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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Friday, December 27, 2002

Winkler's new show will send kids to college

By Bridget Byrne
Associated Press

Ex-"Fonzie" Henry Winkler now works mostly behind camera.

Associated Press

It took about three years for Henry Winkler to get his latest project, "WinTuition," on the air, which he says is typical of the game-show business.

"The word that you have to thumbtack to your brain if you want to be in this profession is tenacious, because if you know in your gut that the project is right and should be on the air, you must just keep throwing it against the wall like pasta until it sticks," explains Winkler.

"You are probably around a lot longer than some of the executives — their life span is usually 18 months — so you will come back and there will be new people to present your project to."

Winkler, best known for playing greaser Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli on the ABC sitcom "Happy Days" from 1974 to 1984, is executive producer of the half-hour "WinTuition," which airs at 3:30 p.m. daily on the Game Show Network.

It's part of the family-friendly programming to which Winkler has devoted himself. The big prize, $50,000, must be spent on college tuition. Other campus-themed prizes include 800 quarters for laundry, and pizza delivered to the dorm for a year.

Since "Happy Days," Winkler, now 57, has appeared in films and on television, but has spent far more of his career behind the camera.

He was executive producer of a 1977 Oscar- and Emmy-winning documentary about adoption, "Who are the DeBolts and Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids?" He also has produced episodes for the Disney Channel's "So Weird," and is producing a "Young MacGyver" pilot for The WB, featuring a 24-year-old nephew of the hero from the original 1980s series, which Winkler also co-produced.

Although "WinTuition's" participants are adults playing for themselves or their offspring, most questions are of grade-school level, which Winkler says can be tougher than you think.

"When they ask, 'If two trains leave the station at the same time,' the faces of the contestants go into panic mode," he laughs.

Kevin Belinkoff, programming vice president for the Game Show Network, says he was amazed at Winkler's understanding of the details that go into making television work.

"He can walk around the set and suggest maybe we move one light a little, and it will make a remarkable difference," Belinkoff said.

Winkler has also tinkered with the lighting, among other things, on King World's long-running syndicated game show "Hollywood Squares."

After executive producer and center-square celebrity Whoopi Goldberg left in April over a salary dispute, Winkler and Michael Levitt took over as executive producers.

Winkler made a lot of changes. Contestants now stand, which projects "more energy." An ignition key — a classic game-show device, not seen for 30 years — starts the prize car. And there's a rocking theme song, a rewrite of Teena Marie's 1981 hit "Square Biz."

Although a strong proponent of family television, Winkler hasn't banned all the off-color humor that is part of "Hollywood Squares" tradition. But, he adds, "We are pretty diligent about not crossing the line."

In the Brentwood-area home where Winkler lives with his wife, Stacey, and their children — Zoe, 22, a preschool teacher, and Max, 19, a college freshman — "I-love-yous" fly back and forth as his kids pass by the living room where he's chatting over drinks and coffee cake.

In the late '70s, Winkler discovered he had dyslexia after his stepson, Jed, now 31 and a music producer, was tested and found to have the learning disorder. Winkler realized that "everything they said about him was true of me and I thought, 'Oh, my God, I'm not stupid, I have a learning challenge.' "

His dyslexia was the inspiration for his children's book "Hank Zipzer: The Mostly True Confessions of the World's Best Underachiever," to be published by Penguin Putnam in May.

Although his focus is now on producing, Winkler continues to keep a hand in acting — family style, of course: He's the dad in the upcoming Disney feature adaptation of the kids' book "Holes."