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It all began with an old TV anthology show called “Love American Style”. ABC had paid to produce a pilot for a TV show that had the unpromising title of “New Family in Town”. It told the story of the Cunninghams in 1950’s Rock ‘n’ Roll America. The ABC suits didn’t think the pilot had any promise but decided to air it as part of their anthology series to burn off the episode and see a return on their investment. Then “American Graffiti” burned through box office records and ABC realized they had their own “American Graffiti” in their back pocket. Retitled “Happy Days” creator/writer/producer/director Garry Marshall’s series sprinted through 10 TV seasons (1974-1984) before succumbing to old age. While the Cunningham’s were the show’s rock on which everything else was build, actor Henry Winkler emerged as the star with his character of Fonzie.

Originally envisioned as a mixture of Marlon Brando’s character from “The Wild One”, James Dean’s character from “Rebel Without a Cause” and a wise mentor to Richie Cunningham (Ron Howard), the character pretty quickly left his roots behind to become an all around cool guy that everyone could talk to and could seduce any woman in five words or less. During the show’s pivotal first four seasons, it had some of the best comedic writing on TV geared towards the whole family. By the last four seasons (Howard and actor Donny Most left in 1980), Fonzie, Joanie Cunningham (Erin Moran) and Chachi (Scott Baio) became the show’s main focus. “Happy Days” was so successful that it inspired three spin off series; “Laverne & Shirley”, the horrible “Joanie Loves Chachi” and “Mork & Mindy” (the series that catapulted Robin Williams to fame). ---

No celebration here as “Happy Days” arrives naked without any extras to keep this baby warm. The big question is why fans would spend money for this (although it isn’t priced at a premium) for a series they can probably record off TV. Granted, there’ll be commercials and, perhaps, some editing to content with (particularly if they record it off a local TV channel) but given the size of the audience and how popular this show was, I’m really surprised that Paramount chose not to spring for extras. I could see an extras on the popular theme song (which became a hit single) that was introduced during the second season (up until then they used Bill Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock” as the theme). Also, a short featurette with the very funny writer/producer/director Gary Marshalll on how “New Family in Town” morphed into “Happy Days” and the adjustments he had to make (such as keeping Fonzie out of a leather jacket for most of the first season unless he was around his motorcycle. Which is why his motorcycle became as much a character as Fonzie during the latter part of the first season) to please the networks. I’m a little perplexed. Perhaps Paramount figured that the audience for the show isn’t large enough to spent the time and money on a couple of featurettes. They would be wrong. I’m a bit disappointed in this set. ---