Joanie Loves Chachi

Joanie Loves Chachi
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Lowell Ganz Mark Rothman Garry Marshall
Developed by	Thomas L. Miller Robert L. Boyett
Written by	Cheryl Alu James Patrick Dunne Lowell Ganz Terry Hart Neil Rosen George Tricker
Directed by	Lowell Ganz John Tracy Tom Trbovich Joel Zwick
Starring	Erin Moran Scott Baio Al Molinaro Ellen Travolta Art Metrano
Opening theme	"You Look at Me", performed by Scott Baio and Erin Moran
Composer(s)	Howard Pearl
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	17 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Lowell Ganz Robert L. Boyett Ronny Hallin Garry Marshall Edward K. Milkis Tom Miller
Producer(s)	James Patrick Dunne Fred Fox, Jr.
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	22–24 minutes
Production company(s)	Paramount Television Miller-Milkis-Boyett Productions Henderson Productions
Distributor	CBS Television Distribution
Release
Original network	ABC
Original release	March 23, 1982 (1982-03-23) – May 24, 1983 (1983-05-24)
Chronology
Preceded by	Love, American Style Happy Days
Related shows	Laverne & Shirley Blansky's Beauties Mork & Mindy Out of the Blue

Joanie Loves Chachi is an American sitcom and a spin-off of Happy Days that aired on ABC from March 23, 1982 to May 24, 1983. It stars Erin Moran and Scott Baio as the titular characters Joanie Cunningham and Chachi Arcola, respectively.

Storyline

The series is set in the early to mid-1960s and 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 at a time when the British Invasion was looming (one episode was titled "Beatlemania"). 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 blasé cousins Mario and Annette.

The series also starred Ellen Travolta as Louisa Delvecchio, Chachi's mother (Travolta and Baio would star again as mother and son later in Charles in Charge), and Al Molinaro 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 played Chachi's uncle Rico Mastorelli, who was the band's manager and helped Joanie and Chachi advance in their careers. Winifred Freedman (she would later play on a soap opera called Rituals) 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 and/or Norman Gimbel as the show's theme song/music cue composer.

A false urban legend circulated that the show was far more popular in Korea due to "chachi" being similar to a Korean word for "penis". The program was shown on the Armed Forces Network terrestrial channel 2, which was seen by the general population, but did not cause a stir because of the name and because the program was not very popular.^[1]

Scott Baio later recalled that:

All the Happy Days people had written the first four episodes, when the show got picked up for series, but then they left to go back to Happy Days, and we were stuck with new writers who didn’t know us. So that was a problem. And then some of the people on the show had chemical issues, and that was a problem. It was just on and on and on, and it just sort of all crumbled and fell apart. In retrospect, if given the choice again, I would not have done that show. That was just the wrong idea. If I had to do it all over again, I would’ve waited ’til Happy Days was over until I did anything else.^[2]

US TV Ratings

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.

In 2010, TV Guide Network listed the show at #17 on its list of 25 Biggest TV Blunders, arguing that Joanie and Chachi was not what viewers wanted to see and that it was the Fonz who drew viewers in to Happy Days.^[5]

Main cast

Episodes

Home media

On February 4, 2014, CBS DVD (distributed by Paramount) released Joanie Loves Chachi - The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1.^[6]

In popular media

In the pilot episode of Friends, taped on 4 May 1994, Rachel Green is watching the show after she breaks up with her fiance Barry. She says, "See! But Joanie loved Chachi! That's the difference!"^[7]

On the Beastie Boys track Get It Together, released on 17 March 1994, guest vocalist Q-Tip likens band member Ad Rock's close relationship with his then wife Ione Skye to that of "Chachi and Joanie"; Ad Rock himself then replies, in rhyme, "'Cause she's the cheese and I'm the macaroni!"^[8]

In the 2004 film DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story when White Goodman (played by Ben Stiller) hits Justin with a dodgeball, he says "Joanie loves Chachi!".

In Jason Mraz's 2018 song "Unlonely", Mraz references Chachi and Joanie in the line, "We could keep it sweet like Chachi and Joanie".

References

External links

• Joanie Loves Chachi on IMDb
• Joanie Loves Chachi at TV.com
• Joanie Loves Chachi at epguides.com
• Joanie Loves Chachi at Sitcomsonline.com