About This Quiz
"Happy Days" is a sitcom people still remember more than 30 years after the last episode aired. It follows the adventures of Richie Cunningham, his friends and his family. Richie was a lovable high school teenager going through life in 1950s Milwaukee. His friends, Potsie, Ralph, the Fonz and other supporting players, helped to make sure the show lived up to its name.
However, after the first season, the network wasn't so happy with the ratings and the show almost got canceled. Enter the cool Arthur Fonzarelli, or Fonzie, as he was famously known, to give the show a much-needed ratings boost. Viewers wanted to see how a motorcycle-riding high school dropout would interact with a wholesome American family and tuned in to see what this unusual character with a big heart would do next.
They also tuned in to see what goofy situation Richie and the gang would get into week after week. It was about growing up and figuring life out along the way. The light-hearted fare charmed viewers year after year.
Lots happened over the years and characters came and went. They glided through their ups and downs and we watched. How much of a "Happy Days" expert are you? Take our quiz and find out!
Fonzie is close to not just Richie but Richie's entire family. He even lives in an apartment above their garage. He has a lot of respect for Howard Cunningham and they have affection for each other.
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Although his first name was Arthur, the Fonz was too cool to use it. The locals in the neighborhood also knew him as Fonzie. In fact, he wouldn't allow most people to call him by his first name.
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In the beginning of the show, Joanie is Richie's pesky little sister. She's sometimes annoying, spying on Richie. But Fonzie has a soft spot for her and treats her like his little sister.
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Robin Williams was known for quirky antics on movie and television sets. At his audition for the role of Mork, he sat on his head when he was told to sit down. It worked because he got the part. The rest, as they say, is history.
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The Lone Ranger is Fonzie’s favorite television character. He even carries a picture of him in his wallet. In one episode, Fonzie gets to meet his idol and the Lone Ranger gives him a bullet by which to remember him.
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Since using original and popular music could get expensive, sometimes Anson Williams would step in for the background music. He also, sang on the show, with caused Joanie Cunningham to develop a crush on Potsie, the character played by Williams.
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In one classic episode, the Fonz gets into a spat with a local beach bum. They wind up challenging each other to water ski over a caged shark. The beach bum backs off, but cool Fonzie goes through with it. These were the types of antics that producers introduced when the show's ratings began to slip.
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Arnold's Drive-In was the place where Richie, Potsie, Joanie, Chachi, Fonzie and the rest gang congregated. Pat Morita, famous for playing Mr. Miyagi in the "Karate Kid" movies, played Arnold. Later, when Al, played by actor Al Molinaro, took over the diner, he changed the name to Al's.
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Whenever Richie, Potsie and Ralph Malph wanted to ask Fonzie for his advice on whatever problem they were having that episode, to the men's room/"office" they would go. Sometimes, they would also read the graffiti found there.
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Marion Cunningham is like a mother to Fonzie and all of Richie's friends. She and Fonzie have mutual affection and she is the only who one could get away with calling him by his rea first name.
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"Laverne & Shirley" was the first and longest lasting of the three spinoffs, running for seven years. Then came "Mork and Mindy," followed by "Joanie Loves Chachi." This show wasn't a hit with audiences and lasted only a year.
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Arthur Fonzarelli had a way with words. Everyone knows his classic "Exactamundo," "Aaay" and "Whoa!" signature phrases. But when he said "Sit on it," you knew he was not pleased.
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"American Graffiti" was released five months before "Happy Days." The show and the movie were both set in the '50s and had Ron Howard playing characters who were similar to each other.
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Charles Arcola, also known as Chachi, was Fonzie's cousin. He had a major crush on Joanie Cunningham who rejected him early on but came around eventually. He was also Al Delvecchio's stepson.
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After Arnold Takahashi got married, Al Delvecchio stepped in as the cook and owner. His catchphrase was: "Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep," which he would say when things didn't go as planned.
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Howard Cunningham owned a hardware store called Cunningham's Hardware. Besides being a business owner and family man, he was sort of a counselor on the show for Richie's friends, giving advice frequently.
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Richie Cunningham would sing "I found my thrill on Blueberry Hill" whenever felt like he was about to land a date with a pretty girl. He wasn't the best singer, but it was endearing.
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“Rock Around the Clock” by Bill Haley and His Comets was one of the biggest hits of 1955. It was the opening theme song for “Happy Days” for the first two seasons. It was then replaced by the theme song everyone now associates with the show.
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Jenny Piccolo was Joanie Cunningham's boy-crazy best friend. The actress who played her, Cathy Silvers, is the daughter of late comedian Phil Silvers who also made an appearance on the show playing her father.
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"Happy Days" was on the air from 1974 to1984. Ron Howard and Henry Winkler tied each other for a Golden Globe Best Actor award in 1978. Henry Winkler won it on his own in the previous year. The show also spawned a number of spinoffs.
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Pinky Tuscadero appeared in three episodes of "Happy Days" as Fonzie's love interest. She's a mechanic with a (you guessed it) pink motorcycle on which she famously does tricks.
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ABC executives were not keen to let Fonzie wear a leather jacket because they didn't want him to look like a thug. The creator of the show, Gary Marshall, convinced them to let him have it when he was near his motorcycle. They eventually allowed him to have it all the time and it became the character's trademark.
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The classic show, "Happy Days," followed the adventures of Richie Cunningham, a high school student in the '50s. He hung out at Arnold's with his friends, chased girls and got into mishaps. But Richie was the cleanest of the clean-cut group of friends so the mishaps he got into were pretty tame.
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Joanie and Chachi were childhood sweethearts who broke up but then decided to get married. At the end of the episode, Tom Bosley, who played Mr. C, raised a glass and toasted the audience.
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Mickey Dolenz said he didn't remember Henry Winkler at the audition, but Henry Winkler remembered him. Winkler didn't think he would get the part because of Dolenz. Guess he was wrong.
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Ron Howard was planning on attending college when he was drafted to serve in Vietnam. College couldn't get him out of being sent to the war, but working as an actor and Paramount Studios did. Seems like priorities were a bit skewed. But who are we to judge.
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In the video for the song, "Buddy Holly," the band plays at Arnold's Drive-in. Al Molinaro appears in the video as his "Happy Days" character, Al Delvecchio. The rest of the cast is seen in show footage.
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Kid sister Joanie appeared on "The Howdy Doody Show" to present the famous puppet with the Chipmunk of the Year award. Richie gets into shenanigans when he gets a photo of one of the clowns without makeup.
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Howard Cunningham and Arthur Fonzarelli were the only two characters to appear in 255 episodes over the course of 11 years. Fonzie became a major focus of the show when Ron Howard left after season 7.
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Richie Cunningham runs into Mork from Ork, an alien who sees Richie as the perfect example of an average human being. Of course, Fonzie, the hero, stops the madness from going down.
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Gary Marshall thought it was a good idea to put a team together made up of the cast and crew of "Happy Days." Before professional baseball games, they played other celebrity teams and even toured Japanese and European military bases.
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The Fonz's 1949 Triumph TR-5 motorcycle was placed as an item to bid on in Bonhams' Classic California auction. It was estimated that it would sell for around $60,000 to $80,000 dollars but didn't sell at all! The original motorcycles used in the show were Harleys, but Winkler found them too difficult to ride and so they were replaced by a Triumph.
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In the first season of "Happy Days," Ralph Malph is more of a cool kid than a lovable nerd like Richie and Potsie. He is a member of a gang called The Gems, but he later becomes friends with Potsie and becomes part of their gang.
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Show director and creator Gary Marshall originally called the series, "Cool." But when he tested that title with audiences, they gave it a thumbs down, thinking it was too close to the name of a popular brand of cigarettes. After that, Marshall changed it to "Happy Days."
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John Lennon's son, Julian, was a fan of "Happy Days." Lennon showed up on set with him, unannounced, one day in 1975. He actually signed autographs and drew sketches for the crew.
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