Laverne & Shirley

No and yes.

It was truly awful

LaVerne swung both ways.

Shirley only wanted the Big Ragu.

The Big Ragu was slinging his hot Italian sausage all over Milwaukee.

Mrs. Babish ran an international prostitution ring.

Boo Boo Kitty was the most interesting character.

They should have stayed in Milwaukee.

In the pilot episode, Shirley had a dreadful Brooklyn accent which she later lost. I believe she lost it when she lost her virginity to the Big Ragu. In future episodes he’s only hanging around because Shirley won’t give him another go.

1- yes, there was definitely a subtext and Shirley pining over Carmine when, that wasn't realistic, nor what made her happy (which was Laverne and her lowbrow friends) was ridiculous

2- No. The LA episodes suck

My favorite episode is when Boo Boo Kitty ran away to Tijuana and fucked the donkey. The girls had to turn tricks to get bus fare to rescue BBK. Then they ran afoul of that Mexican drug lord and became his slaves. Lenny and Squiggy came to their rescue, helping them escape while Carmine sang and danced for the drug lord.

Carmine was hot. I would have sucked his thick meat off anytime.

They were too old to be running around LA as screwball bachelor girls. It was like Lucy trying to pull it off after 1960.

Those dykes living together and pretending to be "roommates"!

They were about as appealing as Milk and Pepsi!

they had a one bedroom…

We actually had to *WORK* on our assembly line wrapping chocolates. We didn’t get to sit and stare off into space.

Every time the Big Ragu sang I wanted to slam my nuts in the car door

The move to LA was awful and stupid

In LA they started a trend during the credits of showing the New Year's party to set the stage of what year it was suppose to be. In the last season credits there's three people there hoisting a drink and they already look drunk off their ass

Sgt. Alvinia (Vicky Lawrence) was hilarious in her multiple guest appearances

Alvinia (Vicky) singing four star lover

I defy the L&S haters not to laugh while watching the episode they go to the resort in 'near Mexico' and a storm hits the hotel.

Didn't they work in the gift wrapping department in Burbank? JFC, how times have changed. Now you're lucky to receive a thank you after you bag your own groceries, which you overpaid for.

Didn't these two lezzie have a big blowup...and Laverne or Shirley moved all of her stuff out in a U-Haul before the show was over?

Did they just call it Laverne after that?

Having Laverne's father suddenly divorced from Betty Garrett in the shit fest of the last season and Laverne alone made no sense. Garrett, thinking the show was done, took on a Broadway show, and then was told the show would be back.

Cindy left after one episode anyway so you have Penny in the credits dancing in every clip, joined by the supporting players. They should have nixed it immediately when Cindy didn't return and shelved the one with her they filmed.

^ Why didn't they just rename it "Valerie's Family" and tell everyone the other main character died?

Cindy Williams became pregnant and they didn’t know how to write it into the show. The show relied heavily on physical comedy and, other than Lucille Ball, pregnant women can’t do physical comedy. Unfortunately, the Marshall mafia acted like it was Cindy’s fault and she should figure out how the show should continue. I don’t know whether Cindy broke her contract or if they fired her, but it was a huge mess.

But there always were problems. Cindy was the bigger star when the show started but because Penny was so well connected she was treated better.

It’s sad because both actresses clicked on screen and produced some excellent tv. But the magic couldn’t last forever. When the show began to get stale, they should have finished it.

And the cartoon version was just stupid.

Re Carmine: I'm an '80s baby so didn't watch the show when it was on, but during lockdown two years ago, I found the complete series on YouTube and decided to watch it. I enjoyed it for the most part, particularly the early seasons, naturally.

One thing I noticed (watching from 2020) was Carmine's hair went from a frizzy Jewfro for most of its run (starting in 1976), but then it became very short by the time the show ended in 1983, when short hair for men was back in vogue.

I find this amusing because according to the show's timeline (late '50s to mid '60s) his hair should have started short at the start then gotten long by the end. But the opposite happened, because the period they were filming dictated his style.

*because the period they were filming in (late '70s to early '80s) dictated his style.

Laverne ended up doing porno in the Valley.

The network cancelled the show and refused to air those episodes.

^ But the episode where Mr. Defazio discovered Laverne's new career while watching 16 mm stag films with his buddies was poignant

Ah pop, it's just a job.

It ain't that different from screwing on bottle caps or waiting tables at the Pizza Bowl.

[quote]his hair should have started short at the start then gotten long by the end. But the opposite happened, because the period they were filming dictated his style.

He was a dancer. His hair never should be long.

Laverne’s father was one of the worst most annoying characters ever.

There was a one-off episode around 2000 where L & S were game show contestants on a Survivor-type program. It had the physical comedy you’d expect from those two, and it was great seeing them together after all those years. You never hear about this episode, though. I watched it when it was on… was I just dreaming?

I watched a couple of the early episodes. In the first two, they had Henry Winkler appear as Fonzie to help sell the show.

This is a positive thread that brings out the best of DL

The first 5 seasons or so were the best and outright funny...that was in Milwaukee. It should have ended then. It wasnt the same in Los Angeles.

Betty, Please....

Loved the show when I was kid, watched it a few years later, and most of it doesn't hold well up at all. It was the Cindy-less episodes that I thought held up the best.

Most of the Garry Marshall shows don't hold up. The writing was atrocious and the teenage screams everytime a character entered the room wears out their welcome after one or two episodes.

R30 yeah but they ended beating them in the ratings - it was no Caroline and the City.

And even though I have much more affection for the Happy Days actors generally (Henry winkler/Ron Howard/Marion Ross) L&S (the Milwaukee years at least) was always much always much funnier. And at least they didn’t have to bring in Scott Baio.

Ted Danson appeared in one episode as Laverne’s boyfriend.

Penny Marshall dated an actor on the show who died in a motorcycle accident while the show was still on the air. I can't find any references to it online but was reading about it a couple of years ago. I don't know how many episodes he was in, but it was after they had moved to LA. I think he played her boyfriend in the few episodes he was on.

I found it. Larry Breeding was his name.

He had a bright future . No other cars were involved in crash . Poor guy

Lenny and Squiggy…

Who was top, who was bottom?

I took a queer studies class in college and one guest lecturer noted that Laverne and Shirley got married to each other (through a series of mixups and mistaken identities) something like 4 times. So yeah, it was his theory that they were lesbians.

Laverne and Shirley being the subject of someone's queer studies dissertation--it doesn't get more DL than that. (And I'm not mocking it--I would TOTALLY take that class!)

I meant to put this here, but it ended up in another thread.

Michael McKean (Lenny) is a very underrated actor. He recently had a recurring role on the British tv show “Breeders” and it took me awhile to figure out where I knew him from.

R37 Larry Breeding???

R42 Breeders??

In retrospect, Laverne & Shirley did seem like lesbians, more Laverne than Shirley. Big Ragu (Carmine), singing, dancing, who never got to bed down with Shirley, was gay as well.

Lenny and Squiggy? May have been straight, just unpopular with women.

Los Angeles was a last ditch attempt to resuscitate the show and it failed.

McKeon has had a great career. Pretty incredible. What other sitcom actors from the 80s are getting the roles he is now?

They never munched MY clam

Best in Show is on right now. Forgot how wonderful it was.

I will say something positive about the California years. I did like their apartment-it was a huge improvement over the Milwaukee basement in the slums.

The only positive thing I can recall about the Los Angeles seasons was a shirtless Ed Marinaro in his prime

R43, probably not what you’re thinking.

[quote]What other sitcom actors from the 80s are getting the roles he is now?

Just me!

The Nanny did a show that featured David Lander as Squiggy...the landlord of the apartment Fran and Val rented (similar to L&S)...which he shared duties with his significant other "Leonard"