Unlikely TV Cross Over stories - Happy Days – Out Of The Blue

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Debate rages as to whether 1979’s Out Of The Blue was a spinoff series from Happy Days or a cross-over plot with Happy Days, which had already famously jumped the shark two years earlier in 1977. What is not in doubt is that Out Of The Blue was utter rubbish. It lasted just nine episodes with four recorded episodes left untransmitted by the time of its cancellation. Out Of The Blue was about an apprentice angel called Random, played by Jimmy Brogan, trying to do enough good deeds to earn his wings. It was a comedy with a similar theme to the (unintentionally) much funnier Highway To Heaven. Happy Days had already spawned three spin-off shows, Laverne & Shirley, Mork & Mindy and Joanie Loves Chachi. Out Of The Blue was planned as another splinter show, but everything that could go wrong went wrong. The pilot episode of Out Of The Blue went out on air prematurely, a week before Random turned up on Happy Days. With a cameo by Robin Williams as Mork, the premiere episode of Out Of The Blue made the later meeting between Random and the Fonz seem more crossover than promotional episode. Support from Robin Williams and Henry Winkler could not save the angel from oblivion. There was also obviously some additional confusion caused by Happy Days being set in the late 1950’s while Mork & Random were both just getting active in the late 1970’s. The episode of Happy Days featuring Random involved Chachi inexplicably selling his soul to Satan’s nephew and Random turning up to help get the deal stopped. Random seemed a rather gormless figure, wandering round producing popsicles from thin air to hand to street children as if encouraging minors to talk to strangers. It’s not surprising that he soon went away for a hopefully very long time. Youtube – The opening credits to Out Of The Blue Arthur Chappell