Laverne & Shirley [TV Series] (DVD)

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The Bachelor Party—Frank De Fazio is out of town and leaves the Pizza Bowl in the incapable hands of his daughter, who gets talked into allowing an after-hours bachelor party by Fonzie that, of course, goes awry and provides a few more Lucy moments.

Bowling for Razzberries—A bad cold threatens to thwart Laverne´s attempts to beat a rival brewery team headed by the snobbish tour guide.

A Nun´s Story—The women do a little soul-searching after learning their wild high school pal has become a nun.

Falter at the Alter—Paul Sylvan guests as a sailor who asks Laverne to marry him after dating her for two months. Laverne´s father approves, but Shirley smells something rotten.

Dog Day Blind Dates—A classic episode where the young women are duped by dates that use them to get into the Pizza Bowl after-hours and dynamite through the foundation into the neighboring bank vault.

Once Upon a Rumor—One of the funniest, where Shirley´s reputation takes a beating after Lenny THINKS he sees her pulling up her skirt after a little break-room voh-dee-oh-doh.

One Flew Over Milwaukee—A cute episode about Shirley´s penchant for taking in strays, in this case a canary she kills by giving it some "exercise" during the dead of winter, followed by Laverne´s attempts to make things right.

Dating Slump—Shirley lets herself go to pot after Carmine meets someone else.

It´s the Water—A Shotz brewery executive promotes Shirley to "official beer taster," but of course there´s a catch, and it catches in Shirley´s throat.

Fakeout at the Stakeout—After their apartment is burglarized, Laverne volunteers to act as the bait in order to catch the culplrits . . . and a date with a cute cop.

Hi, Neighbor—The young womens´ worst nightmare comes true: Lenny and Squiggy move into the building.

How Do You Say "Are You Dead?" in German—Chaos breaks out when a deliveryman faints in their apartment and one of the women has to perform mouth-to-mouth.

From Suds to Stardom—Shades of Lucy, the young women rehearse a Calypso number for the Shotz Brewery Talent Show, with the help of the light-footed Carmine. And of course there´s a rival they have to beat.

Mother Knows Worst—Pat Carroll plays Shirley´s hyper-critical mother, Lily, who spends a few nights with the girls and gets a lesson in how strong the bond is between the girls.

Video:
What a pleasant surprise the video transfer turned out to be. Most of the film from sitcoms of this era are grainy and faded, but the picture is sharp even with herringbone patterns and the fuzz you can see on Laverne & Shirley´s angora sweaters and poodle skirts. And on a widescreen the edges are still pretty sharp, which was another nice surprise.

Audio:
The audio appears to be Dolby Digital 2.0 mono, with everything emanating from the front speaker. It´s sufficient, given the dialogue and live-audience prompted laughter.

Extras:
Unfortunately, there are no extras—and that´s too bad, because Penny Marshall was hilarious in the "A League of Their Own" extras, and it would have been nice to have had a "reunion" interview with her and Cindy Williams. And fans of the show would have loved to learn about the Milwaukee connection. Maybe in Season Two . . . but don´t count on it. Studios are facing the reality of having to keep production costs down on these TV-DVD sets in order to make them profitable, and that means no frills on the negative side, but on the positive side it means the shows will at least be released. "The Mary Tyler Moore" fans are still waiting for Season Two, years after the first season was released, because that "loaded" DVD didn´t cover its costs.

Bottom Line:
For four years "Laverne & Shirley" were comic, blue-collar darlings, more popular than the "Happy Days" show that spun them off. The first season is strong and most definitely worth adding to your TV-DVD collection. "Laverne & Shirley" is a classic show from a classic period, and the episodes are still entertaining more than 25 years after they first aired. But there are better episodes ahead. Let´s hope we don´t have to wait too long for them.

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