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  • 2000-06-23 (xsd:date)
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  • Was 'Joanie Loves Chachi' the Highest-Rated TV Show Ever in Korea? (en)
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  • The sitcom Joanie Loves Chachi was a short-lived Happy Days spin-off starring Erin Moran and Scott Baio that aired on ABC in 1982-83 and featured the young couple (along with Chachi's mother and stepfather) moving from their hometown of Milwaukee to Chicago, where they attempted to establish careers as singers. Initially a ratings success as a mid-season replacement program in 1982 (when it had Happy Days as a lead-in and was airing opposite reruns), Joanie Loves Chachi quickly tanked when the 1982-83 television season pitted it head-to-head against NBC's popular A-Team, and it was yanked from ABC's regular schedule by the end of the year. Perhaps the only thing more surprising than the cult following this sappy sitcom and its mere 17 episodes have garnered in the years since then is the claim that a racy translation of the show's name made it the most popular television program ever aired in Korea. Both Joanie Loves Chachi creator/executive producer Garry Marshall, and series star Scot Baio, have claimed at various times that Joanie Loves Chachi was the highest-rated [American] program ever shown in Korea because 'chachi' is the Korean word for 'penis,' and thus the series' title translated as Joanie Loves Penis, a sure-fire draw for eager viewers in a time and place where little or no sexual content was available in the popular media of the day. No actual data have ever been cited to support that claim, however, and the notion that it is true falls flat for a number of reasons: As mentioned above, this claim has largely been promulgated by series producer Garry Marshall and actor Scott Baio, who have mentioned it during multiple interviews and talk show appearances. Most likely the two of them were simply repeating as true something they merely heard (similar to the claim that a single Happy Days spurred a 500% increase in library card applications) or that originated as a joke, and neither of them had any direct knowledge of how Joanie Loves Chachi fared in Korea. (en)
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