[1][2][3] Brunner is credited with creating the "Fonzie" nickname for Henry Winkler's character, Arthur Fonzarelli, on Happy Days.
[3] Notably, Brunner contributed to American popular culture by creating the nickname "Fonzie" for Henry Winkler's iconic character, Arthur Fonzarelli, who was originally just a minor player on the show.
[3] The episode apparently led radio personality Jon Hein and his former college roommate to coin the term "jump the shark" to describe a television show in creative decline.
[3] "Amazingly, I can't remember – which is frustrating, as I can usually watch a Happy Days episode from any season, hear a joke and recall who wrote it," in an account written by Fred Fox Jr.[3] Happy Days writer Fred Fox Jr. later wrote about the origin of "jump the shark" and the episode in an article published in the Los Angeles Times in September 2010: "My friend Brian Levant, then a talented new member of the writing staff, believes that Garry Marshall, the show's co-creator and executive producer, and Bob Brunner, the showrunner at the time, made the suggestion.
[1] That same year (1979), Brunner also created another quickly cancelled CBS show, Working Stiffs, starring James Belushi and Michael Keaton.
[1] Brunner went on to executive produce a string of television shows, including Love, Sidney, Private Benjamin, Webster, and Diff'rent Strokes.
[1] He also contributed to Marshall's Frankie and Johnny in 1991 (In which Brunner also appeared on screen in a small role),[3] Exit to Eden in 1994, and The Princess Diaries in 2001.