The early episodes will always be my favorite because the show perfected the image of the 1950's. Happy Days was the only show in history to capture the real visuals of an decade. It felt like I was actually there.
Later on, the show lost its magic. It started to look like Welcome Back Karter. I never understood the change in presence? The show took a 80 degree dive away from the 50's look. When the decade changed on Happy Days, they didn't do a good job protraying the 1960's. I felt like the show was protraying the late/early 80's. It'll always be a mystery to me.

Yeah, once the show started taping in front of a live audience, they really started slipping with keepings things looking 1950's.
The most glaring thing I always notice is the hair. It may have been the 50's, but Richie, Ralph and Potsie looked all 70's.

When they show it again, I'll have to pay closer attention. I know Fonzie used to wear a lot of boot cut jeans but i didnt notice anyone wearing bellbottoms. Weird.

During the seasons when the boys were in College, Ralph is sporting a very late 70's afro, and Chachi at times had hair that was practically down to his shoulders.
Now I know the show was moving into the 60's by then, but this is pre-Kennedy 1960's, not Woodstock 1960's!

I noticed also that the music seemed less of a nostalgic nature as the years went by. Some of it seemed like it was original instead of from the 60's. The one from the Chicago Sock Hop episode with "Moonlight Love" by Leather & the Happy Days Band would be an example.

Please, don't get me started about Leather Tuscadero.
Her look was right out of the 70's.

I agree the show suffered one anachronism too many once the moved into the 60's. But actually they once had an American flag with 50 stars in an ep set in 1956. Think about that!

Originally posted by TJL
Please, don't get me started about Leather Tuscadero.
Her look was right out of the 70's. :lol: You're right TJL. The way I sorted that out was that she was way ahead of her time. :lol:

Agreed!! Potsie and Ralph had long-ish hair, Chachi had very lnog hair, JOanie looked older, Howard looked older in the last four seaosn, Marion was getting longer hair during that time too, and Arnol'ds looked like something out of a western movie, like that palce in the Kat Mandu episode with a jukebox and benches and a much cleaner place with high school and college signs also looknig 70s and 80s Potsie hair after putting Chachi's incredo wax in it LOL!! I still got it!!

Originally posted by ficlopri
I agree the show suffered one anachronism too many once the moved into the 60's. But actually they once had an American flag with 50 stars in an ep set in 1956. Think about that!

Well, at least they had the right number of stars on the flag. But, I also think that the fashion seemed a bit out of place.

Ritchie looks soooo 1970's they didn't keep the 1950's things up very long. All the girls on there were not dress like the 1950's...

Please, don't get me started about Leather Tuscadero.
Her look was right out of the 70's.

Her look was well good and can I have a pic of her please?

Her look was well good and can I have a pic of her please?
Suzi Quatro as Leather Tuscadero
Use www.Google.com and www.youtube.com for more!
http://t.imgbox.com/adveSkIe.jpg (http://imgbox.com/adveSkIe) http://t.imgbox.com/adi4XKCe.jpg (http://imgbox.com/adi4XKCe)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13XVTPsHPf8

I once read elsewhere that the move away from older fashions was a budgetary thing. Apparently the producers just didn't want to incur the extra expense of period clothing (or the network had really clamped down on their budget).

Off-the-rack stuff available in all sizes was no doubt cheaper than vintage wardrobes, which would likely also need more work in the way of alterations.

As a kid growing up in the seventies the later seasons gave me a very distorted view of fifties fashions and haircuts.

I think that as Happy days went into the 60s late in its run, the fashions and hairstyles started changing. Also, the episode where there was folk music on the jukebox signified that the show was set before the Beatles started the British Invasion in 1964.

That's true as far as 60s -- for example, look at the later seasons of Laverne & Shirley, with the year in a banner at the end of the intro -- they go right up to circa 1967.

Much of Happy Days does in fact take place in the 1960s. However, there was still a lot of inaccuracy regarding hair length/styles and fashions.

Everything about the show suffered when they let them dress themselfs and wear their own hair styles.
http://t.imgbox.com/acnI7Fgz.jpg (http://imgbox.com/acnI7Fgz)
When were these hair styles EVER popular in the late 50s?

Was wardrobe really that expensive to maintain on Happy Days?
At least send Chaichi to a barber, I mean really?

Everything about the show suffered when they let them dress themselfs and wear their own hair styles.
http://t.imgbox.com/acnI7Fgz.jpg (http://imgbox.com/acnI7Fgz)
When were these hair styles EVER popular in the late 50s?

Was wardrobe really that expensive to maintain on Happy Days?
At least send Chaichi to a barber, I mean really?


That is exactly why I only want the first 7 seasons on DVD. Season 8 is when the hell bound handbasket arrived in the station.

http://t.imgbox.com/acfOvmOe.jpg (http://imgbox.com/acfOvmOe) http://t.imgbox.com/addJ4iOX.jpg (http://imgbox.com/addJ4iOX)
Not to mention Some of the wardrobe they had Fonz wear he looked kike Henry Winkler trying to act like the Fonz instead of the other way around. It was just to weird looking to see him out of his leather jacket so often. Fortunately they started to watch their own show and put him back into his leather jacket more.

http://t.imgbox.com/abe5koZL.jpg (http://imgbox.com/abe5koZL)
AND+ Don't even get me started on this episode in Season 11 "Fonzie's Spots" Howard's position as the Grand Poobah at the Leopard Lodge is threatened when he realizes that he hasn't recruited any new members in the past five years (except for Potsie), so Fonzie, Roger, and Chachi agree to join. They regret their decision when learning that Potsie is the pledge master.

Potsie (with great pleasure) is humiliating Fonz with these stupid sorority pledge dares and making him jump thru hoops to join. What did Fonz ever do to Postie to deserve this? This episode really pissed me off to belittle Fonzie like this was just awful. Talk about taking advantage of a nice guy. Clearly the writers just had nothing left to write about for the show any longer.

AND+ Don't even get me started on this episode in Season 11 "Fonzie's Spots"

That episode was burned off in September 1984, several weeks AFTER Happy Days was cancelled! :lol:

That episode was burned off in September 1984, several weeks AFTER Happy Days was cancelled! :lol:
This was one of the worst episodes TOO in my opinion and the network was justified to cancel Happy Days after this one. I can even remember watching this, and thinking wow this show has really gone downhill and has nothing left to offer us.

It's funny you should all bring this up . I was in sixth grade during the 1973 -- 1974 school year . One day, it was announced that there was going to be a "Fifties Day" and everybody in my grade was supposed to dress like somebody in the 1950s . This wasn't a homework activity, but something we did "for fun" .

My parents thought for a while, and they concluded that people in the 1950s didn't dress much differently from people in the 1970s . They weren't the most fashion conscious people in the world . I was only twelve years old at that point, and I didn't know any better than they did . It had been only twelve years since 1961, and fashions don't change much in twelve years ( I realize there are exceptions ) .

The next day at my school, "Fifties Day" was a bust . I guess nobody knew any better than my parents did . I AM aware that the costume designers of Happy Days really phoned it in during the last few seasons . I thought actors in the 1970s and 1980s who appeared in a TV show about the 1950s and 1960s had hairstyles from the 1970s and 1980s . That still doesn't excuse the modern -- day clothing .

My parents thought for a while, and they concluded that people in the 1950s didn't dress much differently from people in the 1970s.

I agree with you about the clothing (for the most part) TRUE. Jeans and a T-Shirt NEVER went out of style in the 50s and is still worn every where today, HOWEVER one word : FLIP. Wat were they thinking? I mean come on? REALLY?

I do not recall high cut off shirt EVER being a style in the 50s.

Girls were the exception and wore long poodle dresses and had different hair styles and did not wear pants in the 50s.

Not to mention Some of the wardrobe they had Fonz wear he looked kike Henry Winkler


Daaayum!...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070992/board/flat/209103374?p=1

What was the worst anachronism on "Happy Days? There was Chachi's hairstyle, of course. The bandanna around his leg also looked ridiculous. But I think I saw something worse. On the 1982 episode "A Case of Revenge" featuring Tom Hanks as a guest there was a guy at the new Arnold's wearing a half shirt. Really ... really?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070992/board/flat/209103374?p=1

TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU! HERE'S MORE+
http://www.scharplingandwurster.com/?p=242

The show was full of nostalgia in the early seasons. The producers worked hard to make the show look as authentic to the 1950s as possible (though there were occasional glitches, like the previously-mentioned flag having the wrong number of stars).

But as the seasons passed, the producers and other staff got lazy, and stopped paying attention to wardrobe and hairstyles. Erin Moran's goofy 80s perm, Chachi's... well, everything about Chachi, and the new characters who were added later had nothing to do with the 1950s or the early 1960s.

I only watch the older episodes.

Yeah, once the show started taping in front of a live audience, they really started slipping with keepings things looking 1950's.
The most glaring thing I always notice is the hair. It may have been the 50's, but Richie, Ralph and Potsie looked all 70's.

The hair for sure was way off... just a complete lack of realism in television of that time. Now that Happy Days is 40 years from the 1970s, at least it works as nostalgia for /that/ era!

http://t.imgbox.com/acfOvmOe.jpg (http://imgbox.com/acfOvmOe) http://t.imgbox.com/addJ4iOX.jpg (http://imgbox.com/addJ4iOX)
Not to mention Some of the wardrobe they had Fonz wear he looked kike Henry Winkler trying to act like the Fonz instead of the other way around. It was just to weird looking to see him out of his leather jacket so often. Fortunately they started to watch their own show and put him back into his leather jacket more.

http://t.imgbox.com/abe5koZL.jpg (http://imgbox.com/abe5koZL)
AND+ Don't even get me started on this episode in Season 11 "Fonzie's Spots" Howard's position as the Grand Poobah at the Leopard Lodge is threatened when he realizes that he hasn't recruited any new members in the past five years (except for Potsie), so Fonzie, Roger, and Chachi agree to join. They regret their decision when learning that Potsie is the pledge master.

Potsie (with great pleasure) is humiliating Fonz with these stupid sorority pledge dares and making him jump thru hoops to join. What did Fonz ever do to Postie to deserve this? This episode really pissed me off to belittle Fonzie like this was just awful. Talk about taking advantage of a nice guy. Clearly the writers just had nothing left to write about for the show any longer.

Good Lord, I had stopped seriously following Happy Days early on, probably second season or so, but had been on with it from that first Love American Style segment... I had no idea things had grown this bad, in fact I'm surprised to see that the series made it so far into the 1980s at all!

The show was full of nostalgia in the early seasons. The producers worked hard to make the show look as authentic to the 1950s as possible (though there were occasional glitches, like the previously-mentioned flag having the wrong number of stars).

But as the seasons passed, the producers and other staff got lazy, and stopped paying attention to wardrobe and hairstyles. Erin Moran's goofy 80s perm, Chachi's... well, everything about Chachi, and the new characters who were added later had nothing to do with the 1950s or the early 1960s.

I only watch the older episodes.

Agreed, there was a time Happy Days was a pretty fine show.

I only watch the older episodes.

Same here.

That episode was burned off in September 1984, several weeks AFTER Happy Days was cancelled! :lol:

What's more, the episode was filmed more than a year before its original air date, since a clip from it (Chachi & Roger hit each other with cream pies instead of Fonzie, having expected Potsie to come through the door instead.) appeared in the S11 opening credits. A funny clip from the 1992 Happy Days reunion showed that Baio & McGinley creamed Winkler instead of each other in what had to be an earlier take.

I just wish they could have at least "TRIED" to keep it Looking more like the late 1950's or early 1960's. Does wardrobe, hair and makeup really cost that much?
http://thumbnails110.imagebam.com/30116/8e1e27301152027.jpg (http://www.imagebam.com/image/8e1e27301152027)
At the VERY LEAST, if Chiachi is NOT going to get his hair cut, couldn't they at least have slicked it back? Is moose or Brylcreem that costly? I just found it insulting and offensive. Even as a little kid I noticed that it was ALL wrong.
The writes, directors, and producers HAD TO HAVE KNOW THIS?

In the early seasons before they had the live audience, it was an accurate portrayal. After that, it went downhill.

Another glaring anachronism from the show's last years in the early 80s: Howard Cunningham was apparently the first on his block with a digital wristwatch, in several episodes.

I honestly never really noticed and never really cared. Of course, I think the same argument could be made for "That '70s Show" and perhaps other period shows.

Season 8 Episode 10 - It Only Hurts When I Smile - Richie's WIFE Lori Beth is wearing Shiny black Disco pants.
http://thumbnails112.imagebam.com/33214/be5ea6332133429.jpg (http://www.imagebam.com/image/be5ea6332133429)
WHEN and WHAT YEAR in the 50s or 60s was this EVER worn? But even, so, NO OTHER waitress in Arnold's is wearing these shiny black Disco pants, so it's not a uniform right?

http://thumbnails109.imagebam.com/33214/cbd782332133907.jpg (http://www.imagebam.com/image/cbd782332133907)
UNLESS perhaps they are trying to duplicate the Look from Sandy in Grease?

Can anyone explain this? And I do remember Jenny Picolo also wearing shiny skin tight Disco Pants too in other episodes too!

I read somewhere it was because of budget constraints...In other words, it cost too much to pay the wardrobe dept. to go out and find the clothing necessary to recreate the look....Also the hairdressers needed to be paid as well to recreate the "do's" back in the 50's/60's....Same thing happened on L&S and the Waltons show too...

Couldn't they have just saved some of the clothes they wore in previous episodes? I mean it's not like the clothes would get worn out right? Or is it because the clothes no longer fit them or something? I dunno. It just bothers me, stuff like this.

I'm glad The Wonder Years stayed the way it do from beginning to the end. Happy Days became a mess.

I'm glad The Wonder Years stayed the way it do from beginning to the end. Happy Days became a mess.
I agree with you 100%

Everything about the show suffered when they let them dress themselfs and wear their own hair styles.
http://t.imgbox.com/acnI7Fgz.jpg (http://imgbox.com/acnI7Fgz)
When were these hair styles EVER popular in the late 50s?

Was wardrobe really that expensive to maintain on Happy Days?
At least send Chaichi to a barber, I mean really?

Happy Days started to get less period oriented during the end of the Ron Howard era, but once they rebooted with Joanie and Chachi as the main teens - they through everything out the window. The only thing they did was have the girls wear short skirts since it was now the sixties (miniskirts really weren't in style at the time), although even then they were not accurate to 1965 and were paired with shirts, hair, make-up of the early '80s.

Does anyone know what time frame the show was supposed to take place in, exactly? I think it started around 1957 and since it ran 10 years, it ended around 1967.


Does that sound about right?

Does anyone know what time frame the show was supposed to take place in, exactly? I think it started around 1957 and since it ran 10 years, it ended around 1967.


Does that sound about right?
The first season was supposed to be around 1955-'56.

The first season was supposed to be around 1955-'56.

Thanks. That puts stuff like Chachi's hair and some of the wardrobes even more out of sync. Around these parts, 1965 was still pretty much the 50's, style wise.

The first season was the best.

Suzi Quatro as Leather Tuscadero
http://t.imgbox.com/adveSkIe.jpg (http://imgbox.com/adveSkIe) http://t.imgbox.com/adi4XKCe.jpg (http://imgbox.com/adi4XKCe)

Thanks for the pic, dude

I once read elsewhere that the move away from older fashions was a budgetary thing. Apparently the producers just didn't want to incur the extra expense of period clothing (or the network had really clamped down on their budget).

Off-the-rack stuff available in all sizes was no doubt cheaper than vintage wardrobes, which would likely also need more work in the way of alterations.

I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that Happy Days and its sister show, Laverne & Shirley quickly lost their credibility as authentic '50s period piece fare because Garry Marshall at the end of the day, just wasn't capable of character-integrity (we already got a hint of that when Happy Days went from a single-camera show in the vein of American Graffiti or Summer of '42 to a multi-camera, studio audience sitcom) nor does he have the discipline to do period piece series. Rightly or wrongly, Garry Marshall's forte was broad, loud, and simple comedy that could appeal to little kids.

Thanks. That puts stuff like Chachi's hair and some of the wardrobes even more out of sync. Around these parts, 1965 was still pretty much the 50's, style wise.

Somebody online (https://web.archive.org/web/20140407131356/http://forums.televisionwithoutpity.com/topic/3116785-happy-days-where-the-shark-was-first-jumped/page-16#entry15462268) theorized that Garry Marshall wanted Scott Baio to keep his '70s era feathered hairstyle because he was a teen idol.