In the fall of 1979, with Sally Struthers and Rob Reiner already having been gone for a year and Jean Stapleton soon to leave her role as Edith, All In The Family underwent a name change to Archie Bunker's Place.

The retooled show focused more on the Archie character and the goings-on at his bar. They even created a new character, Murray Klein (played by Martin Balsam), to be a new foil and someone for Archie to spar with.

With the characters of Gloria, Mike and Edith gone, I think it was a wise move to change the name of the show, which ran for four seasons under the new name.

Based on that, should Happy Days have changed its' name after the departures of Ron Howard and Donny Most?

Personally, I don't feel it was the same show without them and perhaps they could have changed the name of the show to Jefferson High or Fonzie And Friends.

What do you guys and gals think...?

Hmm... Sorry, but "Fonzie and Friends" sounds kind of corny to me. I agree a name change could have worked. Not sure what I would have called it though.

Maybe, but Fonzie and Friends doesn’t sound right to me either. And, really, there’s no crime in NOT changing the title unless it’s named after a star who departs/gets fired (Valerie Harper for example).

Not Really, Happy Days can stick to its rightful show's title

No change. Agreed.

Maybe, but Fonzie and Friends doesn’t sound right to me either. And, really, there’s no crime in NOT changing the title unless it’s named after a star who departs/gets fired (Valerie Harper for example).

I look at it in terms of the fact that I feel the last four seasons of the show were not up to the level of the first seven with Ron Howard and Donny Most. The show wasn't the same without them and I didn't feel that Garry Marshall and the writers hit the same heights with the new replacement characters they created. The tone and style of the show changed too much and not for the better, in my humble opinion.

By retitling All In the Family into Archie Bunker's Place, I think of them as two separate shows, a great one (AITF) and a good one (ABP).

And I do agree that Fonzie And Friends would not have been a good title change -- it was just something I came up with off the top of my head.

:)

Hmm... Sorry, but "Fonzie and Friends" sounds kind of corny to me. I agree a name change could have worked. Not sure what I would have called it though.

Fonzie and Friends, that sounds like a spinoff if you ask me

There was a Saturday Morning kids show, titled, Fonzie and The Happy Days Gang. I think Fonzie went into Outer Space, or something.

There was a Saturday Morning kids show, titled, Fonzie and The Happy Days Gang. I think Fonzie went into Outer Space, or something.

Yep.