Shark Bytes

The jump the shark episode is obviously the maddest.other than that,the show had some seriously JTS moments well before that.I could believe fonzie could bang a juke box in a certain location to get it to restart,we have all done that with something like a television,radio etc...but when he just clicked his fingers,and everything immediately worked from a distance of 10 yards,was just a ludicrous addition.Henry Winkler himself should have seen so many of the silliness involved in what he was asked to do,and should have said NO!!!
The screaming live audience was a fun surprise at first,but quickly became an horrendous abuse to the viewer,1 or 2 full minutes of screaming when a character entered,was an absolute waste of show time and totally drained the show of any atmosphere.It became a show of * guess which line they will scream and applaud at next *.A whole series of that was diabolically awful.
I absolutely despised the chachi and jonie romance.chachi was an abomination to view,with his modern clothing and hairstyle.for me he just fitted in like * Henry Winkler would have,if he played Danny in the Grease Movie * - cue vomitting.
The real stupidity for me,when it first hit home so to speak,began when fonzie turned out to be a world class sword fencer,and defeated the world's sword fencing champion.there were a lot of stupid occurences like that,without any background as to give the abilities of fonzie any truth,reality and reason for being.when did he learn the skill? where did he learn the skill? They changed fonzies cool,from being cool as we all knew it and saw it,to a new level,where cool meant having surprise talents which meant fonzie could defeat all before him.
Fonzie and the whole show went up it's own ass pretty quickly once fonzie started to get special abilities.Winkler and his * walk the streets and greet fans as a demi god * Ego,saw to that.Winkler is personally responsible for the demise of the fonz and the silly abilities the fonz character was given.Winkler should have simply refused to do a lot of the things.

Meno.

I wonder how we'd be describing TV shows that JTS if there had never been a Happy Days.

"I used to really love watching 'According To Jim', but then it 'got a new Darrin' and that was that..."

Just a thought. Commence talking amongst yourselves.

""I think this show jumped the shark when Fonzie jumped a shark, has anyone seen that episode??"

Um, hi...that's what the term is named after. "

Then why isn't that a reason?

"I think this show jumped the shark when Fonzie jumped a shark, has anyone seen that episode??"

Um, hi...that's what the term is named after.

I didn't get nostalga at this time because I was just a kid. Watching "That 70's Show" when it came out made me get why this show was so popular. Both shows JTS, but for different reasons. Once the "kids" grow up, that's the end.

Fonzie tastes like Vitalis!

I think this show jumped the shark when Fonzie jumped a shark, has anyone seen that episode??

When Ron Howard left the show the magic went with him.The episodes that followed after Ron left was terrible. I think they should of pulled the plug when Ron said he was moving on?

i like this show. fonzie is my favorite

The show jumped the shark after season 2 when it was filmed before a live studio audience and the actors seemed as if they were stage-actors, often yelling their lines; it didn't seem real. The first two seasons were like mini-movies, and after that it was like a cliche sit-com. I liked the beginning when it was basically the Richie/Postie show but then again I didn't like that Ralph was a side-character, and often a jerk. I prefer season 2 the best, things were swinging fine as it was all about Richie, Potsie and Ralph's antics and Fonzie would come in towards the end, but then that studio audience, as I've said, ruined things.

Maybe a lot of kids back then liked the "new" Happy Days they conjured up after the second season but I sure didn't. I can specifically recall as a young teenager despising it after being turned into the Fonzi freak show and stopped watching it altogether. I agree with the vast majority of posters, the first two years were gems but after that it was clear that a barf bag would be needed when sitting through the trash their so-called writers were dishing out.

Wow, so much has been said. I'll try to add what I can recall of this show. Everyone knows the site was named after this show. I don't know if it's a coincidence that the show that actually had the real shark jump, also is probably the show that had the biggest transformation of quality in American prime-time sitcom history, but it certainly is something to ponder. Compare any of the episodes from the first 2 seasons (with the sole exception of the single live one from season 2), with anything from the last 4 seasons (except for the very few episodes in the very last season that Richie appears in, and you will be absolutely shocked that you are watching the very same program!
Those first 2 seasons was just about as good as any American sitcom has ever been. The show wasn't so much "laugh out" loud funny, but it had a very positive message and was very interesting. It was about Richie coming of age and his friend Potsie. These characters were drawn from Archie Comics-Richie was supposed to represent Archie and Potsie was supposed to be Reggie. The resemblances were actually pretty uncanny. Richie's family was also important, and he even had an older brother named Chuck who would appear occassionally.
I notice somethings have gotten exaggerated over here though. The notion that Fonzie was ever supposed to be a "minor" character doesn't really hold up to scrutiny. He actually appeared in every single episode of the series. He was also central to some plots, even back in the first season, such as the one where he goes back to school, or the one with the drag race for example. Potsie didn't appear in one of the first season episodes (nor did Ralph)-the one about Howard's African-American military friend.
This episode raised several questions-first of all, which war did Howard fight in? If it was WWII, America had segregated troops at that time, Truman didn't integrate the military until after the war. Not only that, but If you follow the timeline, Joanie would have been born in 1944-which would have been during the time Howard was overseas! Although, I'm not clear as to how the Cunninghams would have a child with such dark hair... I'm surprised in all of these comments no one has picked up on these things. Also the first Chuck (Randolph Roberts) was actually a few months younger than Ron Howard, but he had such a small role I guess no one noticed. Yes, his disappearance was pretty stupid, but his whole existence wasn't of much value anyway, so it was easy to let him go...
There seems to be some sort of legend going around that Donny Most was haired because he was a "natural comedian" but if you watch the earliest episodes, he doesn't do much of that comedian stuff, and is actually supposed to be considerably cooler than Richie and Potsie. By the beginning of the second season, he was already nearly interchangable with Potsie, although the writers always made it cleae that he was "slightly" cooler than Potsie, who by the end of the 3rd season, was "the least cool man on Earth," almost a pre-cursor to Urkel. Those who say the original Potsie was better were dead-on.
Those first 2 seasons did really have a very 1950s feel, even if they were filmed in color and featured modern pinball machines. I watched some episodes in black and white, and they really did look old. Tom Bosley and Marion Ross were nearly perfect in their role as Richie's parents. I thought Bosley in particular was excellent. I think he was one of the few characters who "stayed strong" throughout the series run.
I never really did care all that much for the Fonzie character. The people who say he was "not believable" as a tough guy are correct. It also didn't seem "cool" the way he treated women, but that was what that type of character would do, I guess. Fonzie-mania definitely killed the show. Any episode centered around Fonzie from the Jump on was garbage, as were many of the live ones pre-jump.
Another thing that came with the Jump, which was probably even more crippling, was Chachi. I have nothing against Scott Baio, but that character sucked hard. The producers made no effort to make him look like the time period. Then very quickly, the rest of the cast followed suit. Potsie and Ralph suddenly had shaggy long hair in 1960. Yeah, right. If it had been at all realistic they would have been expelled from high school (or was it college? The timeline there was clearly messed up-in the first season Richie, Potsie, and Ralph were in the 11th grade, but if I remember correctly, they didn't graduate for at least a full season after the shark jump, which even if you combined the first two seasons (as you are probably supposed to do)-would mean that they were upper classmen for 4 years! And Anson Williams (Potsie) was already 24 by the first episode! But I digress.
I don't know what genius decided to continue the show after Ron Howard quit, but man... Those episodes are absolute garbage. it's like G comedy at it's worst. Ted McGinley sucked. Nothing said 1962 like those wide ties and wide lapeled 2 button jackets he used to wear. Yeah, I mean the anachronisms in this show were totally off the wall. I'm surprised someone didn't refer to "President Reagan" in one of those later episodes. If you watch them, they look exactly like the 1980s. Shame on everybody associated with the show, for not "sucking it up" and sustaining the period feel. Shame on Garry Marshall for "selling out" the original concept (the first 2 seasons) to pander to the children with Fonzie-Mania(everything after season 4). Oh well, we should probably be praising him. After all if not for him what would all of us be doing instead of commenting on this board?
That's all for now, I guess...

"Happy Days", in my book, "Jumped the Shark" after Ritchie & Ralph left the show.

Also, how idiotic was it, when "Fonzie", who had no college education, became a school teacher.

The entire show should have been cancelled after Ritchie & Ralph left.

Richie: "Hey, Fonz. I heard you fukked Joanie last night. How was it?"

Fonzie: "AAYYYYYY"