1976: Laverne & Shirley debuts on ABC!

A big thank you to Silver Age of TV’s Twitter feed and additional details from the ever wonderful Michael McKean bringing this anniversary up. Sadly, stars Penny Marshall and David Landers are no longer with us alongside its primary creator Gary Marshall.

Back to Mr. McKean’s two cents; he elabored on SA’s tweet that when the show began, the opening credits included the title-characters’ surnames because ABC feared audiences would be confused. Was this a show based upon a character Cher played on TV? Was this the rebranding of a failed show (or movie) called Sheila Levine is Dead & Living in New York. Mills and Gen Z may snicker at TV audiences being for stupid but they forget (or are ignorant about) there were only four broadcast networks then plus cable wasn’t anything like what most associate it with until the Eighties.

Laverne & Shirley was the first successful spinoff from Happy Days as America was going through its standard Nostalgia Wormhole (take this year, subtract 20-30 years) for the Fifties® via these SitComs, the hit musical Grease and Sha Na Na’s syndicated show. Punk Rock expressed it with the three-chord/three-minute tunes and the Ramones wearing biker jackets. I was just seven. I don’t recall everything which made the comeback.

I think Penny and Cindy Williams had also appeared on Happy Days earlier when they were Fonzie’s backup singers. Their chemistry and the reaction they received is probably what fueled the spinoff other than Cindy playing Ron Howard’s girlfriend in American Graffiti; she might have passed on Happy Days and this was a second chance to get on the Gary Marshall Success Train.

My brother Brian loved the show in its early days. I remember being annoyed over our new house having the ability to get Channel 17 (ABC) better so he could watch. He also loved the SitCom enough to name a new kitten we got Shirley; or maybe it was the wisecracking waitress on What’s Happening. I came around to liking L&S thanks to how goofy Lenny & Squiggy were (aka Michael McKean and David Landers).

Sadly, like all programs, it got long in the tooth as the Fifties® fad petered out with the Eighties getting more focused on the Sixties®. Somebody thought it was a great idea to have the title characters leave Milwaukee for the Los Angeles of the early Sixties. Not a great idea but what made it even less plausible was all the secondary characters coming along. Then Cindy quit and it was the Laverne show before ABC pulled the plug.

Its legacy? Penny went on to be a well-respected director. Michael remains an in-demand character actor on TV/Film. David of course went into semi-retirement due to his illness. Cindy appeared from time to time. To me it proved you could have a hit show with two women in lead roles. Lastly, I moved to Milwaukee from 1986-1991 and learned very quickly which neighborhood they lived in (Knapp Street which would be near downtown and the breweries then). Plus their opening schtick was used as the opening for my favorite time as a DJ on WMUR with Sheila.

I’ll close with a little contest to see who’s paying attention. Name the other successful spinoff from Happy Days in the comments. If you can also name the two dud spinoffs, I give you a prize. Try not to “cheat” and use imdb.com or Wikipedia please, just your brains/memories.