It’s amazing how quickly some things can come back to you. I used to watch Laverne and Shirley all the time as a kid. It was one of my many syndication staples growing up watching way too much TV. Back then I probably didn’t get much of the humor, not that it’s risqué or even all that edgy, but there was that catchy soundtrack that I would still hum in my head even after a decade of not seeing it. Catching up with Ms. DeFazio and Ms. Feeney after all these years had its awkward moments. More interestingly is watching it and seeing just how much television comedies have changed in the last 25 years.
Today’s sitcoms seem to center more on the hardships of life. They are a way of venting, almost in a therapeutic way. With Laverne and Shirley, the comedy stems from likable characters doing silly, harmless things. It is therefore harmless but ultimately irrelevant save for the characters themselves. That is why Laverne and Shirley is fun to watch. It’s not to see them try and land a plane. That’s ultimately beside the point. Rather you want to see more of Laverne, more of Shirley, more Lenny, more Squiggy and, yes, even a little more Carmine.
The show revolves around the lives of 20-something Milwaukee roommates Laverne (Penny Marshall) and Shirley (Cindy Williams). If they were 20-something today, their online dating bios would read that they don’t mind the occasional drink, they enjoy wrestling and they’re excellent bowlers. In essence, they’re the ideal mates for the stereotypical Sunday football-loving American man. Or you might interpret them as not being prissy little debutantes who watch soaps everyday, eating cupcakes and reminiscing of their cheerleading days of yesteryear. Laverne and Shirley work in a bottle factory. It doesn’t get less glamorous than that.
Yet they are both very strong women. They know who they are, they know what they want and they know how to express themselves. Sure, there’s the occasional misunderstanding and crisis moment, but those reveal the characters even more.
There are times when the plots do seem a little too simple for their own good. But that was a sign of the times. Unless you were M*A*S*H* or All in the Family, your storylines were fluff. It was the context and setting in which it was presented that the fluff was given life.
Although they may not be as well known now as they were 30 years ago, Laverne and Shirley are still one of television’s best pairings of all-time.
Laverne and Shirley: The Third Season DVD Review
This four-disc DVD set collects all 24 episodes of the top-rated show’s third season. Each episode is presented in its original full-screen format with a restored English mono soundtrack. Although nothing fancy, it’s a DVD that gets the job done simply by being released whole and uncut.
Laverne and Shirley: The Third Season Gallery
