“Happy Days” remains a paragon of the sitcom genre to this day, but its many spin-offs often failed to capture even a hint of the original show’s magic. “Joanie Loves Chachi” was a particularly unfortunate example. The series starred Scott Baio and Erin Moran as the titular duo and lasted for just two short seasons before it was swiftly shuttered and its two leads returned to the main show. During its all too brief run, however, it did manage to pull in some decent ratings and combined musical performances with the usual sitcom format, making it an interesting, if misguided, chapter in “Happy Days” history.
The number of swiftly-cancelled sitcoms is actually kind of startling when you start to look back over the latter half of the 20th century. For whatever reason, this particular genre has resulted in all manner of ill-fated spin-offs with poorly-conceived premises. Just take a look at “Monty,” a short-lived sitcom on which a pre-“Friends” David Schwimmer starred alongside The Fonz himself, “Happy Days” veteran Henry Winkler. Even “Happy Days” itself is an example of the fickle nature of TV, what with it being a spin-off of a forgotten sitcom that featured early versions of the show’s characters as part of an anthology series. After the show became the beloved TV staple it did, it continued to spawn several offshoots of its own, some of which were fairly successful in their own right.
Indeed, the list of “Happy Days” spin-offs is actually quite considerable. Unfortunately, no entry on that inventory could measure up to the original show, which became a cultural phenomenon as boomers relived their youth through rose-tinted CRT monitors across the United States. In fact, many of the entries on that list were downright awful, and “Joanie Loves Chachi” is, sadly, one of them.
Joanie Loves Chachi was a short-lived musical sitcom
Scott Baio joined “Happy Days” as Arthur Fonzarelli’s (Henry Winkler) cousin, Chachi Arcola, in the season 5 premiere. Fonzy had long since established himself as a fan-favorite, so adding a mini version of the beloved greaser was a no-brainer. Unsurprisingly, Chachi quickly became popular among fans, especially after he struck up a relationship with Erin Moran’s Joanie Cunningham, the younger sister of Ron Howard’s Richie.
After “Happy Days” finished its ninth season in March 1981, Moran and Baio were featured in their own spin-off, “Joanie Loves Chachi.” The show followed the titular pair as they moved to Chicago to pursue their dream of becoming musicians. Set in the mid-1960s during the time of the British Invasion, the series saw Joanie and Chachi form a rock band with drummer Bingo (Robert Pierce) and Chachi’s cousins Mario and Annette Mastorelli (Derrel Maury and Winifred Freedman). It was notable for adding musical performances to the standard sitcom format. Every episode opened with a title sequence that saw the duo crooning to one another, and there were multiple musical performances throughout the show’s two seasons.
Alongside the two “Happy Days” veterans, “Joanie Loves Chachi” also starred Ellen Travolta and Al Molinaro as Chachi’s mother, Louisa Delvecchio, and stepfather Al Delvecchio. The latter formerly owned Al’s drive-in, the famous diner from “Happy Days,” and opened a new restaurant in Chicago, which was handy as it gave Chachi and Joanie a place to perform their music. Unfortunately, none of that made for anything like the success of “Happy Days.” Unlike the two major success stories to come out of the main series (“Laverne & Shirley” and “Mork & Mindy”), “Joanie Loves Chachi” couldn’t maintain any momentum after a reasonably successful first season.
Joanie Loves Chachi started well before it all fell apart
“Joanie Loves Chachi” seemed like it could’ve been one of the better TV spin-offs. It featured two beloved characters who’d built up several years of good will on one of the biggest shows on TV. Unfortunately, the series failed to live up to that potential, so much so that it even made /Film’s list of the worst sitcoms of all time.
In fairness, “Joanie Loves Chachi” earned solid ratings in its first season, mostly due to the fact it aired directly after “Happy Days,” giving it a strong lead-in that guaranteed it would perform at least reasonably well. According to TVRatingsGuide, the show finished in the top 10 for the 1981-82 season, which raises the question as to why ABC canceled it so swiftly in season 2.
Basically, “Joanie Loves Chachi” lost its all-important lead-in after the network moved the show to Thursday nights. In its new timeslot, the sitcom faced off against Tom Selleck’s “Magnum, P.I.” and couldn’t hold its audience, prompting ABC to pull the plug after 17 episodes. The final two installments aired in May 1983, with Erin Moran and Scott Baio returning to the mothership series for its 11th and final season, which ran from 1983-84. “Joanie Loves Chachi” has since been largely forgotten.
Reflecting on the show, Scott Baio once told the AV Club that while “Happy Days” writers penned the first four episodes, they then departed after the spin-off was picked up. “We were stuck with new writers who didn’t know us,” he explained. “So, that was a problem. And then some of the people on the show had chemical issues, and that was a problem. It was just on and on and on, and it just sort of all crumbled and fell apart.”
