Henry Winkler recently shared that ABC had almost changed the name of Happy Days.
For those unaware, Winkler breathed life into Fonzie alongside his longtime pal Ron Howard, who played the role of Richie Cunningham in the American television sitcom that aired on ABC from January 15, 1974, to July 19, 1984, with a total of 255 half-hour episodes spanning 11 seasons.
On Saturday, November 7, the 81-year-old American actor and director attended Rhode Island Comic Con, where he revealed that the creators of the iconic sitcom had almost named the show after his character, considering its popularity among fans.
He said, “It was very weird that all of a sudden, the Fonz started to take off. The president of ABC came to me and said, ‘We want to call the show Fonzie’s Happy Days.’ I said, ‘Don’t fix something that isn’t broken.’”
“It would be a tremendous insult to the people that I work with, that I live with, that I’m thriving with, if all of a sudden you take [that name],” The Waterboy star stated.
Winkler went on to reveal that Fonzie was close to getting his own show, but he refused the idea.
He recalled, “He wanted me to do my own show. And I said, ‘But I live so well with this, with this family.’”
“Can you imagine now we’re gonna cast new people? I don’t know if I’m gonna have chemistry with them. I’m just gonna go, ‘Ayyy’ for, like, a half an hour,” Winkler said, alluding to his famous catchphrase on the show.
It is pertinent to mention that Happy Days turned out to be a blessing for Henry Winkler, as it gave him his best friend Ron Howard.
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