Happy Days is Screwed: Season 2 Episode 13

In this series, I attempt to demonstrate that the show Happy Days follows the concept of the fantasy world of the 1950's United States, and is full of pro-US ideology and rife with heavy handed statements about morality. Happy days was made from Season 1 starting in 1974. Oh yeah, and so you don't miss anything, the clips are played at 1/3rd speed, and so are screwed, as in the technique used by DJ Screw to acquire a unique style and feel. He was called DJ Screw (RIP 2000) because he used a screw to modify the speed on his turntable. I love his hip hop mixes, and I love things slowed down. What follows is the summary of:

SEASON 2 EPISODE 13: Fonzie's Getting Married

In this episode the Fonz makes a big announcement; he, the teenage Fonz (they are never clear on his age but he is in the same grade as Potsie and Richie and Ralph, who are in high school) is getting married. The gang has a huddle with him in his office:

Yeah, that's right, the Fonz thinks that men should only marry virgins. This becomes a point of contention when, uh-oh, turns out Howard (AKA "Chips" Cunningham) saw her strip at a hardware convention. If this doesn't sound like something a family man like Howard would do, you don't know Howard very well. To find out for sure if it is her, he will recognize her laugh:

Is Howard actually joking, or just explaining what he thinks about bums? Well now Howard's worst fears have been confirmed.  He has to tell Richie:

Eventually they tell Fonzie, who naturally doesn't believe them. They go to the "strippers", 1950's style, to scope out the action:

We never find out what happened to them when he caught up to her. Howard sizes up The Lone Stripper and runs for it:

Fonz drinks in the reality of the situation, man's up and gets over it. Richie has other things on his mind:

And Howard is also busy:

At least Marion knows how to have a good time.

Anyone got a cigarette?

Anyone? Believe it or not, I have a difficult time sitting down and watching entire episodes of television shows. This probably stems from some of my painfully lame childhood watching the high end classic TV shows like Family Ties and Wheel of Fortune, sometimes while standing on my head or maybe while mowing down a freshly microwaved process cheese and wonder bread sandwitch.
And I can say, in all unbiased objectivity and free standing open mindedness, after watching nearly four episodes of the high budget, acclaimed show Mad Men (I slept through half of episode three and did a bit of a workout during episode four), I can make a series of bullet points about the show, that is, a portrayal of life in the 1950s as follows:

• offices used to be dominated by men
• people were still as big of assholes as they are today (or are portrayed as such)
• hairstyles and clothes were terrible, except for mens suits which look suspiciously close to present day cuts
• men were pimps and playas
• women kept their mouths shut if they knew what was good for them
• people could smoke anywhere, and its a good thing too because it was hard for them to keep those tobacco flavored tubed out of their cake holes for more than ten seconds at a time

Now people that know me know that I really don't care who smokes, how much, or why. I don't smoke because my grandparents disgusted my with constant chain smoking in their houses, and my subsequently not wanting to ever set foot in them. All I'm saying is GOOD GOD SON GIVE IT A REST. Sexy, important, famous, wealthy people all smoke cigarettes non stop. Got it.
Thats really the tip of the iceberg on this show however. I really enjoyed the first couple of episodes, with a nice mix of character development and dark humor. But unlike some sitcoms that turn into dramas after so many years the original writers have become dessicated dusty remains and the characters with their witty one liners desperately trying to continue qualifying themselves as an 'actor' and not a 'typecast version of themselves', the show went a massive two episodes without changing the formula to a full blown drama full of backbiting, lies, deception, intrigue, promiscuous sex, etc. that the average couch potato eats up but sets me adrift upon Lake Daydream in short order.
You almost had me there though Matt Weiner. Taking the popularity of the office and turning it into a 1950's cigarette commercial with an extra helping of boring, bravo.