5 Essential Happy Days Episodes Everyone Should Watch At Least Once

ABC's "Happy Days" has given the world some great episodes and some truly abysmal ones ... but most of all, it has made us feel. There are few other sitcoms that are as patently unrealistic as Garry Marshall's pseudo-1950s look into the lives of Midwestern youths, which makes it all the more impressive that the show manages to repeatedly tug the viewer's nostalgia heartstrings. Whether you actually lived in the era or not, there's something inherently recognizable about the way "Happy Days" depicts the Good Old Times. This, of course, is greatly helped by the show's vast cast of likable and eccentric characters, with future filmmaking great Ron Howard's mild-mannered Richie Cunningham anchoring the show before Henry Winkler's Fonzie took over in a way that would curse him with years of typecasting. 

The 11-season tenure of "Happy Days" was a slow but steady movement on the sliding scale from "small, comparatively rooted stakes" to "screw it, here's a space invader" and beyond — and after the jump to the surreal had been done, the show never really took its pedal off the metal. As such, when compiling a list of must-watch "Happy Days" episodes, we'll just have to take the good with the bad. The following list is effectively a collection of big "Happy Days" moments, not all of which are necessarily great ones. That's just part of the show's allure, ayy?

Go on and watch the whole three-part "Hollywood" arc if you want to. The double episode "Hollywood," which makes up for the first two parts, opens the infamous "Happy Days" season 5. However, if you only have time for one pop culture-defining episode, look no further than the aptly named third one, "Hollywood, Part 3." This is the "Happy Days" episode that gave birth to the term "jumping the shark," which has come to define the exact moment a show's storytelling ventures beyond the point of recovery. In this particular case, it involves literally jumping over a shark with water skis. 

In the first two "Hollywood" episodes, circumstances conspire to turn Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli into a potential celebrity teen idol. "Hollywood, Part 3" is better known for the Fonz's feud with improbably-named Los Angeles beach bum the California Kid (James Daughton). Egged on by the Kid, Fonzie dons his chosen attire for the challenge — his iconic greaser leather jacket uncomfortably matched with a pair of swimming trunks — and water ski jumps right over a hungry-looking tiger shark. 

There's some other stuff going on here, too, including the show's ongoing introduction of Fonzie's cousin Chachi (Scott Baio) and the surprising attention Hollywood showers at Richie Cunningham. Still, the shark-jumping moment overshadows everything else, both in the episode (it's exactly as stupid as it sounds) and in the cultural zeitgeist. As such, every pop culture enthusiast owes it to themselves to see what the fuss is about. 

It's Fonzie. Fonzie is coming to Christmas. However, this season offers us a surprisingly deep dive in the life of its leather-clad breakout character. 

In "Guess Who's Coming to Christmas," Fonzie very clearly has no place to spend Christmas but is too stubborn to admit it to anyone. It's a big "save a character's holidays" premise that the episode milks it for all it's worth. Fonzie runs pompadour first into the wall of that specific type of toxic masculinity that hurts the person himself. Even when Richie and Howard (Tom Bosley) figure out that things are currently uncool in Fonzieland, the greaser absolutely will not admit how much the idea of spending the holidays alone saddens him. Even when he fully knows that the jig is up, he continues to fake a looming, luxurious Christmas trip to visit distant relatives, and throws everything but the kitchen sink at the people trying to help him — solely for fear of seeming like a charity case. 

With this, the episode briefly becomes a puzzle box of finding a way to save Fonzie's Christmas from the man himself. After a malfunctioning Santa robot provides the excuse to hoist him in the middle of the idyllic Cunningham Christmas, the show transitions into its final act — a heartwarming get-together with the Fonz front and center, only briefly breaking his act to sneakily compliment those in the know for saving his day. 

Henry Winkler is at the top of his early game here, conveying Fonzie's inner sadness while still wearing his coolness like an armor. This rare vulnerability offers a glimpse into the Arthur Fonzarelli behind the Fonz facade, and the sight of him sitting alone while eating canned ravioli will sink the heart of the viewer. 

"Richie Fights Back" is arguably the most "Happy Days" episode on this list, despite its unconventional premise. All the ingredients of a great episode of the show are there: top interaction between the main characters, fun guest stars, and folks showing surprising sides of themselves. 

The episode heralds Pat Morita's future status as a pop culture legend, recognizing his diner owner character Arnold Takahashi as a martial arts master ... which of course foreshadows Morita's eventual role as Mr. Miyagi in "The Karate Kid" series. It's also a Fonzie story, as the show's resident greaser ends up coaching the bullied and disrespected Richie Cunningham to face his bullies, Frankie (Ken Lerner) and Rocko (Jeff Conaway). Most importantly, however, this is a Richie story, as the young man finds his own way to face his opponents, which of course is very different from the version other people have been peddling him. 

"Richie Fights Back" manages to cram a whole coming-of-age arc in its runtime. Richie spends the majority of the episode getting brutal and often humiliating lessons from others, before finally learning to do things the way he needs to. "Happy Days" could sometimes get surprisingly profound, and although this episode masks it behind a whole heap of hijinks, it's definitely one of these cases. 

"A Date With Fonzie" is "Happy Days" at the height of its powers. At its strongest, the show could turn a simple double date into an iconic episode that offers tons of fun and introduces two brand new characters who would become TV champions of their own right.

In this episode, Richie is suffering due to his lack of success on the dating front, so it's time for the most popular guy in the "Happy Days" universe to act as Amor. Unfortunately, the Fonz makes a strategic error when it comes to the kind of girls Richie might like, and arranges a double date with two ladies from his own circles: Brewery workers Laverne DeFazio (Penny Marshall) and Shirley Feeney (Cindy Williams). Do those names sound familiar? They should. 

"Happy Days" was a spin-off machine, and none of the shows it spawned were quite as famous as "Laverne and Shirley." The spin-off ran for eight seasons after "A Date With Fonzie" acted as a stealth pilot for the duo's own adventures. "Laverne and Shirley" always technically shared the universe with its parent show, and crossovers happened on occasion. However, the spin-off series started experimenting more wildly, from a military-themed season to changing the setting to California. One of the best female friendships in TV history eventually ended and the show was put to pasture. Still, "Laverne and Shirley" was one amazing, topsy-turvy ride, and "A Date With Fonzie" is where it all started. 

By the time "My Favorite Orkan" aired, "Happy Days" was firmly in its post-shark jump era, and what better episode to makes it evident than the one that actually features an alien? Luckily, "My Favorite Orkan" has one considerable saving grace: A young, plucky comedian called Robin Williams.

Williams' early breakout series "Mork & Mindy" is famously a part of the "Happy Days" franchise, and the alien-themed sitcom got its start when Williams made a sub-par "Happy Days" script worthy of the spin-off. This outlandish episode features our first close encounter with Mork from Ork, who arrives to Earth in search of a perfectly average human specimen to take back home, and immediately homes in on Ritchie. Of course, Arthur Fonzarelli has something to say about all this. 

Is "My Favorite Orkan" ridiculous? Oh, yeah. Is it a very good "Happy Days" episode? Not in and of itself, no. However, Williams is an absolute force of nature who hoists the story on his shoulders and carries the entire thing with seemingly no effort. With boundless energy, he turns what could have been an all-time low on par with "Hollywood, Part 3" into one of the show's most entertaining, gleefully ridiculous moments. Mork's character and the way Williams played him were immediate winners, and the title of the episode soon proved prophetic as audience adoration carried Mork into his own spinoff show ... and propelled Williams on his road to superstardom.