaced them with Laverne & Shirley reruns in early 1979, probably because HD would be going into syndication that fall.

I know that this is an old thread, so in case anyone is still following it, here goes.

Renaming shows that were syndicated to local markets while the show was still airing new episodes on network TV was a common practice from the 1950s to early 1980s--essentially the pre-cable era. The reasoning behind this practice was to distinguish the older episodes of the show from the current network run. Networks were concerned that viewers would confuse the two. This seems quaint now, but it was a real concern at the time. People who frequent TV message boards today are--and were, if they were around at the time that this was done--are not thought to be typical casual viewers. They were and are a bit more sophisticated than casual viewers. In the cable area, my father, rest his soul, never could quite understand the difference between the then-current and first-run episodes of comedies such as Everybody Loves Raymond or drams such as NCIS. So the method had some merit to it.

Not all shows did it. M*A*S*H and Three's Company are examples of 1970s shows that chose not to do it. In fact, they set the stage for the cessation of the practice. But here is a short listing of but a few shows that did follow the convention of renaming.

Dragnet--->Badge 714
You Bet Your Life--->Best of Groucho
Bonanza--->Ponderosa
Gunsmoke--->Marshal Dillon
I Love Lucy--->Sunday Lucy Show and also Lucy in Connecticut
Andy Griffith Show-->Andy of Mayberry
Emergency--->Emergency One!
Ironside--->Raymond Burr Show
Happy Days--->Happy Days Again
Laverne and Shirley--->Laverne and Shirley and Company
Marcus Welby, MD--->Robert Young, Family Doctor
CHIPS-->CHIPS Patrol

Prior to the late 1970s, popular shows were often rerun by the network itself on its daytime schedule, while new episodes ran in prime time. For example, Brady Bunch, which ran from1969-74 on ABC, was shown in reruns at 11:30 on weekdays on ABC from 1972-1975, under the same name. When it was syndicated to local stations in 1975, the 11:30 weekdays slot was taken over by Happy Days, which had started airing in prime time in January 1974 and continued for a decade. In the fall of 1975, Happy Days was so popular that its first two seasons were continuously rerun on weekdays. This was another rule of network daytime reruns: Never air the current season on the daytime reruns, only past seasons. In the late summer of 1976, ABC did begin airing the current (third) season episodes in the daytime, because in September the fourth season would be underway. Part of why ABC jumped the gun was because Happy Days' first season was not a full one, so there was a limited amount of episodes from the first two seasons.

Both Happy Days and Brady Bunch used their series' true names while on network daytime reruns. But Happy Days, still running in primetime when the show was syndicated in 1979, was re-named Happy Days Again. When the original episodes stopped in 1984, so did the altered syndication title. The show moved to TBS in the late 1980s under its original title.

You mention Three's Company as never having a name change, but I thought for a while they were using Three's Company Too in syndication ...?

A few more:

Lassie ---> Jeff's Collie
Hawaii Five-O ---> McGarrett
The Bob Cummings Show ---> Love That Bob

You mention Three's Company as never having a name change, but I thought for a while they were using Three's Company Too in syndication ...?

A few more:

Lassie ---> Jeff's Collie
Hawaii Five-O ---> McGarrett
The Bob Cummings Show ---> Love That Bob


It was Three's Company and Friends

You mention Three's Company as never having a name change, but I thought for a while they were using Three's Company Too in syndication ...?

A few more:

Lassie ---> Jeff's Collie
Hawaii Five-O ---> McGarrett
The Bob Cummings Show ---> Love That Bob

Yup. I believe that the Three's Company, Too was the Three's a Crowd portion of the Three's Company syndication package. That and at least some of The Ropers were included in the package.

Yup. I believe that the Three's Company, Too was the Three's a Crowd portion of the Three's Company syndication package. That and at least some of The Ropers were included in the package.


It wasn't Three's Company Too it was Three's Company and Friends

It wasn't Three's Company Too it was Three's Company and Friends
Wikipedia suggests otherwise.

I do vaguely remember Three's Company Too in my area. Maybe it wasn't used all over the U.S.

I do vaguely remember Three's Company Too in my area. Maybe it wasn't used all over the U.S.

I think this was the syndie name of Three's a Crowd. Where some of the Ropers were "Three's Company's Friends The Ropers" (as if the title of the show was a person)

Back to the original topic, I think L&S kept some of the ABC bumpers ("Hi this is Shirley, me and Laverne will be right back!") when it aired on WLNY.

In the fall of 1975, Happy Days was so popular that its first two seasons were continuously rerun on weekdays. This was another rule of network daytime reruns: Never air the current season on the daytime reruns, only past seasons. In the late summer of 1976, ABC did begin airing the current (third) season episodes in the daytime, because in September the fourth season would be underway.

During the early part of summer 1978, ABC began airing then-current fifth season Happy Days shows during the daytime reruns, even though the sixth season had yet to begin.

I remember this, because I was shocked that they were jumping the gun and not waiting until the 6th season began to start airing them in the daytime slot.