HAPPY DAYS REUNION
HAPPY DAYS REUNION/ 30TH ANNIVERSARY
(ABC /THURSDAY/ FEBRUARY 2ND, 2005, 7-9)
Happy Days was a creature of the mid 70’s. With the success of the movies AMERICAN GRAFITTI, GREASE, and the Beach Boys ENDLESS SUMMER album, nostalgia was in.
The quiet, sleep walk 50’s were part of the nostalgia craze. Americans had suffered through the Cuban Missile Crisis where millions of Americans could have been killed, an aborted war with Cuba, the domestic changes in The Great Society, the beginning of the 10 year war with North Vietnam, the assassination of President Kennedy, the killing of Reverend Martin Luther King, the termination of Senator Robert Kennedy, and numerous riots all over the country in African-American neighborhoods and major upheavals in nearly all white university campuses. Add to that the sexual revolution and drug use and you have a tumultuous time.
All of this was followed by the resignation of Richard M. Nixon who by today’s standards was a moderately progressive Republican. By 1975, 1955 looked awfully good.
HAPPY DAYS was there to fill that need. The story was centered around Arnold’s restaurant and the family of Ron Howard’s character.The “Fonz” who lived above the garage became center stage and was popularized by Henry Winkler.
The most important thing about the show was what did not happen. Joanie did not get an abortion. The Fonz didn’t die in a drug overdose. The smaller and more trivial the problem made better the show. The cast was nearly all white and there were happy endings. No one joined a cult.
The reunion won the ratings battle for the Thursday night and beat even THE APPRENTICE a social Darwinian contest to get a job with Mr. Donald Trump.