The BEST episodes of Happy Days

Every episode of Happy Days ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Happy Days!

A nostalgic comedy set in 1950s Milwaukee centered on the squeaky-clean Cunningham family and their relationship with Fonzie, a motorcycle-riding Casanova who became a pop-culture phenomenon during the show's heyday in the 1970s.

Last Updated: 2/23/2024Network: ABC (US)Status: Ended
Share:
The Other Richie Cunningham
star
8.73
63 votes

#1 - The Other Richie Cunningham

Season 3 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/7/1975

Needing to make a good impression for a prospective business deal, Howard asks Richie to take the "Prince of Porcelain's" daughter out on a date. Richie, however, already has big plans and asks Potsie to take his place and pretend to be him.

Directors: Jerry Paris
Watch Now:Amazon
Howard's 45th Fiasco
star
8.26
85 votes

#2 - Howard's 45th Fiasco

Season 3 - Episode 8 - Aired 10/28/1975

At his 45th birthday, Howard realizes that his life has been very dull up to this point, and he attempts to run away to Tahiti.

Directors: Jerry Paris
Writer: Frank Buxton
Watch Now:Amazon
Kiss Me Sickly
star
8.20
84 votes

#3 - Kiss Me Sickly

Season 2 - Episode 22 - Aired 4/29/1975

Fonzie asks Richie to watch after his girl, Denise, while he's out of town at a demolition derby. Denise, upon hearing what Fonzie's asked Richie to do, decides to test Richie's trustworthiness. Richie succumbs to temptation and makes out with Denise at Inspiriation Point, but he later finds out that she has mononucleosis.

Watch Now:Amazon
Football Frolics
star
8.18
79 votes

#4 - Football Frolics

Season 3 - Episode 17 - Aired 1/20/1976

Needing money to get tickets to a big football game, Richie, Potsie, and Ralph decide to babysit 15 children on the night of Mardi Gras.

Directors: Jerry Paris
Writer: James Ritz
Watch Now:Amazon
A Date with Fonzie
star
8.16
117 votes

#5 - A Date with Fonzie

Season 3 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/11/1975

With Richie in a dating slump, Fonzie sets Richie and himself up on a double date with two of his girls, Laverne and Shirley.

Directors: Jerry Paris
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Jailhouse Rock
star
8.11
94 votes

#6 - Jailhouse Rock

Season 3 - Episode 7 - Aired 10/21/1975

Because the high school was vandalized, Officer Kirk imposes a curfew. Richie suggests that they demonstrate against the curfew, get arrested, and fight it in the courts. While Richie, Potsie, and Ralph are in the restroom at Arnold's discussing their plans, the lights go out, and they discover they are locked inside after Arnold closes up for the night.

Directors: Art Fisher
Writer: Bob Brunner
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Great Expectations
star
8.09
110 votes

#7 - Great Expectations

Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired 4/16/1974

Richie meets a beatnik named Diedre at the movies and gets caught up in her type of lifestyle.

Watch Now:Amazon
Cruisin'
star
8.08
87 votes

#8 - Cruisin'

Season 2 - Episode 16 - Aired 2/11/1975

Richie, Postie, and Ralph are forced to go cruising for girls in Howard's DeSoto after Marion dents Richie's car at the supermarket. They find three girls but, later, find their boyfriends who are members of a gang called the Dragons.

Directors: Jerry Paris
Writer: Ron Friedman
Watch Now:Amazon
Beauty Contest
star
8.08
80 votes

#9 - Beauty Contest

Season 3 - Episode 20 - Aired 2/10/1976

Richie, Potsie, and Ralph stage a beauty contest at Arnold's in order to meet girls. They plan to enter a plant into the contest who won't accept the prizes when chosen as the winner. Richie is uneasy about this but reconsiders when a cheerleader he's interested in enters.

Directors: Jerry Paris
Watch Now:Amazon
Get a Job
star
8.06
87 votes

#10 - Get a Job

Season 2 - Episode 18 - Aired 2/25/1975

Looking for work, Richie, Potsie, and Ralph agree to fix the fence of an attractive divorcee. When the woman leaves for awhile, Potsie and Ralph decide to take off, as well, leaving Richie to finish the job by himself.

Directors: Jerry Paris
Writer: Bill Idelson
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Fonzie's Getting Married
star
8.04
89 votes

#11 - Fonzie's Getting Married

Season 2 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/14/1975

Fonzie announces that he's getting married and brings his bride-to-be to the Cunningham house for dinner. There, Howard recognizes her as stripper he saw at a hardware convention in Chicago.

Directors: Jerry Paris
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
They Call It Potsie Love
star
7.87
107 votes

#12 - They Call It Potsie Love

Season 3 - Episode 13 - Aired 12/2/1975

Joanie develops a crush on Potsie after he sings to her at Arnold's.

Writer: Marty Nadler
Watch Now:Amazon
Wish Upon a Star
star
7.78
95 votes

#13 - Wish Upon a Star

Season 2 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/12/1974

Richie wins a date with a movie star, Cindy Shea, to a school dance, and Gloria breaks up with him because of circumstances surrounding it. Cindy, however, will only be able to meet up with Richie after the dance has started.

Directors: Herb Wallerstein
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Fearless Malph
star
7.76
45 votes

#14 - Fearless Malph

Season 6 - Episode 8 - Aired 10/24/1978

Richie is writing a story about fears and phobias, and he finds out that Ralph is afraid of nearly everything. While Richie, Potsie, and Ralph are visiting a professor whose specialty is fear, lab mice become agitated. The professor concludes that it is a sign that a tornado is coming.

Directors: Jerry Paris
Watch Now:Amazon
Guess Who's Coming to Christmas
star
7.76
136 votes

#15 - Guess Who's Coming to Christmas

Season 2 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/17/1974

Howard wants Christmas Eve to only include the family, but Richie discovers that Fonzie will be all alone.

Directors: Frank Buxton
Writer: Bill Idelson
Watch Now:Amazon
Dance Contest
star
7.74
107 votes

#16 - Dance Contest

Season 3 - Episode 15 - Aired 1/6/1976

Marion, tired of the monotony of everyday house chores, decides to enter a televised dance contest. When Howard won't participate with her, she secretly enlists the help of Fonzie. Arnold unwittingly tells Howard that Marion has been at Arnold's early in the morning with another man, and Howard becomes suspicious.

Directors: Norm Gray
Writer: Bob Howard
Watch Now:Amazon
Motorcycle
star
7.73
126 votes

#17 - Motorcycle

Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/16/1975

Fonzie finds his his bike in pieces, and the search is on to find out who did it.

Watch Now:Amazon
Fonzie Versus the She Devils
star
7.72
18 votes

#18 - Fonzie Versus the She Devils

Season 7 - Episode 11 - Aired 11/27/1979

Unknowingly, Richie, Potsie, and Ralph are invited to a party hosted by the She Devils gang in which the Devil who brings in the biggest nerd wins a $100 prize. After Richie discovers the purpose of the party, he and the guys head for the door. However, several Devils come in carrying a sack containing a guy who jilted the sister of the gang's leader. The guy is Chachi.

Directors: Jerry Paris
The Howdy Doody Show
star
7.71
92 votes

#19 - The Howdy Doody Show

Season 2 - Episode 17 - Aired 2/18/1975

Facing a deadline for the school paper, Richie tries to get a photo of Clarabell the clown, from The Howdy Doody Show, without makeup. To get on the set, Richie plans to get Ralph to enter a Howdy Doody look-alike contest the show is conducting.

Directors: Jerry Paris
Writer: Bob Brunner
Watch Now:Amazon
Richie Fights Back
star
7.70
128 votes

#20 - Richie Fights Back

Season 3 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/14/1975

After being embarrassed at Arnold's by a couple of hoods, Richie wants to take a jujitsu class to learn how to defend and stand up for himself.

Directors: Jerry Paris
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Fonzie's New Friend
star
7.70
111 votes

#21 - Fonzie's New Friend

Season 3 - Episode 12 - Aired 11/25/1975

Fonzie provides a drummer, who is black, to play with the band at Richie's party.

Directors: Jerry Paris
Watch Now:Amazon
The Magic Show
star
7.69
42 votes

#22 - The Magic Show

Season 6 - Episode 14 - Aired 12/5/1978

Howard and Al are co-chairmen of a Leopard Lodge fund-raiser. When the magician/escape-artist they hired injures himself while attempting the milk-can escape, Fonzie suggests another magician, the Amazing Randi.

Directors: Jerry Paris
Writer: Don Safran
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Haunted
star
7.69
136 votes

#23 - Haunted

Season 2 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/29/1974

After experiencing a few strange happenings, Richie begins to buy into the legend that the place where their Halloween party is to be held, the old Simpson house, is haunted.

Directors: Garry Marshall
Watch Now:Amazon
Three on a Porch
star
7.69
110 votes

#24 - Three on a Porch

Season 3 - Episode 11 - Aired 11/18/1975

With nothing to do for the Easter holiday, Richie, Potsie, and Ralph decide to rent a cabin at Lake Whitefish. They pretend to be adult businessmen in order to secure the cabin and get girls.

Directors: Jerry Paris
Watch Now:Amazon
The Cunningham Caper
star
7.67
114 votes

#25 - The Cunningham Caper

Season 2 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/21/1975

An ill Richie is home alone after the rest of the family go to see Cinerama. When he goes to see what is causing noises downstairs, he finds a burglar.

Directors: George Tyne
Watch Now:Amazon