IF RONNY AND DONNY DID NOT LEAVE THE SHOW ITWOULD HAVE BEEN ON LONGER - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

studd911 · 02-16-2011, 02:49 AM

IF RONNY AND DONNY DID NOT LEAVE THE SHOW IT WOULD HAVE BEEN ON LONGER, AND I THINK IT WOULD HAVE ENDED SOMEWHERE IN THE LATE 80'S ABOUT 87 0R 88

Marvo301 · 02-16-2011, 03:40 AM

I don't know if the show would have lasted longer had Ron Howard and Donny Most not left but the last few seasons definitely would have been better!

WalrusIsPaul · 02-18-2011, 02:21 PM

I doubt it would have gone on much farther then what it did. They would have all graduated and joannie married. Kinda would have run out of story lines and being older wouldn't have looked right hangin out at arnolds anymore etc. Being all grown up and out of school & college those storylines would have run its course

Waterston_Fan · 02-18-2011, 03:15 PM

I agree, I'm not sure it would have lasted as long. I don't even know if they showed a ceremony for Joanie's graduation?

Notice, the last few years of the show, you didn't see too much of Arnold's so I agree that it wouldn't look right for them to hang out there when they are grown up.

studd911 · 02-18-2011, 11:10 PM

i think it would have lasted a long while because the show was that much popular, and they dealt with different issues, and even though fonzie was the main character everything was not just on him it was on other people, and while ron and donny was there it made you want to watch it every week, and i believe that it was a hard decision for ron and donny to leave which to me why i think happy days did not do as well but i still think that if ronny and donny was still there it might would have lasted a good while.

dave insinga · 02-27-2011, 01:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by studd911

IF RONNY AND DONNY DID NOT LEAVE THE SHOW IT WOULD HAVE BEEN ON LONGER, AND I THINK IT WOULD HAVE ENDED SOMEWHERE IN THE LATE 80'S ABOUT 87 0R 88

i doubt it 11 years is an eternity for any series let alone a sitcom,so i don't think ron howard or don most could have made a differance

thebabymysweet · 05-22-2011, 10:03 PM

An intriguing question is raised here:
Would "Happy Days" have lasted much longer as a television series
if Ron Howard and Donny Most did not leave the show in 1980??

Perhaps not likely, given the fact that the series milestone of "jumping the shark"
had already occurred in the three-part "Hollywood" episode which aired during September 1977.

"This historic three-part storyline eventually gave rise to the frequent usage of
the popular TV series colloquialism 'jumping the shark' mainly due to
the climactic scene where the Fonz water-skis and jumps over a penned-in shark tank.

Looking back many years afterwards, one has to admire the forward-thinking judgment of
the sitcom's creator Gary Marshall in hiring the talented youngster Scott Baio as tough street kid Chachi
during a time when the program was still number one in the ratings and seemingly did not yet require
the further addition of new younger characters who might serve to pump some fresh blood within the show.

After the departure of Ron Howard and Donny Most from the series three years later,
the focal point became the turbulent romance of Scott Baio and Erin Moran as teenage sweethearts
Chachi Arcola and Joanie Cunningham which carried 'Happy Days' onward to continuous ratings success."

(The Scott Baio Fan Blog, scottbaio.wordpress.com)

In the final analysis, "Happy Days" did last and even thrived as a popular TV series
after Ron Howard and Donny Most left back in 1980.
And the show would have continued to survive without them if not for
the later departures of Scott Baio and Erin Moran due to the spinoff
"Joanie Loves Chachi" which ended up spreading their valuable resources much too thinly.

Their ultimate error lay in completely separating "the heart" (Chachi and Joanie)
from "the spirit or soul" (Fonzie) and "the body" (the rest of the ensemble cast) of "Happy Days"
during their later years. Big mistake.

mets82 · 05-22-2011, 10:50 PM

Ive always felt that when Richie and Ralph left the show, maybe they should've ended the show. I mean I mentioned on another thread about how the writing kind of was all over the place toward the end of the series. Ex., when and if did Joanie and Chacai graduate high school, where did K.C. and Flip go, etc.

I mean I could make the argument that when the gang graduated high school, they could've ended the show. I just think when they went to college, it was different than high school. I cant put my finger on it but it was. I'll be honest, I think Chacai annoyed me in the earlier episodes. I might have added Chacai later maybe after Richie and Ralph left to fill a void. This might sound radical too but I dont think I would've put Richie and Lori Beth together so soon after Richie started college. Have Richie date because lets face it, Richie dating in high school w/o a steady girlfriend was fun. Why mess with success?
I could see maybe Richie and Lori Beth getting together, then getting serious and then in Richie's final episode he either pops the question to Lori Beth or pops the question and they show the wedding and that could be his sendoff.
There really wasnt a sendoff for Richie or Ralph. They just said they were in the Army and thats it. And btw, I cant see Richie or Ralph enlisting in the Army. I mean Richie was so Apple Pie and Ralph was such a comedian and I cant see them in combat but thats just me.

Waterston_Fan · 05-22-2011, 10:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mets82

Ive always felt that when Richie and Ralph left the show, maybe they should've ended the show. I mean I mentioned on another thread about how the writing kind of was all over the place toward the end of the series. Ex., when and if did Joanie and Chacai graduate high school, where did K.C. and Flip go, etc.

I mean I could make the argument that when the gang graduated high school, they could've ended the show. I just think when they went to college, it was different than high school. I cant put my finger on it but it was. I'll be honest, I think Chacai annoyed me in the earlier episodes. I might have added Chacai later maybe after Richie and Ralph left to fill a void. This might sound radical too but I dont think I would've put Richie and Lori Beth together so soon after Richie started college. Have Richie date because lets face it, Richie dating in high school w/o a steady girlfriend was fun. Why mess with success?
I could see maybe Richie and Lori Beth getting together, then getting serious and then in Richie's final episode he either pops the question to Lori Beth or pops the question and they show the wedding and that could be his sendoff.
There really wasnt a sendoff for Richie or Ralph. They just said they were in the Army and thats it. And btw, I cant see Richie or Ralph enlisting in the Army. I mean Richie was so Apple Pie and Ralph was such a comedian and I cant see them in combat but thats just me.

The thing is, they had to come up with something as to D/R since they probably wanted to leave the show. And you always hear that Howard was in the army kind of thing so, it could fit that Richie decided to try for the army.

thebabymysweet · 06-14-2011, 09:23 PM

The true significance of Richie and Ralph leaving "Happy Days"
somewhere in the middle of their hit show's lengthy run
might be best properly understood within the context of the program's
shifting formulas of success before and after their departures.

In the early years, the main focus of the series was THE GANG
whose individual members symbolically resembled the various ingredients of a delicious ice cream parfait sundae:

Richie Cunningham was the vanilla ice cream.
Arthur "The Fonz" Fonzarelli was the chocolate ice cream.
Potsie Webber and Ralph Malph were the surrounding nuts, fruits, wafers and sprinkles.
Finally, Chachi Arcola represented the whipped cream and red cherry on top of this entire dessert.

But when Richie and Ralph left, said formula of success was negatively altered permanently.
Henry Winkler lost his best acting partner in Ron Howard, compromising the primary Fonzie/Richie comradeship.
while Anson Williams lost his best acting partner in Donny Most, compromising the secondary Potsie/Ralph friendship.

Series creator Gary Marshall attempted to remedy this problematic situation
by introducing Ted McGinley as Roger Phillips and other additional characters on the show.

But what really saved "Happy Days" in their later years was unquestionably
the love team of Scott Baio and Erin Moran as Chachi Arcola and Joanie Cunningham.
Together with the still very popular Fonzie, they formed THE CENTRAL TRINITY
which served as the later foundation for their show's continuous ratings success.

"Happy Days" did last and even thrived as a popular TV series after Ron Howard and Donny Most left back in 1980.
And the show would have continued to survive without them if not for the later departures of
Scott Baio and Erin Moran due to the spinoff "Joanie Loves Chachi"
which finally ended up spreading their valuable resources much too thinly.

Their ultimate mistake lay in separating THE HEART (Chachi and Joanie)
from THE SPIRIT (Fonzie) and THE BODY (the rest of the ensemble cast) of the program during their later years.

Mr. Television · 06-14-2011, 09:51 PM

The show had already slipped in the ratings before RH and DM left. It went from being ranked #4 in 1979 to #17 in 1980. The show actually improved to #15 the first year without RH and DM. I always enjoyed the later seasons. It wasn't as good as the RH years but it was better than what L&S became in it's later years. HD ran for 11 seasons. It was not going to last much longer even if RH and DM had stayed.

jsgtrman · 06-17-2011, 12:13 AM

Even though it had the same name for it's entire run, I always considered the last 4 seasons as a spinoff. It really was quite a different show, writing style, and dynamics involved, including all the new characters. It kept enough of the original settings and storylines that were already established by the "original" series, but it certainly had the feel of a spinoff in my opinion. THEN it spun off again with Joanie and Chachi.

... and then AGAIN with the Fonzie/ Ashley business.

They did good to keep it going for so long, the "spinoff" stuff was better than nothing for sure to keep following the storylines/ lives of the characters we were growing up with. The last season of "spinoff" was the better of the 4 latter seasons, but everything runs it's course.

thebabymysweet · 07-18-2012, 10:10 PM

THOM HOLBROOK, CROSSOVERS AND SPIN-OFFS :

"I have to question the move to spin off
Chachi Arcola (Scott Baio) and Joanie Cunningham (Erin Moran).
They became the HEART of 'Happy Days' at this point.
Joanie's older brother Richie (Ron Howard) and his friends,
the original stars of the show, were long over with.
Richie and Ralph (Donny Most) were gone from the series.
That left just Potsie (Anson Williams) who was getting to be
a more annoying than amusing idiot. And he had no one to play against.
The central cast was now much younger than he was
and all the older characters seemed much too smart to want to associate with such a moron.

Fonzie (Henry Winkler) was still too cool to be seen with this dweeb.
But even the Fonz himself was getting a little long in the tooth.
No longer the young rebel, he was now a teacher,
full-time owner of a car repair garage, and part-owner of Arnold's Diner.
And let's face it: no one was tuning in for the rollicking adventures of
middle-aged parents Howard (Tom Bosley) and Marion (Marion Ross).

To fill the void left by the departures of Joanie and Chachi,
'Happy Days' brought in a number of new characters.
Suddenly, Howard's niece K.C. (Crystal Bernard) moved in with the Cunninghams.
When Richie previously left with Ralph, Marion's nephew Roger (Ted McGinley)
had been brought onto the show and now his young brother Flip (Billy Warlock) was introduced.
When you start bringing in tons of cousins to fill gaps in the cast, it's a bad sign.
'Happy Days' started looking very old and I think that feeling carried over
to all the other shows connected with it."

(The Scott Baio Fan Blog @ scottbaio.wordpress.com)

"Happy Days" did last and even thrived as a popular TV series after Ron Howard and Donny Most left back in 1980.
And the show would have continued to survive without them if not for the later departures of
Scott Baio and Erin Moran due to the spin-off "Joanie Loves Chachi"
which finally ended up spreading their resources much too thinly.

Their ultimate mistake lay in separating the HEART (Chachi and Joanie)
from the SPIRIT (Fonzie) and the BODY (the rest of the ensemble cast) of the program during their later years.

Race's Girl · 12-17-2012, 09:12 AM

True but if Potsie left at the same time Ralph and Richie did, I think he should've had his own show

mjd13076 · 12-17-2012, 03:29 PM

I believe the show would have lasted less had they both remained with the show. I would have liked to have seen more guest appearances from both Ron and Don but I guess that wasn't a thought (?). It was too abrupt, though. What I mean is, you see the last episode of Season 7 and then the first episode of Season 8, it's just mentioned by Fonz in less than 5 seconds. For such an integral character, you would have imagined Ron and Gary would have at least had a send-off episode. It would have been all sugary and all that but at least do it for the fans. Not only that, I read a long time ago in an old news article from the time, Ron Howard decided to call it quits two weeks before they were to begin shooting for Season 8!!!

02-16-2011, 03:40 AM	#2
Marvo301 I'm NOT a Blockhead! Forum Celebrity Join Date: May 17, 2002 Location: The Great White North Posts: 21,450	I don't know if the show would have lasted longer had Ron Howard and Donny Most not left but the last few seasons definitely would have been better!
	__________________ Only a life lived for others is worth living. Albert Einstein A life isn't worth living unless it has impact on other lives. Jackie Robinson Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man. Benjamin Franklin

06-14-2011, 09:23 PM	#10
thebabymysweet Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Sep 14, 2010 Location: United States Posts: 148	The true significance of Richie and Ralph leaving "Happy Days" somewhere in the middle of their hit show's lengthy run might be best properly understood within the context of the program's shifting formulas of success before and after their departures. In the early years, the main focus of the series was THE GANG whose individual members symbolically resembled the various ingredients of a delicious ice cream parfait sundae: Richie Cunningham was the vanilla ice cream. Arthur "The Fonz" Fonzarelli was the chocolate ice cream. Potsie Webber and Ralph Malph were the surrounding nuts, fruits, wafers and sprinkles. Finally, Chachi Arcola represented the whipped cream and red cherry on top of this entire dessert. But when Richie and Ralph left, said formula of success was negatively altered permanently. Henry Winkler lost his best acting partner in Ron Howard, compromising the primary Fonzie/Richie comradeship. while Anson Williams lost his best acting partner in Donny Most, compromising the secondary Potsie/Ralph friendship. Series creator Gary Marshall attempted to remedy this problematic situation by introducing Ted McGinley as Roger Phillips and other additional characters on the show. But what really saved "Happy Days" in their later years was unquestionably the love team of Scott Baio and Erin Moran as Chachi Arcola and Joanie Cunningham. Together with the still very popular Fonzie, they formed THE CENTRAL TRINITY which served as the later foundation for their show's continuous ratings success. "Happy Days" did last and even thrived as a popular TV series after Ron Howard and Donny Most left back in 1980. And the show would have continued to survive without them if not for the later departures of Scott Baio and Erin Moran due to the spinoff "Joanie Loves Chachi" which finally ended up spreading their valuable resources much too thinly. Their ultimate mistake lay in separating THE HEART (Chachi and Joanie) from THE SPIRIT (Fonzie) and THE BODY (the rest of the ensemble cast) of the program during their later years.
	Last edited by thebabymysweet; 06-14-2011 at 09:44 PM.

06-14-2011, 09:51 PM	#11
Mr. Television 22 Years at Sitcoms Online Forum Icon Join Date: Jun 06, 2003 Location: Somewhere you're Not Posts: 62,125	The show had already slipped in the ratings before RH and DM left. It went from being ranked #4 in 1979 to #17 in 1980. The show actually improved to #15 the first year without RH and DM. I always enjoyed the later seasons. It wasn't as good as the RH years but it was better than what L&S became in it's later years. HD ran for 11 seasons. It was not going to last much longer even if RH and DM had stayed.
	__________________ Sonny

07-18-2012, 10:10 PM	#13
thebabymysweet Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Sep 14, 2010 Location: United States Posts: 148	THOM HOLBROOK, CROSSOVERS AND SPIN-OFFS : "I have to question the move to spin off Chachi Arcola (Scott Baio) and Joanie Cunningham (Erin Moran). They became the HEART of 'Happy Days' at this point. Joanie's older brother Richie (Ron Howard) and his friends, the original stars of the show, were long over with. Richie and Ralph (Donny Most) were gone from the series. That left just Potsie (Anson Williams) who was getting to be a more annoying than amusing idiot. And he had no one to play against. The central cast was now much younger than he was and all the older characters seemed much too smart to want to associate with such a moron. Fonzie (Henry Winkler) was still too cool to be seen with this dweeb. But even the Fonz himself was getting a little long in the tooth. No longer the young rebel, he was now a teacher, full-time owner of a car repair garage, and part-owner of Arnold's Diner. And let's face it: no one was tuning in for the rollicking adventures of middle-aged parents Howard (Tom Bosley) and Marion (Marion Ross). To fill the void left by the departures of Joanie and Chachi, 'Happy Days' brought in a number of new characters. Suddenly, Howard's niece K.C. (Crystal Bernard) moved in with the Cunninghams. When Richie previously left with Ralph, Marion's nephew Roger (Ted McGinley) had been brought onto the show and now his young brother Flip (Billy Warlock) was introduced. When you start bringing in tons of cousins to fill gaps in the cast, it's a bad sign. 'Happy Days' started looking very old and I think that feeling carried over to all the other shows connected with it." (The Scott Baio Fan Blog @ scottbaio.wordpress.com) "Happy Days" did last and even thrived as a popular TV series after Ron Howard and Donny Most left back in 1980. And the show would have continued to survive without them if not for the later departures of Scott Baio and Erin Moran due to the spin-off "Joanie Loves Chachi" which finally ended up spreading their resources much too thinly. Their ultimate mistake lay in separating the HEART (Chachi and Joanie) from the SPIRIT (Fonzie) and the BODY (the rest of the ensemble cast) of the program during their later years.
	Last edited by thebabymysweet; 07-18-2012 at 10:33 PM.

12-17-2012, 09:12 AM	#14
Race's Girl Miss Tremendous Forum Celebrity Join Date: Jan 26, 2005 Location: On Fonzie's bike in front of Arnold's Posts: 22,970	True but if Potsie left at the same time Ralph and Richie did, I think he should've had his own show
	__________________ Girls rock so there, boys.

02-16-2011, 02:49 AM	#1
studd911 Member Senior Member Join Date: Aug 21, 2004 Posts: 1,285	IF RONNY AND DONNY DID NOT LEAVE THE SHOW ITWOULD HAVE BEEN ON LONGER IF RONNY AND DONNY DID NOT LEAVE THE SHOW IT WOULD HAVE BEEN ON LONGER, AND I THINK IT WOULD HAVE ENDED SOMEWHERE IN THE LATE 80'S ABOUT 87 0R 88

02-18-2011, 02:21 PM	#3
WalrusIsPaul Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Mar 04, 2001 Location: Pgh,Pa.US Posts: 264	I doubt it would have gone on much farther then what it did. They would have all graduated and joannie married. Kinda would have run out of story lines and being older wouldn't have looked right hangin out at arnolds anymore etc. Being all grown up and out of school & college those storylines would have run its course

02-18-2011, 03:15 PM	#4
Waterston_Fan Eternal Member Eternal Member Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Dec 26, 2005 Location: Southern California Posts: 3,195	I agree, I'm not sure it would have lasted as long. I don't even know if they showed a ceremony for Joanie's graduation? Notice, the last few years of the show, you didn't see too much of Arnold's so I agree that it wouldn't look right for them to hang out there when they are grown up.

02-18-2011, 11:10 PM	#5
studd911 Member Senior Member Join Date: Aug 21, 2004 Posts: 1,285	i think it would have lasted a long while because the show was that much popular, and they dealt with different issues, and even though fonzie was the main character everything was not just on him it was on other people, and while ron and donny was there it made you want to watch it every week, and i believe that it was a hard decision for ron and donny to leave which to me why i think happy days did not do as well but i still think that if ronny and donny was still there it might would have lasted a good while.

05-22-2011, 10:03 PM	#7
thebabymysweet Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Sep 14, 2010 Location: United States Posts: 148	An intriguing question is raised here: Would "Happy Days" have lasted much longer as a television series if Ron Howard and Donny Most did not leave the show in 1980?? Perhaps not likely, given the fact that the series milestone of "jumping the shark" had already occurred in the three-part "Hollywood" episode which aired during September 1977. "This historic three-part storyline eventually gave rise to the frequent usage of the popular TV series colloquialism 'jumping the shark' mainly due to the climactic scene where the Fonz water-skis and jumps over a penned-in shark tank. Looking back many years afterwards, one has to admire the forward-thinking judgment of the sitcom's creator Gary Marshall in hiring the talented youngster Scott Baio as tough street kid Chachi during a time when the program was still number one in the ratings and seemingly did not yet require the further addition of new younger characters who might serve to pump some fresh blood within the show. After the departure of Ron Howard and Donny Most from the series three years later, the focal point became the turbulent romance of Scott Baio and Erin Moran as teenage sweethearts Chachi Arcola and Joanie Cunningham which carried 'Happy Days' onward to continuous ratings success." (The Scott Baio Fan Blog, scottbaio.wordpress.com) In the final analysis, "Happy Days" did last and even thrived as a popular TV series after Ron Howard and Donny Most left back in 1980. And the show would have continued to survive without them if not for the later departures of Scott Baio and Erin Moran due to the spinoff "Joanie Loves Chachi" which ended up spreading their valuable resources much too thinly. Their ultimate error lay in completely separating "the heart" (Chachi and Joanie) from "the spirit or soul" (Fonzie) and "the body" (the rest of the ensemble cast) of "Happy Days" during their later years. Big mistake.

05-22-2011, 10:50 PM	#8
mets82 Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Mar 14, 2011 Location: Connecticut Posts: 5,058	Ive always felt that when Richie and Ralph left the show, maybe they should've ended the show. I mean I mentioned on another thread about how the writing kind of was all over the place toward the end of the series. Ex., when and if did Joanie and Chacai graduate high school, where did K.C. and Flip go, etc. I mean I could make the argument that when the gang graduated high school, they could've ended the show. I just think when they went to college, it was different than high school. I cant put my finger on it but it was. I'll be honest, I think Chacai annoyed me in the earlier episodes. I might have added Chacai later maybe after Richie and Ralph left to fill a void. This might sound radical too but I dont think I would've put Richie and Lori Beth together so soon after Richie started college. Have Richie date because lets face it, Richie dating in high school w/o a steady girlfriend was fun. Why mess with success? I could see maybe Richie and Lori Beth getting together, then getting serious and then in Richie's final episode he either pops the question to Lori Beth or pops the question and they show the wedding and that could be his sendoff. There really wasnt a sendoff for Richie or Ralph. They just said they were in the Army and thats it. And btw, I cant see Richie or Ralph enlisting in the Army. I mean Richie was so Apple Pie and Ralph was such a comedian and I cant see them in combat but thats just me.

06-17-2011, 12:13 AM	#12
jsgtrman Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Apr 22, 2011 Posts: 27	Even though it had the same name for it's entire run, I always considered the last 4 seasons as a spinoff. It really was quite a different show, writing style, and dynamics involved, including all the new characters. It kept enough of the original settings and storylines that were already established by the "original" series, but it certainly had the feel of a spinoff in my opinion. THEN it spun off again with Joanie and Chachi. ... and then AGAIN with the Fonzie/ Ashley business. They did good to keep it going for so long, the "spinoff" stuff was better than nothing for sure to keep following the storylines/ lives of the characters we were growing up with. The last season of "spinoff" was the better of the 4 latter seasons, but everything runs it's course.

12-17-2012, 03:29 PM	#15
mjd13076 Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Dec 23, 2011 Location: NY Posts: 20	I believe the show would have lasted less had they both remained with the show. I would have liked to have seen more guest appearances from both Ron and Don but I guess that wasn't a thought (?). It was too abrupt, though. What I mean is, you see the last episode of Season 7 and then the first episode of Season 8, it's just mentioned by Fonz in less than 5 seconds. For such an integral character, you would have imagined Ron and Gary would have at least had a send-off episode. It would have been all sugary and all that but at least do it for the fans. Not only that, I read a long time ago in an old news article from the time, Ron Howard decided to call it quits two weeks before they were to begin shooting for Season 8!!!