Happy Days ran for 255 episodes over 11 seasons, but there’s one that stood out in creator Garry Marshall‘s memory as being the most heartfelt: the episode where Richie Cunningham nearly lost his life, and the Fonz was moved to tears.

“Happy Days tried all these different types of shows,” Marshall said in a 2009 interview with the Television Academy’s Archive of American Television series, “culminating with the best one, which I guess was our most emotional show.”