JH23
11-06-2022, 08:36 PM
I am near the end of Season 7 now. I will take a bit of a break and maybe watch the other seasons but I will see.
I wanted to comment on how fun the first 4-5 seasons were. The series did begin to dip in quality starting with Season 6 but IMO there were still some very good episodes. And I know that we all know this but Henry’s acting was phenomenal on HD. The scene where he’s giving the speech in the hospital when Richie almost dies, that felt like real crying and a real breakdown he was having and not just acting. And the entire episode where he goes blind. The dinner table scene where Richie calls him a coward and when his bike has been taken apart and he’s having a meltdown with Richie watching him from the window. You could see back then why Henry Winkler has consistently gotten roles.
Moving back to the series. HD of course went way downhill when Ron and Don left the series at the end of Season 7, so that was the real beginning of the end and a reason why I might not watch Season 8-11 in this rewatch, I did years ago and I definitely felt that they were missing. IMO, if only Ron left, then maybe the other Seasons could have been better but with both Ron leaving and Don leaving, there was no more Richie/Fonzie and Potsie/Ralph duos to play off on each other.
I will say one more thing. I like that HD went on for as long as it did. Okay, maybe not 11 seasons but I don’t get when even fans of HD say that the show should have finished at Season 2 and not gone to a live studio audience. There was enough quality after Season 2 to make some crowd laughter an afterthought.
My pet peeve with the live studio audience of any sitcom is when they laugh at the wrong moment. Like going back to Richie, Potsie and Ralph taking apart Fonzie’s bike the first time. That was supposed to be a serious scene but the audience started laughing. At the end of the episode, Postie and Ralph took apart his bike again because they think Fonzie is still blind - “More therapy” says Ralph -, the audience laughed at that scene as it was genuinely funny and light-hearted. The audience should NOT have laughed at the 1st scene and laughed at the 2nd scene. But I can’t believe that HD wasn’t a great sitcom even with the live studio audience.
I wanted to comment on how fun the first 4-5 seasons were. The series did begin to dip in quality starting with Season 6 but IMO there were still some very good episodes. And I know that we all know this but Henry’s acting was phenomenal on HD. The scene where he’s giving the speech in the hospital when Richie almost dies, that felt like real crying and a real breakdown he was having and not just acting. And the entire episode where he goes blind. The dinner table scene where Richie calls him a coward and when his bike has been taken apart and he’s having a meltdown with Richie watching him from the window. You could see back then why Henry Winkler has consistently gotten roles.
Moving back to the series. HD of course went way downhill when Ron and Don left the series at the end of Season 7, so that was the real beginning of the end and a reason why I might not watch Season 8-11 in this rewatch, I did years ago and I definitely felt that they were missing. IMO, if only Ron left, then maybe the other Seasons could have been better but with both Ron leaving and Don leaving, there was no more Richie/Fonzie and Potsie/Ralph duos to play off on each other.
I will say one more thing. I like that HD went on for as long as it did. Okay, maybe not 11 seasons but I don’t get when even fans of HD say that the show should have finished at Season 2 and not gone to a live studio audience. There was enough quality after Season 2 to make some crowd laughter an afterthought.
My pet peeve with the live studio audience of any sitcom is when they laugh at the wrong moment. Like going back to Richie, Potsie and Ralph taking apart Fonzie’s bike the first time. That was supposed to be a serious scene but the audience started laughing. At the end of the episode, Postie and Ralph took apart his bike again because they think Fonzie is still blind - “More therapy” says Ralph -, the audience laughed at that scene as it was genuinely funny and light-hearted. The audience should NOT have laughed at the 1st scene and laughed at the 2nd scene. But I can’t believe that HD wasn’t a great sitcom even with the live studio audience.