Happy Days spent 11 seasons following the fun-loving adventures of typical teen Richie Cunningham Ron Howard , his family and his friends in s Milwaukee. What became of Richie Cunningham, or his sister Joanie and her love, Chachi? What happened to the Fonz Henry Winkler? Why was the finale of Happy Days followed by β¦ five more new episodes of Happy Days?
Happy Days first reached audiences as a segment on the anthology series Love, American Style. But after limp ratings in season 2, series creator Garry Marshall reimagined the show, shifting the focus to minor character The Fonz. Beginning in the third season, the show was shot as a more standard multi-cam sitcom, recorded in front of a live studio audience allowing the Fonz to receive huge cheers almost any time he entered a scene.
This move ended up being a brilliant one, making it the 1 show of the TV season. Happy Days was never too worried about creative consistency, a trend that only escalated as the series went on. After peaking in the fourth and fifth seasons, the show began to experience increasing ratings declines.
These declines were hurried along by beloved cast members leaving the show. Most notably, Ron Howard decided to move on in Season 7 to pursue what would become an iconic directing career, while his TV buddies Don Most aka Ralph Malph and Anson Williams who played dimwitted Potsie Webber also began pulling away from the sitcom. The writing was on the wall, and the Cunninghams finally called it quits in There are no two ways about it: This episode is designed to be a happy ending for a cast of characters that many fans grew up watching.
Even Ron Howard returned, so that Richie and his own family could be a part of this final celebration. To write Howard off the show, Richie got married and joined the Army. The entire episode is capped off by Bosley breaking the fourth wall by looking into the camera for one final speech:.
