Yesterday we had the fantastic
heads-up news that Amazon.com had begun accepting pre-orders for a
May 20th release of
Happy Days - The 5th Season on DVD. Fans have waited since 2008 for this new season set, and frankly some of them found our Tuesday news hard to believe. How about if we show you cover art, then? Because overnight, Amazon has totally updated their listing to show the front of the DVD box, and we've got that for you below!
As you can see, Fonzie is waterskiing on this box front...it's the famous "jumping the shark" scene from the 3-part season premiere story, "Hollywood." This is the scene which gave rise to the phrase "Jumping the Shark"...a comment which indicates that a TV show has changed styles so much - often accompanied by a decline in ratings and in quality - that the fans are pretty much done with it and moving on. There's always been a fierce argument amongst
Happy Days fans, though, about whether that truly applies to
The 5th Season. The shark-jumping scene occurred at the very beginning of the season, yet the entire season was rated the second-best of the show's history (31.4 compared to 31.5 for the fourth season)...and the sixth season was rated third-best (at a 28.6 rating).
The 5th Season sees Al Molinaro's "Al Delvecchio" become a regular part of the cast, while Scott Baio joins the show as Fonzie's cousin "Chachi Arcola" (whose spin-off series,
Joanie Loves Chachi,
will be on DVD next week!). Also seen for the first time is Richie's girlfriend "Lori Beth Allen," played by Lynda Goodfriend. In the fourth season we had met "Pinky Tuscadero," but now in this season we meet her sister "Leather Tuscadero" (played by rock music star Suzi Quatro). Guest stars included Lorne Greene as himself, Green's
Galactica co-star Laurette Spang, as well as James Van Patten, Morgan Fairchild, Judy Landers, Audrey Landers, the legendary Danny Thomas (playing Howard Cunningham's dad), Dr. Joyce Brothers (as herself), Christopher Knight (
The Brady Bunch), and Robin Williams as "Mork," So as you can see, several fan-favorite episodes are found in this season! You don't want to miss it.
We're still waiting on the official announcement form Paramount Home Entertainment to confirm the date and all the details, but for right now here is that cover art:
UPDATE (2/11): Paramount Home Entertainment has now formally announced this title, confirming the date, artwork, and all the other information we've previously provided to our readers. No new details have been provided. If we get any further info, we'll post a news story with it.
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