"Gee, Potsie, I shouldn't be meeting a girl today. I didn't even get a chance to shave yet." - Richie Cunningham (Ron Howard) attempting suave banter
Happy Days: The Complete First Season DVD Review
By Jonathan Boudreaux
Ever notice how nostalgia seems to run on a twenty year cycle? VH1 was recently revitalized thanks to I Love the '80s, a show that brought the flagging network huge ratings and a new sense of focus by trading on memories of the Reagan years. The 1990s saw the rise of That '70s Show on Fox. The Vietnam era grooved its way to TV screens in the 1980s thanks to China Beach, Tour of Duty, and The Wonder Years. Now, thanks to the release of Happy Days: The Complete First Season (not to mention Laverne & Shirley: The Complete First Season) on DVD, sitcom lovers can simultaneously experience nostalgia for both the polyester '70s and the rock-around-the-clock '50s.
In the early 1970s, Garry Marshall was a writer on the Jack Klugman/Tony Randall sitcom The Odd Couple. He went to ABC executives with an idea for a show he wanted to create and produce. The series, set in the 1950s, would simultaneous subvert and pay tribute to the attitudes and ideals presented in '50s TV classics like Father Knows Best. The network was interested enough to produce a pilot episode featuring former The Andy Griffith Show costar Ron Howard, but then passed on the series, instead running the pilot as an episode of its anthology series Love, American Style in 1972.
Ordinarily, that would have been the end of the story. In 1973, however, George Lucas' American Graffiti became a huge box office hit in movie theaters. Not only was the film set in roughly the same time period and with themes similar to Marshall's project, it also starred a certain redhead who used to hang around in Mayberry. Wanting to capitalize on the success of Graffiti, ABC remembered its own '50s-set, Howard-starred show. The project was revived, and Happy Days premiered on January 15, 1974.
Howard plays Richie Cunningham, a naïve, decent high school junior at Jefferson High in late 1950s Milwaukee. Warren "Potsie" Weber (Anson Williams) is Richie's nominally more sophisticated best friend. Together with their friend Ralph Malph (Donny Most), the boys constantly find themselves in sticky situations. The boys look up to Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli (Henry Winkler), a high school drop out turned auto mechanic who has a way with the ladies. Keeping Richie in line are his father Howard (Tom Bosley), the owner of a hardware store, and his mother Marion (Marion Ross). Joanie (Erin Moran) is Richie's pesky little sister, and Chuck (Gavan O'Herlihy) his seldom-seen college student older brother (so seldom-seen that the character was later dropped with no explanation).
Although set in the 1950s, Happy Days does not present the staid, polite version of the era as seen on The Donna Reed Show or The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. Rather than skipping out on cutting the grass or forgetting a promise to babysit for the neighbors, the boys at Jefferson High sneak into strip clubs, challenge people to drag races, get drunk at stag parties, and flirt with joining gangs. Here, all the teens are horny and mildly rebellious, swapping tales about which chicks are easy and working out the best way to remove bras while necking at the movies. Yet even with this infusion of new themes and attitudes, the show remains, at heart, as corny and sweet as its predecessors. Whether the plot centers on Potsie and Richie pooling their funds to buy a junky car whose greatest attribute is its eagle hood ornament or on Richie's excitement (and trepidation) at dating a girl who has a reputation for being.overly friendly.the show maintains a wide-eyed innocence that would be right at home on Father Knows Best.
Happy Days went through many changes over the years. In the first season, the writers and producers make changes big and little from episode to episode. In episode one, "All the Way" (co-written by All in the Family's Rob Reiner), the gang hangs out at Arthur's Drive-In. By the second episode ("Great Expectations"), the name has been changed to Arnold's. Of course, this is merely cosmetic - other changes are bigger. For the first few episodes, Fonzie is practically mute. He is a stereotypical "strong, silent type," communicating through grunts and hand gestures, speaking only when absolutely necessary. In later seasons, the Fonz became a surrogate big brother for the guys, but here he is a borderline thug. He is a relatively minor character when the series begins, but begins to rise in stature (even losing his dorky cloth jacket in favor of a leather one) as the season progresses. Ralph goes through a similar transformation. At the start of the season, he is a much cooler - and much less important - character than he becomes by the season's end.
Sure, the tone of the season is uneven, but almost all of the episodes are charming. Even when the series unsuccessfully tackles social issues (like the ham-fisted racial politics of "The Best Man"), it still features several fun, goofy moments. One of the first season's strengths is that it was filmed using the one-camera technique employed by movies (rather than the theater-esque three-camera video technique employed by most series and, indeed, by Happy Days in later years). This one camera technique gives the show greater realism. It also allows the series to venture off of the sound stage and onto the back lot for location shooting. It isn't quite cinematic, but it keeps the show from feeling stage-bound.
Adding to the show's realism are the songs that pepper its soundtrack. The first season uses Bill Haley and the Comets' "Rock Around the Clock" as its theme song. The original theme song of later seasons is used during the end credits here. Other performers featured on the soundtrack include Ike Cole, Les Paul and Mary Ford, Johnnie Ray, and Kay Starr.
The series is also blessed with a winning cast. When he was on The Andy Griffith Show, Howard was a fine actor, but this was often obscured by his cuteness. Here he is less cute - he is 100% believable as an awkward teen - but his appealing freshness is still in evidence. Bosley and Ross are so effective as Howard and Marion that the writers thankfully give the parents a greater role in the show as the season progresses. Winkler, too, is fun to watch as the show's breakout star-to-be.
The sixteen episodes that make up the first season of Happy Days are divided onto three discs. The discs are housed in slim, clear keepcases. The jukebox-themed front covers feature publicity shots of the cast. The back covers mimic the jukebox song selection consoles found in individual diner booths. Rather than indicating song selections, the console includes episode titles, original airdates, and plot synopses. Because the cases are clear, the double-sided coversheets show through to the inside of the case and are designed to represent the jukebox turntable. The interiors also include the episode titles. The DVDs are printed to resemble records, and when removed, they reveal an empty turntable. The three keepcases slide into a cardboard sleeve which continues the jukebox theme.
The menus are simple. The jukebox from the front of the box is reproduced on the left side of the screen, with a different static cast photo included atop the jukebox on each disc. Episodes are listed to the right. Viewers can choose in individual episode, or play all of the episodes. The episodes are divided into chapters (including, thankfully, one immediately after the show's one minute, forty second opening credits), but there are no scene selection menus.
