On Thursdays, I take a critical look at a TV show by season. Here's a look at Season 8 (Part 2) of Happy Days! For Part 1, click here!
Chachi gets jealous when Joanie has a love scene with another boy at the school play, which is directed by Fonzie.
As someone who is involved in school musicals, I'm not usually a fan of their depiction on TV and especially when Erin Moran and Scott Baio, though they are usually good actors, are certainly not comfortable in the musical theater realm. This episode follows a familiar jealousy trope (kissing on stage is a big deal for high schoolers on TV and in real life for that matter). But the weirdest part (aside from Fonzie being the director because, of course they do that to Fonzie) is the song Chachi sings to Joanie. It's a weird 70s song in a high school musical from the early 60s that seems to be set well before that. It's really bizarre.
RATING: 2/10
180. Bride and Gloom (2/17/81)
After Jenny gets dumped, Fonzie takes Jenny to a high school dance on a boat and they inadvertently get married by the captain of the boat.
This would be a funny episode if there wasn't a creepy factor. I mean, how old is Fonzie supposed to be at this point in the show? He would at least be mid-20s. And here he is not only taking a high school girl to a dance but then ends up accidentally married to her. It just makes everything uncomfortable, and not in a good way. Everyone goes around acting like Jenny's just being silly and Fonzie is stuck with being married without acknowledging that it is horribly inappropriate. This episode may have worked a couple years earlier in the run when Fonzie was younger or with an older character (Lori Beth?) but it doesn't work here.
RATING: 3.5/10
181. Hello, Mrs. Arcola (2/24/81)
Joanie is upset that she has never been to Chachi's house or met Chachi's mother but it's because Chachi is embarrassed of his home life.
This episode marks the beginning of a long relationship between Ellen Travolta and Scott Baio. John Travolta's sister plays Chachi's mom here and a few other episodes, then followed him to Joanie Loves Chachi and then starred as his character's mom again on Charles in Charge. She's strong here in a guest starring role and it's a great opportunity for the show to give Chachi more character depth. The whole episode is done well as it explores the differences between the Cunninghams and Arcolas. As strong as the A story is, Potsie following Fonzie around for a school project as a B story is super dumb and just an embarrassing way to keep Anson Williams involved.
RATING: 8/10
182. Fonzie Gets Shot (3/3/81)
Fonzie is accidentally shot in the backside by Potsie and all the guys that were there have different versions of what happened.
I have to at least admire this episode's ambition as it has a little bit of a different way of telling the story. We start with Fonzie being rolled into the hospital after being shot and then get multiple versions of what happened. I like that the show does a non-linear story and there are a couple funny moments in the different versions of the story. However, this would have worked much better with a better group of characters. Ted McGinley and Anson Williams bring episodes down and Henry Winkler and Scott Baio are forced to do a couple odd things out of character, which is sort of the point of the different versions of the story, but they don't sell it all that well. So good ambition, so-so execution at best.
RATING: 5/10
Potsie starts dating Lori Beth's roommate and won't tell anyone where he's getting the money to date her or keep his apartment when he was planning to move out. Fonzie joins the Big Brother program.
This is the first Potsie-themed episode in the post-Richie era and Anson Williams does a decent job at the center of the episode. It's certainly less pathetic than the way the show has been using him for much of the season. Fonzie being a Big Brother seems like a poor choice - the show often tried unsuccessfully to introduce kids into Fonzie's life - but it does dovetail a little bit with the main plot which helps it make a little more sense. I would have thought a Potsie-themed episode in this era of Happy Days would have been much worse so that's a good thing I guess?
RATING: 7/10
184. Tall Story (4/7/81)
Roger and Chachi are excited when they meet a potential new basketball player for the high school team but then find out he has epilepsy.
This episode is a little bit awkward and a clumsy 1981 attempt at dealing with a serious issue (in this case, epilepsy). Never mind the fact that Fonzie, Roger, Chachi and others are attempting to butt into another student's medical history and the wishes of his father. That's a real questionable move for our supposed protagonists in this episode. But it also tries to awkwardly explain epilepsy and seizures and has the feel of an after school special. It's always annoying too when guest stars appear just to serve the purpose of the story.
RATING: 3.5/10
185. Scholarship (4/14/81)
Chachi is offered a scholarship for basketball from a desperate recruiter but Howard and Roger worry about the legitimacy of it.
It makes me laugh how dramatic the music was for small potatoes stories like this one. It's a pretty standard sitcom episode about a sleazy recruiter and how that impacts Chachi. I'm not saying that college scholarships aren't a serious topic but the music was just so dramatic for the end of some of the scenes. On the plus side, this episode does manage to effectively get the large cast of characters all involved in the story. It just isn't a super interesting story.
RATING: 5.5/10
Lori Beth can't visit Richie in Greenland until they are legally married so the rest of the gang come up with a plan to get them married via a proxy.
Sitcoms love wedding episodes and there are always some pretty common tropes related to them. But this episode actually is a pretty unique way of doing a wedding episode. It's too bad they couldn't get Ron Howard to return for the episode, but it also sort of forced them to do something different. I'm glad the show didn't just abandon the Lori Beth and Richie story when Ron Howard left the cast and it's one of the closer things to a through line as far as plots go. The scene with Howard and Marion in the kitchen was sweet too. It's a solid episode aside from Potsie's singing.
RATING: 8/10
187. Howard's Bowling Buddy (5/12/81)
Howard gets a new bowling partner after Marion throws her back out and that makes Marion jealous.
This episode features Patricia Carr in a guest starring role as Howard's new and very attractive bowling buddy. Carr had recently married Tom Bosley and the pair stayed married until Bosley's death in 2010. You always know it's going to be a solid episode when it focuses on Howard and Marion. Carr gives a good guest performance and, as usual, Bosley and Marion Ross shine. They have such an easy chemistry with each other. There's an odd little side plot involving Joanie and Jenny that doesn't really go anywhere.
RATING: 8.5/10
188. Mother and Child Reunion (5/19/81)
Fonzie takes his class to a diner and thinks he sees his mother who skipped out when he was four years old.
Although there's a little stretch of plausibility here on Fonzie's behalf, this is a sweet episode with a strong guest turn from Janis Paige. She and Henry Winkler have a scene at the end that could get a little too self-serious (Happy Days can be prone to scenes like that). But because of Paige's genuine and real portrayal, she makes it sentimental but not sickly sweet. Several cast members are barely in the episode as it really focuses on Fonzie at the diner.
RATING: 7.5/10
When Chachi struggles to write a paper on immigration, Fonzie helps him through musical dream sequences.
After a stretch of solid episodes near the end of the season, the first post-Richie season of Happy Days ends with an absolute clunker. I just don't know why sitcoms ever feel the need to do musical-themed episodes. This unbelievably cheesy. I can't imagine it was cool in 1981 but boy is it really, really lame now. The only fun I have when shows do musical episodes is watching to see which cast members seem like they'd rather die than participate. Other than that, these episodes are always so self-indulgent and seem much more about the whims of people involved with the show than anything intended for audience value.
RATING: 0/10
AVERAGE RATING FOR SEASON EIGHT:
5.3/10
The Best Episodes:
1. "Howard's Bowling Buddy" (#187) - 8.5/10
2. "The Sixth Sense" (#176) - 8.5/10
3. "No Tell Motel" (#168) - 8/10
4. "Hello Mrs. Arcola" (#181) - 8/10
5. "White Christmas" (#173) - 8/10
The Worst Episodes:
1. "American Musical" (#189) - 0/10
2. "Welcome to My Nightmare" (#178) - 1.5/10
3. "Broadway, It's Not" (#179) - 2/10
4. "And the Winner Is..." (#174) - 2/10
5. "Hello, Roger" (#171) - 3/10
Tomorrow: The Friday Five - Top 5 TV news stories of the week!
Next Thursday: A look at Season 9 (Part 1) of Happy Days!
Next Thursday: A look at Season 9 (Part 1) of Happy Days!
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