Richie and Fonzie are back together again.
At the Emmys, Ron Howard and Henry Winkler took the stage in a “Happy Days” reunion of sorts, in honor of the show’s 50th anniversary.
On a re-created set of the show’s famed Arnold’s Drive-In, Winkler and Howard noted that they did not get brought onstage by the show’s beloved theme song. Howard then prompted Winkler to take care of that problem, leading Winkler to pull a classic Fonz move. He struck the juke box with his fist, with the jukebox immediately starting to play “Happy Days” by Pratt & McClain.
Howard is himself a three-time Emmy winner, while Winkler won the Emmy for best supporting actor in a comedy for “Barry” in 2018. Winkler was also nominated for his role in “Happy Days” three times.
Teasing the reunion with Variety on Thursday, Emmys executive producer Jesse Collins said, “I’m curious to see if you think we matched the jukebox. There’s a whole jukebox conversation.”
Howard starred in “Happy Days” in the lead role, as the wholesome, freckled Richie Cunningham, until he left the sitcom after its seventh season to pursue a career in directing. Winkler, playing the cool greaser Arthur “The Fonz”/”Fonzie” Fonzarelli, was bumped from recurring to main cast after Season 1. A smooth-talking sex symbol, Fonzie became so popular that the producers of “Happy Days” considered renaming the series to “Fonzie’s Happy Days” after its first season.
Fonzie’s legacy also includes playing a key role in the creation of the phrase “jumping the shark,” which was coined in reference to a Season 5 episode in which the Fonz jumps over a shark while on water skis. The phrase is used to describe when a creative work has gone too far in introducing new ideas that are discordant with its initial premise.
From Variety US