If you do the math, there are far more successful shows than turkeys this fourth season.
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Fans compared it to "I Love Lucy," while detractors called it "TV junk food." And as if to prove both of them right, the popular Seventies' sitcom "Laverne & Shirley" featured both weak and strong episodes during a typical season. Even the fourth year, which the show entered as the Number 1 watched program in America, the first episode was a so-so bit of nonsense about the gang from Milwaukee going to New York City for a big Italian festival. But as with previous seasons, there are also laugh-out-loud episodes that rank in entertainment value with some of the best TV sitcoms.
Say what you will, there was something about these two "girls" that appealed to Americans. Maybe it was the odd-couple combination of Shirley's wide-eyed hopefulness and Laverne's tough cynicism. Maybe it was the fact that these two opposites were linked together because they were "good girls" at a time when there were the ones who "vo-dee-oh-doed" and the ones who didn't. Maybe it was the way in which the show addressed class, with these two blue-collar brewery workers constantly reminded of their lowly station in life but trying, all the same, for something bigger and better. Maybe it was the likeable cast. Or maybe--just maybe--it was that their brand of comedy really did remind folks of TV's beloved Queen of Comedy, Lucille Ball.
"Happy Days" fans will know immediately that Laverne (Penny Marshall) and Shirley (Cindy Williams) made a brief debut on that show as friends of Fonzie. Like "Happy Days," this is the 1950s, but seen from the point of view of two Shotz Brewery workers in Milwaukee. Instead of a coming-of-age nostalgic sitcom, "Laverne & Shirley" was a show about two roommates trying to find happiness outside of high school. The girls worked as bottle-cappers at the brewery, where their friends, Lenny (Michael McKean) and Squiggy (David L. Lander) were truck drivers. As quasi-cool greasers, they were the male equivalent of Laverne and Shirley--two people who thought they had more going for them than they really did, and two people who played off each other well in order to generate laughs. By the fourth season, producer Garry Marshall recognized how popular Lenny and Squiggy were, and gave the boys a lot more air time. So does Shirley's boyfriend, Carmine Ragusa (Eddie Mekka).
"Happy Days" had the protective parents, and wild-haired, wild-eyed comedian Phil Foster serves that function here as Laverne's dad, Frank, who runs The Pizza Bowl-which doubled as a kind of Arnold's and a place for Laverne to work on the side to pick up extra money. Betty Garrett stars as Frank's "girlfriend" and a mother figure to Laverne, who can be a handful.
This season, some of the best episodes are the ones that go at slapstick head-on, without embarrassment and without hesitation, or else the ones that confront honest emotions without sentimentality. Some of the highlights include a flashback episode that shows Laverne and Shirley moving in together, an episode where Laverne and Shirley and their male counterparts all appear on a game show, and two shows that poignantly feature Lenny and Squiggy in love with women who don't love them back. As for the turkeys? Normally I like comedian Hans Conried ("Make Room for Daddy"), but he's just too over-the-top in an episode where the girls go to night school. Then there's a real dog of an episode that has Shirley handcuffing herself to a pound puppy to protest its being put to sleep, and the two-part season opener that goes on way too long and has more cheese than a mozzarella pizza. Uneven? You bet. But if you rate the episodes and do the math, "Laverne & Shirley" is still overall a successful show. This season, look for Jay Leno, Ed Begley, Jr., Rance Howard, and Robert Alda in guest spots.
Here's a rundown on the 24 season installments, which are included on four single-sided discs in a nifty clear keep-case that's the same size as a standard DVD case, but which has a plastic "page" that holds two additional discs:
1-2) "The Festival," Parts 1&2." The whole gang goes to New York to attend an Italian festival and see Laverne's grandma (Penny Stanton) in an episode where clichés and ethnic stereotypes abound.
3) "Playing the Roxy." A bump on the head makes Shirley think she's a stripper. Despite a few funny moments, the writers really could have done a lot more with the premise.
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