Joanie Loves Chachi

Joanie Loves Chachi 80's TV Show

Joanie Loves Chachi was a short-lived Happy Days spin-off that ran from 1982 to 1983 on ABC.  The show starred Scott Baio as a grown-up Chachi Arcola and Erin Moran as a grown up Joanie Cunningham, both characters from Happy Days.  The only other regular character from Happy Days was Al Delvecchio (Al Molinaro), who was Chachi’s step-father.  However, guest appearances were made by many of the original show’s cast.  Although the show had a number 17 Nielsen rating during its first season, season 2 found the show slipping to number 60, and it was soon canceled.  Baio and Moran where then written back into the final season of Happy Days in 1984.  Many viewers argued that if the spin off had been about the Fonzie Character played by Henry Winkler, then the spin-off would have been successful.

Essentially the show was about the new lives of the couple, who had moved to Chicago to pursue a rock music career.  The show featured traditional sit-com humor mixed in with musical performances by the couple.  Chachi opened a restaurant with Al, and it was there that they performed most of their shows.  Eventually the couple got married, but dealing with the struggles of trying to make it big and young love was difficult at times.  For example, the very first episode has Joanie jealous of Chachi’s talking with girls at the show, but the very last episode had the couple eloping after they saw how in love an elderly couple was after 50 years of marriage.