Henry Winkler

Looking relieved to be playing his own age, someone he does not have to hold his stomach muscles tight for, Henry Winkler, 48, stands in a cold, cavernous, nearly empty sound stage in Hollywood at lunch break, doing a promotional interview for Fox Television's "Monty." That's the former Fonz's new comedy series, in which he plays a brash right-wing talk-show host who sees himself as "the conscience of America" and whose credo--"I'm right. I'm right. I'm right. Shut up! " -- he'll turn into a book.

Click here to download TV listings for the week of Oct. 7 - Oct. 13 in PDF format This week's TV Movies     CBS This Morning Author Nelson DeMille; director Paul Thomas Anderson. (N) 7 a.m. KCBS Today Donald Trump; Anthony Bourdain; Christy Vega Fowler; Marcia Cross; Halloween; Jackie Evancho. (N) 7 a.m. KNBC Good Morning America Henry Winkler; Kevin James; Drew Lachey; Anna Trebunskaya. (N) 7 a.m. KABC Live With Kelly and Michael Salma Hayek; Kyle MacLachlan.

The Fonz is heading back to Broadway -- this time as a porn star. Henry Winkler and (the much younger) Cheyenne Jackson will play adult film actors in the world premiere of David West Read's "The Performers. " The play is set to open Nov. 14 at the Longacre Theatre, with Evan Cabnet as director. The romantic comedy revolves around two high school friends (Daniel Breaker and Jackson) who reconnect at the Adult Film Awards in Las Vegas. Long-term relationships with the women in their lives are tested, and the hardest-working man in the adult film industry, a character named Chuck Wood (Winkler)

The actor, director and producer stars in the CBS comedy "Out of Practice." In Montana, near West Yellowstone, there's a lodge called Firehole. I go with my wife, and we fly-fish for trout. I think it holds 22 people at once. The chef's name is Bruno, and he's from France -- and that's all you need to know about dinner. When they call it the Big Sky, that's no joke. I take pictures every time I go, and I'm shocked every time at the enormousness, the gorgeousness and the tranquillity.

The Fonz is heading back to Broadway -- this time as a porn star. Henry Winkler and (the much younger) Cheyenne Jackson will play adult film actors in the world premiere of David West Read's "The Performers. " The play is set to open Nov. 14 at the Longacre Theatre, with Evan Cabnet as director. The romantic comedy revolves around two high school friends (Daniel Breaker and Jackson) who reconnect at the Adult Film Awards in Las Vegas. Long-term relationships with the women in their lives are tested, and the hardest-working man in the adult film industry, a character named Chuck Wood (Winkler)

Click here to download TV listings for the week of Oct. 7 - Oct. 13 in PDF format This week's TV Movies     CBS This Morning Author Nelson DeMille; director Paul Thomas Anderson. (N) 7 a.m. KCBS Today Donald Trump; Anthony Bourdain; Christy Vega Fowler; Marcia Cross; Halloween; Jackie Evancho. (N) 7 a.m. KNBC Good Morning America Henry Winkler; Kevin James; Drew Lachey; Anna Trebunskaya. (N) 7 a.m. KABC Live With Kelly and Michael Salma Hayek; Kyle MacLachlan.

Henry Winkler felt lost when he hung up his iconic leather jacket in 1984 after playing the super cool Fonzie for 11 seasons on ABC's nostalgic sitcom "Happy Days." "I didn't know what to do any more," admits the 64-year-old actor, producer, director and children's book writer. "I didn't have the drive that got me 'Happy Days' and gave me the ability to do it for 10 years. I don't know why. But I was rudderless at the time, which is psychically painful." So while he was finding his acting rudder, he produced such TV shows as "MacGyver" and "Mr. Sunshine" and directed such films as 1988's "Memories of Me," starring Billy Crystal.

WOKING, England -- Starsky and the Fonz are having the time of their lives being hissed and booed every night by hundreds of screaming children. The Hollywood stars of 1970s TV series are reveling in their roles for pantomime, a rumbustious British theatrical tradition. In the run-up to Christmas every year, theaters across Britain are packed with kids, often enjoying classic fairy tales given slapstick treatment. Pantomime is all about joining in. Everyone shouts "Look out behind you!"

Believers in karma might say that Henry Winkler's midlife rewards are a payback for emerging from a difficult childhood as a very nice person. At 60, he has a key role in "Out of Practice," the sly new CBS sitcom that's been one of the few freshman shows to break the top 20; he also co-authors a series of critically acclaimed comic novels for schoolkids based on his experiences growing up.

Henry Winkler felt lost when he hung up his iconic leather jacket in 1984 after playing the super cool Fonzie for 11 seasons on ABC's nostalgic sitcom "Happy Days." "I didn't know what to do any more," admits the 64-year-old actor, producer, director and children's book writer. "I didn't have the drive that got me 'Happy Days' and gave me the ability to do it for 10 years. I don't know why. But I was rudderless at the time, which is psychically painful." So while he was finding his acting rudder, he produced such TV shows as "MacGyver" and "Mr. Sunshine" and directed such films as 1988's "Memories of Me," starring Billy Crystal.

In a cameo courtroom appearance, actor Henry Winkler told jurors Wednesday that his friend John Ritter seemed in top form on the set of his television show Sept. 11, 2003, the day he died. By that afternoon, however, Winkler said, he had noticed that Ritter "was sweating. He said, 'You know, I really need to get some water.' That was the last time I saw him."

WOKING, England -- Starsky and the Fonz are having the time of their lives being hissed and booed every night by hundreds of screaming children. The Hollywood stars of 1970s TV series are reveling in their roles for pantomime, a rumbustious British theatrical tradition. In the run-up to Christmas every year, theaters across Britain are packed with kids, often enjoying classic fairy tales given slapstick treatment. Pantomime is all about joining in. Everyone shouts "Look out behind you!"

The actor, director and producer stars in the CBS comedy "Out of Practice." In Montana, near West Yellowstone, there's a lodge called Firehole. I go with my wife, and we fly-fish for trout. I think it holds 22 people at once. The chef's name is Bruno, and he's from France -- and that's all you need to know about dinner. When they call it the Big Sky, that's no joke. I take pictures every time I go, and I'm shocked every time at the enormousness, the gorgeousness and the tranquillity.

Believers in karma might say that Henry Winkler's midlife rewards are a payback for emerging from a difficult childhood as a very nice person. At 60, he has a key role in "Out of Practice," the sly new CBS sitcom that's been one of the few freshman shows to break the top 20; he also co-authors a series of critically acclaimed comic novels for schoolkids based on his experiences growing up.

Truman Capote's short story "One Christmas" will be turned into a TV movie for NBC this holiday season. Set in New Orleans in 1930, the film will star Katharine Hepburn and Henry Winkler.

Is actor Henry Winkler also responsible for co-executive producing the ridiculous Fox TV show "Sightings." The episode I caught dealt with "near-death experiences," but there was too much repetition and sensationalism, and not enough scientific investigation. If this is the same Winkler, tell him to stick to acting. Paris G. Simon, Los Angeles Henry Winkler and Ann Daniel are executive producers of "Sightings," a Winkler-Daniel Production in association with Sather Gate Productions and Wilshire Court Productions.

He might have gained fortune as a fixture on 1970s and '80s television and secured a place as a pop culture icon with his portrayal of Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli, but Henry Winkler doesn't think of his own childhood as "Happy Days." "In school, I was an underachiever," the 57-year-old actor, producer and director recalls. "Nobody ever knew why. I didn't know why. Until my stepson was diagnosed with dyslexia -- I listened to them describe his symptoms and said, 'Oh my God, that's me!'

As college students don their caps and gowns in a ritual to signal their transition into the "real world," commencement speakers try to offer up a few pearls of wisdom. Some deliver an unabashed pep talk; others vainly attempt to peer into the future. A few talk about personal experiences and try to divine a life's lesson. Most try to persuade students to cling to their youthful dreams while they get whiplashed by life's hard realities. Here are a few excerpts.