Reunion looks back on ‘Happy Days’
To be nostalgic for “Happy Days” is to be nostalgic for nostalgia itself. And that’s a little weird.
But maybe that’s the point of the “Happy Days 30th Anniversary Reunion” (8 p.m., ABC). There’s nothing particularly wonderful or dreadful about this special that sets it apart from the 12 million other clip and interview shows that glance back at sitcoms past.
Early in the proceedings, creator Garry Marshall recalls some sage advice from fellow producers, who suggested that if they made a show set in the past the reruns would never look old. As peculiar as that sounds, Marshall’s mentors were absolutely correct.
Because “Happy Days” was a show made in the 1970s set in an antiseptic and mythical 1950s, it remains oddly timeless. While its contemporaries, including “The Odd Couple” and “Streets of San Francisco,” seem to have yellowed with age, “Happy Days” endures as a fantasy from no particular era.
As Marshall and star Ron Howard relate, the original pilot for “Happy Days” was made before the ‘50s nostalgia craze erupted in the early and mid-‘70s. According to Howard, the pilot was strongly influenced by the popular 1971 coming-of-age film “Summer of ‘42,” a film obviously not set in the ‘50s.
Although ABC canned the pilot, the network salvaged pieces of it for a short segment on “Love American Style.” It was that show that brought Ron Howard to the attention of George Lucas while he was casting “American Graffiti.”
And, Marshall explains, it was the surprising success of “Graffiti” that made ABC execs return to him and ask him to re-shoot his Eisenhower-era sitcom.
Since 1975, “Happy Days” has blazed a saccharine trail of permanent nostalgia. In three subsequent decades we have seen each pop-cultural epoch reduced to convenient commodities, where any inconvenient facts or controversies are completely whitewashed or reduced to a punch line.
It would be unfair to blame the Fonz for all of this. But the Fonz-mania of the mid-‘70s represented the desecration and domestication of the leather-clad delinquent, one of the most powerful and frightening images from the ‘50s.
“Happy Days” reduced James Dean’s tortured outcast rebel to a popular teddy bear.
During the “Reunion,” we’re reminded that the Fonz’s jacket has found a home in the Smithsonian Institution. I have a feeling it’s entombed in a glass case right next to Mickey Mouse.
A former CIA counterterrorism chief talks for the first time in the documentary “Osama: Dead or Alive” (9 p.m., Discovery). He admits to “renting” the loyalty of Afghan tribal leaders. Apparently, a briefcase containing $5 million can be quite persuasive.
“Osama” relates many tales of operatives who had the terror leader in their sights, only to watch him escape.
Other highlights
Summer gets serious about her comic book on “The O.C.” (8 p.m., Fox).
Eddie Murphy stars in the 1998 comedy “Dr. Doolittle” (8 p.m., WB).
A husband and wife (Albert Finney and Audrey Hepburn) spend much of their 12-year marriage driving around Europe in a cramped sports car in the 1967 Stanley Donen comedy “Two for the Road” (5 p.m., Fox Movie Channel).
On back-to-back episodes of “CSI” (CBS), a serial killer of cops (8 p.m.,), and the honeymoon ends for two mail-order brides (9 p.m.).
The teams scheme to promote a new brand of instant coffee on “The Apprentice” (9 p.m., NBC).
All heck breaks loose after a meteor shower lights up the heavens on “Point Pleasant” (9 p.m., Fox).
An autistic child vanishes during a field trip on “Without a Trace” (10 p.m., CBS, TV-PG,V).
Pratt takes a special interest in a gunshot victim on “ER” (10 p.m., NBC).
Scheduled on “Primetime” (10 p.m., ABC): an interview with Teri Hatcher; victims of botched Botox procedures speak out; developments in cosmetic dentistry.
Cult choice
Plans to sneak a mythical creature into the United States on a cruise ship go awry in the 2005 thriller “Chupacabra: Dark Seas” (9 p.m., Sci Fi), starring Giancarlo Esposito.
Series notes
A chance to appear on “The Tonight Show” on “Joey” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-14) … Wrestling on “WWE SmackDown!” (8 p.m., UPN) … Jeff Goldblum and Patty Lupone guest-star on “Will & Grace” (8:30 p.m., NBC).