The Fonz Is Back: Henry Winkler, Ron Howard Celebrate ‘Happy Days’ 50th Anniversary
Ayyyyy! Henry Winkler and Ron Howard reunited at the 2024 Emmys on Sunday, celebrating the 50th anniversary of Happy Days.
Dressed in black suits, Howard and Winkler stood behind a booth at their usual haunt, Arnold’s. Before channeling their fictitious characters from decades ago, Winkler acknowledged Howard’s recent Emmy for his work on the Disney+ documentary Jim Henson Idea Man. After a round of applause from the audience, Winkler said of standing on the Happy Days replica set, “Feels like home.”
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The Happy Days theme song is just as legendary as the show itself. During the duo’s reunion, Howard jokingly mentioned to Winkler that the music was missing from their moment on stage, prompting Winkler to bring out his inner Fonze. Winkler sauntered over to the jukebox, banged on it like his iconic character always did, and shrugged his shoulders in a way only Arthur Fonzarelli could.
There are several layers of nostalgia at play here, as Happy Days was set in the Fifties but filmed in the Seventies, and the show turned 50 years old in January.
It's a "Happy Days" reunion at the #Emmys! https://t.co/3itGkRBc7U pic.twitter.com/F6qtEBn4JV
— Variety (@Variety) September 16, 2024
During the reunion, Howard announced Christopher Storer as the winner in the Comedy Directing category for The Bear.
TV cast reunions also occurred at the 2023 Emmys in January. Ted Danson, Rhea Pearlman, Kelsey Grammer, and John Ratzenberger from Cheers reunited (at their infamous bar, of course), while cast members from All in the Family, Martin, and Grey’s Anatomy also came together. TV icons Carol Burnett and Joan Collins also made appearances.
Though cast reunions also occurred at the 2024 Emmys, Jesse Collins Entertainment’s executive producer Dionne Harmon told Variety they tried to slightly change things up. “The response to January was incredible, and we felt like people really connected to the nostalgia,” they said. “So we wanted to figure out a way to bring that nostalgia to the show on Sunday without doing the exact same thing. We really focused on television shows that everyone loved in January, and Sunday, we’re going to focus on the characters, individual characters from all kinds of shows.”
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