Happy Days after jumping the shark still had MANY entertaining episodes

[Blackout]

i hate when people act like they just aired a steamy piece of turd every episode after jumping the shark lol


it was VERY watchable without Richie and his crew...just as long as my boy Fonz was involved

[robyrob]

they had some great episodes after the JTS - I don't think it was that big of a deal - I personally think that #108- Be My Valentine was WAY worse.

[Mr. Television]

I liked HD until the end. It was much more watchable than what L & S had become.

[Retro4Life]

Yeah, I always thought the REAL shark jumping point for Happy Days was when Richie and Ralph (well, mostly Richie) left the show. There were good episodes after that, but for me, it just never seemed like the same show after that.

[TVFactFan]

Originally Posted by Blackout805

i hate when people act like they just aired a steamy piece of turd every episode after jumping the shark lol


it was VERY watchable without Richie and his crew...just as long as my boy Fonz was involved

The only ones that come to mind are

Welcome Home-1
Welcome Home-2
Joanie and Chachi's wedding

[antman67]

Originally Posted by Retro4Life

Yeah, I always thought the REAL shark jumping point for Happy Days was when Richie and Ralph (well, mostly Richie) left the show. There were good episodes after that, but for me, it just never seemed like the same show after that.

I agree, when Richie and Ralph left, the show was completely different. There were some good episodes here and there but the show was not the same at all.

[Mookieman14]

Yeah when Richie left and they brought in Roger and Jenny Piccalo is when it went downhill. Jenny Piccalo was funny actually, but that was when the content of the show went downhill for me. The actual "jumping the shark" episode is actually one of my favs even though I can fully admit it was ridiculous, especially watching it as an adult. I mean Fonz was the coolest but I mean even I would have wanted to kick his butt if I saw him on the beach with leather jacket, biker boots and SHORTS!!!! It would have been better if he kept Jeans on too.

[Chad22]

I'd actually argue that the later years are better than the middle seasons. The early seasons are the best, but then the show became waaaay too much about Fonzie and the ridiculous things he did. At least in the later years, Joanie and Chachi had some focus and Fonzie became a bit more tolerable.

[TVFactFan]

One early jump the shark moment for me was "Chachi" being added

[antman67]

Originally Posted by Stuck In The '70's

I liked HD until the end. It was much more watchable than what L & S had become.

I agree. Remember when Shirley left the show, then it was just Laverne?
How is that possible?
I hated L & S went they moved to CA

During 1982, Cindy Williams became pregnant with her first child. The show began filming its eighth season in the summer of 1982, as new episodes would begin airing that fall. Williams appeared pregnant (although it was hidden) in a few episodes. However, she felt that the show's producers were unfairly using her pregnancy as a way to severely lessen her on-screen time; and it didn't help that she and co-star Penny Marshall also had a few feuds as well. In August 1982, Williams stormed off the set and filed a $20,000,000 lawsuit against Paramount. The case was later settled out of court and Williams was let out of her contract with an exit sum being paid to her; Williams departure from the show was finalized.

As for Laverne & Shirley, the character of Shirley had quickly fallen in love and married Army medic Walter Meany -making her Shirley Feeney-Meany. She discovered one episode later that she was pregnant. That episode would mark Cindy Williams' final exit. The following week's episode to be shot, "The Baby Show", was to feature Shirley going into labor while at a funeral; that episode was to be saved for an airing weeks later. However, with Williams' immediate departure, the role of expectant mother was re-worked and given to Vicki Lawrence in a reprisal of her Sgt. Alvinia T. Plout character.

Shirley was now gone and she explained her absence with a note left for Laverne -that she had left town quickly to join her husband overseas (something out of character for Shirley but writers had to think of something to explain her abrupt departure). Producers continued to go it alone with the Laverne character. The show oddly enough kept the title Laverne & Shirley, although Shirley was not in any further episodes and Cindy Williams' name was no longer in the opening credits. Laverne somehow snagged a position working in an aerospace testing facility and presumably no longer needed a roommate with the pay increase. Several guest stars were brought in to give the Laverne character someone to interact with, including Carrie Fisher, James Belushi, Larry Breeding, Adam West, and Louise Lasser. ABC was reportedly pleased enough with the ratings to order a ninth season and the show was considered "on the bubble". But with several cast members now out of the show, including half of its comedy team, the eighth season would prove to be the last for Laverne & Shirley and it was canceled after the 1982–1983 season.

The final episode was produced like a backdoor pilot for a spin-off series for Carmine as he was moving to New York City to star in the Broadway show Hair. Laverne was seen simply at the beginning and end of the episode. However, the spin-off show never eventuated.

[TVFactFan]

The real jump the shark moment was replacing Richie with..........ROGER

[antman67]

Originally Posted by TVFactFan

The real jump the shark moment was replacing Richie with..........ROGER

Agreed.
Happy Days Season 8 should have been renamed "The Life of Fonzie"

[TVFactFan]

Originally Posted by antman67

Agreed.
Happy Days Season 8 should have been renamed "The Life of Fonzie"

Sometimes a replacement is not needed which is why it's a shame most producers didn't understand that

[shotzette]

Originally Posted by antman67

I agree. Remember when Shirley left the show, then it was just Laverne?
How is that possible?
I hated L & S went they moved to CA

During 1982, Cindy Williams became pregnant with her first child. The show began filming its eighth season in the summer of 1982, as new episodes would begin airing that fall. Williams appeared pregnant (although it was hidden) in a few episodes. However, she felt that the show's producers were unfairly using her pregnancy as a way to severely lessen her on-screen time; and it didn't help that she and co-star Penny Marshall also had a few feuds as well. In August 1982, Williams stormed off the set and filed a $20,000,000 lawsuit against Paramount. The case was later settled out of court and Williams was let out of her contract with an exit sum being paid to her; Williams departure from the show was finalized.

As for Laverne & Shirley, the character of Shirley had quickly fallen in love and married Army medic Walter Meany -making her Shirley Feeney-Meany. She discovered one episode later that she was pregnant. That episode would mark Cindy Williams' final exit. The following week's episode to be shot, "The Baby Show", was to feature Shirley going into labor while at a funeral; that episode was to be saved for an airing weeks later. However, with Williams' immediate departure, the role of expectant mother was re-worked and given to Vicki Lawrence in a reprisal of her Sgt. Alvinia T. Plout character.

Shirley was now gone and she explained her absence with a note left for Laverne -that she had left town quickly to join her husband overseas (something out of character for Shirley but writers had to think of something to explain her abrupt departure). Producers continued to go it alone with the Laverne character. The show oddly enough kept the title Laverne & Shirley, although Shirley was not in any further episodes and Cindy Williams' name was no longer in the opening credits. Laverne somehow snagged a position working in an aerospace testing facility and presumably no longer needed a roommate with the pay increase. Several guest stars were brought in to give the Laverne character someone to interact with, including Carrie Fisher, James Belushi, Larry Breeding, Adam West, and Louise Lasser. ABC was reportedly pleased enough with the ratings to order a ninth season and the show was considered "on the bubble". But with several cast members now out of the show, including half of its comedy team, the eighth season would prove to be the last for Laverne & Shirley and it was canceled after the 1982–1983 season.

The final episode was produced like a backdoor pilot for a spin-off series for Carmine as he was moving to New York City to star in the Broadway show Hair. Laverne was seen simply at the beginning and end of the episode. However, the spin-off show never eventuated.

I agree. It was sad to see such a wonderful show go out with a whimper instead of a bang.

I'm pretty sure if Future Cindy Williams could go back in time, she'd smack her younger self in the head and let her know that she'd be stuck doing regional theatre in the midwest for the rest of her life when she gave up such a sweet gig, LOL!

[TMC]

When Did Happy Days Jump the Shark?

In a feature looking at if or when a TV series "jumped the shark," Brian asks you all to determine when (or if) Happy Days jumped the shark.

Today, we look at when (or if) you folks believe that Happy Days “jumped the shark.”

This is “Just Can’t Jump It,” a feature where we examine shows and whether they “jumped the shark.” Jumped the shark means that the show had a specific point in time where, in retrospect, you realize that show was going downhill from there. Not every show DOES jump the shark. Some shows just remain good all the way through. And some shows are terrible all the way through. What we’re looking for are moments where a show that you otherwise enjoyed hit a point where it took a noticeable nose dive after that time and if so, what moment was that?

Since I launched this feature, I had been doing just shows since Jon Hein sold off the original Jump the Shark website, but it occurred to me recently, “Why am I doing that? That website is long gone, so people CAN’T actually easily check older shows, so why are you limiting it to recent shows?” So, well, now I’m opening it up to all shows. Since that means we have a LOT more options, I’ll do more of them (figure two a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays). I’ll do two today to start.

The natural starting spot for an older show is, of course, Happy Days, which inspired Hein to come up with the term “jumping the shark” in the first place.

Happy Days, of course, was a show about teenagers in the 1950s which soon became a starring vehicle for Henry Winkler as Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli, a reformed gang member who served as a mentor to the original lead of the series, Ron Howard’s Richie Cunningham. Fonzie eventually moved into the garage apartment in the Cunningham home and essentially became an extended member of the Cunningham family. Richie would still be involved in the stories every episode, but now rather than be the driving force of the story, he’d be there as a side character to Fonzie, as Fonzie resolved whatever problem Richie had that episode. Eventually, Howard left the series, and Erin Moran (as Richie’s younger sister, Joanie) and her boyfriend, Chachi (Fonzie’s younger cousin, played by Scott Baio) became the new co-leads as the teenagers that Fonzie gives advice to. Then Joanie and Chachi got their own show and disaster struck for a year, but Joanie and Chachi came back and the show had one more season before ending.

So first…DID IT JUMP THE SHARK? It definitely did, yes.

WHEN DID IT JUMP THE SHARK This is one of the most fascinating deals, because I think the one thing most people will agree on is that Happy Days did not actually “jump the shark” when Fonzie literally jumped over a shark on water skis in the three-part Season 5 premiere. Simply put, Happy Days Season 5 really isn’t that different from Happy Days Season 4. No, there are three MAJOR points in the history of Happy Days where the show was clearly changed. The first was Season 3, when it fully converted to filming in front of a live audience. This, naturally, led to a broadening of the comedy of the series. It is clear that the quality took a dip when the change happened, since the show began to be written AROUND the reaction from the studio audience (in other words, Fonzie took over, as the studio audience freaked out whenever he entered a scene. They’d have to literally write in applause beats into scenes to give the audience time to finish screaming before Winkler said his lines, or else his lines would be drowned out by the audience). However, I still think Happy Days in Season 3 was a fine show. Not as good as Season 1-2, but it was still a fine show. The next major turning point was when Howard left the series after Season 7. However, to be frank, Seasons 8-9 of the show are basically the same, quality-wise, as Season 7. So that shouldn’t be the moment. Finally, when Joanie and Chachi left after Season 9, the show obviously became utter garbage in Season 10, before they returned at the end of Season 10, leading to the final season.

So “When Joanie and Chachi” leaving is an easy answer, but frankly, I think the drop-off occurred a bit earlier. Like I said, Season 8-9 were roughly as good as Season 7, but Season 7 was a big drop-off from Season 5. Essentially, the older Richie got, the more ridiculous the show got, as it no longer made sense as a show about teens when Richie and his friends are well into their college years. The stories got more and more absurd throughout Season 6, as the actors were just going through the motions, and the ratings reflected this, as well, as things began to really taper off (which is why Howard’s departure didn’t even really change the ratings that much). So I would say sometime in Season 6 is probably fair to pick as the “jump the shark” moment, and since it is particularly infamous, let me go with the Season 6 finale, “Potsie Quits School,” a terrible, terrible episode that somehow chose to give POTSIE a spotlight for the season finale. The idea is that Richie’s friend, Potsie (Anson Williams) is about to quit school due to a bullying teacher, but he proves that he CAN learn, he just needs to use music to do so, and when the professor is dubious, they prove it through the insipid performance of “Pumps Your Blood.”



Great balls of fire, that is trash. So Season 6 in general, and that song in specific, is my pick for when Happy Days jumped the shark.