The Controversial Decision That Nearly Ended Happy Days

While it has become one of the most iconic TV shows of all time, "Happy Days" initially struggled to find an audience. During the show's second season, network executives demanded a number of changes to the series, including refocusing the show's stories around the character of Arthur "Fonz" Finzarelli, played by Henry Winkler, one of many adult actors who have played teens idols on TV.

Overall, the cast and crew of the show were a little nervous about the changes, but agreed to them. As Ron Howard, who played Richie Cunningham, explained to the New York Times, "I'm glad that they made the moves they made, whether I was 100 percent comfortable with them at the time or not. It was thrilling to see the show take off." However, there was one change executives wanted that the "Happy Days" family fought against: renaming the show "Fonzie's Happy Days."

Winkler was against the name change from the start, telling the Times, "I said, 'If you do that, it is an insult to everybody I'm working with. Why fix something that isn't broken? We are really good. I live in the family and that's why I'm successful.'" Howard, who already felt disrespected by the network, was also against the idea and threatened to leave the show if the new name was put into use.

In the end, "Happy Days" kept its name and ended up running for 11 seasons while spawning a number of classic spin-offs, including "Laverne & Shirley" and "Mork & Mindy." In some ways, the execs did get their way in the end: the animated series "Fonzie and the Happy Days Gang" aired six years later. 

While Henry Winkler's wife may not have realized just how famous her husband is, to the world at large, Fonzie is an icon. The leather jacket Winkler wore on "Happy Days" is even displayed in the Smithsonian Museum of American History. However, ABC, the network that aired "Happy Days," initially kept the character from being seen in what would become his trademark look, worrying that having the Fonz wearing leather would make viewers think he was a criminal.

Because of ABC's trepidation, Fonzie didn't wear leather for the first season, choosing to walk around in a windbreaker instead. As Henry Winkler explained to the Guardian, "At first, they had me put on a flimsy-collared golf jacket. It was unbelievably hard to be cool in puce." 

Paramount

Creator Garry Marshall went to the network executives and asked that the character be allowed to wear his leather jacket, explaining to ABC execs that bikers wore leather to protect them if they fell off their motorcycles. The network came up with a compromise — Fonzie could wear the leather jacket, but only in scenes where he had his motorcycle with him. Marshall agreed to the deal, and, being a creative person, figured out the best way to always show Fonzie in his leather jacket: The character would never be seen without his bike.

Throughout the second season, Fonzie would bring his motorcycle everywhere, even indoors. He would show up in the kitchen of the Cunningham's home with his bike. He would enter Al's Diner on his bike. Wherever Fonzie was, his bike was there too. In time, ABC relented, and Fonzie was allowed to wear his leather without the need to drag his motorcycle into every scene.