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The real reason Ron Howard never directed ''Happy Days''
You may be shocked to learn why!
On-the-job training can be a pretty sweet deal. After all, what's better than growing one's skillset? Especially if you can get the powers-that-be to pay for the training, or even to have it done on company time. That way, you're taking steps in your career and getting paid to do it. What could be better?
Unfortunately, there can be some complications. What if you don't see yourself in your current gig forever? Getting acclimated to a new role when you don't plan to stick around forever isn't really worthwhile. You can spend all this time training, only to learn these skills, which won't translate to your preferred place of employment. You also run the risk of wasting not just your time, but your coworkers' as well.
These were all considerations Ron Howard had to balance while working on Happy Days. Towards the end of his run on the beloved sitcom, Howard was growing restless. He yearned to break out of his job as an actor, with his sights set firmly on directing. Why, then, didn't he try his hand at directing an episode of Happy Days? It seems like a layup; Howard's already there as Richie Cunningham, so why not step behind the camera?
In an episode of the Smartless podcast, Howard discusses the opportunity to direct episodes of Happy Days, and why he turned it down.
"I was offered chances to direct Happy Days at certain points because they knew I wanted to direct. In fact, I was in film school when the show started and I had to I left USC film school, and I thought it would just be like a one-year gig because how many series really run? But it kept going. Jerry Paris was such a genius. And in all honesty, I never wanted to rob the rest of the cast of a week with Jerry for me."
Happy Days was a well-oiled machine that scored huge ratings for ABC. Howard was smart enough not to mess with something that was working so well.
There was also the fact that sitcom production wasn't nearly as prestigious as the world of feature films.
"And then the other thing was I was wise enough to know that if I did a good job on a three-camera episode of Happy Days, a show that I was in, it wasn't going to be a giant feather in my cap for my real dream, which was to direct a direct signal camera."
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