The search for Chuck.
2007-09-18 01:39:44 · 8 answers · asked by Cike 2 in Entertainment & Music ➔ Television ➔ Comedy
The first two seasons of the series also featured Chuck, the Cunninghams' eldest child and Richie's older brother. The character was little more than a superfluous one, as he was usually in scenes where he was "on his way to basketball practice." In fact, Chuck was originally a student at Marquette University on a basketball scholarship.
Chuck was written out during the series' second season with no explanation. Chuck was rarely referred to again, and scripts from later seasons suggested the Cunninghams had two, not three children. However, in the fourth-season recap version of the Christmas episode, "Guess Who's Coming To Christmas", Fonzie - recalling his first Christmas with the Cunninghams - tells Al that Chuck was "away at college." The unexplained removal of a character in a TV series has come to be known as "Chuck Cunningham Syndrome".
In a Happy Days reunion show from 2005, the cast mentioned that Chuck had won a scholarship to the "University of Outer Mongolia" to play basketball, as a sort of an inside joke.
An officially circulated outtake from the final episode has Mr Cunningham raising a glass to the entire cast and saying "to Happy Days." After taking a sip, he blurts out in mock surprise "Wait, where's Chuck?!"
2007-09-18 01:48:40 · answer #1 · answered by Bog woppit. 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋
I always hate it when a show changes the actor playing a character or just get rid of them without saying why, but anyway, this is what the trivia section at www.imdb.com has to say,
Originally there were three Cunningham children. The eldest, Chuck, was phased out of the show (supposedly, he went off to college on a basketball scholarship), because according to Garry Marshall, "we realized that Fonzie was really the 'big brother' character the show needed". In the final episode, Howard comments that he's proud of his "two kids".
Just a note to the other poster, Marcy's second husband was Ted McGinley who played Roger in the later seasons of Happy Days.
2007-09-18 01:49:50 · answer #2 · answered by pipi08_2000 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I ran a poll on either tv.com or sitcomsonline.com about this, the most votes were for the idea that he wasn t really a bioogical brother, but that there was some history where he was "taken in" like the Fonz was and that he just didn t bond with them for some reason. Otehr options were that he was killed in a tragic accident and not remembered so as to hide the pain, disowned(very un-Cunningham-like, though, so not likely) or even that Mork from Ork had visited Earth once before, in the 30s, and did something that caused Chuck not to be conceived.Personally, I think mentioning "2 children" and not 3 points to his not being a biological child - and that in the future (that is, with the Fonz) the familywere careful not to call him a "brother" or "son" so as not to jinx it. it makes the most sense from a family backstory point of view.
2015-04-06 08:55:12 · answer #3 · answered by FullHouseFan 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Chuck Cunningham
2016-10-04 00:11:17 · answer #4 · answered by glassburn 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As I recall, the older brother was a way at college. I don't know why they even included this character, since he was rarely featured on the show.
2007-09-18 01:45:35 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
He was a college student so he was always "away". Wasnt he Marcy's second husband on Married with Children? Is that ur question?
2007-09-18 01:43:33 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
He went to college
2007-09-18 01:42:22 · answer #7 · answered by Beatrice C 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Did he go off to college and never return? I remember that. Was that before Fonzie? AAAAA......?
2007-09-18 01:43:30 · answer #8 · answered by Red Angel 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
went to UW Madison and discovered bongs, booze and babes!
2007-09-18 03:47:00 · answer #9 · answered by Margaritavillian 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
to college where he died in a tragic beer pong accident
2007-09-18 01:42:25 · answer #10 · answered by darcymc 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋