I can remember quite clearly, the latter years of Happy Days but don't remember the early days at all.  Recently the series re-appeared of Five US and, to be honest, I'm now glad I missed them!

The original series of Happy Days was a very humdrum affair.  The spotlight was firmly placed on Ritchie Cunningham and his best friend Potsie.  It reminded me of an extremely dumbed down version of American Pie.  In more or less each episode Ritchie, always the perfect gent, would wrestle with his conscious before going home to ask his father for advice.

Howard Cunningham, was a likeable but slightly pompous man who seemed to always have one foot firmly in the past.  He didn't like change and hated Rock 'n' Roll, something he couldn't get away from in 1950's Milwaukee!  The rest of the Cunningham clan included Howard's wife, Marion - a ditzy but loveable housewife, oldest son Chuck - a meat-headed frat boy and of course, young Joanie.

The only other notable characters that you would recognise from the first season of Happy Days were Ralph Malph, Ritchie's rebellious friend and high school drop out Fonzie.

You note that Fonzie was the last person I credited there.  That was because he was rarely seen in many of the early episodes.  He was very much a wallflower who hardly said a word until at least mid-way through the first season.  He seemed a lot more aloof and was without his legendary catchphrases and black leather jacket.  He was, however, portrayed as a "cool" guy who the ladies loved.  From small acorns etc etc!

As you can imagine, Happy Days wasn't an instant success.  So the writers went back to the drawing board.  They had noticed that viewers had liked Fonzie, so they decided to move the character centre-stage.  This proved to be a masterstroke as the viewing figures began to take off.

Series 3 was the show's turning point.  The programme was know "filmed in front of a live studio audience" and all the characters were beefed up a little.  By this time Fonzie was the main character with Ritchie now shoved down the pecking order.  Even sweet little Joanie began to evolve turning into a blossoming young teenager as the show progressed.

We were also introduced to Arnold, a rather manic Japanese guy who owned the local diner.  He was later replaced by Al, a jovial Italian.  Arnold returned for the final two series.  One person who just disappeared altogether was Chuck Cunningham.  He was last seen going off to College in Series 2 but mysteriously never returned and was never referred to again, even by his own family!

As the years went on the focus moved away from Ritchie and onto Joanie who was now in a relationship with Chachi, Fonzie's cousin.  Joanie and Chachi became so popular that they were given their own sitcom.  Other Happy Day's spin-offs included Laverne & Shirley and Mork & Mindy and some rather dire Hanna-Barbera cartoons that aren't worth mentioning!

Happy Days audience slowly began to dwindle away towards the end of its run.  By now a number of the original cast had moved on and the plotlines were getting more and more implausible.  The Happy Days were well and truly over by 1985.