Joanie Loves Chachi is an American television spin-off of the popular American sitcom Happy Days

Happy Days

Happy Days is an American television sitcom that originally aired from January 15, 1974, to September 24, 1984, on ABC. Created by Garry Marshall, the series presents an idealized vision of life in mid-1950s to mid-1960s America....

that was originally broadcast on ABC

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 from March 23, 1982 to September 13, 1983. It stars Scott Baio

Scott Baio

Scott Vincent James Baio is an American actor and television director, best known for his roles as Chachi Arcola on the sitcom Happy Days and its spin-off, Joanie Loves Chachi, and as the title character on the sitcom Charles in Charge....

 and Erin Moran

Erin Moran

Erin Marie Moran is an American actress, best known for the role of Joanie Cunningham on Happy Days and its spinoff Joanie Loves Chachi.-Early life:...

 as the titular Chachi Arcola and Joanie Cunningham

Joanie Cunningham

Joanie Louise Cunningham Arcola is a fictional character, played in an episode of the anthology series Love, American Style by Susan Neher and on the sitcoms Happy Days and Joanie Loves Chachi by Erin Moran. She was the daughter of Howard and Marion Cunningham, and the younger sister of Chuck...

, respectively.

Storyline

The series follows the exploits of Joanie and Chachi as they moved to Chicago and tried to make it on their own with a rock band and a music career. It mixed the traditional elements of a sitcom with musical performances on each show by Baio and Moran. In fact, the beginning credit sequence of the show had them singing to each other. Their backup band consists of a spaced-out drummer named Bingo and Chachi's blase cousins Mario and Annette.

The series also starred Ellen Travolta

Ellen Travolta

Ellen Travolta is an American actress, the eldest sibling of John Travolta. She is probably best known for her portrayal of Louisa Arcola Delvecchio, the mother of Chachi Arcola in the 1950s-based sitcom Happy Days, and its unsuccessful spinoff, Joanie Loves Chachi...

 as Louisa Delvecchio, Chachi's mother, and Al Molinaro

Al Molinaro

Albert Francis "Al" Molinaro is an actor in television and films, most notably as Al Delvecchio, the owner of Arnold's on Happy Days and its spin-off show Joanie Loves Chachi, Murray the Cop on The Odd Couple television series, as well as starring in commercials for On-Cor frozen dinners...

 as Al Delvecchio, Chachi's stepfather (and formerly the owner of Arnold's Drive-In in Happy Days), who opened a restaurant in which Chachi and Joanie performed most of their music. Art Metrano

Art Metrano

Arthur "Art" Metrano is an American actor and comedian, born in Brooklyn, New York City. Metrano may be best known for his role as Lt./Capt./Cmdt. Mauser in Police Academy 2 and Police Academy 3....

 played Chachi's uncle Rico Mastorelli, who was the band's manager and helped Joanie and Chachi advance in their careers. Actress Winifred Freedman

Winifred Freedman

Winifred Freedman is an American actress and singer primarily known for her roles in television.She is perhaps best known for playing Annette Mastorelli, Chachi Arcola's cousin and bass guitar playing bandmate in Joanie Loves Chachi, the short-lived spin-off of Happy Days...

 played Rico's daughter, Annette, Chachi's cousin, and bandmate.

Production

Joanie Loves Chachi was the first Miller-Boyett (and only Garry Marshall-produced) sitcom developed by Tom Miller and Robert L. Boyett, and was created by Lowell Ganz, Mark Rothman, and Garry Marshall. Unlike other Garry Marshall/Miller-Boyett sitcoms, this is the only series that does not have Charles Fox

Charles Fox (composer)

Charles Ira Fox is an American composer for film and television. His most heard compositions are probably the "love themes" , and the dramatic theme music to ABC's Wide World of Sports and the original Monday Night Football.....

 and/or Norman Gimbel

Norman Gimbel

Norman Gimbel is an American lyricist of popular songs, television and movie themes whose writing career includes such titles as "Sway", "Canadian Sunset", "Summer Samba", "The Girl from Ipanema", "Killing Me Softly With His Song", "Meditation" and "I Will Wait for You", along with an Oscar for...

 as the show's theme song/music cue composer.

Cancellation

The show initially attracted high ratings for the first few episodes, but the ratings plummeted in Season 2 with a move to Thursday nights, and the series only lasted for two seasons (both abbreviated) before the characters were rolled back into Happy Days for that program's final season. ABC determined that the show was losing too much of its lead-in, suggesting low appeal if the show were moved. This type of cancellation seemed strange in the early 1980s, but soon became a commonplace part of TV audience research.

In 2010, TV Guide Network listed the show at #17 on their list of 25 Biggest TV Blunders.

Main cast

Actor	Role
Scott Baio Scott Baio Scott Vincent James Baio is an American actor and television director, best known for his roles as Chachi Arcola on the sitcom Happy Days and its spin-off, Joanie Loves Chachi, and as the title character on the sitcom Charles in Charge....	Chachi Arcola
Erin Moran Erin Moran Erin Marie Moran is an American actress, best known for the role of Joanie Cunningham on Happy Days and its spinoff Joanie Loves Chachi.-Early life:...	Joanie Cunningham Joanie Cunningham Joanie Louise Cunningham Arcola is a fictional character, played in an episode of the anthology series Love, American Style by Susan Neher and on the sitcoms Happy Days and Joanie Loves Chachi by Erin Moran. She was the daughter of Howard and Marion Cunningham, and the younger sister of Chuck...
Al Molinaro Al Molinaro Albert Francis "Al" Molinaro is an actor in television and films, most notably as Al Delvecchio, the owner of Arnold's on Happy Days and its spin-off show Joanie Loves Chachi, Murray the Cop on The Odd Couple television series, as well as starring in commercials for On-Cor frozen dinners...	Al Delvecchio Al Delvecchio Al Delvecchio is a character on the U.S. sitcom Happy Days. He was played by Al Molinaro. Molinaro joined the cast in Season 4 after Pat Morita, who played Arnold, left after the end of the Third Season . Subsequently Molinaro also played Al's twin brother priest Father Delvecchio...
Ellen Travolta Ellen Travolta Ellen Travolta is an American actress, the eldest sibling of John Travolta. She is probably best known for her portrayal of Louisa Arcola Delvecchio, the mother of Chachi Arcola in the 1950s-based sitcom Happy Days, and its unsuccessful spinoff, Joanie Loves Chachi...	Louisa Delvecchio
Art Metrano Art Metrano Arthur "Art" Metrano is an American actor and comedian, born in Brooklyn, New York City. Metrano may be best known for his role as Lt./Capt./Cmdt. Mauser in Police Academy 2 and Police Academy 3....	Rico Mastorelli
Robert Pierce	Bingo Pierce
Derrel Maury	Mario Mastorelli
Winifred Freedman Winifred Freedman Winifred Freedman is an American actress and singer primarily known for her roles in television.She is perhaps best known for playing Annette Mastorelli, Chachi Arcola's cousin and bass guitar playing bandmate in Joanie Loves Chachi, the short-lived spin-off of Happy Days...	Annette Mastorelli

Season 1 (1982)

No	Title	Air date
1	"Chicago"	1982/Mar/23
2	"The Performance"	1982/Mar/30
3	"I Do, I Don't, I Do"	1982/Apr/06
4	"College Days"	1982/Apr/13

Season 2 (1982-1983)

No.	Title	Air date
1	"Fonzie's Visit"	1982/Sep/30
2	"Joanie's Roommate"	1982/Oct/14
3	"One-on-One"	1982/Oct/21
4	"No Nudes Is Good Nudes"	1982/Oct/28
5	"Everybody Loves Aunt Vanessa"	1982/Nov/04
6	"Beatlemania"	1982/Nov/11
7	"Best Foot Forward"	1982/Nov/18
8	"Goodbye Delvecchio's, Hello World"	1982/Nov/25
9	"Term Paper"	1982/Dec/02
10	"My Dinner with Chachi"	1982/Dec/09
11	"Christmas Show"	1982/Dec/16
12	"First Love, Last Love"	1983/May/17
13	"The Elopement"	1983/May/24

External links

• Joanie Loves Chachi at Sitcomsonline.com