Happy Days

:For the play by Samuel Beckett, see Happy Days (play).

Trivia

• The first two seasons of the series also featured an older brother of Richie named Chuck in a supporting role. This character was written out of the series, with no real explanation. Originally he was a student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee on a basketball scholarship. However in subsequent seasons the character would not be referred to again and later scripts suggested the Cunninghams had only two, not three children. Although in a Christmas episode from Season Four Fonzie mentions to Chachi when talking about his first Christmas with the Cunninghams that Chuck was away at College. In a Happy Days Reunion Show the cast mentioned that Chuck had won a scholarship to the University of Outer Mongolia to play basketball. Sort of an in joke to the cast and writers. Such a situation of a character disappearing with little or no explanation, and then subsequent scripts continuing as if the character had never existed has become known as the Chuck Cunningham syndrome.
• Creative differences between Happy Days producers and ABC helped boost the Fonz's popularity. ABC executives did not want a sympathetic character such as the Fonz to appear in a leather jacket, which they thought would make him appear to be a thug (The Fonz can be seen wearing a white jacket in early episodes). The compromise reached with the producers was to decree that Fonzie could only wear it if his motorcycle was in the scene, as a leather jacket is legitimate safety apparel for someone riding a motorcycle. The show's producers responded by placing the motorcycle in all of his scenes, even indoor ones. Although some first season episodes do show Henry Winkler wearing the leather jacket in interior scenes with no motorcycle in sight. The leather jacket soon became trademark attire for Fonzie, leading to ABC ultimately allowing the producers to let the Fonz wear his jacket permanently, even without the Fonz's motorcycle being present. The jacket is now on display at The Smithsonian Institution.
• Happy Days became one of the first series to have earlier seasons syndicated while the series itself was still producing new episodes (a common practice with long-running shows today). For a time, the syndicated version carried the title Happy Days Again (a common practice up until the 1980s for syndicated episodes of a show still in production to carry a different name).
• In 1995, the band Weezer recorded a music video for their song Buddy Holly, which featured the band playing on the original Arnold's Drive-In set mixed with footage from the series. The video begins with the band being introduced by Al Molinaro as Al Delvecchio, who announces: "Arnold's is proud to present Kenosha, Wisconsin's own Weezer!". The video featured footage from Happy Days episode #53 ("They Call It Potsie Love") as well as several other episodes. This video was included on the Microsoft Windows 95 installation CD-ROM as a demonstration of the new OS's multimedia capabilities.
• Ron Howard guest starred on an episode of M*A*S*H. Both Happy Days and M*A*S*H are 1970s sitcoms set in the 1950s.
• The first season of the series was released on DVD in August 2004.
• Arthur Fonzarelli was affiliated with a motorcycle gang "The Falcons" although in a Season One Episode it was mentioned that Fonzie was a former member of The Demons.
• The show demonstrated the powerful influence of television. In an episode filmed in the late 1970s, Fonzie (as part of his ongoing rehabilitation, so to speak) obtains a library card and declares, "Reading is cool." The following day, libraries around America were deluged with schoolchildren requesting library cards.
• The first two seasons used a laugh track and a single camera. One episode of the second season where Fonzi got engaged was filmed in front of a studio audience with three cameras as a test run for the third season. From the third season on, "Happy Days" was filmed in front of an audience with multiple cameras.