All the Way

Potsie tries to fix up Richie with Mary Lou Milligan, a girl with a "reputation".

An amusing pilot episode. Mary Lou is played by cute Kathy O'Dare, one month after this she would appear on a Brady Bunch episode, as Peter's date in one titled "Two Petes In A Pod". Potsie loans the Mickey Spillane book "I, The Jury" to Richie to read to Mary Lou on their date, he has to help her out while babysitting. It turns out she does not go all the way. Richie lets his friends think she did but changes his mind later. Fonzie appears for the first time, he was described as a "drop out", and he doesn't speak a word until the end. He gets a date with Mary Lou and is disappointed when Richie tells him she is not the kind of girl everyone thought she was.

This was so charming and nostalgic to revisit today. I had no idea Happy Days was created by Garry Marshall of Pretty Woman fame. The pilot is all about awkwardness around girls, with boys falling over themselves to say and do the 'right thing'. It's silly but mostly innocent. Ron Howard is charming, the music is great. Grease definitely took a huge chunk of Happy Days. Tom Bosley is wonderfully natural and relaxed as Howard Cunningham, giving his son honest advice in a non-judgmental way. Great father-son relationships. The laugh track is dated but part of the upbeat package.