Or remark the presence of Frank Bonner, most infamous as Herbert Tarlek Jr. of “WKRP In Cincinnati,” as the priest. We were reminded of the fact that he could easily have been a television leading man if he had so chosen!

“This show was an ill-fated attempt by ABC to further cash in on spin-offs of “Happy Days” (1974). At the time, both “Laverne & Shirley” (1976) and “Mork & Mindy” (1978) were huge successes, so the idea was to use the Mork motif to create a one-off, other-worldly character (Random) on Happy Days, then spin him off as the center of a new show. Robin Williams even guest-starred as Mork in the pilot, but it still wasn’t enough to get the show jump-started.”

I had no idea that there were so many Happy Days spin-offs. Up until today I had never even heard of Blansky’s Beauties. Why are ill-fated shows so intriguing?

Click my name for the link!

I have the vaguest recollection of this show (I was 10 – eek! – when it aired).

It *is* questionable re spinoff status. Here’s the relevant info from Wikipedia regarding that :
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A true spin-off?

Out of the Blue has engendered debate amongst some viewers concerning its precise relationship to Happy Days. The controversy arises from the fact that the first episode of the show was broadcast a little over one week prior to an episode of Happy Days featuring Jimmy Brogan’s “Random” character. Television observer and owner of Sitcoms Online, Todd Fuller, maintains that because “Chachi Sells His Soul” aired on 18 September 1979, Random’s appearance on this Happy Days episode was a crossover. He goes on to postulate: “The Happy Days episode was likely a promotional tool for Out of the Blue to make the character more known.”

Thom Holbrook, veteran crossover and spin-off analyst, sees the arguments against calling it a spin-off, but ultimately concludes: “Making it a crossover would be basing things all on an odd bit of scheduling decades ago. The intent was spin off. The tone of the Happy Days episode is that of a dry run on the character, that of a pilot episode.”

Whatever the actual production intent, contemporary viewers would have seen Random appear on Happy Days in the week between the second and third episodes of Out of the Blue. In the absence of a home video release for Out of the Blue, modern viewers have only “Chachi Sells His Soul” on which to base their opinions.

BTW, perhaps in regard to the above, my reCAPTCHA reads : squash that!

Why I know this and nothing else from middle school years, I have know idea.