LAVERNE & SHIRLEY

Long live Boo-Boo Kitty.

Everybody over 40 watched it,we only had like 4 stations then .

The episode of Happy Days that introduced L n S to us was hysterical.

[quote]The ABC series premiered 40 years ago — in January 1976.

You might want to check your calendar. It's September now.

I remember the Happy Days episode that created the characters (and the one which first features Robin Williams as Mork). Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley were required viewing in the mid 70s. With Threes Company coming on right after.

My high school friend and still a friend is Penny and Gary Marshall's niece. So I watched it.

Voh-dee-oh-doh-doh!

Worked for Alex deRenzy in San Francisco and had filmed all day. We were all exhausted. Most got bloto drunk to unwind and we watched this. Ah, good times.... 40 years. Time sure does fly.

Cindy Williams had an odd career. She did a bunch of major acclimated films and then boom Laverne and Shirley.

What happened? She could have been our Sally had she held out.

I was six, but I remember the first episode. I also remember when L&S first appeared on Happy Days, and they were very slutty. Happy Days was must see t.v. for children of the seventies.

I didn't really understand Happy Days. The Fonz wasn't really that hot. I preferred Richie, Potsie and even Ralph Malph.

OP here.

I mentioned January 1976 because it premiered in the middle of the 1975–76 television season.

I also was thinking of the series because I had a free month with Hulu. It doesn’t have every episode. But, I checked out a few—including the episode “The Note” (the first episode without Cindy Williams).

I thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have this thread.

Thanks!

Was this show popular at the time? Did people repeat the tag lines like they do with shows today? What tag lines made it into everyday conversation?

My cousin was trying to describe what my mom's doctor looks like. She kept focusing on his hair, so I finally said, "You make him seem like Squiggy from Laverne and Shirley" to which she replied "Yes, exactly!" (although I think he's more like Lenny's height). My mom will refer to an appointment as "I have to see Squiggy next week (for my Blythe Danner shot)."

I don't think shows were into taglines back then r13. There was no internet. They just aired once and you forgot the episode by the next week. Even the actors seem to forget them . Actors today seem able to talk about how on episode 14 we did this etc.

The older actors seem confused about what they did. I remember when Rosie O. had Mary Tyler Moore on and would ask her trivia type stuff and MTM knew less than Rosie.

Loved it then, especially dry Williams, but man does it not hold up. And the sound -- and the two womens' voices -- is so shrill, it's headache inducing.

Wasn't "Sit on it and rotate" a line of The Fonz?

R13,

“Laverne & Shirley” was the No. 1-ranked television series, for viewers, for two seasons. It may have been that with the 1976–77 and 1977–78 seasons. If not those two, apply the latter and add the next season. (“60 Minutes” was No. 1 for 1979–80.) If I am correct about 1976–77, then that came after the five consecutive seasons “All in the Family” was No. 1 (1971–72; 1972–73; 1973–74; 1974–75; and 1975–76). And there haven’t that many individual ABC series which finished a given season as the No. 1 most-watched series.

I had a gay crush on Carmine. So handsome.

Well, Fonzie had a few catch phrases on "Happy Days" and there were a bunch of them on "Welcome Back Kotter," "Sanford and Son" and "All In The Family" so I don't think you can say there were no taglines back then. But "Laverne and Shirley" never really had any - though elements from the show like Boo Boo Kitty, milk and Pepsi, and voh-de-oh-doh filtered into pop culture to some degree. The closest tagline I can think of for "L&S" is Squiggy's distinctive "Hello!" every time they entered after a character would reference something disgusting.

If in Heaven we don't meet, hand in hand we'll bear the heat.

And if it ever gets too hot, Pepsi Cola hits the spot.

Night after night, who wants to look at the same girl night after niiiiiii-iiight.

I remember my favorite episode was when Shirley is quizzing Sqiggy for his driver's liscence exam and she asks "what do you do when you see a school bus?" and he lears and yells "hey chickie, what are you doing after the prom?"

Well I guess you had to be there.

"He became a proctologist, he had to follow a dream"

Cindy Williams had a major supporting role in Travels With My Aunt, starring Dame Maggie Smith with Sir Alec Guiness. directed by George Cukor.

She really had a career after that? Just kidding I'm an eldergay who remembers L&S, I even watched a few episodes the first couple of seasons. I remember her.

I treasure Travels With My Aunt. A very flawed but very memorable film,

[quote]What tag lines made it into everyday conversation?

My brother, my father, and I would say "Schlemiel, schlimazel" and finish it with our own substitute for "Hassenfeffer Incorporated." That was our catchphrase.

I read a little of her memoir. She was always more involved in the comedy scene and then sort of by a fluke she wound up in Travels with My Aunt, The Conversation, and American Graffiti back to back but then the films stopped. She was kind of bewildered about what to do since she needed money but felt too famous to get a day job but not succesful enough to live without won. She says she had fantasies of moving to a small town and assuming an alias and working as a waitress. I would guess a lot of actors have this issue.

R19) So what part of The Big Ragu attracted you?

I hated Shirl's inexplicable Noo Yawk accent in the early episodes.

R9/27 yes I agree Williams's career trajectory was bizarre, especially given that two of those films are by consensus considered two of the greatest films of the 70s. And she had significant roles in both. I can only guess that she never had the talent to follow up the good luck of falling into the success of those films, and thus no follow through (and she was cute/pretty but not pretty enough to make up for unremarkable talent).

Her post L & S career was bizarre too, in that TV stars who were far less big a deal than she (who was on the #1 show and I believe - along with Penny - the highest paid female TV star at the time) went in to healthy careers starring in TV movies (see Dawber, Pam), while Williams did very little in the 80s and then when she did work it was sporadic and usually not vehicles for her anyhow. Being married to that creep Bill Hudson probably didn't help matters.

She's also a bit nutty, religiously speaking.

Two Dead Lazlos in a coffin, cremate 'em!

I think her career post Laverne and Shirley was forever damaged by leaving the show before the last season. It sort of made her seem unstable and the infamous "difficult"

I barellllly remember watching it during it's first one cause I was young but I distinctly remember when Shirley left and Laverne lived by herself in CA and even then I could tell how bad it got with Williams gone. And I remember the final episode. I also remember drinking milk and Pepsi.

I watch it sometimes on Me TV and it cracks me up

I love the theme song. It was so optimistic!

Two of my very favorite Shirley moments that you had to see to appreciate:

She literally pounces on a dropped Ritz cracker at a very fancy gathering.

She is a cheerleader for their baseball team, pom poms and all. She gets just a little too close to home plate as one of the players is sliding into home and he slides right into her. The thing is that she never stops cheering or waving the pom poms around as she staggers and slowly falls backwards and down. Even laying on the ground, she cheers.

In the middle of the comedy, they had a heartbreaking episode with Ted Danson as a fireman who was getting involved with Laverne.

I heard when they showed episodes in some Asian countries (Taiwan?) they would run a disclaimer at the beginning stating that "The two women depicted in this show escaped from a mental institution."

I have met both and have Season One signed by them with the inscription "Betty Please"!

"I treat my body as a temple, Laverne. You choose to treat yours like an amusement park."

I thought that was hysterical when I was seven years old.

One of my worst "day jobs" -- a "night job", really -- was typing "Laverne and Shirley" scripts, seriously, back in the day when you had to use CARBONS which was a nightmare to correct so mistakes were deadly. I'd type all night, sometimes whole scripts, sometimes corrections, they'd make mass copies off the carbons and take to the studio for read-throughs.

Once, word got back that Cindy Williams had, bam bam BAAAAAM, a blank page in her script and all hell broke loose. Not a missing page, just a blank piece of paper stuck in there by mistake which she couldn't just tear out and move on, no, she had to rage about it. After that, I said, "Fuck her" and never watched her again. (By that time, the show was all but dead anyway).

I also really when Laverne and Lenny did "The Look" at that talent show at her pop's restaurant.

I was 12 when it premiered. It was appointment TV for a couple of years.

[quote]Cindy Williams had an odd career. She did a bunch of major acclimated films and then boom Laverne and Shirley. What happened? She could have been our Sally had she held out.

Penny Marshall said, she was friends with Cindy before the show. When her brother wrote a part of two loose women who would date Fonzie and Richie, Garry called her and said, she could play one of them and then said, "Ask Cindy if she'll play the other, if not we'll find someone else."

The two women were immediately a big hit. But Shirley was a lot looser and worldly on Happy Days, they toned her down to balance out with Laverne when the spin off happened.

Pick up Betty. Betty please. Be nice to Betty

The girls recorded a record

The boys recorded a record

Remember after Williams left L&S she had a kid, and that puts the breaks on a lot of women's careers. A lot of women want to just be at home for the first few years, and when you go away, people forget.

The best sitcom line ever was:

Laverne: Don't you know what those guys think we are?

Shirley: You mean???

Laverne: Yes

Shirley: They think we're loosey goosey for money?

----------

Another of my favorites

Shirley: I don't vo-de-oh-doh

Laverne: You vo-de-oh

Shirley: Once...

--------------

What they should've done is when Williams left and they wrote Shirley out, they should've brought back Big Ol' Rosie Greenbaum in. They could've moved her to California after her rich husband dumped her penniless and she would be forced to move in with Laverne who now needed a roommate.

Big Ol' Rosie was awesome.

I loved it when Laverne would fight with Rosie Greenbaum.

R32 probably that, too. And suing Paramount studio surely would not have helped in that regard. But I think I read somewhere (maybe in a Penny Marshall interview?) that suing the studio was her husband's idea, and that he was sort of egging her on. Again, not surprised if true.

They were both hellions to deal with on the set in general, from what I remember / have read.

They seemed like lesbians to me.

[R44] - I had that record. As I recall, they didn't want to do it but an album was going to be released (with other singers) with their name on it regardless. So.....

Loved the dolls....

Oldster here. I did - LOVED it! Something different, and very funny. The last year or two - not so much, but it was great when it started. And must-see TV, including Happy Days and Mork!

I really liked the chemistry between them and watched every week. I did so, however, with the awareness that the show around them was pretty stupid.

Michael McKean and Annette O'Toole are neighbors. Both as nice as can be and Annette hair is now snow white. You wouldn't recognize her if you saw her at the market.

BTW, Cindy Williams is really, really into New Age. Astrology, ghosts, UFOs and the like. She did a movie UFOria that was essentially her.

Before the internet, they hired a guy who was an "I Love Lucy" expert to tell the writers whether or not there was an ILL script that was similar to the ones the writers came up with. Of course, they all were, so that expert really didn't earn his keep.

I enjoyed the show as a kid. I even liked it more than Happy Days. But when the show began to take place in California, it lost its appeal to me. Then again, I was growing out of that type of humor, anyway. It was a very easy show for children to understand and enjoy.

I watched the first episode and hated it. They were so loud and had obnoxious accents, which no one in Wisconsin (that's where it was set right?) had. They seemed dumb. Lenny and Squiggy? Ugly!

My younger sister loved it and watched every episode, so it was on at our house (back in the days of one tv per household). Her current cat is named Boo Boo Kitty.

[quote] Pick up Betty.

OMG, my friends and I did this all the time.

BETTY PICK UP

She was also in the news a few years back when an owl came down in her backyard and mangled her little dog (maybe dogS?). First time I had ever heard of an owl attack.

Pretty sure that Rosie chick was a Scientologist. She definitely worked at the theatre and studied there with reknown Scientologist Milton Katsales (might be mispelled but too lazy to check). I used to see her at the box office all the time.

FRED

Squiggy: We'd like to borrow some sheets.

Laverne: What's the matter with your sheets?

Squiggy: They're hard.

Shirley: GET OUT!

Funny funny. I had a big thing for those 2 working stiffs, Lenny and Squiggy. Not so much for Carmine, I always thought he was silly trying to be a dancer.

I used to love Laverne and Shirley as a kid. It was one of the few shows that a change of scenery (moving to California) worked for a little while, and probably one of the reasons I moved to California (or at least had the image in my head).

I always found it amusing with historical comedies, be it Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley or That 70's Show, how the first season is always about being in that time frame, but as the series ages, they are almost living in modern times (aka, not trying anymore)

Sitcoms were so mediocre for so long - predicable plots predictable jokes. Laugh tracks were so distracting and offensive. My elderly relatives loved all this stuff. Now so much quality television - an entirely different product. It's not free anymore but it's completely worth the extra expense ...

r63 Oh absolutely. I just laugh my ass off over shows like "The Big Bang Theory" and "2 Broke Girls." Thank God times have changed, and we have quality shows like these. FFS.............

Penny Marshall had a home invasion robbery shortly after L&S. She would later say that the robber apologized to her and told her he liked her show.

It was also the first show that I read about infighting. Before then, I assumed every cast was friends in real life. LOL

So "2 Broke Girls" is essentially the 2010s version of this?

Yeah except without the wit and with two of the worst actors on the planet instead of two of the best. Otherwise, the resemblance is uncanny.

" I can only guess that she never had the talent to follow up the good luck of falling into the success of those films, and thus no follow through (and she was cute/pretty but not pretty enough to make up for unremarkable talent)."

You guessed wrong. Look at her work in "American Graffiti" and "The Conversation." She could do drama as well as anyone. Look at some episodes of "Laverne and Shirley"; it was lowbrow humor (a lot of it was slapstick) but she totally adept at doing comedy, both verbally and physically. There's a 1972 Foster Grant commercial on YouTube with Williams; it's just a commercial but it's obviously this girl has talent. After she got famous for being Shirley Feeney it seemed that she wasn't taken seriously as a dramatic actress anymore. But what really caused her to relatively disappear after Laverne and Shirley was her lack of interest in it herself; she married Bill Hudson and had two kids and concentrated on her family. I guess acting didn't matter as much anymore. She had an odd career alright, but the way it turned out was not due to a lack of talent. More like a lack of ambition.

Cindy tried. She did a TGIF show in the nineties with Telma Hopkins. She also did a family dog movie around the time that Beethoven came out. Beethoven was the one that became a hit, though. UFORIA is a very good movie. Disney Channel used to show it all the time. Very quirky comedy.

Penny is very underrated as a comedienne and as a director.

Cindy can have a very calming presence which we only occasionally saw on L&S. A very unforced sweetness. You believed her and you liked her. Something about her voice and delivery that could put the audiences on her side.

Someone has pulled a Cindy Williams-shaped scab off some loon's wound.

I came here to post BETTY PLEASE PICKUP but I see we already covered that. An after school job I worked at in high school had an intercom and we dumb kids would always randomly shout that into it for giggles. This was probably 5 years after the show went off the air. Then in college I met a funny girl who always mimicked that line and Laverne's goofy delivery. I still sometimes say it when slinging dishes in the kitchen or using an intercom among friends. It's just funny and everyone my age remembers that episode.

LOVED L&S. Everyone in that early Gen X era loved it. It was a perfect show to kids because it wasn't FOR kids, but had all this slapstick and silliness with a great cast.

Cindy told me she came up with the plates up the arm gag in "Betty Please" because she could do it from her waitress days.

I do not vodeeoododo!

[quote]They were so loud and had obnoxious accents, which no one in Wisconsin (that's where it was set right?)

Laverne was from New York City. I don't know if they mentioned where Shirley was from or if she was from Milwaukee, her father and brothers were all sailors though.

Cindy Williams never seemed to have much spirit in any acting she did after L&S. I think she was just burned out by the whole bit and was like the old ball player, that didn't want to play everyday but wanted know he can still hit the ball out of the park on occasion.

It was odd how Shirley was removed from the show. Didn't she run off and get married and didn't even tell Laverne goodbye, just leaving her a note? That was totally unlike the character of Shirley Feeney. Not to say goodbye to her best friend in the world, the girl she'd lived with ever since she graduated high school...Shirley would never act like that.

dig to china dig to china

Too daring for TV?

I distinctly remember a scene with Carmine dry-humping Shirley on a sofa.

That and Paul Michael Glaser in nothing but a towel defined me as a baby gay.

I loved the episode where Shirley got amnesia and thought she was a stripper named Roxy LaTour.

Daddy!

Big Rosie Greenbaum was the funniest thing about that show.

They had a special retard episodes before retard episodes were cool.

I had such a crush on Carmine!! He had the best ass ever on TV!

Maybe.... maybe...... maybe......

Big Rosie was played by veteran character actor Jesse White's (the original Maytag repairman) daughter.

I first remember Cindy Williams in a short-lived show called "The Funny Side" (1971, before Graffiti and Aunt.) It featured five couples in comedy and music skits; it was hosted by Gene Kelly. Cindy was paired with Michael Lembeck (later Mr. Julie Cooper on "One Day"). Other couples included "Mama's Family" creators Dick Clair and Jenna McMahon and Teresa Graves ("Get Christie Love!) and DL fave John Amos as (I am NOT kidding) "Minority Couple."

Hot Carmine sings

Carmine was a neck downer. Great body but a broken grill.

Best ass

Carole Ita White came out as bi a few years ago.

This is the episode where Carole made her L&S debut, thought not as Big Rosie. Included is Robert Hays as Laverne's wimpy date. Carole makes her entrance around 17:00 and the audience starts screaming because she looks so raunchy. She engages with a great verbal battle with Marshall and the producers saw the potential. "Touch my "L" sweetie and your teeth go to Peoria."

It was rumored that she and Penny were lovers.

Carmine danced with Madonna in "A League Of Their Own".

I wrote about this on one of the HRT threads but completely forgot he was ever a late-in-the-show regular -- and I once walked into a dressing room only to find R83 buck naked, though facing away from me. He looked mildly annoyed (I had knocked and entered all at once) but talked to me anyway. Forget Carmine, that was one of the finest asses in film history and I saw it bare and relatively up close.

He was doing a play with the famous crazy lady I lived with for a time (as her assistant/slave). So that's how it happened.

R94 And who directed that movie?

Jeff Franklin started his career as a writer and eventual showrunner on this show in the late 70s/early 80s. He would of course go on to create Full House in 1987.

James Burrows director of Mary Tyler Moore, Taxi and Cheers creator and Frasier, Friends and Will & Grace directed 18 episodes of Laverne & Shirley and said in an interview that Garry Marshall BEGGED him to stay on board as a director and even offered him a producing position, Garry LOVED Burrows. But he turned it down to do Taxi, he also said that Penny and Cindy were always fighting but they were incredible physical comedians and it's ridiculous how neither of them were even nominated for an Emmy. ever

Cindy Williams was also in movie comedy called "The First Nudie Musical." The concerns an heir to a Hollywood studio forced to make a musical comedy porno in order to stave off bankruptcy. The movie features a series of farcical lewd musical numbers in the style of classical Hollywood musical comedies including: "Orgasm", "Lesbian Butch Dyke", and "Dancing Dildos." Sounds fun! There was nudity in the film but Williams didn't have any nude scenes. Ron Howard did was in it very briefly; he was on "Happy Days" by then, so it was made out to be more than it was. Diana Canova sang on the soundtrack and played a character named Juanita ( ("Eets yust so beeg!").

"A lesbian butch dyke/you can call it what you like/but it's what I am and what I'll always be..." I know every song to "First Nudie Musical" by heart (I worked in a theatre that showed it when I was a teen so sat through it hundreds of times, I swear). It's better than it sounds on first review.

To whomever responded to me: I've seen AG and The Conversation many times (I think they are great movies) and was never impressed with her in either - competent but very bland. And those are GREAT movies.

Very early in she got managed by the Fred Roos/ Pat McQueeney group which was very lucky on her part (90 percent of success is who is your manager and/or agent) - she's about the only one of that group (Harrison Ford, Teri Garr, Richard Dreyfus, etc) who didn't become successful in movies.

She did have good skill at being the more subtle "straight man" on L & S. A good example is the episode where she teaches Laverne how to drive (an early ep - I still think the early episodes have a certain charm), and Laverne makes a haha joke, "shouldn't the beans be the gas," and Shirl gives her a perfect death stare/slow burn/pregnant pause, and then goes: "Don't do that."

Cindy was great at that sort of thing. But she wanted to do the same kind of mugging as Penny, because she clearly thought that sort of thing garnered more attention. I thought Penny was hi-larious when I was about 10 but a lot of what she did was cringeworthy in retrospect.

Cindy's brand of comedy holds up much better. That said, I still don't think she had the level of talent or gravitas or charisma to really go places in movies. I stand by that.

The fighting came because it was I Love Lucy redux except both Stars wanted to be Lucy. Cindy didn't want to play the yin to Penny's yang, or whatever.

I totally would believe Rosie and Penny had an affair. And when it ended that's when Rosie was bye-bye. No way for a minute do I believe Penny wasn't/isn't gay/bi.

My favorite episode is the two-part Murder on the Moose Jaw Express.

Like I posted earlier about James Burrows and I agree with him that it's plain RIDICULOUS thar neither Penny or Cindy ever got a SINGLE Emmy nomination for this show

Henry Winkler has multiple Emmy noms as the Fonz on Happy Days

Marion Ross was even nominated ine year as supporting actresses as Mrs. Cunningham . Hell John Ritter WON the Emmy for doing that same kind of L&S slapstick on There's Company.

Penny and Cindy must of been HATED by the industry

Marshall isn't too fond of that Pat McQueeney woman. Blames her more for the Cindy mess than the Hudson husband.

(That's in her autobiography, meant to say).

I liked the episode where they went taxi dancing. They were warned to avoid guys with luggage, who were vermin. It was very funny. Otherwise it was a noisy predictable sitcom and probably seems even worse now.

I saw every first run episode, until they moved to Los Angeles, then quit.

The "Silly for Dollars" episode was my favorite among many!

In terms of sitcom plots, I found the one where they volunteered as Lab Experiments to make money to go to some singles party to be truly inspired -- Laverne had to go without sleep for days and Shirley couldn't eat so, by the time they got to the party, Laverne was falling asleep on her feet and Shirley was so hungry, she pounced on a dropped cracker. A pretty perfect half hour as I recall; wonder how it holds up today.

And the spying on Fabian episode while out on the ledge was pretty damn funny -- though TOTALLY derivative of "I Love Lucy".

Cindy Williams did a great L&O SVU where she had Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome, and she was so weird and pathetic. She's an excellent actress.

"I still don't think she had the level of talent or gravitas or charisma to really go places in movies. I stand by that."

She DID go places in movies. She was in two of the most acclaimed, successful movies of the seventies. Then she got the role of Shirley Feeney and became a huge tv star. Then she got married, had kids and let her career slide. Some people do that.

She didn't want to do "the same kind of mugging" that Penny Marshall did. She wanted to be equal to Marshall, who she thought was getting more attention than she was, given more to do. And she was right. Marshall's brother produced the show; of course there was favoritism.

Laverne: Everyone makes mistakes. Even God makes mistakes.

Lenny and Squiggy: HELLO!

Squiggy called Carmine not the "Big Ragu" but the "Big Raccoon." I laughed so hard that I almost gave myself a stroke.

Lenny at one point compared Carmine's dancing to that guy in the movies: "Fred Upstairs." That was good for another laughing fit on my part.

When Lenny and Squiggy had a fight and were never going to speak to each other or hang out again, Lenny had "Lone Wolf" put on the back of his jacket. Sadly, the "L" dropped off and he had to settle for being the "one Wolf."

R102 Ritter absolutely deserved that Emmy and you can't really compare what he did or his talent level to that of Penny or Cindy - he was not just a great physical comedian but a terrific actor, who managed to create a memorable character out of flimsy writing, which those two were never able to do.

I would actually venture to say that Ritter was every bit as talented as Robin Williams but simply never got the same opportunities (in movies, that is). But he's excellent in Sling Blade.

All that said, if Bonnie Franklin was able to get an Emmy nomination, then yeah Penny and Cindy should have been able to snag one or two as well.

Ritter actually made a weirdly amusing cameo in a TV movie Williams was in (along with DL Dave Markie Post) - he was like the male Betty White, very well liked in the business and literally always working, even if the job was somewhat "beneath" him.

I always kinda assumed that Lenny and Squiggy were a couple, like Bert and Erie.

I love the golden food locker episode at a fat farm and any Alvinia Plout episodes.

I love this show so much, that I feel like singing:

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight shlemiel, schlemazel, hasenpfeffer incorporated We're gonna do it

Give us any chance, we'll take it Read us any rule, we'll break it We're gonna make our dreams come true Doin' it our way

Nothin's gonna turn us back now Straight ahead and on the track now We're gonna make our dreams come true Doin' it our way

There is nothing we won't try Never heard the word impossible This time there's no stopping us We're gonna do it

On your mark, get set, and go now Got a dream and we just know now We're gonna make that dream come true And we'll do it our way, yes our way Make all our dreams come true And we'll do it our way, yes our way Make all our dreams come true For me and you

Miller /Boyett of TGIF infamy were part of the producing team on this show

Full House creator Jeff Franklin got his big break in L&S even becoming "showrunner

My favorite episode after they moved west was when they got jobs at Bardwell's department store and Laverne got drunk on rum balls from the candy counter ...

Laverne, spinning a toy globe: Shirl, we never go anywhere ... let's take a trip! Let's go to Chad! Nobody goes to Chad anymore!

Mr. Hildebrand, the manager: This place is in shambles!

Laverne: Is that near Chad?

[quote]All that said, if Bonnie Franklin was able to get an Emmy nomination, then yeah Penny and Cindy should have been able to snag one or two as well.

Yeah I was watching a recent epidsode of ODAT and noticed three things. The theme song is up there with “Moving on up” from "The Jefferson" in terms of greatness. How truly awful the show was and that Franklin (RIP) would always run to her mark.

I think we should all meet down at the Buttered Cocoon to see the Shirley Feeney Scarf Dance.

This show was just as funny as The Lucy Show and Here's Lucy.

I loved the Robert Hays fight in a pool room episode. Especially how at the end of the fight Laverne was SO PROUD no one could rip the L off her shirt even though it was only hanging by a thread. Shirley of course was humiliated by the fight. So she rips the L of of Laverne's shirt "THAT that is what you're so proud of keeping that stupid L?" LOL

And the one when Shirley tried to teach Laverne how to drive. PRESS YOUR PEACHES OH MY GOD WE HIT THE LITTLE GIRL..

Anyway....I don't think it holds up well at all. I loved it as a kid. Never missed an episode and laughed so hard. I watched it on TV a little while ago and barely cracked a smile at any of it. So I decided to keep the memories and not watch is as an adult.

Cindy was m'Lynn in the not picked up pilot for a tv version of steel magnolias

[quote]I love this show so much, that I feel like singing:

Don't know how old you are but as with "Happy Days" the full theme song by Cyndi Grecco was a hit radio that played on the radio.

I agree, R122. It just doesn't hold up well. Some episodes are still funny, like the episode where Laverne is sleep-deprived and Shirley is starving and they go to the singles mingle. But when I watched it back a few years ago, I couldn't believe that I liked it so much in the 70s when I was a kid.

The show and its stars did no age well.

r82 That was one of my favorite episodes too. I remember Laverne trying to jog Shirley's memory by doing their old high school cheer and Shirley responded (as Roxy), "Cute honey, do you do it in the nude?"

Shirley: Carmine and I have an understanding, I'm allowed to date other men and he's allowed to date ugly women.

My absolute favorite television show of the seventies. I've seen every episode. I have all the shows through season five. As others, I'm not too crazy about the "California episodes".

I had both the "Laverne & Shirley Sing" and the "Lenny and the Squigtones" albums.

I LOVED Rosie Greenbaum!! Her insult-fests with Laverne were classic.

I like this show because I think this is an example of when sitcom scripts became more cynical, sarcastic, and real as far as the interaction between characters is concerned. It wasn't all saccharine-sweet.

Remember when Laverne told Mrs Babish to stop bothering her father and go work on a loading dock in New York?

Thx, r124!

The radio version was awful, they changed "We're gonna do it..." to "We're gonna make it," which ruined it.

[quote]Cindy was m'Lynn in the not picked up pilot for a tv version of steel magnolias

Shelby! Drink your milk and Pepsi!

[quote]And the one when Shirley tried to teach Laverne how to drive. PRESS YOUR PEACHES OH MY GOD WE HIT THE LITTLE GIRL.

I laughed until my stomach hurt the first time I watched that one.

[quote]The radio version was awful, they changed "We're gonna do it..." to "We're gonna make it," which ruined it.

Professional victim.

This show was responsible for me thinking (as a kid) that people in Milwaukee all spoke with a New Yorkish accent.

One of the best theme songs and show openings ever. It's amazing how I can remember all the lyrics to this day, and I haven't even seen the show in many years.

What exactly did they do in Milwaukee? It says they were bottlecappers but in the credits, they just sit and watch the already capped bottles pass by.

R138 That was their "cover" job; in reality, they were call girls who regularly frequented the Pfister Hotel.

R138, I thought that was one of the better parts of the entire series. The shot of the bottles going by with Laverne and Shirley looking dreamy, hopeful and slightly wistful. A better life awaits but til now, they were bottlecappers, them which is what the series pretty much boiled down to.

Cindy Williams all but disappeared after this show.

The "Laverne & Shirley" cast, Penny Marshall, Cindy Williams, Betty Garrett, Michael McKean and producer Garry Marshall, hug, kiss and joke around at the start of the MS Walk at Warner Bros. Studios in Los Angeles in 2000, where they reunite to support Multiple Sclerosis sufferer David L. Lander. David buries his head in Penny's breasts, and later fights to stand up out of his wheelchair to address the crowd.

So funny, great series.

The classic "Betty, please" episode has been mentioned several times already. Betty, please, pick up your hash BLACKS

The running gag where Lenny & Squiggy would appear was very well done, week after week...Laverne, think of the most sickening, ugly, vile thing you can imagine...and then the boys walk in , "Hello!"

Cindy Williams WANTED to disappear after this show. Doing a weekly tv series is a grind anyway, and she had to do one that was filled with physical stunts and fast paced dialogue.. And then there was the friction between her and Penny Marshall...I think she just wanted to chuck it all and stay home with her husband and babies and animals.

One of my favorite episodes is when the girls go on vacation to glamorous "near Mexico" only to get ripped off by the resort owner. So many funny moments and lines - "Shirl, we got no walls!" Sadly the full episode isn't on youtube.

BETTY, PLEASE, PICK UP YOUR [bold]WEENIES.[/bold]

Anybody ever play the game? Was it fun?

The whole "give us any rule, we'll break it" thing made the game kind of chaotic, r147.

Penny Marshall was the Rosie Greenbaum of the Odd Couple. Myrna was one of the funniest characters ever.

[R148] - One would think so. The Madame Alexander dolls are very cute.

It's too bad Marshall didn't do more work in front of the camera. She was a great, natural comedienne.

But always tired. Even as a director ("Directing is a long gig"). Guess it was part of her schtick but I don't remember ever seeing her play joyous.

The one and only time I ever remembered seing Penny play happy was during the episode where she auditions for West Side Story. Toni Basil gets the job and Laverne jumps up and down with joy.

The Shotz Brewery talent show, which was an annual episode for a few years, was always a highlight.

Some of the supporting cast always showcased hidden talents. The Big Ragu was a very good singer!

Final opening of L&S WITHOUT Cindy Williams in the credits

"They think we're loosey gooseys for money!"

Customers, please stop harassing Betty...please

Imagine going to California to get a new start and all you family and old friends follow you.

The entire "Betty-pick up" scene is a riot, and while it's funny enough on the page, the performances really elevate the material.

If you were 11 it was great material. My parents let us watch this show but they hated it. They probably laughed twice. Us kids would be nearly wetting our pants.

I honestly would have never thought that of that late 70s ABC group of shows Three's Company would have aged the best. But it does - and DVDS sales bear that out.

I'm pretty sure of all the "classic" shows, Three's Company, Golden Girls, and I Love Lucy have the best sales.

Nothing I've watched as a kid has stood the test of time. Except for the early Jeffersons. The first three seasons. The worst one is Alice. I fucking loved that as a kid. I watched it as an adult and holy shit it's just the dreariest, depressing, low budget show ever.

Interesting that the only people in the credits for the last season are Laverne and Squiggy. Where did everyone go?!

r162 I'm the same. I watched all the 70s and 80s sitcoms as a kid, and most of them are unwatchable as an adult, even for the nostalgia factor. I couldn't sit through two minutes of Alice, Different Strokes, Mr. Belvedere, etc. now. And it's true, they look so cheap and low-budget as well.

I've been enjoying L&S on MeTV, though they have cut the shows to shit to fit in more commercials. It's not that I even remember the episodes that well, it's that they sometimes will start a scene in mid-sentence.

Why didn't they make Leslie Easterbrook the new 'Shirley' the last season?

Happy Days ....oh my loved it as a kid but as an adult it's truly a pile of shit. They tried so hard the first two season to at least have some historical accuracy regarding the era. Then the show just went straight to hell. There's only one show that I loved as a kid that I love on a different level as an adult. But it's probably not fair. I was to young when it was on at night to really watch it. So I only remember it as afternoon repeats after school and that's Hogan's Heroes. I watched Gomer Pyle as an afternoon repeat as a kid to and I can still enjoy that as an adult.

What was the deal with Joanie's hair?

What did Chachi's bandana mean?

r169, meant to emphasize which side he placed his junk. Very good demonstration in the photo.

Joanie looks like a young Blanche Devareaux.

Squiggy: What I don't have in strength, I make up for in what I lack up here! [Points to head]

[quote]Interesting that the only people in the credits for the last season are Laverne and Squiggy. Where did everyone go?!

Supposedly, the 7th season of the show was intended to be the last so much of the cast had made plans for other projects. At the last minute, it was decided to go on for one more season so that's why David L. Lander is a regular but Michael McKean (Lenny) only made a few guest appearances. Betty Garrett was doing a Broadway show so they wrote her character had run off and left Laverne's dad. Apparently the episode where Laverne finds the note that Shirley has left was supposed to be the one dealing with Edna leaving Frank but when Williams left they rewrote it to deal with the more pressing void. The Edna-Frank situation was ignored until the second half of the season. I can't remember if they ever addressed where Lenny was supposed to have been most of the time.

Oddly, in a career retrospective video Betty Garrett claims it was Cindy Williams idea to continue the show for that 8th and final season. Supposedly Cindy had a dream about a deceased aunt who told her they needed to go on for one more year. Weird she'd be the one to suggest they carry on and then leave so quickly.

I was 15 and thought it was part of ABC's lowest common denominator programming. Eventually it occurred to me that it was an homage to Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance and I came to appreciate it for that. Always thought Cindy was better all around than Penny.

"Three's Company" sure as hell didn't I honestly would have never thought that of that late 70s ABC group of shows Three's Company would have aged the best. But it does - and DVDS sales bear that out."

Oh please! That piece of shit didn't "age the best." Even when it was popular it was considered garbage. And it was. Endless dopey sex jokes and broad physical comedy...that's all it was. I guess anyone who buys DVDs of that show is amused by lame sex jokes, John Ritter falling down and Suzanne Somer's jiggling boobs. There's always an audience for shit like that.

Three's Company is only watchable with Chrissie and the Ropers. If you're a Don Knotts fan you can get by till Chrissie was written out. Cindy was OK but too young and Terri never fit and it made no sense that a nurse needed not only a roommate but was willing to share a room.

[quote]Oddly, in a career retrospective video Betty Garrett claims it was Cindy Williams idea to continue the show for that 8th and final season.

It might be true, but Garrett gets a lot wrong in that video elsewhere, so who knows.

Originally the plan, when Cindy got pregnant was to marry her off and have her husband killed in Vietnam, then Cindy left.

Cindy made more money suing the show(twice) than she did starring in it.

I am thrilled with the love that "Betty please" is getting. Required viewing.

Cindy Williams, like Joyce DeWitt on 3's Co, was so coked out doing this show in the later seasons. ABC must have had one heck of a dealer.

[quote]Oh please! That piece of shit didn't "age the best." Even when it was popular it was considered garbage.

I agree with R161. I used to HATE "Three’s Company" as a child, but I find it hysterical now and watch it every chance I get. But not the Suzanne Summer’s episodes--even though I like the Ropers. I think the physical comedy got better when they added Priscilla Barnes and got rid of the tired dumb blonde role.

And it’s weird. I swear to God every time I flip by a "Diff'rent’ Strokes" episode, guess which one it is?

EVERY TIME

The one with the big fat white guy who wants to diddle Arnold and his friend?

YEP R181.

That Ed Marinaro chap had some nice boobs.

My favorite Laverne and Shirley was the one where Laverne got double fucked by Lenny and Squiggy while Shirley sat on her face. That's the episode that won Penny Marshall her Emmy.

R180 , r161 here - agree with you - well I always loved TC, but agree that as it went on and emphasized the physical comedy over the tired sex jokes it hot much better and it is those seasons that have aged well. Really that emphasis started with the Furley years but Teri was my favorite as well and I think their best season was season six - her first season. She wasn't given nearly as much to do after that, and after reading much much later that she didn't get along with the show runners, it makes sense.

Another thing TC has over something like L&S was (like Will & Grace) the same director throughout the show's run (Dave Powers from the Carol Burnett show). On Laverne and Shirley writers and directors couldn't run away fast enough because of all the fighting and abuse they took. That really hurt the show, ultimately.

R179 yes have to agree with you on both of them. It's so obvious once you're an adult. It would also handily explain why Williams was so tiny at the time...and never was before or since.

don't kill me but you know what show wasn't bad? Three's a Crowd.

[quote]Originally the plan, when Cindy got pregnant was to marry her off and have her husband killed in Vietnam, then Cindy left.

Imagine all of the laughs the show could have gotten from THAT scenario!

Lenny & Squimond dropping the coffin.

I'm sorry, but all other ABC sitcoms from the 70s pale before Soap.

Yeah Soap was good and it went off the air before it started to suck ass.

Welcome to the thread, R86 aka Mary Cadorette

[quote]Cindy Williams, like Joyce DeWitt on 3's Co, was so coked out doing this show in the later seasons. ABC must have had one heck of a dealer.

No she wasn't you nitwit. The reason she left in the first place was because she was pregnant and they still insisted she do the slapstick gags and she thought it would hurt the baby.

Soap was only good for the first year. It was really the high mark, then it quickly went downhill.

Funny how times change, as awful as the last year of L&S was it still ranked 25th. Compare that with today's hits like Two Broke Girls who reached #32 in its first two years and last season was below #50.

R192 no one said drugs were why she LEFT the show you nitwit. She wasn't MacKenzie Phillips.

"Imagine all of the laughs the show could have gotten from THAT scenario!"

I think it's plausible that they may have seriously considered that. There was an episode called "Why Did The Fireman..." Strange title, isn't it? Anyway, the plot was this: a handsome fireman named Randy (played by Ted Danson) fall in love with Laverne. Not only is he gorgeous, but he's also a great guy, sweet and kind and very likeable. He intends to propose to Laverne on their next date. Laverne waits for her love to arrive and Lenny and Squiggy come through the door looking shell-shocked. Laverne comments that the first time they're very come through the door without Squiggy saying hello. Haltingly, they tell her the news: Randy was saving some people from a burning building when the roof collapsed, killing him. Laverne refuses to believe it and waits up all night for Randy to come. Finally her father comes and read to her a news item in the paper describing the incident and the heroic behavior of her late boyfriend. Laverne finally accepts it; and sobs "oh Pop...why him?" Funny stuff, huh? But the acting was well done by all especially Michael McKean and David Lander. Seeing them play Lenny and Squiggy in a dramatic scene was really jolting.

I believe Laverne And Shirley was the only show to rank #1 for the year that was in a 0:30 timeslot. Can anyone think of any other? Every other series seemed to start on the 0:00 time, like 8:00, 9:00 10:00 or 7:00

The numbers tv shows got were huge in those days. On an average night, an episode could get about 30 million viewers. 30 million! A huge hit of a tv show today like the Walking Dead gets about 7 million viewers in a good week.

I have to disagree with those that say it doesn't hold up well. I still watch episodes today (have all the dvds) and find them often hilarious and always charming. L&S had heart.

I don't think Happy Days, Mork and Mindy, and Barney Miller hold up well though.

I think Barney Miller holds up really well. Though most definitely not from the same era the one that holds up the best though is Night Court.

I don't think shows on the level of L&S and Happy Days should have tried to do "serious episodes." RIP Garry but it was that shameless sappy ness that he loved - cue the sad version of said theme song.

Henry Winkler is actually a very talented actor who is more versatile than you think (see Night Shift) but his emotional moments as the Fonz were just the WORST. And he was the best actor from that group of shows.

Yet another reason why Three's Company has aged better - it never tried to be more than it was (well, ok, except for that Janet wanted to be a prima ballerina episode).

R180 I knew you were gonna say that episode and equally legendary is Conrad Bain's intro.

I was a teenager when it first aired -- 13 in fact. Because happy days was so popular everybody watched L&S too.

I watched it fit maybe 2-3 years but then fell out of the habit. I remember basically nothing about the show, but then again I don't remember what I had for lunch today.

Mork and Mindy aged even worse than Alice. Again I laughed my ass off when I was a kid. I watched it as an adult ONCE and wow it stunk up the room. The writers and producers of that show were one fucked up stupid bunch. "at the end of the season we had a number one hit on our hands SO LETS CHANGE EVERYTHING!" LOL....who though Gina Hecht and Jay Thomas would be the perfect addition?

This is one of my favorite episodes. The whole show is just Laverne and Shirley getting ready for a date. Youtube has it labeled wrong as Call Me a Taxi - but it's really Steppin' Out. Love it.

Another classic where Laverne & Shirley go out to a fancy restaurant with Lenny & Squiggy. They aren't used to such nice things!

And once again it's titled wrong - this episode is Hi Neighbor Book 2

[quote]LOL....who though Gina Hecht and Jay Thomas would be the perfect addition?

Mr. and Mrs. Hecht and Mr. and Mrs. Thomas.

This episode aired Sunday and I never realized what a hunk Mr. Dyer was. I used to watch “Hunter” but was way too young to appreciate him.

Dryer^^

I love the episode where Squiggy creates a Carmine doll after he becomes slightly famous and while talking about it says that the head is also a Brillo pad and you can use it to scrub pots and proceeds to open the legs, put Ajax onto the crotch and scrub a pot with it. I nearly pissed myself laughing at that.

r197

The amount of viewers doesn't matter, it was going by rank. If you get 100 views you can wind up in 1st place if no one else watches.

The problem with Barney Miller is NYC has changed so much since the 70s. It's hard to believe over 900,000 people left NYC between 1970 and 1980. It was the "Detroit of the 70s."

I remember the famous headline "Ford to New York, Drop Dead" when the feds didn't want to bail the city out.

They had a spinoff for Carmine. They filmed a couple of episodes. Apparently it was so bad they never aired. After Shelley Hack's episodes of Night Court it's like the holy grail of sticoms trying to get your hands on them to view.

Soap was fucking garbage, and held up the worst out of all of these shows. There's an elderly contingent here who loves it because a lame sitcom where a bunch of heterosexual writers and actors conflated a gay male with an MTF transgender was the closest thing they ever got to anything "edgy." It's pitiful, twice as offensive today, and best forgotten.

HI PENNY!

[quote]Soap was fucking garbage, and held up the worst out of all of these shows

I strongly disagree about the first year. It was very good, year one only. After the murder was resolved the show's steam dropped out.

Incidentally Chuck was originally Peter's killer. You can see Bob make references to it from time to time. After Chuck and Bob became popular the plan to write them out was dropped. Making Chester kill Peter made no sense though and the whole thing was garbage after year one.

Cindy Williams was never "coked out" on Laverne and Shirley. If she was, it would have been publicized years ago, and by all accounts Cindy Williams is and always has been a goody-goody type; she loves animals and is very motherly and non-Hollywood.

Some trivia about her: she had affairs with Henry Winkler and Richard Dreyfuss.

Shirley used to tongue fuck my ass.

My god, I hope I never say anything one tenth as crazy as r212.

Garry Marshall used to say that by shooting his series on film rather than tape, they would hold up better visually over time.

And in that regard he was right. Sitcoms from that era that were "taped before a live audience" often look like hell in reruns.

Did R211 flunk out of Wilfred Beauty Academy? Because that last sentence is absolutely incomprehensible.

Oh c'mon, R129. Read it again, I think you will be able to figure out what he meant. You seem really smart.

R215 the only drugged out people who were (and are) publicized were those whose addiction was so out of control they couldn't hide it from anyone. By her own admission, Penny herself was a major drug user but it was never publicized because she could hold it together enough for work. It's always been that way.

It's not exactly a reach to say a star of a 70s sitcom was a big coke user to begin with - and if someone's behavior and thin appearance reinforces that...well, it's probably true.

And she didn't become a matronly conservative family woman until she was off the show and no longer had a career.

[quote] Penny herself was a major drug user but it was never publicized because she could hold it together enough for work. It's always been that way.

And so many people from that era who were drug users (coke especially) ended up getting cancer or dying young from heart problems.

R222 im pretty sure the cancer came from the incessant smoking, not the coke. Although coke certainly does cause heart problems.

Speaking of...if the cancer spread to all of her organs - her liver and brain, bejesus - how the hell is she still alive. This was like 6/7 years ago.

Once cancer gets reaches those organs you have months left. I really don't get it. And she still smokes, im pretty sure.

Mind your business R223

"It's not exactly a reach to say a star of a 70s sitcom was a big coke user to begin with - and if someone's behavior and thin appearance reinforces that...well, it's probably true.'

I never saw anything about Cindy Williams to suggest that she was "coked out." On the show she never looked anything less than normal. She talked fast, but that's because the comic dialogue was supposed to be delivered that way. She never looked too thin. I have no idea why you're trying to make Cindy Williams out to be a cokehead. I've never heard any rumors of that, anywhere.

There's a video on YouTube of Penny Marshall talking about Cindy leaving the show. She's kind of hard to understand and her speech is disjointed, but she basically blames her departure on Bill Hudson. She doesn't even mention him by name. She said she knew was married "because I was at the wedding" and knew she was pregnant because" I could see and she told me." But "I wasn't aware he'd be such a pest." She then said something about something, a skit or something, where a Winnebago(?) was involved. And then said something about "money in a paper bag in October...I mean he was...and he wanted a credit...it was all this insanity. It wasn't Cindy but she thought oh he loves me, he's taking care of me...you know, so that was it. Then I didn't speak to her, not because I was mad at her, because he wouldn't put me through to her. All this garbage that was said...no, it was him." With Cindy missing she said she called others to go on the show: Louise Lasser, Carrie Fisher, Laraine Newman, Angelica Huston and...John Belushi? I don't ever recall John Belushi doing anything on Laverne and Shirley. She also mentions that she was to have directed an atrocious movie called "The Joy of Sex" that was to have starred John Belushi, with one of the scenes featuring him in a diapered infant. Thank God THAT movie never got made.

Bill Hudson must've been a real POS. His kids with Goldie Hawn have never had anything to do with him.

AMBER ALERT. Someone just stole R226's brain.

R228 = Bill Hudson. You're a prick, Bill.

I believe Cindy got so upset she just hid in her Trailerwinnebago and penny couldn't even talk to her especially with the lawsuit.

Cocaine on ABC shows nothing new. Lauren Tewes, Lani O'Grady, Joyce DeWitt, Cindy Williams doesn't matter if it was publicized at the time it was OBVIOUS. They weren't all bad actresses.

There was a lot of on-set coke use back in those days. It was very common in both tv and movies.

I thought Cindy played off Penny really well. I'm still upset that we never saw the penny and Cindy reality series that was supposed to be on TV Land. I think Penny's illness scrapped the plans for that show.

"Boo-Boo Kitty" had an unexpected resurgence as a result of "Empire."

I love how little Eddie Mekka puffs out his chest and sucks in his belly in that clip at r183 - her must have felt like a little schoolgirl next to that great hunk of man.

The Laverne & Shirley network exec presentation pilot - minus the theme song (using Doris Day's Que Sera instead), song), minus the iconic basement apartment, minus Lenny & Squiggy, but the easily established chemistry between Marshall and Williams is a once-in-a-TV-lifetime golden opportunity.

Again I'm going to throw this in here. I watched it back in the day for the chemistry between and the comic abilities of Marshall and Williams. I thought everything surrounding them was dreck. But the two of them together......superb.

Without Marshall and Williams, the show would have been embarrassing. Apart from Lenny & Squiggy, the rest of the supporting cast had no comic talent whatsoever: Carmine, Frank, Edna. It was like the casting people couldn't have cared less.

R238 I disagree about Betty Garrett (Edna). She actually had a wry delivery that was kind of above the show.

Betty Garrett was better than that show.

Somebody should start a Betty Garrett thread.

So why was Carole Ita White taken off the roster of guest stars for 4 years? She was a recurring favorite during the 2nd and 3rd season and then disappeared until a guest spot in the seventh season.

Cindy wasn't the druggie at all, Penny was, she hung out with Carrie Fisher's self medicating lowest point. The earthquake episode was on today and it just funny. Poor Shirley was upset the sink between the beds fell off the wall.

Truncated scene, it goes on and is great.

Carmine, Laverne's father and Mrs. Babish were less funny than the others because they needed to be. There had to be some characters who weren't acting ridiculous all the time (Lenny and Squiggy) or getting into absurd situations that involved a lot of physicality (Laverne and Shirley).

There was talk Big Rosie was going to get a spin-off, but then she just disappeared. I wonder if Penny and Cindy just didn't want to compete for funny lines with another woman.

R243 honestly, most everyone was during that era. It wasn't considered a big deal - cocaine wasn't even considered an addictive drug back then.

[quote]With Cindy missing she said she called others to go on the show: Louise Lasser, Carrie Fisher, Laraine Newman, Angelica Huston and...John Belushi? I don't ever recall John Belushi doing anything on Laverne and Shirley.

It was Jim Belushi. I think he was on a couple episodes of the show in the last season as Laverne's boyfriend.

Big Rosie was dropped due to ABC cutting back on the budget - the show was winding down and the money was going to Penny and Cindy

They did a pilot for her called, what else, "Big Rosie" and it was a flop. That might have caused the producers to think there was no future in her so they just dropped her.

Garry Marshall was certainly spin-off crazy. Not every character could carry a show. Why did he think anyone could?

Carole Ito White came out publicly as a bisexual sometime back - if anyone cared.

The interview r226 is referring too - God, Penny is such an eccentric character - she is like somebody impersonating Penny Marshall.

And I agree with what she says - the show was over when they moved to Burbank. Stupid move on the producers' part.

Cindy and Penny talking about their friendship today ... they remind me of sisters who have known one another too long:

Penny and Cindy talk about Shirley's brief New Yawk accent:

God they're both so fat now. Im telling you, more proof of the drugs!

In those interviews Penny Marshall seems on her last legs. It seems like she has trouble even talking. I'm surprised she's still alive.

Penny Marshall has been on her last leg for the last couple of decades.

[quote]Penny Marshall has been on her last leg for the last couple of decades.

How dare you!

I thought Carmine was hot.

R258: hell yes. My 12 year old horny eyes were fixated on that ass of his.

Betty , Please...

Top 5 Laverne and Shirley episodes ranked

[quote]But Shirley was a lot looser and worldly on Happy Days, they toned her down to balance out with Laverne when the spin off happened.

Shirley vodeodoed on "Happy Days" but never vodeodoed on "L&S"

Before "L&S" Cindy was also in the big screen "Travels With My Aunt" starring recent Oscar winner Maggie Smith. "Travels With My Aunt" was nominated for four Academy Awards including Maggie Smith for Best Actress and won for costume design.

Somebody posted this upthread (too lazy to search for the post) and it's interesting to watch the cast interactions with Cindy. Everyone seems to be genuinely thrilled to be together then Cindy enters and it gets awkward. There's a shot of Cindy and Michael McKean together and he looks like he can barely stand her.