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Post by mrjukebox on Mar 10, 2020 18:57:02 GMT -5
If I'm not mistaken,the success of "American Graffiti" prompted ABC to premiere "Happy Days" in early 1974-It ran for ten seasons.
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Post by mga707 on Mar 10, 2020 19:14:39 GMT -5
If I'm not mistaken,the success of "American Graffiti" prompted ABC to premiere "Happy Days" in early 1974-It ran for ten seasons. Not specifically the film, even though the same actor (Ron Howard) starred in both. More of a general uptick in '50s nostalgia that ha started in Britain in the late '60s and had spread to the US. Remember, 'Grafitti' was set in late summer of 1962 ('Where were you in '62?' was the ad tag line) while the TV show was initially set around 1956, although the date and chronology were pretty fluid. Specifically, "Happy Days" grew out of a "Love, American Style" segment, also starring Howard as 'Richie Cunningham' and Anson Williams as 'Potsie', titled 'Love and the Television Set', that aired in February of '1972, well before 'Grafitti' was released in '73. I remember seeing that segment when it first aired.
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Post by djjoe1960 on Mar 11, 2020 10:04:27 GMT -5
I always found it interesting that the 4 TV themes were in the Top 40 at the same time and all were shows that were on ABC. I wonder if the network appreciated the free publicity?!
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Post by mrjukebox on Mar 11, 2020 16:25:29 GMT -5
I believe the "Love American Style" episode was called "Love & The Happy Days"-In any event,Marion Ross portrayed Marion Cunningham & Harold Gould was Howard Cunningham-Of course,Tom Bosley was cast in that role once it was announced that "Happy Days" was coming to ABC.
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Post by mrjukebox on Mar 11, 2020 17:14:53 GMT -5
"Love & The Television",per Wikipedia, was retitled "Love & The Happy Days" when "Love American Style" went into syndication.
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Post by Rodney on Mar 11, 2020 21:22:18 GMT -5
On February 25, 1972, the Love American Style show aired an episode with a segment titled "Love and the Television Set", a story about Richie Cunningham, his family, and friends. The premise and characters would later be used for the television series Happy Days, and the episode would later be recognized as a de facto pilot for the series (it had originally been produced as a pilot for New Family in Town, which had not been picked up). For syndication, the segment was retitled "Love and the Happy Days". Happy Days, in turn, launched an extensive franchise of spinoffs into the 1980s.
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Post by mga707 on Mar 11, 2020 21:22:56 GMT -5
I believe the "Love American Style" episode was called "Love & The Happy Days"-In any event,Marion Ross portrayed Marion Cunningham & Harold Gould was Howard Cunningham-Of course,Tom Bosley was cast in that role once it was announced that "Happy Days" was coming to ABC. The episode was retitled when it was included in the 'Happy Days' syndication package.
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Post by mga707 on Mar 11, 2020 21:37:22 GMT -5
On February 25, 1972, the Love American Style show aired an episode with a segment titled "Love and the Television Set", a story about Richie Cunningham, his family, and friends. The premise and characters would later be used for the television series Happy Days, and the episode would later be recognized as a de facto pilot for the series (it had originally been produced as a pilot for New Family in Town, which had not been picked up). For syndication, the segment was retitled "Love and the Happy Days". Happy Days, in turn, launched an extensive franchise of spinoffs into the 1980s. As I had basically already stated above. One other 'factoid' not yet mentioned is that Winkler's 'Fonzie' character was not in the 'de facto pilot' episode at all and was only a minor character in the show's first 1974 season (just a half-season as the show was a January mid-season entry). Ratings were only fair opposite CBS' hit "Maude" an fell further that fall against another CBS/Norman Lear show, "Good Times". So producer Garry Marshall changed the comedic tone of the show, making it broader and less reflective, and brought Winkler's hithero minor character into full co-starring prominence. It worked, by the third season ('75-'76) the show was a much bigger hit. But that's also when I personally lost all interest in it, as I much preferred the original concept.
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Post by cursereversed on Mar 13, 2020 11:33:54 GMT -5
Remember the AT 40: The 80's show Premiere ran a couple years ago that included an LDD to the cast from a self-professed big fan of the show, which had just been cancelled? It always impressed me that she requested Rock Around The Clock rather then the Pratt & McClain theme because that proved just HOW big of a fan she was, as RATC was only the theme song for the first full season plus the half-season (since, as mga707 pointed out, the show premiered in January, 1974).
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Post by chrislc on Mar 13, 2020 20:21:30 GMT -5
I always found it interesting that the 4 TV themes were in the Top 40 at the same time and all were shows that were on ABC. I wonder if the network appreciated the free publicity?! Then a few months later it was Nadia's Theme from ABC's Olympics Coverage. Maybe Harry Reasoner and Barbara Walters should have filled in for Casey. Probably in separate recording sessions, though, since the two didn't get along very well. Heahs Wiud Chewwy and Pway That Funky Music!
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Post by mkarns on Mar 14, 2020 1:34:28 GMT -5
I always found it interesting that the 4 TV themes were in the Top 40 at the same time and all were shows that were on ABC. I wonder if the network appreciated the free publicity?! Then a few months later it was Nadia's Theme from ABC's Olympics Coverage. CBS got a piece of that action as well, as "Nadia's Theme" was, and still is, the theme to "The Young and the Restless".
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Post by djjoe1960 on Mar 14, 2020 11:49:03 GMT -5
Then a few months later it was Nadia's Theme from ABC's Olympics Coverage. CBS got a piece of that action as well, as "Nadia's Theme" was, and still is, the theme to "The Young and the Restless". True, Chris--but Nadia's theme was music that featured on the ABC coverage of the Olympics.
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Post by chrislc on Mar 14, 2020 15:54:10 GMT -5
Then a few months later it was Nadia's Theme from ABC's Olympics Coverage. CBS got a piece of that action as well, as "Nadia's Theme" was, and still is, the theme to "The Young and the Restless". It has to be the only 1976 Top 40 hit that has been played five times a week on network TV for 44 years.
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Post by chrislc on Mar 16, 2020 18:44:50 GMT -5
I just thought of something. What was the theme song of The Young And The Restless in 1976? Surely ABC wouldn't have used a CBS program theme in their Olympics coverage, would they?
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Post by djjoe1960 on Mar 16, 2020 19:35:54 GMT -5
I just thought of something. What was the theme song of The Young And The Restless in 1976? Surely ABC wouldn't have used a CBS program theme in their Olympics coverage, would they? Actually the song was Cotton's Dream from the movie Bless The Beasts and The Children (from 1971) before it was used on the Young & The Restless (beginning in 1973).
ABC used the music on a Wide World of Sports re-broadcast of Nadia Comaneci's Summer Olympics gymnast routine (July/August of 1976), which is how the song came to gain it's new title--Nadia's Theme and was released as a single in August of 1976; making it to #8 in December, 1976.
And Now You Know The Rest Of The Story (as a famous news commentator used to say)....
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