1st Appearance: Love, American Style Most people are aware that Happy Days spawned several spin-offs, including Laverne & Shirley, Mork & Mindy, and Joanie Loves Chachi. What you might not know is that Happy Days was actually a spin-off itself, first beginning as a seed of an idea in an anthology series called Love, American Style. Comprised of various, unrelated vignettes that centered on the comical mishaps of romance, Love, American Style was the first time viewers saw Ron Howard move out of his Opie roots and into a role as All-American, red-blooded teenager, Richie Cunningham. An episode centered around Cunningham and his group of friends ("Love and the Television Set") blossomed into the pilot episode of Happy Days (with the title changed to "Love and the Happy Days"). This was still back when Cunningham was intended to be the main character of the show, before Fonzie came in and stole the show. Any examples of characters originating on other shows you're aware of? Let us know in the comments.
