Product Description
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Ron Howard, Henry Winkler, Tom Bosley, Marion Ross. A winner
each and every year it aired, the Cunningham's, Fonzie and the
gang made for some pretty happy days" in this third hit season.
Includes Fonzie Moved In" (9/9/75), Three on a Porch" (11/18/75),
Arnold's Wedding" (3/2/76) and 21 more for a total of 24 episodes
on 4 DVDs. 1975-76/color/9 hrs., 40 min/NR/fullscreen.
.com
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The 1975-76 season of the highly successful Happy Days is
largely defined by the placement of the Fonz (Henry Winkler) in
even closer proximity to the Cunningham family--making him,
tacitly and literally, a member of best friend Richies
household. When Fonzie's grandmother moves into the ultra-cool,
womanizing bikers apartment, he takes a room over the
Cunninghams garage, making Richie (Ron Howard), his mom Marion
(Marion Ross), and sister Joanie (Erin Moran) happy, but leaving
cantankerous-but-lovable dad Howard Cunningham (Tom Bosley)
something more than ambivalent. While several episodes deal with
one or another conflict between strong-willed Fonzie and stubborn
Howard--at one point, the two sue each other over a roof that
collapses from the weight of Fonzie's pigeon coop--life otherwise
lurches along for Richie and his gang. In "The Other Richie
Cunningham," Richie tries an end run around his dad's expectation
that he take a business associate's daughter out for a date.
Enlisting pal Potsie (Anson Williams) to pretend to be Richie,
the Howdy Doody-faced teen finds the plan backfiring when Potsie
proves to be less than a gentleman to the unfortunate girl.
"Jailhouse Rock" finds Richie and Howard sharing a jail cell
after protesting an arbitrary curfew by on teens, while
"Tell It to the Marines" concerns a desperate attempt by Ralph
(Donny Most) to earn respect by threatening to join
service. Not surprisingly, however, most of Happy Days: The Third
Season follows the exploits of Fonzie as he constantly lives up
to the reputation that inevitably precedes him. The two-part
"Fearless Fonzarelli" begins with the Fonz so worried he's losing
his cool that he agrees to jump 14 garbage cans on his motorcycle
for a television show--and ends up with a serious leg injury.
"Fonzie the Superstar" is a popular episode in which the Fonz
agrees to substitute for Potsie as vocalist in Richie's band,
then freezes up with stage fright on the night of a show at
Arnold's. (Winkler's performance on "Heartbreak Hotel," while not
exactly singing, is so charged with energy one can tell the actor
was probably breaking through his own inhibitions during the
scene.) "Bringing Up Spike" focuses on Fonzie's first encounter
with child-rearing when his visiting, little delinquent cousin
gets into a jam with the law.
Happy Days: The Third Season is definitely a peak in the show's
lengthy history, just before the series took a turn for the silly
(or sillier). This was the year Laverne (Penny Marshall) and
Shirley (Cindy Williams) were introduced to the world on Happy
Days (before landing their own spin-off series). And armchair TV
historians will take note how sexist the show could be while it
simultaneously takes a minor stab at American racism in "Fonzie's
New Friend" (in which the Fonz shows up with an African-American
pal to play drums in Richie's band, and gets a hostile reaction
from whites in the community). --Tom Keogh