Fonzie's New Friend

Season 3, Episode 12, Aired

Episode Summary

EDIT
6.9
out of 10
EPISODE RATING: Fair
30 votes
  • Your Rating: 10
    "Perfect"
  • Your Rating: 9.5
    "Superb"
  • Your Rating: 9
    "Superb"
  • Your Rating: 8.5
    "Great"
  • Your Rating: 8
    "Great"
  • Your Rating: 7.5
    "Good"
  • Your Rating: 7
    "Good"
  • Your Rating: 6.5
    "Fair"
  • Your Rating: 6
    "Fair"
  • Your Rating: 5.5
    "Mediocre"
  • Your Rating: 5
    "Mediocre"
  • Your Rating: 4.5
    "Poor"
  • Your Rating: 4
    "Poor"
  • Your Rating: 3.5
    "Bad"
  • Your Rating: 3
    "Bad"
  • Your Rating: 2.5
    "Terrible"
  • Your Rating: 2
    "Terrible"
  • Your Rating: 1.5
    "Abysmal"
  • Your Rating: 1
    "Abysmal"
Rate Now!
Fonzie has struck up a friendship with Sticks Downey, a new youth in the area, and has secured him to play drums with the band at Richie's upcoming Hawaiian luau party. Prejudices appear from many of the locals when Sticks turns out to be black.moreless
WRITE A REVIEW FAN RECAP

Cast & Crew

See All EDIT

Fan Episode Reviews (3)

See All

  • Richie is having an Hawaiian-themed party and is thrilled when Fonzie secures an excellent drummer to play with the band.

    8.0
    "Great"
    By Lady_Lancaster, Jul 01, 2010
    The Fonz is a nice guy and he sees nothing at all wrong with making friends with a local young drummer, the talented 'Sticks' Downey. The fact that Sticks is black doesn't bother him in the slightest and it doesn't occur to him that anyone else will be bothered by it either until he arranges for Sticks to play the drums in Richie band for Richie Hawaiian-themed party.

    Obviously, Richie and the others don't have a problem with the colour of Stick's skin but it seems that many others from the area do.

    This episodes once again tackles the idea of racism head-on and shows us that we are all the same on the inside, regardless of how we may look. A very worthy episode which passes on an important message.moreless

  • Trying too hard.

    7.5
    "Good"
    By francklloyd, Jun 12, 2008
    Once in while, this show tried to add a message to the fun, with mixed results. Was it Hollywood producer Sam Goldwyn who said, "If you've got a message, send a telegram"? Watching the show in the twenty-first century can be quite confusing too. After all, we get the seventies interpretation of life in the fifties. Jack Baker plays the role of Sticks very much like the great African-American sitcom characters of the seventies. (You could imagine him cutting down Archie Bunker with his sarcasm.) And all the main characters have a very enlightened view of racial matters. Isn't it surprising that the parents of Ralph or Potsie didn't mind about the presence of a coloured couple at the party, while all the other parents did? Earlier in the season Howard still had some reservations about accepting Fonzie in his house, now he has no problems with another "strange" friend of Richie's.

    The episode is filled to the brim with good intentions, but sometimes loses its logic. For instance, Fonzie does not have the authority we always thought he had; the kids at Arnold's actually disobey him. When the only parental figure who actually checks out the people their kids hang around with, proves to be the Afro-American aunt, you realize the writers went a bit too far with their message.moreless

  • The Fonz has struck up a friendship with Sticks Downey, a new youth in the area, and has secured him to play drums with the band at Richie's upcoming Hawaiian luau party. But prejudices appear from many of the locals when Sticks turns out to be black...moreless

    9.2
    "Superb"
    By Jay-Spacedust, Oct 10, 2007
    After the (in my opinion) weaker than usual previous episode, 'Three On A Porch', things are back on form here with this really good story.

    This is the second of a number of racial-themed episodes of the series (the first being the late first season entry 'The Best Man'), and as usual with the series, it is delt with well without being over heavy. It also shows that even some of the series regulars, who we have come to know as good people, may have some prejudices without even realising it.

    John-Anthony Bailey (who I understand appeared in the black 1970s comedy 'Good Times', which I don't think made it to here in the UK) is great as Sticky Downey. I would really have liked to see the character become a semi-regular. He did actually appear once again (which itself is unusual) in a few episodes time in 'Fonzie the Superstar', but was never used again beyond that, which is a shame.moreless
WRITE A REVIEW
 

Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

See All

FILTER BY TYPE

  • TRIVIA (1)

    ADD TRIVIA

    • In this episode, Richie has a party to celebrate Hawaii becoming a new state. However, Hawaii became a state in 1959, and the year of this episode is 1956.

  • QUOTES (2)

    ADD QUOTES

    • Rosemary: Who do you think you are, checking out my niece Kathleen? Fonzie: No offence, nice lady, but when you buy a car, you check under the hood. Rosemary: Listen, ducktail... Fonzie: Ducktail? Richie: (holding back Fonzie) Take it easy, take it easy. She's a woman, okay? Rosemary: If anybody checks under Kathleen's hood, they're going to get a dipstick up their nose.

    • Howard: Prejudice is stronger than cool. Fonzie: Stronger than cool? Howard: Yeah, but don't be upset. You see, prejudice had a big head start. It started with the cavemen. Cool's only been around since Benny Goodman.

  • NOTES (1)

    ADD NOTES

  • ALLUSIONS (0)

    ADD ALLUSIONS

Happy Days Forums


Add a Topic See All
Last Activity
Replies

Watch Happy Days Full Episodes

See All

Related Shows

Season 3 Episodes

See All
Ep 24
Arnold's Wedding
Ep 23
A Sight for Sore Eyes
Ep 22
Bringing Up Spike
Ep 21
Beauty Contest
Ep 20
Two Angry Men
Ep 19
Fonzie the Superstar
Ep 18
Football Frolics
Ep 17
Fonzie the Salesman
Ep 16
The Happy Days 2nd Anniver...
Ep 15
Dance Contest
Ep 14
Tell It to the Marines
Ep 13
They Call It Potsie Love
Ep 12
Fonzie's New Friend
Ep 11
Three on a Porch
Ep 10
A Date with Fonzie
Ep 9
Fonzie the Flatfoot
Ep 8
Howard's 45th Fiasco
Ep 7
Jailhouse Rock
Ep 6
Richie Fights Back
Ep 5
The Other Richie Cunningham
Ep 4
Fearless Fonzarelli (2)
Ep 3
Fearless Fonzarelli (1)
Ep 2
The Motorcycle
Ep 1
Fonzie Moves In

Contributors

Become a contributor
More
Less

TV Listings

Full Listings
TV.com Properties | Shows | Videos | News | Listings | Forums | People | Photos | TV.com Blog

CBS Entertainment | About TV.com | About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2012 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Ad Choice | Terms of Use