Happy Days [TV Show] (DVD)
Season 4
APPROX. 633 MINS. - PROD. YEAR: 1974 - MPA RATING: NR
" The fourth season isn't quite as strong as previous ones because it's so uneven.
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3) "A Mind of Their Own." Fonzie sees a psychiatrist in order to deal with his increasing tendency to get into fights. So what does the doctor prescribe? Building birdhouses.
4) "Fonzie the Father." The Fonz has a date with the Aloha Pussycats, and that leaves Richie babysitting Fonzie's pregnant friend, Louisa, while the rest of the family is away. So much for that wild party.
5) "Fonzie's Hero." Potsie saves Fonzie from a fire, and the Fonz's code dictates that he has to do whatever Potsie wants as payback-even if it means being Potsie's best friend.
6) "A Place of His Own." Richie borrows Fonzie's apartment so he can impress an art student.
7) "They Shoot Fonzies, Don't They?" Joanie (Erin Moran) asks Fonzie to be her partner in a dance marathon, but when Fonzie arrives after pushing his broken-down motorcycle 12 miles he's in no shape to dance.
8) "The Muckrakers." Richie goes undercover to do a high-school newspaper story about bad cafeteria food.
9) "A.K.A. The Fonz." A tough new sheriff named Kirk wants hoodlums like Fonzie out of town, and he starts leaning on Fonzie.
10) "Richie Branches Out." Richie pretends to be a professional photographer in order to get close to a pin-up girl.
11) "Fonzie's Old Lady." The Fonz is dating an older woman, and Richie and Potsie are convinced she's married.
12) "Time Capsule." When the gang creates a time capsule to put in a vault at Howard's hardware store, they all get locked inside with their girlfriends. And no food.
13) "The Book of Records." Trying to drum up publicity, Al offers $100 to anyone who can get into the Magilla Book of Records, and it falls to Fonzie's clumsy cousin to come up with a viable idea.
14) "A Shot in the Dark." Richie scores a lucky basket and becomes an instant hero. Now the pressure is on to deliver again. One of the better episodes.
15) "Marioin Rebels." Marion gets a job at Arnold's because she's tired of being "just a housewife," but she doesn't exactly fit in.
16-17) "The Graduation," Parts 1&2. Fonzie has secretly been going to night school, but some technicalities might keep him from participating in Commencement.
18) "The Physical." The draft forces the guys to get physicals, but the nurse is most impressed by Fonzie's fitness. One of the funnier episodes.
19) "Joanie's Weird Boyfriend." First Mom rebels, not Joanie. Tired of being a good girl, Joanie joins a motorcycle gang called the Red Devils, but the initiation turns out to be more than she bargained for.
20) "Fonz-How, Inc." Howard and Fonzie team up to invent a trash compactor called the Garbage Gulper.
21) "Spunky Come Home." Ralph and Potsie accidentally let Fonzie's new dog out of the backyard, and so of course they have to make up a cockeyed story about a dognapping.
22) "Last of the Big-Time Malplhs." Ralph loses a big bet and finds himself in serious trouble with a local bookie who's ominously named Bruiser. Also a decent episode.
23) "Fonzie's Baptism." When Fonzie survives a crash in a stock car race, he decides to give up his motorcycle and sees the Light.
Video:
1976 wasn't a good vintage for color TV shows. Most of them haven't aged well, with fading colors and lots of grain. But this fourth season of "Happy Days" looks remarkably sharp and vivid, as if CBS/Paramount invested a little in clean-up, and fans ought to be pleased. "Happy Days" is presented in 1.33:1 aspect ratio.
Audio:
The audio, however, is a nothing-special Dolby Digital Mono. You have to wonder what all these great background songs would sound like with a better soundtrack. This one is good but not great. There's a flatness that Mono simply can't get beyond.
Extras:
Included here, as on the previous season's release, is a special episode that finds the characters reminiscing as we at home watch clips from earlier episodes. "The Third Anniversary Show" aired in the middle of the season on February 4, 1977, with the occasion a surprise party for Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham's 20th anniversary. It's not bad, if you like clip shows.
Bottom Line:
The fourth season isn't quite as strong as previous ones because it's so uneven, but there's still enough wholesome '50s nostalgia to make for decent family entertainment.
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