THE HAPPY DAYS OF GARRY MARSHALL
ABC, 8:00 p.m. ET
In the late 1970s, ABC vaulted from third place to first (there was no Fox then, and DuMont was long gone, so there were only three commercial broadcast networks), and did so based on momentum from three major forces. One was the mega-success of miniseries such as Roots. Another was the instant success of the so-called “jiggle TV” of shows such as Charlie’s Angels. And third ingredient, saluted tonight by ABC, were the top-rated sitcoms produced by Garry Marshall – a lineup headed by Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, and Mork & Mindy. Those sitcoms were either nostalgic or aggressively family-friendly, or both, and proved very, very popular for years. And Marshall, whenever he showed up on the Television Critics Association press tour to tout one of his series, always was reliably funnier than any of his comedies – but funnier than anyone else’s at the time, too. His press conferences, joking about the network and the casts and himself, were like standup comedy gold, only Marshall was sitting down. I’m hoping tonight’s salute to Marshall captures the man’s personal sense of humor, because it’s one of the many reasons so many of his cast and crew members adored him. And a lot of crusty TV critics, too – though, to be fair, I was significantly less crusty as a TV critic in the 1970s. For a full review, see David Hinckley's All Along the Watchtower.