Potsie and the Finale

[ILUVO&H]

Something I always wondered, anyone know why Potsie (Anson Williams) wasn't in the last episode of the Happy Days?

I know he wasn't in very many episodes that last season, but he was still a cast member, an original one at that dating back to the pilot that aired on Love, American Style so I always found it odd and sad that he wasn't in the last episode.

[caladon]

I'm not sure where I read this; could have been here; but I remember reading that when asked why he wasn't in the final episode Anson Williams replied "Because I wasn't asked."

[Smartboy]

I would think that, because of how good a friend Potsie was to the Fonz, the Fonz would have been insulted in Joanie and Chachi did not invite him.

[anglemark10]

Originally Posted by caladon

I'm not sure where I read this; could have been here; but I remember reading that when asked why he wasn't in the final episode Anson Williams replied "Because I wasn't asked."

I think that was in reference to Donny Most, not Anson Williams. It is very possible, though, that the same could be true for Williams.

[Chachi'88]

for me it is normal that lacked Potsie and Ralph in the final

I never felt that Joanie and Chachi were friends Potsie or Ralph. so that the center with their marriage ?

[MikeLutton]

i feel bad for both of them they was in the original happy days and deserved to be in the final it not the joanie chacie show its happy days

[Julius Cepeda]

Originally Posted by Chachi'88

for me it is normal that lacked Potsie and Ralph in the final

I never felt that Joanie and Chachi were friends Potsie or Ralph. so that the center with their marriage ?

Actually I always thought Joanie and Potsie had a special friendship because of the crush she had on him. In one of the best Happy Days episodes ever, she had a crush on Potsie. See season 3, episode #53- They Call It Potsie Love (12/2/75).

I think it was not fitting that Potsie and Ralph were not in the final episode, and this shows how far the writers and producers had lost touch with the original concept of the series.

[TV_on_the_Porch]

Anson Williams quit midway through production of the final season. Happy Days' lag between production and airing of episodes was on the long side (the finale was filmed in November of '83) and episodes were broadcast way out of the order in which they were produced. Hence Potsie appeared throughout the final season, making his absence from the finale more apparent and mysterious at the time. Yes, I remember this very same subject as water cooler conversation in May, 1984.

Potsie would turn up again in first-run episodes later in the summer that were supposed to air prior to the finale, but ABC ran out of time prior to Sweeps week.

[biffbronson]

Thanks for all of the great info. This is another good case in favor of watching episodes in the production order rather than the original broadcast order. I know there are many who prefer the opposite, but sometimes production order viewing seems far preferable.

It also helps in an earlier season, so that we don't end up seeing the "old" Arnolds Drive-In in an episode originally aired after the place had burned down (held until later)!!

[ILUVO&H]

Originally Posted by TDRyan

Anson Williams quit midway through production of the final season. Happy Days' lag between production and airing of episodes was on the long side (the finale was filmed in November of '83) and episodes were broadcast way out of the order in which they were produced. Hence Potsie appeared throughout the final season, making his absence from the finale more apparent and mysterious at the time. Yes, I remember this very same subject as water cooler conversation in May, 1984.

Potsie would turn up again in first-run episodes later in the summer that were supposed to air prior to the finale, but ABC ran out of time prior to Sweeps week.

Thanks for the information! I didn't know Anson had left the show midway through the last season. Can't blame him, they didn't use him at all. It was a shame how they kept dumbing down Potsie year after after. They wrote him as dumb as Lenny and Squiggy yet he was in graduate school. And a shame that after all that time he leaves the show, an original cast member and they don't even acknowledge it or give him a farwell episode.

I remember those last few first run episodes being aired during the summer of '84. I know one of them was the episode where Chachi has diabetis.

[tmac81s]

[QUOTE=biffbronson]Thanks for all of the great info. This is another good case in favor of watching episodes in the production order rather than the original broadcast order. I know there are many who prefer the opposite, but sometimes production order viewing seems far preferable.
[QUOTE]


I agree. Production order is the way I prefer to see them. Since, for the most part, that is usually the way they were intended to be seen! (with some exceptions here in there, usually to to an actor's schedule, etc.)

Networks usually air the episodes featuring a big event/guest star/etc. during sweeps weeks, it has no bearing on how episodes were intended to be viewed. (The original Star Trek series was also aired greatly out of order--the second pilot with different costumes, actors and sets aired as the third episode!) Sadly, with many DVD releases,they put them in airdate order, but syndication generally shows them in production order. (Also, since many of us watched these shows for the first time in syndication--the original airdate order has little meaning!)

[Marvo301]

I think it would have been very appropriate to have Potsie sing a solo at Joannie and Chachi's wedding like he did at Ritchie and Loribeth's wedding. It's disappointing that it never happened.

[cleverfun3000]