For a while, it seemed like the concept of Happy Days would go into a deep and long-forgotten slumber. Nobody seemed interested in it, at least not until George Lucas’ American Graffiti persuaded them otherwise.
When ABC realized what they were missing, the cast was in the middle of a Thanksgiving celebration. This was back in 1973. When the network informed them about its decision to finally pick it up, there were no scripts yet written. No-one had foreseen all this, and they only had a few months to work on everything before its January 1974 premiere.
The Fonz: Animated
After Happy Days went off the air, some of its cast members were able to ride the last waves of its popularity. There were crumbs from its main storyline that were good enough to make new shows out of.
The Fonz, for example, appeared in not one, but two animated TV shows of his own: The Fonz, and The Happy Days Gang. These didn’t pan out well though, and he decided to shift his attention to the spinoff of Laverne & Shirley titled Laverne & Shirley In The Army.
Happy Days Started Off A Bit Differently...
By now, we are all aware that the Happy Days television sitcom struggled during its inception. They tried to sell the idea of bringing back the feel of the good old fifties, but the network had its doubts. In 1971, it started with a different title. They named it New Family in Town, which was also produced by Garry Marshall.
It introduced the same characters—Richie, Howard, Marion, and Potsie—which were played by the same actors—Ron Howard, Marion Ross, and Anson Williams. Way back then, before its numerable syndications. Mr. Cunningham was played by Harold Gould.
"Fonzie’s Happy Days"?!
In later seasons, the Fonz had undoubtedly become the heart of the Happy Days sitcom, so whatever the theme of a particular episode was, even if it was about Joanie and her boyfriend Chachi, one could expect Fonzie to show up in one way or another. He simply excited everyone because he was funny, cool, and kind-hearted.
There came a point in the series where the production team thought about making a major change, modifying its title to Fonzie’s Happy Days. Quite clearly they didn’t go ahead with it. Do you think it would have worked? We’re not so sure.
Title Had To Be Modified After Syndication
After the second season of Happy Days, it became clear that the series was going to be around for some time. It ran from 1974 to 1984, and entering its seventh season, off-network syndication began.
This was in 1979, and they were still producing new episodes. To avoid any confusion, to distinguish new ones from reruns, its management decided to retitle reruns to Happy Days Again. Some episodes still air under that modified title.