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Good Bye Tom Bosley…we’ll miss you Mr. C!
Just a quick post to note the passing of Tom Bosley, or as we “over 40’s” affectionately remember him as, “Mr. C’ from Happy Days. Watching Happy Days was a rite of passage growing up and Tom Bosley’s sage fatherly advice was not only for his onscreen family but for many of us watching on TV as well.
Remember, there was only 4 or 5 stations back then with everyone pretty much tuned to the same show; and for us, Tuesday night was Happy Days night. It was simple time when the father of a TV family could still be portrayed as loving, competent, and full of wisdom as opposed to crass and moronic. For those of you under 20, back then a dad could even be portrayed to be as wise, if not wiser, than the mom…crazy eh?
The accolades coming out surrounding Tom Bosley’s death from the likes of Henry Winkler and Ron Howard would testify to a man who was very much in real life like his compassionate onscreen persona.
When icons of my childhood pass on, its always sobering realizing time stops for no one.
So farewell and God Speed Tom Bosley…we’ll miss you Mr. C!
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Of course the interesting thing about Happy Days was it came out in the 70s and the setting was the 50s.
The first three seasons were the best — hilariously funny and great writing. After that, in my humble opinion, it went downhill and focused way too much on the Fonzie character. He was funny, no doubt, but I loved the stories centering around the Cunningham familiy much better.
Like many TV shows, it had characters who made brief appearances then mysteriously disappeared. There were two different guys who played Richie Cunningham’s older brother, then Richie no longer had an older brother.
Also, after about Season 2, the position of the house changed and the front door was where the stairway used to be.
Obviously I wasted a lot of time back when this was on.
By the end of its run, it was hardly tolerable. Silly, stupid plot lines.
Throught it all, though, Tom Bosley and Marion Ross were superb. Tom will be missed; there aren’t many more like him.
You echo my sentiments Bob! The early episodes were the best, when The Fonz was more of an anti-hero before he became the loveable guy. And the older brother Chuck…whatever happened to him? They didn’t even send him off to college to explain his disappearance, he was just “gone”… a whole family member.
And of course Fonzie “jumping the shark” gives us the standard of when a TV show has moved past its prime
In the early episodes Chuck was in college, locally, and was a basketball player. He came home for dinner and to do his laundry. As I said, two different actors played him and then he vanished. Would that we could do that with some real life family members . . . . just kidding!
This probably pre-dates you, but another classic show, My Three Sons, did the same thing but more signficantly. The original three sons of Steve Douglas (Fred McMurray) were Mike, Robbie and Chip. Mike got married and was written off, and Steve adopted Chip’s neighborhood friend and orphan, Ernie, who was the real life brother of the actor who played Chip. There were a few passing references to Mike after that, but then it was as if he never existed. Poor guy didn’t even get to come home for holidays.