Happy Days
By Ross Forbes, Blockbuster.co.uk

Was it Sunday night? Monday night? Friday night? When was Happy Days on the television? No one seems to know for sure. What we could be sure of though is that whichever the day of the week it was, the theme song assured us that it was going to be a Happy Day.

Before re-watching the first series, that was originally broadcast in 1974, my own hazy memory of the series was that of The Fonz; hitting things to make them work, Ritchie Cunningham wanting to go to college or become a writer or something and Ralph trying his best but always coming off as the fool.

Joanie being too young for pretty much everything that she wanted to do. The list goes on, but there were no specifics, I couldn’t remember any of the plot lines, only that I enjoyed myself while watching it. So it must have been pretty good? Well it must have had something going for it seeing as it ran from 1974 to 1984.

The first thing you notice of any series that runs for a long time, is that when you go back to watch the first series again you realise how much the characters have changed. Like watching the first series of The Simpson’s when Smithers was Asian. Also other characters appear that you probably never knew existed, like Chuck, who was Ritchie and Joanies older brother who mysteriously vanishes from later series without any explanation and never mentioned by Mr and Mrs Cunningham again. I can only assume that he did something to embarrass the family and they all agreed to never mention him again. Although the later series began to slip away from reality and into zany story lines, like introducing an alien that wanted to take Ritchie back to his own world. But instead was happy with his own spin off series ‘Mork and Mindy’. It was the early series though that focussed on relationship issues and proving that being a teenager in any decade is exactly the same. One character though, takes you by surprise and that’s the man that makes ice cream look like lava, The Fonz.

We all remember him being the ambassador of hip, more street smart than the highway code, slicker than a brill cream truck accident, but in the first series he was nothing more than a high school drop out. It is almost like watching James Bond in Casino Royale; the character that we loved isn’t fully formed yet and still needs to earn the mantle of cool. You can see the beginnings of the man who would invent the two-thumb salute, but he’s not quite fully formed. But just like James Bond; life and experience will make him the man that we all know and love.

Take a trip back to a more innocent time, to see the original ‘That 70’s show’. From the moment that the titles start to roll you will be transported to being a kid again and all the lyrics will come rushing back. Sit back and see some old friends as they try and figure out the mysteries of love, life and how to undo bra’s

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