There are only a few spin-offs that prove as successful or more successful than the show from which they originated. The Andy Griffith Show (spun-off from The Danny Thomas Show) and Gomer Py,le, U.S.M.C. (spun-off from The Andy Griffith Show)) are two examples of spin-offs that were as successful as or more successful than the shows from which they originated. Another example is Laverne & Shirley. Spun-off from Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley was the number one show on television for two seasons and spent a total of four seasons in the top five shows on the air. Successful for much of its original network run, Laverne & Shirley also had a successful run as a syndicated rerun. It was fifty years ago today, on January 27, 1976, that Laverne & Shirley debuted on ABC.
Laverne & Shirley centred on Laverne DeFazio (Penny Marshall) and Shirley Feeney (Cindy Williams), two friends and roommates who lived in Milwaukee in the late 1950s. They worked as bottle-cappers at Shotz Brewery there. Laverne was a bit of a tomboy and could be both blustery and cynical, but at the same time she had a softer, more sensitive side. In contrast, Shirley was bubbly, optimistic, and sweet, and sometimes a bit neurotic. The two women lived in a basement apartment. Their upstairs neighbours were Leonard "Lenny" Kosnowski (Michael McKean) and Andrew "Squiggy" Squiggman (David Lander), with whom they sometimes communicated via a dumbwaiter connecting the two apartments. Their landlady was Edna Babish (Betty Garrett), who later married Laverne's father, Frank DeFazio (Phil Foster) who owned the Pizza Bowl. Carmine Ragusa (Eddie Mekka) was Shirley's high school sweetheart with whom she was involved on again and off again.
The origins of Laverne & Shirley go back to the Happy Days episode "A Date with Fonzie" from the show's third season. In the episode, Richie (Ron Howard) has broken up with his long-time girlfriend and, having difficulty dating again, he asks Fonzie (Henry Winkler) for help. Ultimately, Fonzie gets in touch with two women he knows, Laverne and Shirley, two young women known to "date the fleet." At the time Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams were working together as writers for t Francis Ford Coppola's company Zoetrope. Penny Marshall's bother just happened to be Garry Marshall, creator and producer of Happy Days. One day he called them and asked if they would like to take a break from writing and make a guest appearance on Happy Days.Their characters, Laverne DeFazio and Shirley Feeney proved popular enough to appear in two more episodes during the third season of Happy Days. Ultimately, they appeared in five episodes of the show.
It was while Garry Marshall was at a conference with ABC executives on Marco Island off the coast of Florida that Fred Silverman, the the head of ABC, asked him to create more shows. More to the point, Fred Silverman asked Garry Marshall if he had any spinoffs. Mr. Marshall told him that he was too busy working on Happy Days, but Fred Silverman persisted. In truth, Garry Marshall had been mulling over an idea for a show centred around Laverne DeFazio and Shirley Feeney. He then pitched the idea of a show centred around two blue collar women. Fred Silverman liked the idea and gave him the go-ahead for the new show.
Initially, Cindy Williams did not want to reprise the character of Shirley for the prospective new show, originally titled Laverne DeFazio & Shirley Feeney. At this point in her career, Cindy Williams had already appeared in several movies, including Travels with My Aunt (directed by the legendary George Cukor), American Graffiti (for which she was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress), and The Conversation (directed by Francis Ford Coppola). It was then quite natural that Cindy Williams was considering a career in film and would not consider a TV series,which could be a long-term investment as far as time is concerned.
It was then that Liberty Williams (also billed as Louise Williams), no relation to Cindy Williams, was asked to audition for the role of Shirley. A seven minute screen test with Liberty Williams as Shirley and Penny Marshall as Laverne was filmed. As it turned out, Cindy Williams was convinced to do the show and an audition tape was filmed with her and Penny Marshall. ABC executives wanted to see both the audition tape with Liberty Williams and the audition tape with Cindy Williams. Paramount executive Michael Eisner hid the tape with Liberty Williams, telling the ABC executives it had been lost. It was then that they only saw the tape with Cindy Williams and in the end she played the role of Shirley on the show. As to Liberty Williams, today she may be best known as the voice of Jayna, one half of the Wonder Twins, on the Saturday morning cartoon Super Friends.
While Laverne DeFazio and Shirley Feeney were given their own show, they were toned down considerably from their initial appearances on Happy Days., Indeed, in "A Date with Fonzie," Fonzie even makes the statement that they were "...more boisterous than I usually like." For their own show, Laverne and Shirley would remain working class and independent, but they were no longer loose as they had been in their initial appearances on Happy Days.
Laverne & Shirley proved to be a hit from its debut on January 27, 1976. In fact, it became the very first TV show to ever debut in the number one spot in the Nielsen ratings. Laverne & Shirley ultimately ranked no. 3 in the Nielsen ratings for the 1975-1976 season. It would rise to no. 2 in its second season. For its third and fourth seasons, Laverne & Shirley would be the number one show on the air.
The success of Laverne & Shirley would result in a Saturday morning cartoon spun-off from the show, Laverne & Shirley in the Army. The cartoon was produced by Hanna-Barbera and took inspiration from the two-part, fifth season episode "We're in the Army Now,"which found Laverne and Shirley enlisting int the army. It aired as part of The Fonz-Laverne & Shirley Hour. For its second season, Fonzie (voiced by Henry Winkler) joined the cast, now serving as a mechanic in the motor pool. Laverne & Shirley in the Army did not repeat the live-action show's success,and ended after only two seasons.
While Laverne & Shirley hit no. 1 for two seasons, it would not remain there. For the show's fifth season, ABC moved it from its original Tuesday night time slot to Thursday night. The show's ratings dropped. The show was moved at mid-season to Monday night and then finally back to its original time slot for the summer. Quite naturally, Laverne & Shirley took a beating, with the show dropping int the ratings to no. 42 for the year. While its ratings would improve for its sixth season, Laverne & Shirley never ranked in the top ten again.
It was perhaps because of the drop in ratings that big changes were made to Laverne & Shirley for its sixth season. Previously set in the late Fifties to early Sixties, the show was now set in the mid-Sixties. Laverne and Shirley lost their jobs at the Shotz Brewing Company in Milwaukee, having been replaced by automated bottle-capping machines. The two women then moved to Burbank, California, where they got jobs at ardwell's department store as gift wrappers. Laverne and Shirley were not along in moving to California. Laverne's father Frank and stepmother Edna also moved, opening a restaurant called Cowboy Bill's. Even Lenny and Squiggy moved, opening their own talent agency, the Squignowski Talent Agency. Two new characters were added to the show. Rhonda Lee (Leslie Easterbrook) was one of their neighbours, a scatter-brained blonde who wanted to be an actress. Sonny St. Jacques (Ed Marinaro) was their landlord and also a stuntman. Whether it was the changes made to the show or the fact that it was back on Tuesday night, ratings for Laverne & Shirley improved. It rose to no. 20 for the season.
While Laverne & Shirley survived its characters' move to California, there would be one change that the show would not survive. It was towards the end of the seventh season that Cindy Williams became pregnant with her first child. She then left two episodes in the show's eighth season. In the end, Cindy Williams sued Paramount for $20 million. The lawsuit was settled out of court and Cindy Williams was released from her contract. The show then continued with Penny Marshall playing Laverne without Shirley around. Amazingly enough, Laverne & Shirley did not drop dramatically in its ratings. It ranked at no. 25 for its eighth season, after having ranked no. 20 for its seventh season. This was high enough that it would have been renewed under normal circumstances. Penny Marshall was open to the prospect of a ninth season, but wanted production to move to New York City. ABC did not want to shill out the money for such a move, and as a result cancelled the show.
Laverne & Shirley went onto a success in syndication as a rerun. It not only aired on many local television stations, but on such cable outlets as Nick at Nite and, TBS. Laverne & Shirley currently airs on MeTV and Catchy Comedy, It is currently available on streaming on Pluto TV. The entire series has been released on DVD, starting with the first season in 2004.
Laverne & Shirley was not only a highly rated show, it was also a pioneering one. There had been shows centred on single women before, including Private Secretary, Our Miss Brooks That Girl, and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, among others, but in every case the characters were middle class. Laverne & Shirley centred on two working class women. Shows centred around working class characters have never been particularly common, so a sitcom featuring two working class women was unique indeed. What is more, the show was empowering for women outside the working class, with its focus on female friendship and female independence. It must be pointed out that in part Laverne & Shirley led to Penny Marshall's directorial career. After making her directorial debut with an episode of Working Stiffs, she directed four episodes of Laverne & Shirley. She went onto direct such movies as Big (1988), Awakenings (1990), and A League of Their Own (1992). If Laverne & Shirley was popular, it was because it featured a talented cast and crew working on a show that was very different for its time.
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