...before Fonzi jumped the shark. The third season with the live audience and more Fonzi is when the show got worse. I know it was wildly popular, but I didn't care for it as a pre-teen. I liked the first two seasons. While many people were watching Happy Days third season, I was watching Good Times.
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Agree. Season three and on was when the ratings went through the roof with the live audience (and associated live audience jokes) and the ascension of Fonzie to the lead - but the quality dropped.
As a fan, I hated it. If I was involved in the production though, I would have been on-board with the decision to change the show.
Yup, gotta give the people what they want, but those first two seasons were so good. I wasn't alive in the 50's, but I definitely felt like the first two seasons were pretty close to what it would have been like to be living then.
sharei liked the show despite the changes,until Richie left. that is when it jumped the shark for me.. Richie was the heart and soul of the show for me, despite fonzies popularity
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I watched Robert Conrad's Black Sheep Squadron which was on at the same time as HD. Seems to me that Good Times aired at a different time as I always caught that show as well.
shareIt's nice to see I'm not alone. I've seen the series and thought it was solid before it went before a live studio audience.
Richie and his father became over-the-top characters -- almost obnoxious -- in the live setting format and it lost all it's charm and appeal.
And for my money, less was always more when it came to the Fonz . . . .
It starts after the first season which had a darker edge to it, more like American Graffiti. The guys talk about sex with women not just making out and the Fonz is a darker more criminal like character. After that the show becomes more of a family viewing type show and declines from there.
shareYes, the show was totally retooled from an adult program to a family program. And the eldest son got the short end of the stick too.
shareNot sure what they could have done with the eldest son long term. He seemed over shadowed by the personalities around him like Ron Howard, Tom Bosley and Winkler but even by the other actors. Maybe they never developed his character properly and saw they had too many characters already so just decided to drop him without explanation.
shareThe live audience was painful. The actors would enter and have to wait for the audience to settle down before delivering lines, often dropping character while they wait. Almost every main character got a huge response too.
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