Plot: What’s it about?
“Happy Days” was one of the more popular shows to grace the airwaves. Though it’s a generation removed, there’s many of us who will never forget the Fonz and his immortal “Heeeeeyyyyy…”. The Fonz, was of course played by Henry Winkler and was a last minute addition to the show. The show was, in no small part, based on the movie “American Graffiti” directed by George Lucas. With the success of that movie, ABC went ahead and aired the show. It starred Ron Howard (yes, that one) as the All-American Richie Cunningham. The show took place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and set in the days of the Baby Boomers – the 1950’s. Running for nearly ten years, the show was immensely popular and it was the Fonz who grabbed everyone’s attention with his leather jacket (displayed at the Smithsonian now) and questionable behavior. His behavior was certainly un PC, but wouldn’t it be nice to get girls to do whatever you wanted when you snapped your fingers? The main focus of the show was the Cunningham family, but Richie’s friends played a part too. Potsie (Anson Williams) and Ralph Malph (Danny Most) provided plenty of comic relief during the show’s run and it only added to the charm that was “Happy Days”.
As far as the plot of the series, it’s just that. Happy Days. Set in the Eisenhower America of the 1950’s, this was the typical family and the somewhat light-hearted issues that they faced (certainly not as serious as even today’s sit com families face). Richie Cunningham (Ron Howard) is a “wholesome” young man, he’s a Jefferson High School student who would do anything to get a date and he spends plenty of time with his friends at Arnold’s, the local burger joint. His opposite is the amiable Arthur Fonzarelli, best known as Fonzie (Henry Winkler), a rough-around-the-edges motorcycle riding high school dropout famous for his slicked hair, leather jacket, and the catchphrase Fonzie is a regular around the Cunningham house, with Mrs. Cunningham doting on him and Richie turning to him for advice on how to attract girls. And, in a nutshell, that’s it. It worked and Producer Garry Marshall had a hit on his hands that would later spawn three spin-offs (“Joanie Loves Chachi”, “Mork & Mindy” and “Laverne & Shirley”).
Video: How does it look?
The series is thirty years old this year and as we can expect, they’re all shown in their original aspect ratio (full-frame). Unlike “Cheers” which is only ten years newer than this, I found the picture quality to be sub-par. The print seemed a bit dingy and though there wern’t any major flaws, it just seemed that it didn’t live up to the standards that Paramount has set for some of their television shows on DVD. While not totally unwatchable, you might want to rent this first before you fork over the cash.
Audio: How does it sound?
The audio is the original mono track and it pretty much goes without saying that it won’t be that great. Naturally with the canned laughter of the audience and no surround effects, we can’t expect much in this department. Dialogue is clean with only a bit of harshness to it. When listening to “Happy Days”, you’re only using one channel, but it’s not that bad. The opening credits (set to “Rock Around the Clock”) sound pretty good. This is pretty much what we expected and the track serves its purpose here, plain and simple.
Supplements: What are the extras?
No supplements have been included.
