Product Description

"Happy Days" was set in the 1950s in Milwaukee, the heart of middle-class America, and told the story of the Cunningham family. Mr. Cunningham (Tom Bosley) ran the local hardware store and Mrs. Cunningham (Marion Ross), like all good TV Moms, spent her time in the kitchen. Their son, Richie (Ron Howard), hung out at Arnold's Drive-In with his pals Ralph Malph (Donny Most) and Potsie (Anson Williams), trying to be as cool as the coolest greaser in town, the Fonz (Henry Winkler). Richie's sister, Joanie (Erin Moran), tagged along whenever she wasn't at her friend Jenny Piccolo's house. The Cunninghams also had an older son, Chuck, but he mysteriously disappeared after the first season.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8882 in DVD
• Brand: Paramount
• Released on: 2007-11-27
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Color, DVD, Full Screen, Restored, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 4
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 540 minutes

Amazon.com
The 1975-76 season of the highly successful Happy Days is largely defined by the placement of the Fonz (Henry Winkler) in even closer proximity to the Cunningham family--making him, tacitly and literally, a member of best friend Richie’s household. When Fonzie's grandmother moves into the ultra-cool, womanizing biker’s apartment, he takes a room over the Cunningham’s garage, making Richie (Ron Howard), his mom Marion (Marion Ross), and sister Joanie (Erin Moran) happy, but leaving cantankerous-but-lovable dad Howard Cunningham (Tom Bosley) something more than ambivalent. While several episodes deal with one or another conflict between strong-willed Fonzie and stubborn Howard--at one point, the two sue each other over a roof that collapses from the weight of Fonzie's pigeon coop--life otherwise lurches along for Richie and his gang. In "The Other Richie Cunningham," Richie tries an end run around his dad's expectation that he take a business associate's daughter out for a date. Enlisting pal Potsie (Anson Williams) to pretend to be Richie, the Howdy Doody-faced teen finds the plan backfiring when Potsie proves to be less than a gentleman to the unfortunate girl. "Jailhouse Rock" finds Richie and Howard sharing a jail cell after protesting an arbitrary curfew by police on teens, while "Tell It to the Marines" concerns a desperate attempt by Ralph (Donny Most) to earn respect by threatening to join military service. Not surprisingly, however, most of Happy Days: The Third Season follows the exploits of Fonzie as he constantly lives up to the reputation that inevitably precedes him. The two-part "Fearless Fonzarelli" begins with the Fonz so worried he's losing his cool that he agrees to jump 14 garbage cans on his motorcycle for a television show--and ends up with a serious leg injury. "Fonzie the Superstar" is a popular episode in which the Fonz agrees to substitute for Potsie as vocalist in Richie's band, then freezes up with stage fright on the night of a show at Arnold's. (Winkler's performance on "Heartbreak Hotel," while not exactly singing, is so charged with energy one can tell the actor was probably breaking through his own inhibitions during the scene.) "Bringing Up Spike" focuses on Fonzie's first encounter with child-rearing when his visiting, little delinquent cousin gets into a jam with the law.

Happy Days: The Third Season is definitely a peak in the show's lengthy history, just before the series took a turn for the silly (or sillier). This was the year Laverne (Penny Marshall) and Shirley (Cindy Williams) were introduced to the world on Happy Days (before landing their own spin-off series). And armchair TV historians will take note how sexist the show could be while it simultaneously takes a minor stab at American racism in "Fonzie's New Friend" (in which the Fonz shows up with an African-American pal to play drums in Richie's band, and gets a hostile reaction from whites in the community). --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

WHY DID THEY EDIT CERTAIN EPISODES???
This, in my opinion, is the best season of Happy Days. The writing was outstanding and Henry Winkler was at his peak. THIS is the season that should have ranked as the #1 show on television (it finished at #11, season four is the one that reached the top). There is one problem with the DVD though. Certain episodes (very few...I think) are edited. One of my all-time favorite scenes is missing. It is the end tag of the episode titled "Fonzie's New Friend". This is where Fonzie does the limbo. But it's gone....why? I also noticed a couple of edits here and there on one or two other episodes. The sad thing is that this is probably the only form these episodes will ever be released in. Yet, we won't ever be able to see certain parts of some episodes. Sad.
On a lighter note, I recently had the opportunity to see the Happy Days house when I was in Hollywood. Of course this was just used for the exterior shots, but it hasn't changed much. If you're ever out there and you're interested in seeing it, it's easy to find. I can't give you the house address here (especially since people actually live there) but it's easy to research on the internet.

The music is all there!
I was suprised to see that the music was all there, even though the back of the box says that the music has been changed. Not as good as the first 2 seasons because they filmed before a live audience, but it's still early Happy Days!

Better than expected
I never write reviews or participate in leaving comments but i was compelled to considering i waited so long to buy the happy days 3 seasons available because of the negatives everyone mentions , and yes the seasons 2 & 3 are packaged differently from season 1 and apparantly
the fans that know the episodes well notice a scene edited here or there and certain music couldnt be used because of the expense to paramount but now that currently 45 bucks buys all 3 new with free shipping i would recommend these. I know dvd sets can be made much nicer with better packaging and extras like bloopers , commentery & interviews and its good to know ahead to expect all your gonna get are the episodes but they are clean, great quality , and have nice menus, also just the fact that you get the full picture without all the logos and junk you get if you record the shows off tv. I would hope they get season 4 released soon and I want to add now in recent years nick at nite has self destructed & tv land has ventured into reality tv giving replacement to the great classics like happy days and well on its way to becoming another channal to flip past making the great tv series dvds more important now than ever before. I recommend these dvd's even with the negatives that are true but holding out for better dvds aint an option. life is short paramount...get em released !