JOANEE LOVES CHOOCH

JOANIE LOVES CHACHI
1982-1983 ABC

JOANEE LOVES CHOOCH
Crazy #92, December 1982
w: Stu Schwartzberg
a: Kent Gamble

Happy Days was such a hit in the seventies that producer Garry Marshall basically had carte blanche to produce anything he wanted for ABC. Some programs were hits such as Laverne and Shirley or Mork and Mindy, a lot were flops like Blansky's Beauties, Angie, Makin' It, Goodtime Girls, and this. Marshall claimed the show was banned in Korea because 'Chachi' was too close to their word for penis, but I'm going to call BS on that since the character had been around for years.

The premise was that Happy Days stars Joanie Cunningham (Erin Moran) and Chachi Arcola (Scott Baio) moved away from Milwaukee and started a band in Chicago. The show fast-forwards to 1963 (which I've insisted many times before is in the fifties no matter what anyone says) right before the British Invasion changed pop music. This parody has them going forward beyond then, even though they didn't actually do that.

The show made references that prophecized events of the future, like here how they reference Lee Harvey Oswald and the JFK assassination. Supporting characters were named Bingo and Annette, named for Ringo Starr and Annette Funicello.

Like most Happy Days spinoffs, they often had the Fonz come in to boost ratings. The cop here is supposed to be George Kennedy as The Blue Knight.

The characters of Joanie and Chachi actually did return to Happy Days after this show was canceled. Al Molinaro was another character from that show who went to this and boomeranged back. The quote from Richie in Vietnam is a reference to a quote from Muhammad Ali when he refused to sign up for the draft.

Kent Gamble probably couldn't draw Lennon assassin Mark David Chapman.

From More TV Moments We'll Never See in Bananas #61, circa 1983