Happy Days is an American television sitcom that originally aired from 1974 to 1984 on ABC. The show presents an idealized vision of life in 1950s and early 1960s America.
The family consists of Howard Cunningham, a hardware store owner, his homemaker wife Marion and the couple's two children, Richard Cunningham, an optimistic if somewhat naive teenager, and Joanie, Richie's sweet but feisty younger sister. The Cunninghams also had an older son named Chuck, a character who disappeared early in the first season.
The earlier episodes revolve around Richie and his friends, Potsie Weber, Ralph Malph, and local dropout Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli, but as the series progressed, "Fonzie" proved to be a favorite with viewers and soon more storylines were written to reflect his growing popularity. Soon Fonzie befriended Richie and the Cunningham family. The focus would also occasionally shift to other additional characters, such as Fonzie's cousin Chachi, who became a love interest for Joanie Cunningham.
This long-running show spawned several other television series, including Laverne & Shirley, Mork & Mindy, and Joanie Loves Chachi.
Happy Days has been also referenced in, "Let's Go to the Hop" and "Sibling Rivalry".
In "The Son Also Draws", The Fonz was Peter Griffin's spiritual guide while lost in the forest during his Vision Quest with his son Chris. He told Peter that he should start paying attention to Chris more and accept his drawing abilities. In an episode of Happy Days seen earlier in the episode, Richie reveals he is in love with Potsie.
In "The Father, the Son, and the Holy Fonz", Griffin starts his own religion, Fonzism. This new religion, centered around The Fonz with services held at The First United Church of the Fonz, borrows surface elements from Catholicism but uses Happy Days episodes as its sacred texts.
In "It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One", a legend about Don Most is proven true. The eponymous song that accompanies his misty rise is about him, and samples the show's theme song.
When Peter makes a mistake by leaving the couch by the curb and it is taken in "A Shot in the Dark", a 70-year old Fonzie appears to be stumbling over being "wrong", a word Fonzie was unable to say. However, Lois points out that he is really having a stroke.
Among the television shows featured in the background during Peter's introduction to ""Family Guy" Through the Years" is an image of the Fonz in Happy Days.