History Series / HappyDays

* AbsentAnimalCompanion: In "Two Angry Men", Fonzie has several pigeons as pets, but we never see them in future episodes.

** Even later, he became a high school shop teacher and still later, Dean of Students at the school where Creator/TedMcGinley was a physical education teacher (and later an administrator) -- all seemingly without having earned so much as a [=GED=]. (By the end of the series, he had also purchased his auto repair shop and reportedly also was part-owner of Arnold's.)

* FormulaBreakingEpisode: Season 2's "Fonzie's Getting Married" was filmed with a StudioAudience as an experiment; it went well enough that the show permanently switched to that format when it was renewed for another season.

* SillyPrayer: In a ThanksgivingEpisode, Fonzie does the comically small prayer of "Hey God, thanks!".

* EmbarrassingFirstName: Fonzie's first name is ''Arthur''. With the exception of Marion, Fonzie doesn't let ''anyone'' call him that.

* RomanticRideSharing: Arthur is a promiscuous biker. As such, he's often seen riding on a motorcycle with a woman hugging him from behind.

*** Actually, he earned his high school diploma in the fourth season by taking night school classes. The Fonz does not require sleep!

* PantyShot: Joanie in a couple of episodes donned in her cheerleader outfit.

Fitting for a show which launched so many [[SpinOff spin-offs]], ''Happy Days'' actually originated as an episode of the GenreAnthology ''Series/LoveAmericanStyle'', but also drew both cast and conceptual elements from the movie ''Film/AmericanGraffiti''. It was something of a flop early on, but gradually became a ratings juggernaut and ended up having, in its own way, as big of an impact on U.S. television as ''Series/{{Cheers}}'' or ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}''. While achieving a kind of brilliant, ''Series/FatherKnowsBest'' self-parody in its earlier seasons, the show went on way longer than it should have, and was ultimately the inspiration and TropeNamer for the phrase JumpingTheShark.

* GaggingOnYourWords: Fonzie is physically incapable of saying that he's wrong.

* ShooOutTheNewGuy: Pinky Tuscadero and the band's "black drummer" "Sticks" were both hyped in promos as new characters, but neither appeared for more than an arc before disappearing. Pinky's sister "Leather" was a stand-in for Pinky (whose actress, Roz Kelly, apparently caused problems) but was again not common. Other examples include down-home hick cousin K.C. Cunningham (''Series/{{Wings}}'' Crystal Bernard) and Fonzie's temporary girlfriend and her [[Film/{{Poltergeist|1982}} daughter]] for the second-to-last season.

* ShoutOut: ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' did a very kind, full-episode one to the show when Peter founded a religion based on the series. Also, Weezer's "Buddy Holly" video.

* DenserAndWackier: You probably couldn't guess that this was the TropeNamer for JumpingTheShark without being told, seeing as how "ski-jumping over sharks to conquer your fear of them" isn't exactly what most people nostalgically remember about TheFifties.
** This was, however, rolled back somewhat around 1980 when former showrunner Lowell Ganz was placed in charge of the show again, making the plots more grounded and Fonzie less of TheAce.

** The Fonz was originally conceived as an intimidating, occasionally violent tough-guy semi-villain and semi-criminal. Cue the {{Flanderization}}.

%%* BoundAndGagged: Potsie and Ralph in "Fonzie's Funeral Part 2".

* {{Expy}}: In the episode "Vocational Education" from the final season, Ken Osmond plays a two-faced, brown-nosing teacher who acts exactly like a grown-up version of Eddie Haskell, the character Osmond played on ''Series//LeaveItToBeaver''. Even his name, "Freddie Bascomb," sounds similar.

* AbsenteeActor:
** Anson Williams was absent in several episodes of the last three seasons, including the GrandFinale, because with Howard and Most gone from the show, the writers struggled to find things for Potsie to do.
** Erin Moran and Donny Most do not appear in the episode "Chachi's Incredo-Wax", but are still featured in the opening credits.

* BadassBeard: One episode has Fonzie growing one. When Fonzie decides to shave it off at the end, Potsie collects some of the leftover hair to sell it to a waiting crowd of girls outside.

** ''Series/FreaksAndGeeks'' and ''Series/TheWonderYears'' are also spiritual successors, albeit to a lesser degree.

* SpinOff: In a sense, ''Happy Days'' ''was'' one, growing out of a segment on the anthology series ''Series/LoveAmericanStyle''. It went on to spawn more successful shows than almost any other series (only ''Series/AllInTheFamily'' could boast more):

* BreakoutCharacter: This trope used to be ''CALLED'' "The Fonzie", and Fonz remains the yardstick by which applicability of this trope to a character is measured. He went from an occasionally glimpsed greaser character to a centerpiece of the show thanks to his tough persona and catchphrases, to finally the ''main'' character of the show. By the third season, Fonzie had become so popular that ABC wanted to change the title of the show to ''Fonzie's Happy Days'' or simply ''Fonzie'', but Henry Winkler opposed the change, feeling that it would be an insult to Ron Howard.

* GiftShake: In the Very Special ChristmasEpisode, Richie's BrotherChuck (who is going to college on a basketball scholarship) gets [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2j1Ror7ahQ#t=3m24s a round object covered in paper.]]

[[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Happy-Days-Posters.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:310:Not pictured: {{Chuck Cunningham|Syndrome}}.[[note]]Clockwise from top: [[StandardFiftiesFather Howard]], [[TheDitz Potsie]], [[{{Housewife}} Marion]], [[NiceGuy Richie]], [[LittleMissSnarker Joanie]], [[ClassClown Ralph]], and... [[TheAce Fonzie]], ''ayyyy''.[[/note]]]]

--> '''Ralph''':[Smugly] I hope you don't need to use the kitchen.
--> '''Potsie''': Well, I hope you don't need to use the bathroom!

-->'''Potsie:''' Hey, look, there's an outside wall! I wonder what it's made of?
-->'''Fonzie:''' Concrete. ''(passes out)''

Frequently parodied for being over-the-top, cutesy and having silly characters, it's also duly respected in Hollywood for cementing a number of sitcom archetypes (Richie as the nice guy, Ralph as the jokester, Fonzie as the cool ladies' man, Howard and Marion as the ideal sitcom parents). Its influence in terms of character archetypes, tropes and catchphrases cannot be overstated.

''Happy Days'' spun off several shows, some of them hits (''Series/LaverneAndShirley'' and ''Series/MorkAndMindy''), and a lot of misses (''Joanie Loves Chachi'', ''Blansky's Beauties'', ''Out of the Blue'', ''WesternAnimation/TheFonzAndTheHappyDaysGang'', etc.)

** In "My Favorite Orkan", when Mork is sitting in the Cunningham living room watching TV, he tunes into ''Series/TheAndyGriffithShow'', commenting that he likes the character of Opie... who, of course, was played by Richie's actor Ron Howard when he went by the stage name of ''Ronny'' Howard. Mork questions why an Earth boy has a Martian name.[[note]]There's also a bit of AnachronismStew here, as ''Happy Days'' is set in the '50s, while ''The Andy Griffith Show'' didn't premiere until 1961, which would have made Ron Howard less than five years old in the episode.[[/note]]

** In "My Favorite Orkan", when Mork is sitting in the Cunningham living room watching TV, he tunes into ''Series/TheAndyGriffithShow', commenting that he likes the character of Opie... who, of course, was played by Richie's actor Ron Howard when he went by the stage name of ''Ronny'' Howard. Mork questions why an Earth boy has a Martian name.[[note]]There's also a bit of AnachronismStew here, as ''Happy Days'' is set in the '50s, while ''The Andy Griffith Show'' didn't premiere until 1961, which would have made Ron Howard less than five years old in the episode.[[/note]]