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The in-studio reaction to ''Joanie Loves Chachi'' was way warmer
People in the crowd really ate it up!
When Joanie Loves Chachi was still in production, and before it became a pop culture laughing stock, there really was an audience for the show. It seems like a far cry from believable now, but all those years ago, people thought Joanie Loves Chachi would be successful. Those excited audience members weren't exactly quiet with their enthusiasm, either.
"The audience likes to yell," producer Garry Marshall told The Akron Beacon Journal in '82. "They go, 'My god, he's got a tie!' 'Oh! She sat down!' 'Oh, it's her again!' Sometimes I go out there and say, 'He entered seven times already, folks. Stop screaming.'"
So what was it like for that show's principal actors? Well, they weren't super phased.
"I never anticipate it," said Scott Baio, the titular Chachi. "Most of the time, I don't hear it. If I hear a laugh, I barely hear it. But if there's applause, it picks me up off the floor."
Erin Moran, who played Joanie Cunningham, wasn't particularly bothered by the fuss. She'd been at it for too long to let the audience's fervor affect her performance in any meaningful way, having performed as Joanie since she was 13.
"I've been doing this for 10 years," said Moran, "so I'm in touch with it — and I don't expect it."
Joanie Loves Chachi would go on to become one of the worst sitcom spinoffs of all time. The show produced a measly 17 episodes before getting canceled during its second season. While its four-episode first season was initially a ratings success, a subsequent move to Thursday night during the following year ruined the audience's good standing. With Joanie Loves Chachi no longer airing after its parent show, Happy Days, the spinoff floundered. In a highly competitive timeslot, Joanie Loves Chachi lost a heated ratings war with Magnum P.I. and plummeted to #70 in the Nielsen ratings.
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