Can someone tell me if there was a connection between the two shows or did they just happen to use the same actors?

Happy Days began as an episode of Love, American Style titled "Love and Happy Days".  It is officially now credited as the pilot episode of Happy Days

So were they the same character then and is it considered a spin off?

So were they the same character then and is it considered a spin off?


It is a spin-off yes and all the characters were the same.  The only difference between it and the Happy Days series was the role of Howard was originally played by Harold Gould (later of Rhoda and Golden Girls fame) and Joanie was played by some actress who wasn;t Erin Moran

Oh, OK thanks.  I don't even remember seeing that actual show Love American Style, I just remember the seeing the beginning of the show, the gay theme song and fireworks. ;D

It is a gay theme song yes.  lol

Apparently on the Happy Days season 1 DVD is the actual broadcast episode of Love, American Style complete with cheezy theme ;D

Very few people get the connection between "Love American Style" and "Happy Days." Most people think it
is a spin-off  of the movie "American Graffiti." It took some looking but this is a post I made on the subject in
October.

This is one of the biggest misconceptions from the 70's. Happy Days started as a pilot called
"New Family In Town" in 1971. this show had the same characters, Richie, Howard, Marion, Potsie
with the same actors, Ron Howard, Marion Ross and Anson Williams, Howard Cunningham was played
by Harold Gould. The show wasn't picked up for a regular sitcom, instead they used it as a segment
for the show "Love American Style" and called it "Love And The Happy Days" in 1972.

Granted, after the success of American Graffiti in 1972 ABC, trying to cash in on the 50's nostalgia even
though American Graffiti was set in 1962, decided to make Happy Days its own sitcom

I remember that episode of Love American Style. For those of you who are interested, it was about the Cunninghams being the first family on their block to get a t.v. Richie got a date with this girl only because she wanted to see t.v.




Cat

Very few people get the connection between "Love American Style" and "Happy Days." Most people think it
is a spin-off  of the movie "American Graffiti." It took some looking but this is a post I made on the subject in
October.

This is one of the biggest misconceptions from the 70's. Happy Days started as a pilot called
"New Family In Town" in 1971. this show had the same characters, Richie, Howard, Marion, Potsie
with the same actors, Ron Howard, Marion Ross and Anson Williams, Howard Cunningham was played
by Harold Gould. The show wasn't picked up for a regular sitcom, instead they used it as a segment
for the show "Love American Style" and called it "Love And The Happy Days" in 1972.

Granted, after the success of American Graffiti in 1972 ABC, trying to cash in on the 50's nostalgia even
though American Graffiti was set in 1962, decided to make Happy Days its own sitcom


Good info post, loki.

If I remember correctly all that '50s nostalgia in the '70s, and it really took off after the movie American Graffiti came out in August of 1973, started after the musical Grease debuted on Broadway on Feb. 14, 1972.

That was one of my favorite shows as a kid. Some of those skits were great, and all the big stars of the 70's were on it at one time or another.

Good info post, loki.

If I remember correctly all that '50s nostalgia in the '70s, and it really took off after the movie American Graffiti came out in August of 1973, started after the musical Grease debuted on Broadway on Feb. 14, 1972.

We used to love doing 50s day at school.Most of the girls had an extreme dissatisfaction with what was currently in vogue.

On February 25, 1972, an episode of Love, American Style entitled "Love and the Happy Days" aired on ABC television. Garry Marshall had produced a 1971 pilot called "New Family in Town" for ABC and after they decided not to turn the pilot into a series, they decided to use it as a Love, American Style episode. The episode starred (in alphabetical order):


Ric Carrott as Charles (Chuck)

Harold Gould as Howard Cunningham

Ronny Howard as Richie

Susan Neher as Joanie

Marion Ross as Marion

Anson Williams as Potsie

It was produced by Carl Kleinschmitt, written by Garry Marshall, and directed by Gary Nelson.
http://www.sitcomsonline.com/loveamericanstylehappydaysphoto.jpg

The show opens up with Richie in his room and in a voiceover he talks about his life being 16 and growing up in the 1950's. His father is in the hardware business, his mother does volunteer work for the Red Cross, his older brother is in college, and his sister wants to see an orthodontist.

In the next scene, Richie walks Joanie home from piano lessons and he announces they are the first family in the neighborhood to be getting a television set. Potsie comes over and climbs through Richie's window and they plan on studying Spanish. They discuss who is going to come over the next night to watch the boxing match on television and Richie thinks about asking Arlene Nestrock.

The next night at dinner (there is an exterior shot of a different Cunningham house than the regular series), Charles (Chuck) says the prayer. Later that night, Richie and Potsie meet Arlene and Corrine Delaruso (who Potsie says has a mustache) at the local hangout and talk and then dance. Richie then invites Arlene over to the house to watch television after she blows in his ear. Potsie is disappointed to learn that Richie's father is allowing each family member to invite only one person.

The house is crowded that night as Howard's mother, Chuck's date, the mailman that Joanie invited, Arlene, and numerous others show up. Howard and company struggle to get a clear picture as they stand on a chair with the rabbit-ear antenna to get a better picture.

Richie brings Arlene back to her apartment and he leans on the doorbell buzzer and Arlene's mother comes to the door and then he falls through the open door. Richie is disappointed to learn that Arlene is going out with Eddie Bazinski and then he falls down the stairs when leaving. Richie and Howard talk in his room later that night and then Potsie comes over and brings a beer that he got from Mulligan's bar where he had watched the fight. The episode concludes in the early morning hours as Howard and Richie stand up in the living room as "God Bless America" is played on the television set.

The episode co-starred Jackie Coogan as Uncle Harold, Peggy Rea as Aunt Bessie, Virginia Gregg as Arlene's mother, Tanis Montgomery as Arlene, Nellie Burt as Grandma, Ronda Copland as Teresa, Edmund Cambridge as Mr. Dickerson (the mailman), and Sheila Jo Guthrie as Corrine.

After the success of George Lucas' 1972 film, "American Graffiti" (starring Ron Howard), the ABC programmers were looking to cash in on the wave of 1950's nostalgia. ABC, remembering Garry Marshall's earlier pilot, called him to make some changes to his original concept. Among the changes was to include the character of Arthur Fonzarelli. The rest of the Happy Days story is history.

In Happy Days episode #19 "Who's Sorry Now?", there are several flashbacks to the Love, American Style episode as Richie's old girlfriend, Arlene Nestrock, comes back to Milwaukee and wants to go steady with Richie.

This Love, American Style episode has been used to as the program to launch several tv cable networks including TV Land and Ha! (or The Comedy Channel, I'm not sure of the name of it).

I never understood how Chuck went off to college and was never seen nor heard from again. The family never even mentioned anything about him. Did they disown him for some reason?


Nothing to do with the the Pilot episode-just wanted to state that.  ;D ;D




Cat