‘Happy Days’ Icon Returning to Network TV for New Show

The Fonz is headed back to network TV.

After years of high-profile appearances in film, prestige TV and various streaming series, Henry Winkler is going back to where he started. NBC is developing a new legal comedy starring and executive produced by Winkler titled Last Chance Lawyer.

Co-written by Mike Gagerman and Andrew Waller, who also co-wrote the 2014 film Search Party starring T.J. Miller, the series revolves around Winkler’s character Howard Greenberg, described as a “hard-driving and unconventional criminal defense attorney who is a fierce advocate for his underdog clients, believing that no matter what they are accused of, the system is always guiltier.”

It seems like Last Chance Lawyer is NBC’s attempt at filling the hole that fellow legal comedy Night Court made when it was cancelled after three seasons last year.

Winkler has been in plenty big roles over the past few years, like the dark comedy On the Count of Three from comedian Jerrod Carmichael or the Wes Anderson film The French Dispatch. Most notably, he was Emmy-nominated four times from 2018 to 2023 for playing acting teacher Gene Cousineau in the HBO thriller-comedy Barry, winning once.

He hasn’t appeared on network television since hosting travel show Better Late Than Never in 2016; before that, he had a recurring role on NBC’s beloved sitcom Parks and Recreation. He was most recently seen in an episode of Apple TV’s comedy series Loot late last year.