William S. Bickley ( show runner, first 2 seasons Happy Days; creator - Family Matters)

William S. Bickley joined me to discuss faking watching television; watching Liberace with his grandparents; finally getting television and watching anything; family sitcoms were an escape from an abusive home life; going to Baylor University to study English; being a Naval Aviator for a year; being confused for another Bill Bickley; forming a correspondence with Arnold Margolin that allowed him to pitch for Love, American Style; gaining a quick reputation; getting taken under Garry Marshall's wing; writing a treatment for a first-season episode of All in the Family; writing and producing Room 222; meeting Dale McRaven while producing and writing The Partridge Family; asked to join Happy Days while under contract for Partridge Family; secretly writes episodes after hours; asked to run Happy Days and is let out of his contract; first season hours were hellish; asked to do two episodes a week; on first day shooting Ron Howard and Anson Williams get drunk accidentally shooting with real beer; second season test live action clip show uses scenes from the pilot; how he felt Fonzie was a tragic figure; the episode "The Motorcycle"; trying hard to make it look like it was the fifties; the palm tree behind Arnold's that was never seen; introducing Roger Phillips on Happy Days; not remembering episodes he wrote; his series Please Stand By; pitching The Waverly Wonders for Judd Hirsch and getting Joe Namath; going to Out of the Blue and being told to write out its star; having a character on Mork & Mindy named after him; not remembering Down to Earth; his favorite series Perfect Strangers; the real reason Chuck left Happy Days and his plan for bringing him back on the finale; random Happy Days characters; the series "Jumped the Shark" when Richie left; creating Fonzie's magic and seeing it get out of hand; his new project, a sitcom based on Gladys Knight's life.