Category: Friendships

My series, New Year; New Types of Friends, continues with another example of friendships in television. During my research for the series, I came across one that almost wasn’t very happy. In fact, the relationship between Ron Howard and Henry Winkler almost never materialized. This TV sitcom Happy Days gives us several examples of how egos can impact friendships and the success of others. About Happy Days According to Wikipedia, Happy Days is an American television sitcom that first ran on the ABC network from January 15, 1974, to July 19, 1984. It aired a total of 255 half-hour episodes spanning 11 seasons. Created by Garry Marshall, it was one of the most successful series of the 1970s. The sitcom presented an idealized vision of life in the 1950s and early 1960s Midwestern United States. It starred Ron Howard as Richie Cunningham and Henry Winkler as his friend, Arthur Fonzarelli, better

To classic TV fans, The Andy Griffith Show was a good old fashioned comedy that evoked nostalgia. In small towns like the fictional Mayberry, North Carolina, people generally know everything about each other. However, the friendship between the show’s two main stars, Andy Griffith and Don Knotts was not as it appeared on the show. According to the book, Andy and Don: The Making of a Friendship and a Classic American TV Show, these shy country bumpkins used their squeaky-clean act to fool America and mask their twisted real lives and shameful secrets. If true, it’s another example for my series, New Year; New Types of Friends about why all men need GodBuddies; those deeper, more authentic male friendships who hold each other accountable to living according to higher standards. About the TV Show  The Andy Griffith Show was an American sitcom in the 1960s that evoked nostalgia. Set in the

My series New Year; New Types of Friends now moves to examples of friendships in television starting with the quintessential pairing of two opposite personalities in The Odd Couple: Oscar Madison and Felix Unger. These roommates show how opposites can form a friendship that is greater than the sum of its parts. In this case, each gives the other something he lacks. They watch out for one another. Their friendship shows that having a male friend who is different than you, may actually make you a better man.  About The Odd Couple The Odd Couple started as a Broadway play by Neil Simon about two mismatched roommates: the near-OCD, uptight Felix Unger, and the slovenly, easygoing Oscar Madison. The 1965 play originally starred Walter Matthau as Oscar Madison and Art Carney as Felix Ungar. The characters were revived in a successful 1968 movie starring Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon as two divorced men