ABC Executives Wanted To Give Happy Days A Hilariously Bad Title

Garry Marshall’s “Happy Days” was one of the biggest sitcoms of the 1970s. The series premiered on ABC at the outset of 1974, arriving on the heels of George Lucas’ “American Graffiti,” which also exploited Baby Boomer nostalgia for hanging out with friends at the local malt shop and cruising the boulevard. Indeed, “Happy Days” and “American Graffiti” were tightly intertwined; Lucas cast Ron Howard on the strength of his performance in the pilot (which aired on the anthology series “Love, American Style”), while the success of the film convinced ABC to give Marshall’s series a 16-episode order as a midseason replacement.

Howard’s connection to “American Graffiti” made him the biggest name on the show, but he was soon overshadowed by his co-star Henry Winkler, who skyrocketed to television fame as good-hearted greaser Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli. Viewers loved Fonzie’s catchphrasesand the fact that he was so cool he could inexplicably fire up the jukebox just by giving it a sharp whap. Mostly, though, they loved Winkler, who exuded a friendly kind of cool, all the while letting knuckleheads know that if they got froggy in his presence, he was more than capable of delivering a hellacious beatdown.

Despite Fonzie’s growing popularity, “Happy Days” hit choppy water during its second season when CBS scheduled the “All in the Family”https://www.slashfilm.com/”Maude” spin-off “Good Times” opposite Marshall’s series. “Happy Days” took a significant ratings hit, plummeting from 16th in the Nielsen ratings to 49th. While ABC wasn’t ready to give up on the show just yet, they leaned on Marshall to retool the sitcom. Eager to use every advantage at their disposal, they even suggested a title change for the show, one that probably would’ve made the series a TV laughingstock.

The New York Times published a “Happy Days” 50th anniversary retrospective in 2024 wherein the surviving cast and crew reminisced over the highs and lows of the sitcom’s 11-season run. The nadir arrived in the wake of that second season, when “Good Times” surged in its time slot. Marshall decided at that point to turn the show into a multi-camera sitcom shot in front of a live studio audience. This turned out to be a wise move, but ABC wanted a splashier, more immediate change.

According to Howard:

“The other idea was to move the Fonzie character front and center. It was kind of a reckoning for me because the focus of the show shifted, and yet that was our way to win. The only thing I ever said to the bosses or the executives is, ‘What’s happened here with Fonzie is great. Just make sure that you understand, too, that we have a real chemistry here, and we think of ourselves as an ensemble.'”

The network then went to Winkler and tried to pitch him on changing the title to “Fonzie’s Happy Days.” This could’ve been a boon to Winkler’s career, but he wanted no part of it. Per Winkler, “I said, ‘If you do that, it is an insult to everybody I’m working with. Why fix something that isn’t broken? We are really good. I live in the family and that’s why I’m successful. I’m asking you, if you never listen to me again, leave it alone.'”

ABC heeded Winkler’s warning (which was bolstered by Howard threatening to leave the sitcom), and were rewarded with a season 3 rebound where “Happy Days” finished 11th in the Nielsen ratings. The following season, it would be the top rated show on television. The lesson: Be cool like Fonzie.