Penny Marshall Is Dead To Me

Boo Boo Kitty!

OMG that shocks me too... so young!

God needed another angel. That's the only explanation...

RIP!!!

Damn! And I was hoping for a Laverne & Shirley reboot.

So sad, I think Carrie Fisher was the love of her life. I love her. RIP!

The ex Mrs. Rob Reiner.

boooo

[quote]The family notes Penny gave Mark Wahlberg his first acting job in "Renaissance Man."

She'll burn in Hades for this!

Once dated Art Garfunkel.

R9 Remember we will all burn in Hades with her because we are gay.

I know who she was but don't know much about her

Was she known as a nice person?

Did you know - Penny and Garry Marshall were half Italian, with no Jewish ancestry at all.

But did she vou-de-o-do?

Maybe even just a little vou?

From what I have heard R12, yes she was a nice person.

Still weird to think she was married to Meathead.

[quote][R9] Remember we will all burn in Hades with her because we are gay.

Yeah, but we didn't foist Mark Wahlberg on the world.

👻 & Shirley

Too much milk and Pepsi.

Aw, shucks. That's too bad.

Here's my favorite Penny Marshall impression from a TV sketch that also includes a wonderful ditty by Monty Python's Eric Idle about gay animals:

Mo Collins as Penny Marshall LOL

I am not surprised at all that she is dead. I don't know but she may have been a heavy drinker, along with diabetes.

Her tombstone will simply read: L

HAS SQUIGGY ISSUED A STATEMENT??!?

Ted Danson was her firefighter boyfriend in L&S.

Milk and Pepsi is one helluva drug.

I'll need to comfort the Big Ragoo!

R27 It’s “Big.”

OP is dead to me. Ta ta.

..somehow she had caught that DIabeetas !

Another one bites the dust!

wow! RIP! Was she ill?

They're asking her to enunciate more clearly in heaven now.

From what I heard, she auditioned actors in her bedroom.

I first saw her in the Odd Couple.

I will forever love the earthquake scene in L&S...

She had quite a few boyfriends and two or so husbands. But she always kinda pinged

Did she date Art Garfunkel in the five minutes that he was sexy?

And that liar Valerie Harper is still with us.

R34 She did vo-dee-o-doe-doe.

Isn't she buddies with Rosie O? How is she doing? Anyone check on her?

What does Cindy say?

[quote]In 2010, it was reported that Marshall had been diagnosed with lung cancer that had metastasized to her brain, but she revealed in 2012 that she was in remission.[32] Marshall died in Los Angeles from complications of diabetes on December 17, 2018, at the age of 75.

How does one die from diabetes when cancer has gone to the brain??

If you can find the uncut Mork and Mindy movie, many scenes are interrupted by Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams running into Gary Marshall's office to fight about one or the other getting a perceived benefit. The one I remember is the gals running in with trailer plans to show one got three more inches of space in her trailer than the other had.

R42 if she had been HIV+ they would have said " died from complications of AIDS"

well, maybe diabetes fucked up her liver or kidneys? Not sure, but can't they control diabetes with meds? what kind did she have? 1 or 2?

And Dick Cheney **still** lives...

Fuck that. And Trump still lives!

I'll bet Susan Dey won't even issue a statement.

So, so sad. Was just watching Big the other day and fondly reflecting upon the 80s.

On your marks, get set and, oh...

When I use to be a drunkard I would watch old Laverne & Shirley episodes and get all nostalgic and it would make me think where did the time go? I'll be forever grateful to Penny.

Shock? She has looked terrible for 20 years and she was 75.

She didn't look as terrible as I did.

She probably died of cancer. Why the diabetes cover?

I give her credit for being genuinely unique and funny as hell in an off beat manner. She pinged to the moon and back and I'm a guy. Oh well, 75 is a pretty good run.

Everyone in the 70’s thought the “L” on her shirt was her coming out!

Not everyone R55.

R43 help us find it. I wanna see that. I searched, but can't locate it.

Uncut Mork is not something I ever want to lay eyes on.

In her Archive of American Television interview, I got the sense she on opiates.

Anyone who worked on will tell you Laverne and Shirley was absolutely miserable to work on. The lead actresses and Lenny and Squiggy were impossible. No one has a fond memory of it, except maybe the work itself.

Quite the opposite for Happy Days, though.

Loved Awakenings.

R24 I’m not sure 🤔. I’m wondering if Susan Dey will? Damn you, Susan.

r57 -- the one on YouTube is the cut version. i don't think it has been aired with the L&S scenes outside of its initial broadcast.

Thus, I'm looking for it too...

[quote] was absolutely miserable to work on.

Most shows are, either from the start or eventually.

Didn’t Carrie die around Christmas, it may have been too much for her? And Debbie??

Wait, hadn't she previously died last year? I'm pretty sure she had.

As someone already said, it was probably her liver or kidneys and no, diabetes can not always be controlled. It was probably type 2.

Shirley was a real bitch, wasn't she?

Don't smoke.

Don't drink.

Don't vodeo-doh.

Smoke and drink and die at 75. Sounds good enough to me.

Betty please!

"I'll post this important sad news right now!" - every single person I know on social media

I hope Entertainment Tonight reaches out to Cindy Williams for her reaction on Penny Marshall's death and she says "fuck her".

Someone as talented and kind as her dies and yet so much Republican garbage gets to live, it just isn't fair.

This is sad but I’ve never been able to understand, if she had lung cancer that spread to the Brain and liver, how the heck did she survive another 10 years (especially being in poor health to begin with, morbidly overweight and still kept smoking). That diagnosis people are lucky to survive six months (I know from experience and it’s also common knowledge).

If that’s not some kind of miracle I don’t know what is. (And then when she finally does die it’s diabetes? I’m terribly confused)

R74 she’s doesn’t even acknowledge anymore the problems on the set, so I wouldn’t hold your breath.

Loved Laverne and Shirley,loathed the Big Ragu. R76 My 88 year old neighbor fought lung cancer twice,then said "fuck it" when it reared up again ,and lived for another 15 years untreated. And still smoking. Go figure.

[quote] "I'll post this important sad news right now!" - every single person I know on social media

That's pretty much what social media is for, princess.

Is the episode of Happy Days on line somewhere where Laverne and Shirley double dated with Fonze and Ritchie?

I love that episode...."Laverne, you got a mouth like a sewer"

She had Ed Marinaro in his prime.

Thanks, bridge troll R79! Your queeny sarcasm is a real bonus on this sad sad day..

So young.

With what, R81, a strap-on?

R43 where is this and why would the Marshalls have ever allowed this to air during prime time? (It’s in a Mork & Mindy episode? I’m confused as f)

Cindy Williams’s name will pop up in the news now more than in the entire 35+ years since she left the show. (She’s almost as fat too)

You goddamn idiots don't seem to understand that complications from diabetes is the major killer in the USA.

We do, R86. Obese fraus post here all the time.

She and Carrie Fisher had birthdays a few days apart and used to throw a wild double-birthday party every year:

[quote]Fisher and Penny Marshall used to host legendary joint birthday parties during their shared October birthday month. The gatherings were singular, a mash-up of unexpected and yet totally cool names and faces. Joely Fisher says that yes, the soirees were every bit as spectacular as you would imagine.

"It’s best left as a great, amazing memory. There were so many people. Carrie's favorite food was soul food. It was black eyed peas, mac and cheese, fried chicken. People let their guard and their hair down," she says.

Case in point: Her sister Tricia. "She came out of the bathroom once and said, ‘A Beatle just held the door for me.’ I lay on the bed once with Roseanne, Meryl Streep, Beverly D’Angelo and Carrie and me. What is that? What is that group?"

Weird to know they're both gone now.

I do r86, but so is stage 4 lung cancer (have you ever checked the five let alone 10 year survival rate on that one)?

Let's try that again:

Carrie and Penny birthday parties:

[quote]

She and Carrie Fisher had birthdays a few days apart and used to throw a wild double-birthday party every year:

[quote] Fisher and Penny Marshall used to host legendary joint birthday parties during their shared October birthday month. The gatherings were singular, a mash-up of unexpected and yet totally cool names and faces. Joely Fisher says that yes, the soirees were every bit as spectacular as you would imagine. "It’s best left as a great, amazing memory. There were so many people. Carrie's favorite food was soul food. It was black eyed peas, mac and cheese, fried chicken. People let their guard and their hair down," she says. Case in point: Her sister Tricia. "She came out of the bathroom once and said, ‘A Beatle just held the door for me.’ I lay on the bed once with Roseanne, Meryl Streep, Beverly D’Angelo and Carrie and me. What is that? What is that group?"

R90 Madonna went a couple of times too to the joint birthday parties after Penny directed her in A League of Their Own

Sob!

She directed some decent movies. There was Oscar buzz for her in Awakenings, but she got passed over.

Some of her directorial efforts, in the order in which she lived them:

Awakenings

Riding In Cars With Boys

Big

Women Without Men

A League of Their Own (cemetery)

What was on her Ipod?

Have lost track of the number of times in the last hour on Twitter that someone posted RIP Penny! She was My Most Favoritest Ever Ever Ever!

With a fucking photo of Cindy Williams.

Some Trumper did it and when people tried to correct her she screamed Fake News. (looking for the link now...couldn't fucking believe it.)

Celebrities die in threes. My predictions for the next two deaths are John Astin and Pete Davidson.

From 2005 - The Unauthorized Story of Mork and Mindy

She was slated to direct some truly dreadful movie called "The Joy of Sex"that was to have starred John Belushi. He killed himself with drugs before the movie came about and a good thing, too. It was to have shown Belushi as a baby in diapers and the segments in the movie were to have depicted sex at different stages in life. A sex comedy directed by Penny Marshall starring John Belushi...yech!

So would she or Burt take the last spot in an In Memoriam?

Burt -- it's still Hollywood.

Why hasn't Cindy tweeted yet? Or Susan Dey for that matter?

She was too early as a woman director. "Big" would have won her an Oscar if it came out now.

Are you sure, R99? Belushi died in '82 when Penny was still starring in Laverne & Shirley. She didn't direct her first movie until four years later.

“She’s not living her BEST LIFE!”

R102 does she even have a twitter account?

Well, I'm sorry she's dead, which I don't often say.

Schla-meel... schla-mazzle... RIP to Penny. Loved her on Laverne & Shirley... also, her direction of many great movies.

Got to meet her. I have Laverne & Shirley Season 1 signed by her and she inscribed "Betty Please" which will always make me smile. RIP.

"Are you sure, R99?"

Yes. In Bob Woodward's bio of Belush he talks of how "The Joy of Sex" had been "offered to a dozen directors" and that at the time it was "currently proposed to Penny Marshall." It was considered a hot project, a mixture of "Sex, Belushi, National Lampoon...the broad theme, a child's, boy's, and man'ssexual initiation, has tremendous possibilities." And Belushi could "play all the stages of the main character's life, all the sexual rites and passages, the infant in diapers grabbing the aunt's breast, the six year old playing doctor with the girls, learning the facts of life, the college student, the old man." Belushi was interested in doing it, but wondered about Penny Marshall as director. It would be her first picture." Eventually, Marshall and Belushi agreed to do the movie, but Belushi self destructed before it could happen. It's probably good that it never got made. It sounded like it would be a cheap, stupid sex comedy. It's probably lucky Penny Marshall never made "The Joy of Sex." It probably would have been a disaster and maybe ruined any chances for her to have a directing career.

Aww. As my kids would say, “Rip In Peace”.

R112: Sounds like a remake of Woody Allen's "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Sex"

I went to a party at Carrie Fisher's home in the early 90's and Penny was there apologizing for Carrie saying she wasn't feeling well enough to come downstairs. The house was very dark and it was a creepy atmosphere so we left. I'm assuming now she was a coked up mess or having a bipolar meltdown.

I met Penny a few years later and she was sweet and funny. She had that slow whiny drawl that worked for her somehow. Big is one of my favorite movies and it's truly a classic.

She was the godmother to Carrie Fisher's daughter Billie Lourd

R115 that’s nice to hear, I’ve read and heard much over the years about her being totally unpleasant to be around. Who knows. Garry was supposed to be an all around nice guy though.

[quote]You goddamn idiots don't seem to understand that complications from diabetes is the major killer in the USA.

No shit, Sherlock, but you don't die of Diabetes. You die of something else that it causes. So what was it? Heart attack, kidney failure, liver failure, stroke? These are the most common.

Penny was difficult on L and S, but as a director, she was supposedly good to work for and very respectful to her crew.

There's a story on how Denzel was being a royal pain in the ass on the set of Preachers Wife, and Penny had to set him straight in front of the whole crew one day, Telling him to get his shit together because the crew works just as hard if not harder than himself.

[quote]But did she vou-de-o-do?

She vou-de-o-died, hun

In the TV Academy interview with Penny and Cindy, they paint a picture that perhaps they were difficult at times, but it was only because they thought they knew funny better than the writers, at times. They said, if we can make each other laugh, it's funny. They also fought ABC and producers when they tried to make the apartment nicer or their clothing - they said these girls are bottle cappers and we need to see some of these blue collar woman on TV.

They had a true affection for each other and I don't think the show works without the other - as we saw when Laverne and Friends went down the tubes.

Loved the show as a kid - favorite episodes include Wonga Wonga Laverne and Shirley as hollywood stuntwomen (one of the better LA shows), the first season shows where Shotz was more of a backdrop, Sgt Plout episodes with Vicki Lawrence, and Betty, please.

She had a great body in her Laverne days.

Has Cyndi Grecco tweeted yet?

I'm with r22. I think alcohol must have played a part.

BETTY PLEASE

RIP.

Not a judgement but everyone knows that Penny and Carrie were very heavy cocaine users, and their severe health issues hot them both in their 50's.

Cynic that I am I wonder if they got coke laced with poison, not that so called pure cocaine isn't already a poison.

But I have known scads of older and elderly ladies who do not have these very severe issues.

I was never a drug user but I wonder: do people lace drugs if they are pissed off, or bought off?

I'm sorry Ms. Marshall suffered for so long, I had no idea.

“Laverne & Shirley” theme song (Written by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel ; sung by Cyndi Grecco)

We’re gonna do it! Give us any chance, we’ll take it. Give 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 our dream come true. And we’ll do it our way, yes our way. Make all our dreams come true, And do it our way, yes our way, Make all our dreams come true For me and you.

“Laverne & Shirley” theme song (Written by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel ; sung by Cyndi Grecco)

We’re gonna do it! Give us any chance, we’ll take it. Give 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 our dream come true. And we’ll do it our way, yes our way. Make all our dreams come true, And do it our way, yes our way, Make all our dreams come true For me and you.

“Laverne & Shirley” theme song

(Written by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel ; sung by Cyndi Grecco)

We’re gonna do it!

Give us any chance, we’ll take it.

Give 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 our dream come true.

And we’ll do it our way, yes our way.

Make all our dreams come true,

And do it our way, yes our way,

Make all our dreams come true

For me and you.

R97, my sister thinks that Penny actually completes the set of three (Nancy Wilson and Sondra Locke being the first two).

Fuck off, R87.

"Sounds like a remake of Woody Allen's "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Sex"

Michael Eisner, President of Paramount, thought that Belushi could make the script (which supposedly was pretty bad) work after hearing him improvise some "sex material", a guy trying to pick up a girl in a bar. His belief was: "what you're doing right here convinces me even more that it could be great...different and better than what Woody Allen did in "Everything You Wanted To Know About Sex." What an idiot! Belushi was a time bomb ready to explode and Eisner thought HE could save what obviously would have been a piece of shit? Belushi was a sought after comedian at the time, but anyone could see what a train wreck he was. Presidents of film companies are SO stupid.

Some of you bitches need to get with the 1990s.

Nice woman, but Laverne and Shirley was awful, just juvenile garbage.

I was really not expecting to cry over this one....it's sad to hear but she'd been ill for a while.

And then ABC - before it started its shows for tonight - ran a brief In Memoriam card for her. On the very night we saw her face for many years.

I lost it.

Isn't that silly?

R125 meet R72

Her movies were good. Never cared for the TV show.

I liked her but couldn't understand a word she said.

Any condolences from Susan Dey?

"Nice woman, but Laverne and Shirley was awful, just juvenile garbage."

It was low brow, mostly slapstick comedy, but it could be very funny. It was just good clean fun. And it really was amazing how good she and Cindy Williams were at doing all that physical comedy. I think they were made honorary stunt women because they were so good.

Helen Hunt said she's so upset she wants to throw herself out the window.

R140 Susan is out of the country and cannot be reached at this time, and that is ALL she has to say right now!

A little over 20 years ago I was just getting onto the net; couldn't believe I was talking to people all over the world; I was in a chat room and some prick said Penny Marshall died; I thought he was serious and he was driving me nuts not providing any additional info.

And now here we are decades later and she has died.

RIP, Penny.

I'll have a milk and Pepsi tonight in your honor.

😢 shit! We need to make the best of our lives, now! I use to recreate the L&S opening with my best friend back in the day. He's no longer around. But omg, Penny brought the best in my buddy and me.

Evidently she died in her home. Did she choose this, or was she neglecting medical care?

I ask because carrie and her friend pulled up next to me in l.a. and carrie was loudly talking about suicide.

...Very sad to hear that she's no longer with us---but I want to believe that she's in Heaven, smiling down on us with IRL pal Carrie Fischer, and her brother Frank. RIP, Funny Lady. We will miss you forever.

"Gary" ---not Frank, JESUS H? I am losing it tonight.

Still nothing from Susan Dey! This has not gone unnoticed by the Marshall family.

Cindy Williams & Penny Marshall on their friendship today

Has Cindy Williams issued a statement?

I didn’t realize Garry had died already.

You think Susan Dey would have issue a statement by now, but no, nothing. And she's yet to say anything about Sondra Locke and Nancy Wilson.

Susan Dey is a monster.

I live in a town called Desert Hot Springs. Its located right next to Palm Springs. Supposedly Cindy Williams also lives here. For the love of God both Suzanne Somers and Kathy Griffin have weighed in and made Penny's death all about them Where the hell is Cindy????

I wonder if she will be buried near Garry or near Carrie?

Cindy is not very active on Twitter. She may still be processing

When I was a kid I watched Lavern and Shirley religiously. Those two made me laugh so hard because they were scatterbrained and wacky. That show and many others were part of my childhood and give me many fond memories.

How the heck did Ed Asner outlive these two?

I seem to recall Penny M. calling Cindy W. "pothead" and being scathing about her in an interview back when the show was still in production. I don't think they got on at all.

Penny made successful big screen movies and Cindy was relegated to playing the enemy of Patty Lane on the TV movie reuniting the cast of The Patty Duke Show.

R160 she should have played DL fave Patty Ramsey in some TV movie, she really grew to look uncannily like her in her middle/old age.

But yeah, she really disappeared and didn’t even do the TV movie queen route that was pretty attainable for almost any hit series star back then. Even Joyce DeWitt is less forgotten.

And she’s not even verified on Twitter!!

It took me awhile but I had the last laugh

As usual Susan Dey is silent on this matter

Has Carl or Rob commented yet?

Mary tried to make her the new me, but it didn't work.

I loved Penny. I grew up with her. She was born with a great gift. She was born with a funnybone and the instinct of how to use it. I was very lucky to have lived with her and her funnybone. I will miss her.

She died in the closet

Lens can you help Cindy with the Twitter thing?

She'll be missed at the Clippers' courtside seats.

Cindy is new to Instagram. User name: therealcindywilliams. She posted a poignant tribute just a few hours ago: Laverne's signature cursive "L" with the caption "I love you partner."

Why did she wear those glasses that were always falling off her face?

R171 Same reason Carrie Fisher made the duck lips face all the time. Both thought they looked sexy.

Ugh, Rob/r166. No wonder she divorced you,

Condy

*Cindy

I liked her as Myrna Turner, too.

I don’t understand the Susan Dey posts.

You wouldnt

Cindy made classic films BEFORE L&S . The Conversation , American Graffi and Travels With My Aunt. Penny made a few good movies with Big coming close wouldn't call them great. I remember Preacher's Wife getting good reviews but being a BO dud and nobody liked Riding in Cars With Boys...

Nice NY Daily News cover

I like how she stayed a Bronx girl all her life. She never "went Hollywood" so to speak. She stayed unpretentious and earthy.

R172 Carrie's "duck lips" came about because she had all of her teeth pulled one by one in order to get opiate prescriptions. She went public with this info a few years before she died. It changed her face shape forever and I gather her dentures didn't fit all that well, which is why she went from being crisply articulate when young to mush-mouthed and barely comprehensible in recent years.

What dentist would pull perfectly good teeth?

It’s positively criminal that neither she nor Cindy were ever nominated for Emmys. Inconceivable.

Addicts let their teeth go bad in order to get pain meds. They'll drag it out, usually visiting several different doctors for the same tooth, making appointments to come back for root canal or whatever but never keeping the appointment. Finally the tooth is beyond saving and is pulled. They continue neglecting their teeth until another one flares up and the cycle begins again. They're doing other drugs during this time and that does a number on your teeth.

If you don't believe me (or Carrie) I can't really blame you. It's sick beyond belief and illustrates the power of drug addiction.

She is funnier in this article than in the book she is promoting (My Mother Was Nuts).

TCM will have to add her to their "Remembering" roster of dead celebrities/directors.. anyone in the movie industry. At the end of the year, they always show that.

... those who passed this year..

R64 and R65... Carrie Fisher died 12/27/2016. I think Debbie died the next day, or day after.

Jesus r185 I never knew that. True, the lengths drug addicts will go to. But letting all your teeth rot out of your head just to get a prescription! I had an abscessed molar once, years ago, and it was the worst pain I've ever felt in my life, it was absolutely agonizing.

[quote]Penny Marshall Is Dead To Me...This was a shock.

Yeah an obese 75 year old four pack a day smoker, with diabetes and just done fighting lung cancer, dying is something you don't see every day.

r185

Total bullshit, I worked with doctors and they only give you ibuprofen and acetaminophen, (you can take both together), and they don't give you anything stronger.

The reason is, there's no tooth problem that can't be solved by pulling the tooth, so they don't even give you the option. You go to Cook County Hospital (Chicago) and they will pull the tooth for free, rather than even give you the free Advil or Tylenol.

r179

Cindy and Penny were friend before L&S. Garry Marshall said in his Emmy Legends interview, he wrote the part of Laverne with his sister in mind and then wrote Shirley (who was a lot more rough and lose on Happy Days, then L&S), and told Penny, to ask her friend Cindy, to see if she'd do it, if not, they'll get someone else.

At the time Garry saw Penny as the person to play Laverne but didn't care much about the Shirley role.

Has Susan Dey released a statement yet?

Just my opinion, but Laverne & Shirley holds up very well - Happy Days and Mork & Mindy not as much.

And try sitting through Welcome Back Kotter - painful.

[quote]Condy

Cindy Williams? Condy NASTY!

RIP Penny...

r125

I was waiting to see how many posts we'd have before someone said this

I loved her as Myrna on "the Odd Couple." She was the bestest secretary ever.

Her deadpan, nasally whiny voice, was enough to make me laugh..

L&S was pretty painful to watch after S left. L needed S to play off very badly. Penny could not carry the show alone. She was wretchedly manic in most of the poor episodes I watched. Know when to pull the plug.

Poor Cindy Williams. She was a movie star before she had to lower herself to be "& Shirley." American Graffiti was huge and she was the female lead. And then she accepted that backdoor pilot on Happy Days and her career went downhill from there.

Madonna released a statement on her Instagram account a few hours ago

R192 I was a dental assistant years ago (circa 2000) and doctors gave out opiate prescriptions then. I'm not surprised to find they no longer do.

Carrie had her dental stuff done in the late '90s and entered rehab right afterwards.

Ya gotta put food on the table, doll.

r201

They so missed out on a golden opportunity when Cindy Williams left. They should've have Big Ol' Rosie Greenbaum show up on Laverne's door, now divorced and needing a place to say. Laverne and Rosie would have been fun, seeing to enemies forced to share and get along with each other.

R206. Clever

[quote]What an extraordinary loss. My good friend, Penny Marshall is gone — one in a million," she told TODAY in the statement, which is one of many from Marshall's peers and friends. "Utterly unique, a truly great talent. And, oh what fun we had! Can't describe how I'll miss her."

[quote]he wrote the part of Laverne with his sister in mind and then wrote Shirley (who was a lot more rough and lose on Happy Days, then L&S),

In the very first episode of L&S, Cindy Williams attempts a Brooklyn accent. She does a really bad job of it. The episodes following, she just uses her normal speech.

The California episodes sucked!

Cindy was scary in The Conversation.

I don't hob-nob with celebrities, but I work around them enough: PM was one of the few truly unpleasant experiences I've ever had. I won't say much, because I'm relatively close with the family - Garry was an absolute dear - but this one was a piece of work. I found her insufferable. Working with her on an entertainment project, I was constantly bewildered that this broad was actually at the helm of major motion pictures. She had the IQ, the curiosity and the couth of a sloth.

r209

Cindy said she did the role, so many people on the set spoke with the Brooklyn accent, she figured she had better to.

I noticed the first TMC release of the 2018 "Remembers" had many spaces in it, perhaps to leave room for those who die in December...

[quote]Cindy said she did the role, so many people on the set spoke with the Brooklyn accent, she figured she had better to.

I think the idea was that since they were supposed to have grown up together, that Cindy should have the same accent. But when they finally figured the characters out, Laverne was the tough one and Shirley was the goody two shoes, her non-abrasive accent worked much better.

[quote]Loved the show as a kid - favorite episodes include Wonga Wonga Laverne and Shirley as hollywood stuntwomen (one of the better LA shows), the first season shows where Shotz was more of a backdrop, Sgt Plout episodes with Vicki Lawrence, and Betty, please.

My favorite of the earlier episodes was when Shirley tried to teach Laverne to drive using canned foods. My favorite of the LA episodes was when they started working at Bardwell's and Laverne got drunk on rum balls ("Shirl, let's go to Chad").

Are there reruns of Laverne & Shirley somewhere on cable? If not, I wish they'd show them.

R217 LOGO shows them a LOT

I remember reading once that Laverne and Shirley were like Lucy and Ethel from I Love Lucy.

Thanks R218..

Thank God R219 graced us with that phenomenal insight because no one ever made the connection before him.

I read Penny's auto-bio a while back. One thing I didn't know beforehand: Although her daughter Tracy's surname is Reiner (she was in "A League of Their Own"), Rob was not her biological father. She had a brief marriage when she was living in New Mexico well before she met Reiner and became successful. I guess Reiner adopted Tracy when they later married.

Again, what's with the Susan Dey posts?

Susan Dey never sucked MY cock!

R212. She had a grumpy cynical kind of humor that I found hilarious. Not everyone liked it, but for the most part she was greatly loved in the biz.

R223, someone died last year (honestly I've forgotten who) and we had a poster OBSESSED with why Susan Dey hadn't been on social media immediately, expressing her condolences.

David Cassidy died! and Susan said nothing!

One would have to be obsessed to even care about Susan Dey's continued existence.

We have a few obsessive trolls on here who get fixated on the most bizarre things. Susan Dey, that old Eight is Enough actress, the "mutilated" circumcision troll, among others. It's so annoying.

I'm surprised the media hasn't been paying her greater tribute. I thought she was a cultural icon.

Laverne and Shirley was a LONG time ago, r230. You would have to be around 50 years old to really remember it.

Carrie and Penny lived together for years. It was a big wild love story.

[quote] that old Eight is Enough actress

You mean me? "TV's Sweetheart?"

She directed hit movies in the 1980s and 1990s, R231.

But she's most known for Laverne and Shirley r234.

Laverne and Shirley aged kinda poorly compared to other 70s shows.

[quote]I remember reading once that Laverne and Shirley were like Lucy and Ethel from I Love Lucy.

Not really. Ethel was always second banana. L&S were supposed to be equals.

[quote]David Cassidy died! and Susan said nothing!

Neither did Dolly Parton. What's your point?

Loved Dolly Parton on The Patridge Family.

I think Cindy Williams and Penny Marshall mended fences. Time has a way of making things that seemed so important years ago seem trivial now. They both grew up a lot and probably realized how silly their fights were. From what I understand, Cindy's husband at the time, Bill Hudson, convinced her to file a lawsuit and that just about ruined her career, and he had a lot to do with the rift. After Cindy got a divorce in 2000, I think that opened the door for her to improve her relationship with Penny.

Watching them back, I can't believe as kids that we liked all those ABC comedies--Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, and Three's Company. Mork and Mindy at least introduced the world to Robin Williams and his crazy brand of comedy, but that show quickly went into the shitter as well. Watching these shows back, they're all mostly dreadful, but the first couple seasons of Happy Days still hold up.

Still, Penny was very funny. I loved her as Myrna Turner, Oscar Madison's secretary on The Odd Couple. Some of the physical comedy on Laverne & Shirley was done well. And Penny directed a lot of great movies. RIP Penny.

Is it true Susan Dey never said anything about David’ Cassidy’s death ? Maybe she’s your not well herself.

Bill Hudson sounds like a real dick.

[quote]I think Cindy Williams and Penny Marshall mended fences. Time has a way of making things that seemed so important years ago seem trivial now. They both grew up a lot and probably realized how silly their fights were. From what I understand, Cindy's husband at the time, Bill Hudson, convinced her to file a lawsuit and that just about ruined her career

Cindy Williams got pregnant towards the end of L&S. Penny got pissed off that the gravy train was ending (even though the show had jumped the shark). But Cindy was given a lot of grief for getting pregnant and her pregnancy didn't benefit the show. They couldn't cover it. Did they fire her or did she quit?

I'm fine, bitches. I send my love!

The Archive of American Television's complete interview with Cindy and Penny......

[quote]Is it true Susan Dey never said anything about David’ Cassidy’s death ? Maybe she’s your not well herself.

Did you take to Twitter with a prepared statement when Ginny in Billing died? They were coworkers, they moved on. They're not required to acknowledge every co-worker they've ever worked with.

Or maybe she was royally pissed off that he had a huge dick and she never got to experience it.

Except she did, Rose.

Penny and Cindy had mended fences in recent years. I know they appeared a few times publicly together. It seems to me they did a commercial together in the 8 to 10 years ago range? For what, I don't remember.

And they did that Nickolodeon show together.

Susan Dey was also silent about Jay Thomas' death.

I'm just reading Cindy's statement and it turns out milk and pepsi was Penny's favorite drink before it was Laverne's. They worked it into the show.

r243, hadn't Penny become a coke-head by that time and that was another source of tension between the two stars?

Milk + Pepsi = Diabetes

Did Penny have any even vaguely successful acting work apart from L&S? She could only play Laverne and had to transition to directing to get any work. Apparently she made enough from L&S residuals and her few films to live comfortably the rest of her life.

Not everyone follows a celebrities life as obsessively as you R191.

Now that Myrna Turner has gone to join Mork from Ork in that great sit-com in the sky, do you suppose Ralph Malph is nervous?

R242 I agree, but in any of the Goldie/Kate/Bill Hudson threads the majority here trash those two and come to his defense.

I always got the feeling that he blatantly tried to ride his wives coattails to become more Famous himself, and when he couldn’t, he got incredibly bitter - thus he makes a career of bitching to any magazine or tabloid show that will listen. He just seems like such bad news.

[quote]Laverne and Shirley was a LONG time ago ... You would have to be around 50 years old to really remember it.

Spoken like a true millennial.

r257 is an old Republican looking for any excuse to bash millennials.

[quote]Did you take to Twitter with a prepared statement when Ginny in Billing died?

Wait, what? Did Ginny in Billing die?

When did THAT happen?

R259

I'm going to try something....

I remember when she and Rosie O'Donnell were doing commercials for K Mart in the early 90s or so. There was an item in the ENQUIRER saying that K Mart allowed them to take some free stuff and they both loaded up cartloads of shit, including TVs and VCRs. Supposedly K Mart was not amused.

r257 I'm actually 41 and L&S was on the air at the time I was born. I think when it ended I was barely in grade school. I don't think L&S was every really big in syndication like the Golden Girls or Seinfeld.

[quote]Did Penny have any even vaguely successful acting work apart from L&S?

She did three episodes of the Mary Tyler Moore Show. Julie Kavner stole Penny's acting career.

They were dolls....

Dolls, I tell ya!

DOLLS!!!

After playing with the dolls, we would play the exciting Parker Brothers board game.

Now I’m really upset about Ginny in Billing.

R263 - and your point is?

R269 Susan knew, yet maintained her aloof silence throughout the period of mourning.

That a person would have to be at least 50 to really remember L&S. At 41 I can barely remember it.

I've been friends with members of the Marshall Family since high school. The death was not a surprise, but devastating none the less.

Susan Grey is traveling in a remote part of Afghanistan where they have a local cure for human emotion! They inject ice water into your veins until you’re nothing more than an alabaster statue!

I don't think you can prepare for the death of a loved one. From what I heard Penny was ready R273.

[quote]I've been friends with members of the Marshall Family since high school.

I don't doubt you, r273, but I find it amusing that my impression of Datalounge alternates between the feeling that *very* few people post here, and genuine surprise at the fact that, no matter what famous person is being discussed, some poster will have a personal connection to them.

It's all about six degrees, r276......

But it's not, r277. We're talking ONE degree, or two at the most, of separation here.

I shared so much with Penny.

[quote]I remember when she and Rosie O'Donnell were doing commercials for K Mart in the early 90s or so. There was an item in the ENQUIRER saying that K Mart allowed them to take some free stuff and they both loaded up cartloads of shit, including TVs and VCRs. Supposedly K Mart was not amused.

Just toys, Penny took toys for her grandchildren. That was it. And she and Cindy weren't estranged for long. They were close. They did autograph shows together. When Cindy was going on tour in "Nunsense" Penny got her into shape with the tap dancing. Penny's Mother was a dance teacher.

Let me re-phrase that, r278. It's about one to six degrees of separation.

Some holiday cheer....

There can never be enough degrees of separation for me!!!

Has Boo Boo Kitty released her statement yet?

"Poor Cindy Williams. She was a movie star before she had to lower herself to be "& Shirley." American Graffiti was huge and she was the female lead. And then she accepted that backdoor pilot on Happy Days and her career went downhill from there."

Bullshit. Her career was at its peak when she did "Laverne and Shirley." She and Penny Marshall were all over magazine covers, they were the stars of a major hit tv show. The were both big stars. The only drawback from being on "Laverne and Shirley" for Cindy Williams was that she was no longer taken seriously as a dramatic actress, despite strong performances in "American Graffiti" and "The Conversation." She was considered a comedy actress, and it limited her chances for different kinds of roles.

Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams were different personalities, but they got on well enough. It was Bill Hudson who caused a rift in their relationship. He was obviously the one in control; I guess Williams figured he was her husband so she should defer to him. Anyway, it was her pregnancy and Hudson's demands that finally signalled the death knell of "Laverne and Shirley."

r285 nobody remembers that.

[quote]Bullshit. Her career was at its peak when she did "Laverne and Shirley." She and Penny Marshall were all over magazine covers, they were the stars of a major hit tv show. The were both big stars.

Who the FUCK remembers this? Get with it, Leroy!

Cindy will be interviewed shortly on ABC News with David Tyler Muir.

Am I imagining it or did they have a cartoon too? Where they were in the Army in one episode?

No you imagined it.

You imagined the album too..

R242... Goldie Hawn's ex... Kate Hudson is his biological daughter. She has nothing to do with him. I guess that tells you something...

R291, I had that album when I was a kid.

Even worse, I have one of the tracks from that album on my iPod.

Big Ragu!

Don't feel too bad. I have two on my iTunes from the Partridge Family

"Nobody remembers that."

Anybody who knows anything about Cindy Williams or Penny Marshall knows that. "Laverne and Shirley" was a popular show; there have been retrospectives about it. It made the careers of both women.

Why are they talking about her regretted abortion on ET?

I heard she was dying of lung cancer 5 years ago. Meanwhile, they say she died of complications of diabetes.

[quote] no matter what famous person is being discussed, some poster will have a personal connection to them.

And it’s the same person each time

I laughed for way too long and too hard the first time I heard Squiggy refer to Carmine as "the Big Raccoon."

Lenny also got to me when he talked about the dancer guy who lived in an apartment over them as "Fred Upstairs."

[quote]hadn't Penny become a coke-head

Wow -- coke AND Pepsi? Was she bi-polar?

Oh, Pally. She was NOT one of your FAAANS.

R248 Nickelodeon? And from our SPELLING CHAMP?

Oh, Mary!

The Looker.

I am 39, and when I was in elementary school, they used to air reruns of Laverne & Shirley (along with lots of other 70s shows) on that channel that used to show all it's shows 5 minutes late. (3:05pm, 3:35pm)

I watched L &S every single day after school for years.

By the way, this--

[quote] Addicts let their teeth go bad in order to get pain meds. They'll drag it out, usually visiting several different doctors for the same tooth, making appointments to come back for root canal or whatever but never keeping the appointment. Finally the tooth is beyond saving and is pulled. They continue neglecting their teeth until another one flares up and the cycle begins again. They're doing other drugs during this time and that does a number on your teeth.

is fucking horrible.

^^^its

[quote]no matter what famous person is being discussed, some poster will have a personal connection to them.

R276, well many of us gays are in the entertainment industry, so it's not really that much of a stretch. I knew Penny Marshall. too.

And No, R299, I'm not the same person as the poster who knew her since high school.

MeTV's list of Penny's top 12 favorite L&S episodes. They'll be showing six of them, plus two holiday episodes, on Sunday.

Question to the person above who worked with her and said she was awful.

How did many of her movies turn out so excellent? Did she have a great team who made up for her shortcomings?

Tell us more.

One of my top 10 was the episode where Shirley got amnesia and thought she was a stripper named Roxy LaTour.

Cindy Williams husband, Bill Hudson, 1982-2000, was married to Goldie Hawn, 1976-1982. He is Oliver and Kate Hudson's biological father.

R177. R223. References to Susan Dey have become a running joke on DL when a celebrity dies.

I'll explain: When fellow Partridge Family cast member David Cassidy died, there were public messages of condolences from various people, other cast members. However, some people on DL started asking if Susan Dey had also issued a statement which it seemed she had not. They hadn't worked together in 40 years, but that's irrelevant! So then some DLers started joking, "That bitch Susan Dey, she can't even issue a statement of sympathy for David Cassidy...what's wrong with her?" "She's a bitch." "She's rude." "What a snob." etc., etc.

So now it's become a running joke when a fellow celebrity or famous person dies, some people on DL ask if Susan Dey has offered her sympathy even if Susan Dey probably doesn't even know the person...as was the case when Penny Marshall, Sandra Locke and Nancy Wilson died recently.

Why hasn't Susan Dey offered her sympathy??!! She's a bitch!

Someone said upthread that ABC paid tribute to Penny last night before the start of their primetime lineup. Was that a first? Have they ever done that in the past when the star of one of their former hits has passed on? For instance, did they do it for John Ritter? Kinda feels like a first for them.

I think the show holds up well, it’s just that the networks stopped making the three camera live audience sitcom (well until this year). Penny was a natural comedic talent, but I find Cindy makes it work. Even Penny said after Cindy left and sued Paramount, it was not the same and she knew it wouldn’t work.

I also love the stripper episode where Shirley unbuttons Carmine’s shirt and flirts like mad with him.

At least I put a condolence message in a bottle and threw it into the sea when the Titanic sank, but that hussy Susan Dey......

R314 Cindy played off her well and was a great reactor. I often appreciated her brand of comedy on the show more.

I think they did do the same for Ritter - or since he had a show at the time, it may have just been done the night that ran instead. But it was the same idea. Even more so, he was part of the ABC family, between TC, 8 simple rules, and also Hooperman.

It’s funny because in the recent TC thread there were so many comments about what a ham fisted comedic actor Ritter was and yet by and large Penny is being hailed as a “brilliant” comedienne. She had her moments but if were going to call anyone bam fisted and crude, I mean let’s get real....and Ritter was a true talent and had deceptively a lot of range as an actor. And his humor could be more sophisticated/subtle or basic depending on what the script called for. Penny...well, she had to get into directing, her brother could give her an acting break only so many times.

It’s still a very sad death for me don’t get me wrong because she was very much a part of our cultural consciousness and all that (I was sad when Garry died too). But all she can really claim as an actress is that she had a certain whiny charm that worked for a brief period in time.

She was a horrible dresser who failed to enunciate one word clearly in her entire life. I will miss her terribly.

Laverne: A Society gentleman would only go out with you for one reason - to have a good time, a few laughs, and a little vo-dee-oh-doh-doh.

Shirley: I don't vo-dee-oh-doh-doh!

Laverne: You vo-dee-oh-doh-doh.

Shirley: I don't vo-dee-oh-doh-doh!

Laverne: You vo-dee-OH...

Shirley: Once, and I was going steady a whole year...

R318 sometimes things are funnier when you have to find ways to get around the censors. That’s one of them (even though the show wasn’t exactly known for its writing).

I live in the Bronx and scenes from Awakenings were shot down the street from where I live now, specifically the scene with DeNiro in the water standing in the big rock. It was a huge deal when they came to shoot- at the time it was a very blue collar, working class enclave full of little beach houses that were more like shacks. And it was a rough place, what many would refer to as white trash. Penny Marshall was notoriously a big bitch to everyone and couldn’t be bothered with her fellow Bronxites. However, the legend still lives among the residents of how Robin Williams stayed up all night in the local houses with the neighbors, drinking and telling stories and partying like an old friend. And there are pictures to prove it. When Robin died, this neighborhood grieved.

She did look like an idiot with those glasses hanging halfway off her nose all the time. How did she stand that, it would have driven me nuts.

I never cared for Laverne & Shirley but both Penny and Cindy are talented actors. Penny did a great job directing "Big." I went to a party at her house. She was nice, approachable and low-key.

Cindy starred in a small movie called "Uforia" that was fun to watch.

I don't think Carrie Fisher had any choice but to do Duck lips after she got lip fillers or lip implants. Her plastic upper lip was ghastly, far worse than her thin original, and it caused her to purse her lips.

Penny Marshall as a Bond Girl at 2:00

[quote]Bullshit. Her career was at its peak when she did "Laverne and Shirley." She and Penny Marshall were all over magazine covers, they were the stars of a major hit tv show. The were both big stars.

Things were different back in the 1970s. A movie career was bigger than tv. Cindy was the bigger star, yet Penny got first billing. L&S was Penny's biggest project at that point.

Cindy was like Cloris Leachman. Someone who had been in a successful movie moving over to do a sitcom.

Cindy was not famous tho when she was cast. Yes she was the lead in a hit movie - but TV made you recognizable since you were in peoples homes. And Penny was recognizable from Odd Couple. I don’t think either of them were the household names they became.

People who watched L&S would tend not to watch The Conversation.

Cindy was known to those views for American Graffiti

*to those viewers*

[quote]Cindy was like Cloris Leachman. Someone who had been in a successful movie moving over to do a sitcom.

Cloris was already on the Mary Tyler Moore show when "Last Picture Show" was released. And she was no stranger to television, having played Timmy's mom for one season on "Lassie" before being canned and replaced by June Lockhart.

She did quite a bit of TV. Here she is on Perry Mason. Recently I saw her on One Step Beyond. Plus Nellie Forbush on Broadway and Shakespeare with Kate.

Has anyone told Rosie Greenbaum?

[quote]r276, well many of us gays are in the entertainment industry, so it's not really that much of a stretch. I knew Penny Marshall. too.

See? Another person knew her haha. So let's sum it up, shall we?

1) Very few people post on Datalounge 2) Most Dataloungers are morbidly obese caftan-wearing shut-ins living in their Mom's basement 3) Pick a celebrity at random, and at least two Dataloungers will have a direct personal connection with that celebrity

This is all in good fun. I'm not doubting anyone, I just find it funny when descriptions of Dataloungers contradict each other so much.

Everyone knew Cindy from American Graffiti. When she did Happy Days it was funny because she had been Ron's girlfriend in AG. Plus, on Happy Days both L&S acted like big floozies. It appeared at the time to be a take off on the Andy Griffith show when the double date tge two brassy blondes. Their charcters changed when they got their own show. Even while the show was running they were compared, or accused, of ripping off Lucy and Ethel. People only knew Penny from a bit part on The Odd Couple. Cindy was the bigger star at the time from AG.

Does anyone know why Penny stopped directing? Also the tabs a number of years ago flat out said she and Carrie were in a lesbian relationship.

Trying again, to fix the formatting:

[quote][R276], well many of us gays are in the entertainment industry, so it's not really that much of a stretch. I knew Penny Marshall. too.

See? Another person knew her haha. So let's sum it up, shall we?

1) Very few people post on Datalounge

2) Most Dataloungers are morbidly obese caftan-wearing shut-ins living in their Mom's basement

3) Pick a celebrity at random, and at least two Dataloungers will have a direct personal connection with that celebrity

This is all in good fun. I'm not doubting anyone, I just find it funny when descriptions of Dataloungers contradict each other so much.

[quote] Most Dataloungers are morbidly obese caftan-wearing shut-ins living in their Mom's basement

That's windowless basement to you, Bucky!

"2) Most Dataloungers are morbidly obese caftan-wearing shut-ins living in their Mom's basement"

Does that include you, then?

[quote]Most Dataloungers are morbidly obese caftan-wearing shut-ins living in their Mom's basement

Which is fitting because Laverne & Shirley lived in a basement.

Aw c'mon, THIS is Cindy's true cinema classic!

Laverne & Shirley really was a huge hit show. Its first season it was #3, second season it was #2, and it was the #1 show on TV in its third and fourth seasons. It was paired with Happy Days on Tuesday nights. Back then, though, the brass at the networks loved tinkering with shows and schedules. They moved L&S to a different night in its fifth season (79-80) and it didn't work. Its ratings plummeted. They moved it again with no bump in the ratings, then finally put it back on Tuesday nights. But by then, sitcoms were fading and Dallas was the new #1 show. Plus L&S was getting long in the tooth.

One of the reasons we don't get more good gossip on here are the name-calling doubters. I remember posting about Cher and being called a liar. I didn't know Penny very well, but I've been in the business for years and I remember when she was screwing Ed Marinaro and insisted he be hired despite his minimal talent.

ABC got greedy at the start of the '79/'80 season by breaking up its comedy blocks and trying to boost ratings on other nights. All of them took a hit but L&S and Mork & Mindy took the biggest since those were the shows that moved nights. Ratings stabilized once it moved back to Tuesday but as R340 said, comedies overall were in decline as they were eclipsed by primetime soaps. They didn't really bounce back until the mid 80s.

Recent interviews with Penny and Cindy are bizarre. As others have stated, Penny is hard to understand because of her mumbling. Cindy seems awfully flighty. I loved that show till the characters relocated to California.

R325 Cloris Leachman won an Oscar during MTM’s run and won and was nominated for the Emmys several times. It’s really not the same thing at all.

If I recall correctly Cindy took the TV gig because she had been out of work for a long time (like a year or something). She was ok in those movies but honestly never had much of a presence.

During the TV Academy interview (the Penny solo interview) - she talks about how she renegotiated her contract after Cindy left. She said something about points and then starts mumbling and is still bitter about someone screwing her over? It's weird.

TVLand did a show several years ago (maybe an awards type show) and Penny and Cindy were in front of a studio audience. I think they were asked if they still hung around each other and Penny said something like "No, we hate each other." She was joking, but it was like the type of joke that you say when you're really speaking the truth but want to pretend like you're not.

I don't think they hated each other. I think they both annoyed each other like family. And it really seems like Penny got very crotchety as she aged.

I remember Rosie poking fun at Penny and doing something where the imitation was of Penny saying "My eyes are puffy."

Guess it was making fun of the Bronx accent.

When/where's the funeral! How many DLers plan to attend?

I hope Squiggly doesn’t become a thing again because of this! Will he try and be Penny’s Jackie??

Where's Eddie Mekka in all of this?

Facing east?

Excuse me! My head still hurts over here!

[quote]Where's Eddie Mekka in all of this?

The Des Moines Community Players won't release him from their production of "Follies" where he is playing Theodore Whitman to attend the funeral.

Did you know that Eddie Mekka was married to DeLee Lively towards the end of L&S?

R342, I hate when networks used to pull that. It's not a big deal anymore since we can stream anything or DVR it for later watching, but back in the day certain shows were equated with certain nights. I remember when Cosby Show, Family Ties, Cheers and Night Court was a blockbuster comedy lineup on Thursdays on NBC in the 1980s. Greedy NBC moved Family Ties and Night Court to different nights, where both suffered ratings losses.

NBC didn't learn because when Friends, Frasier, Seinfeld and Mad About You was the new blockbuster Thursday comedy lineup, they moved Frasier and Mad About You to put on a series of miserably bad sitcom replacements. Mad About You really suffered from the move.

Poor Frasier. NBC pitted it against Home Improvement, a Top 3 show, on Tuesdays, but Tuesday nights was more the working class night on ABC with Home Improvement and Roseanne. Frasier just didn't fit on that night. NBC moved that around far too much, yet is still stayed in the Top 20 for most of its run, and never fell out of the Top 30. Pretty good considering how much it got moved around the schedule.

[quote]that channel that used to show all it's shows 5 minutes late. (3:05pm, 3:35pm)

TBS

[quote]I live in the Bronx and scenes from Awakenings were shot down the street from where I live now, specifically the scene with DeNiro in the water standing in the big rock. It was a huge deal when they came to shoot- at the time it was a very blue collar, working class enclave full of little beach houses that were more like shacks. And it was a rough place, what many would refer to as white trash. Penny Marshall was notoriously a big bitch to everyone and couldn’t be bothered with her fellow Bronxites. However, the legend still lives among the residents of how Robin Williams stayed up all night in the local houses with the neighbors, drinking and telling stories and partying like an old friend. And there are pictures to prove it. When Robin died, this neighborhood grieved. '

Robin Williams was a coke addict that stayed up all night anyway. All he had to do was show up on time and know his lines. A director especially on a multimillion dollar movie doesn't have time to schmoooze with looky loos. Please.

I thought Awakenings was her best film, yet people don't really remember it or give it much credit.

I talked to Penny once at the gay bar in 1977 or so. She was with Carrie, of course, as they hung out together everywhere.

I GUSHED all over Penny and I told her she was a genius!

Laverne and Shirley was a great show if you were a teenager in the seventies.

Carrie, Penny, joan Hackett, and the blonde from The Man Who Fell to Earth all visited the divey gay bar on main street.

Good times, except when carrie beat me up there.

J.Paul Getty also came to the bar on occasion. He treated carrie badly, though.

I talked to him too. He through his life away on drugs.

*Threw

I'm surprised that Penny would show up at a gay bar at the height of her fame for fear of the paparazzi?

R362, this bar was a divey secret that never had any paparazzi. Different times.

Penny was nice to me, I was so thrilled to meet her I touched her!! I grabbed her arm!

She was cool about it.

The cinematography in Awakenings was extraordinary: the late, great Mirolslav Ondricek.

R359, R360, R361 and R363 = an absolute loon from the Debbie Reynolds thread

Do NOT engage it.

Oops, I take that back!

There was a photo taken of Carrie talking to me in the bar that was published in an l.a. newspaper however, I think Carrie set that up herself.

Penny was lovely. Carrie was a great beauty in those days.

Fast forward 27 years later and I see them in the supermarket hanging out as mature and loyal buddies. Still together after all those years.

Penny and Carrie were one of the few great marriages in Hollywood.

Carrie was unwell, however, and she apologized to me.

Carrie knew I could have sold a million stories about her but I didnt want to hurt her or her family. I understood the pain carrie had been in, I knew her story, I saw it all.

Penny Marshall and Catherine gave Carrie a reason to live.

r366, I wish Carrie were still alive so she could punch you in the face again.

R367 May I ask why you are so angry?

I knew Carrie for decades.

Carrie apologized to me, and would not care for your post, R367.

[quote]Penny Marshall and Catherine gave Carrie a reason to live.

Who is Catherine? Were Penny and Carrie ever an actual lesbian couple or just BFFs?

Catherine is her daughter.

For the poster who has such aggressive antipathy towards me, let me remind you that I never sold her out.

Have you?

Billie is Carrie's daughter, Catherine her sister in law.

Go back to your psych ward R371.

She introduced herself to me as Catherine. Carrie introduced her to me as Catherine. Her name is Catherine.

Why dont you know this, since you claim to be a 'friend' and defender of Carrie?

Let me guess...you're one of her AA 'friends' whom Carrie had to pay off to shut up about her private life

Goodnight Laverne, I never got to rip that "L" off your chest.

Were Penny and Carrie a couple or now?

Straight answer please.

^^^or not, that was meant to be

I thought Carrie said she and Penny weren't as close in the last few years as they had been.

R375, I never saw them be intimate. However, they were best friends for decades.

Penny was very cool, unlike your typical L.A. bitch that used carrie for her connections.

Carrie just smiled when I called her friendship with Penny a marriage.

We should hold all be so lucky to have one friend like that in life.

The last time I saw Carrie and Penny together was at Trader Joe's.

Carrie pointed me out to Penny and said a nice thing about me, to which Penny said, "Carrie, you need to do something for her," but I just got in line.

I suspect Carrie did do a nice thing for me later, but I cannot say what it is.

They dead now

Uh, Carrie and Penny were a couple for years. How could you not know this?

Why are you making this about you R379?

R379 is a fucking loon. Block her.

L&S were cheap girls always looking for a free dinnah or new date for Saturday night. RIP Penny from the original Fun Girls!

A League of Their Own is a masterpiece of a film

RIP Laverne

This was always my favorite bit of Laverne & Shirley.

Marathon on logo now - it ends at 8 I just found it. They just showed the Ted Danson fireman episode.

God Marshall was a pretty terrible actress but the episode is still kind of sad.

R387 I just watched it too, she was great at physical comedy but terrible at dramatic acting

She said in interviews that she never felt attractive and when she did that commercial with Farah Fawcett, her dressing room had "Homely girl" inscribed on the for her, Farrah saw it and realizing it would hurt Penny's feelings, crossed out the HOMELY part with a magic marker

R388 or she could have just taken the whole sign down lol? What a dumb ass.

Watching these, Cindy actually had pretty good timing and wasn’t a bad actress (or she looked like a good actress compared to Penny).

Yes, Penny Marshall was no dramatic actress. With those looks and that voice, what else could she do but comedy? She really was terrible in that "fireman" episode. I guess that was "a very special" Laverne and Shirley episode. There was another one of that type called "The Slow Child", which was about Mrs. Babish's adult daughter, who was mentally "slow." It was a rather cringe-worthy episode; the mentally disabled young woman has sexual feelings towards Lenny and makes a blatant pass at him after Laverne teaches her how to kiss. Yech!

Penny Marshall was a beauty in person.

The slow girl was played by DL fave Michelle Greene, fired from LA LAW after she complained about her character becoming a lesbian.

I'm glad to see a lot of people giving Cindy Williams credit - she made a great foil for Laverne, but she had great timing, too. The two of them had undeniable chemistry.

She was good in the episode with her mom (DL fave Pat Carroll) which had some dramatic scenes.

MeTV has eight hand-picked episodes running today (Sunday 12/23).

Eight of the best out of 178 episodes, should be good.

The ones they picked for Logo (at least the ones I saw) were awful. Maybe because they showcased Laverne’s “dramatic moments” - it’s funny how sitcom stars always lobby for dramatic episodes and most of them suck.

Most of penny’s top 8 are from season 2. Big Rosie Greenbaum was in that season as well as the intro of Edna Babish. Season 5 was good even though it was the last one in Milwaukee. No Hollywood episodes selected.

R396 haha Rosie was good. I don’t think I get MeTV anymore though - I always try to look for it and can’t find it anywhere (I have Spectrum in NY).

Wasn’t season 5 the Vicky Lawrence episodes? I know a lot of people here love those I always changed the channel when they were on.

R397, try channel 33 -- WJLP

R392 “The Slow Child” was played by Linda Gillen.

Thanks r397 that’s it! It doesn’t have the marathon schedule up yet I’m assuming it starts at Noon.

Antenna TV always does an odd couple marathon NYE so I assume they’ll include a Penny tribute there as well.

This sounds like a better set of episodes than the Logo one. I’m kind of surprised by the number of tributes, actually (L&S has been by and large out of the syndication loop for a while now)

I don't get why people made fun of her looks. I thought Penny was attractive. I think she had an ethnic look to her, being half Italian. When she wore her hair longer, she was quite lovely.

In one of her more recent interviews, she was asked if she would get cosmetic surgery. She responded, "I never was a cover girl. So...what...I'm gonna do all that NOW?" LOL

R357 Nobody in the neighborhood cared how many bumps Robin Williams took that night. He fit right in. He was a genuine person.

R402 I didn’t always like his Schtick but he did seem like he was a genuinely nice, kind hearted person all his life (and I’ve never heard any different). Just troubled.

The MeTV episodes are starting any minute now...

Forgive me if this was already posted (it’s a long thread but I don’t think it was) but this always has me dying of laughter. I don’t even think Fred Armisen is normally that funny but his Penny has to be one of the top all time SNL celebrity imitations.

That is the one thing about Dish I don’t like (besides no more HBO) is no MeTV.

R388 left out the last part of the story. After Farrah crossed out “Homely”, she wrote in “Plain”. Nice, Farrah. No wonder Ryan used to make you do anal.

They were both wrong, R 407.

I met Ms. Marshall in the late 1970s and she was a very attractive woman. She had a knockout figure and a gorgeous face. Italian beauty!

Unfortunately, the standard was the beach blonde which is lovely, but certainly not the only measurement of beauty.

I will always think of Ms.Marshall as the neapolitan looker I met way back in 1978.

R407 that’s horrible. No wonder everyone in the business eventually turns out so hard and bitter.

Not to mention incredibly dumb - damn, Farrah was a fucking dim bulb.

At least Penny didn't die from taking bad dick up the ass.

...that we know of, R410.

I have strong suspicions Penny died from aids.

R412, was she a heroin user?

R413 no, I do not think so...

....

Who gives a shit what your suspicions are R412. Unless you have facts fuck off.

R416 I think he/she was making fun of all the DL “he has the AIDS” threads.

Thanks R417. In this day and age with DL it is hard to tell.

Penny gone, Carrie gone, Farrah gone....

R419 George Michael gone, Prince gone, Elizabeth Taylor gone, Rock Hudson gone...

Penny couldn't even fill a thread, how sad

I don't think this was the only Penny Is Dead thread, r421.

Penny Deadful.