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‘Happy Days’: How ‘Richie’s Car’ Episode Made a Timeline Mistake

Television shows film episodes, at times, out of sequence to storylines. Even “Happy Days” had it happen during their early seasons.

Here’s the situation: The episode called “Richie’s Car” is one where things get a little wonky on the story side. In the show, Howard Cunningham, played by Tom Bosley, agrees to buy his son Richie, played by Ron Howard, a hotrod fixed up by Fonzie, played by Henry Winkler.

Now this car is definitely a looker with its red color. In fact, Richie takes it out on a date with Gloria, played by Linda Purl.

Richie’s Date Makes Interesting Claim On ‘Happy Days’

The dialogue has Gloria mentioning to Richie that this is their first date. Well, it might have been true when filming “Richie’s Car.” There is just one problem, though. They also went out on a date in the episode shown on ABC before this one.

It was an out-of-sequence timeline miscue for “Happy Days” in 1974. While some people might not have caught on immediately, other eagle-eyed trivia buffs noticed the error in the years since the “Happy Days” episode first appeared.

Now, other TV shows have probably had something similar happen during their run. It would be a bit out of character for a show with a lot of veteran leadership from production to writers for this slip-up to happen. Nevertheless, the show went on and people watched Richie take his date out on the town.

One other small tidbit of trivia about Howard and Purl. They both played roles that involved being children of Andy Griffith on his shows. Howard played Opie on “The Andy Griffith Show” and, for one season, Purl played Ben Matlock’s daughter on “Matlock.”

Classic TV Show Is Still On The Air All These Years Later

Maybe you’d like to have an eagle eye yourself and watch “Happy Days” episodes for miscues like this one. Maybe you’d like to just watch them again with your kids or friends.

Would you like to know where “Happy Days” can be seen right now? We’ve got you covered.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that “Happy Days” can be streamed on both Hulu and CBS All Access. All 255 episodes of the show are available on Pluto TV. Looking for two of “Happy Days” spinoffs?

Check out “Laverne & Shirley” and “Mork & Mindy” on their 24-hour virtual channel that Pluto has secured for them. You can use Pluto’s website or mobile phone app.