Henry Winkler has revealed that he refused to let ABC change the title of Happy Days to Fonzie’s Happy Days, telling the network’s president that the move would be “a slap in the face” to his co-stars.
The revelation comes from Winkler’s latest appearance on “In Depth With Graham Bensinger.” Winkler played Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli across all 11 seasons and 255 episodes of the ABC sitcom, debuting as a recurring character before being promoted to series regular during the show’s second season. His character became a massive fan favorite, and that popularity caught the attention of network executives.
“First of all, I would like to call the show ‘Fonzie’s Happy Days.’ We’re thinking of changing the title.”
Winkler responded immediately. “Sir, I’m really asking you not to do that,” he said. “We were really soaring in the ratings. It wasn’t broken. This would be a slap in the face. Why change the title if it is working so magnificently?”
He was also worried about keeping tensions among the ensemble cast in check. According to Winkler, Ron Howard was already annoyed with Fonzie becoming the breakout character and felt he was being “overshadowed” by him. Howard played the show’s original lead character, Richie Cunningham, and left Happy Days after seven seasons.
“I said, ‘Look, it hurt my feelings. You’re not doing anything to hurt my feelings. You’re really good and you’re good for the show. It’s helping the show. So I put all of that together and that’s the way it is,’ ” Winkler recalled of Howard’s annoyance. “And we never talked about it again.”
Winkler wanted to keep the peace among the cast. He turned down the title change because “we can’t do [the show] if we are resentful or angry of each other.” He also declined ABC president Leonard Goldenson’s offer to spin off Fonzie into his own series, saying “I have no idea if I’d have a chemistry with new people.” Winkler told the boss: “I don’t think I can do my own show. I think I’m very happy right where I am with this extraordinary family.”
Howard later confirmed his own stance in a career-spanning Vulture interview last year. While he grew comfortable over time with Winkler’s Fonz becoming the star of Happy Days, he drew a line at having the show be retitled.
“I never, ever challenged what they were doing creatively. It made perfect sense that you’d build this Fonzie character and maximize that,” Howard said. “But the optics of now being in a show called ‘Fonzie’s Happy Days,’ my ego wouldn’t allow for that. I wasn’t bluffing. I would’ve left. And my contract, I’m sure, had no clause connected to titles. They could have said, ‘Fuck you. We changed the title, and we expect you to show up Monday morning.’ But thank God for great bosses. Garry Marshall said, ‘If you’re not cool with it …'”
“I later found out Henry himself thought it was a terrible idea,” Howard continued. “I think the position I took made it easy for both Garry and Henry to also say, ‘No, let’s not do that.’ Years later, Henry said they were ready to do a spinoff and other things for Fonzie and he just said, ‘Why fix it if it’s not broken? My success depends on the ensemble I’m in.'”
The episode of “In Depth With Graham Bensinger” features Winkler’s full interview. The story shows how much Winkler cared about his fellow actors and the show’s collective identity.
- Winkler turned down a title change that would have made him the show’s namesake
- Howard threatened to leave if the title changed
The takeaway is simple: Winkler’s refusal to let ABC rename Happy Days was about respect for his co-stars and the ensemble that made the show work. Winkler’s own reasoning was clear: “Why fix it if it’s not broken?”
See the video the story is built around at Variety.
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