Editing Happy Days (section)

== Plot ==
Set in [[Milwaukee]], [[Wisconsin]], during the 1950s and 1960s, the series revolves around teenager [[Richie Cunningham]] and his family: his father, Howard, who owns a hardware store; traditional homemaker and mother, Marion; younger sister [[Joanie Cunningham]]; Richie's older brother Chuck (briefly in seasons 1 and 2 only, disappearing from storylines afterward); and high school dropout, leather-jacket–clad [[Greaser (subculture)|greaser]], suave and promiscuous mechanic [[Fonzie]], who would eventually become Richie's best friend and the Cunninghams' over-the-garage tenant. The earliest episodes revolve around Richie and his friends, [[Potsie Weber]] and [[Ralph Malph]], with Fonzie as a secondary character. However, as the series progressed, Fonzie proved to be a favorite with viewers, and soon more story lines were written to reflect his growing popularity, Winkler was top billed in the opening credits alongside Howard by season 3.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Haithman |first=Diane |date=January 4, 1991 |title=Is Uncool Urkel the '90s Answer to the Fonz? |work=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-01-04-ca-7948-story.html |access-date=November 7, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112022146/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-01-04-ca-7948-story.html |archive-date=November 12, 2020}}</ref> Fonzie befriended Richie and the Cunningham family and, when Richie left the series for military service, Fonzie became the central figure of the show, with Winkler receiving sole top billing. In later seasons, other characters were introduced including Fonzie's young cousin, [[Chachi Arcola]], who became a love interest for Joanie Cunningham.

The series' pilot was originally shown as "Love and the Television Set", later retitled "Love and the Happy Days" for syndication, a one-episode teleplay on the anthology series ''[[Love, American Style]]'', aired on February 25, 1972. ''Happy Days'' spawned successful television shows ''[[Laverne & Shirley]]'' and ''[[Mork & Mindy]]'' as well as three failures: ''[[Joanie Loves Chachi]]'', ''[[Blansky's Beauties]]'' featuring Nancy Walker as Howard's cousin,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Blansky's Beauties |url=http://www.tv.com/shows/blanskys-beauties/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120701021554/http://www.tv.com/shows/blanskys-beauties/ |archive-date=July 1, 2012 |access-date=April 27, 2012 |website=TV.com}}</ref> and ''[[Out of the Blue (1979 TV series)|Out of the Blue]]''. The show is the basis for the [[Happy Days (musical)|''Happy Days'' musical]] touring the United States since 2008. The leather jacket worn by Winkler during the series was acquired by the [[Smithsonian Institution]] for the permanent collection at the [[National Museum of American History]].<ref>{{Cite news |title=How Now, Mr. Fonzarelli? |work=[[People (magazine)|People]] |url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20110141,00.html |url-status=live |access-date=October 20, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100801214334/http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20110141,00.html |archive-date=August 1, 2010}}</ref> The original, light grey [[Harrington jacket|McGregor]] windbreaker Winkler wore during the first season eventually was thrown into the garbage after ABC relented and allowed the Fonzie character to wear a leather jacket.