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7. HAPPY DAYS

Hanging Out with the Cunningham Family and Friends

Happy Days was a rare show in that it stayed in the Tuesday night time slot all of its

eleven seasons. That was a gift from the network gods because audiences always knew where to

find us. The fourth, fifth, and sixth seasonsHappy Days was at the top of the ratings, at 1, 2, or 3,gloriously floating on sitcom air. We remain one of ABCs longest running sitcoms. The success

ofHappyDays gave me more confidence as a creator, writer, and producer. It is my favorite

television show that I created because it rarely gave me a headache or a stomachache. Happy

Days was for me the quintessential television success story. I had followed my instincts, and they

had turned out to be right.

Years earlier I had followed my instincts and they were wrong. Jerry Belson and I createda show called The Recruiters during the height of the protests against the war in Vietnam. We

should have looked out the window and seen people protesting and burning draft cards, but we

were too myopic with our idea. I was determined to strike a more successful chord with Happy

Days. I wanted to write about youth, but our country was still at war. How could I create a

comedy about teenagers with Vietnam as the backdrop? I decided to go in a different directionaltogether.

I would not create a modern show, thus avoiding the issues of war, sexual liberation,dangerous drugs, and the darker side of rock and roll. I went back to the 1950s, a time that at

least in my own life and mind was much less complicated and politically charged. I based the

entire show on the images of poodle skirts, hula hoops, malt shops, bubble gum, and squeakyclean music. The fact thatHappy Days helped viewers travel to a different era caught peoples

attention immediately. Only a few other shows, like The Waltons, had found success tapping into

simpler times. People in the 1970s seemed happier with the past better than the present or future.

People always ask me howHappy Days got on the air, and the truth is, it all started with asnowstorm. Snow, it turns out, is lucky for me that way. Snow coated my childhood memories in

the Bronx. Snow lined the streets of Sheridan Road when I went to college at Northwestern.

Snow fell on my helmet when I served in the army in Korea. And then a snowstorm on the East

Coast brought about an idea that would change my life in television forever. During a snowstormeveryone has to take time to pause.

Heres what happened: The year was 1973, and Michael Eisner, then the head of

Paramount, was delayed on the East Coast with the up-and-coming Paramount executive TomMiller. Not sure when their flight would take off, the two men started pitching sitcom ideas that

they could develop for ABC, their partner network at the time. Eisner brought up the idea for a

family show with the feel of the old showI Remember Mama, which was about a Norwegianfamily. Tom mentioned my name to produce it because The Odd Couple was headed toward its

final season. When they pitched the idea to me, I was not exactly rushing to do it.

I Remember Mama? The show about Swedish people?

Norwegians, said Miller.

Either way. Swedes or Norwegians, I dont think I can create a show about guys named

Lars and Hans in the 1930s, I told them.I dont know families like that. But what about a

family show about the 1950s? That I know. Thats when I grew up, and I can give you a

nostalgic show about that.

Eisner and Miller liked my idea. So I wrote a pilot episode about a family in the 1950s

who were the first in their neighborhood to get a television set. The story was a personal one for

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me. I remember when we got our first television set, and how special it made me feel. Mel

Ferber directed the pilot, which starred Harold Gould, Marion Ross, and Ron Howard. Wepitched it to ABC, and they didnt buy it. They just didnt see the demographic appeal of a show

in the 1950s airing during the early 1970s. But I saw beyond their vision: I knew the show had a

dated feel to begin with, so in the reruns it would never go out of style. ABC, however, was

simply not ready forHappy Days. So in 1971 Paramount put it on the seriesLove,AmericanStyle, otherwise known as the graveyard for dead pilots. The episode was called New Family inTown, and after it aired we thoughtHappy Days was indeed dead.

But then the tide suddenly turned: My friend from Korea Fred Roos was producing a filmwith George Lucas calledAmerican Graffiti about the 1950s. They wanted to see my 1950s pilot

because they were thinking of casting Ron Howard as the lead of their movie. They liked Ron,

cast him, andAmerican Graffiti was a big hit. Then a play called Grease hit Broadway, and itfurther reinforced the popularity of the 1950s. The executives at ABC called Eisner, and he

remembered my pilot about the 1950s.Happy Days was repitched as a midseason replacement

and given a second life three years after it appeared onLove, American Style. Television is a

derivative medium. If something is hot, television will copy it and frequently make it a

success.Money became a big issue when I createdHappy Days. I began working with a young

agent named Joel Cohen, who worked for my previous agent, Frank Cooper. Joel was a seriousman who told boring stories but that is what made him such a great agent. He would bore people

to death so they would give in and make a deal. Together Joel and I crafted my deal memo for

Happy Days. He asked me what I wanted. I said I would like a basketball court on the Paramountlot, and a malted milk machine in my office. I was serious.