Created by Gary Marshall (brother of series star Penny Marshall) with Lowell Ganz and Mark Rothman, Laverne & Shirley was a show about two single women, working and living in the 1950’s trying to find their way in the world. Thoroughly blue collar, the girls worked at the Shotz brewery in Milwaukee as bottle cappers. These two best friends were definitely an odd couple; Shirley was wide-eyed and hopelessly naïve, while Laverne was tough around the edges and just a wee bit cynical. Despite their personality differences, Laverne and Shirley loved each other and stuck together through it all.
The strength of Laverne & Shirley lies in Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams talents as physical comediennes. While I wouldn’t say that either of them quite ranks up their with Lucille Ball, Laverne & Shirley: The Third Season does showcase what an important role physical comedy played in the success of the show. In the season’s first episode, “Airport 59,” the girls are forced to land a plane themselves after accidentally knocking the pilot out. In “The Robot Lawsuit,” Laverne is attacked by a giant robot while shopping at a toy store and decides to sue. The robot episode is pure slapstick. Lucille Ball might have laughed if she saw it. In “Tag Team Wrestling,” Laverne learns that a fellow driver she insulted is the same woman she and her partner have to wrestle that night for charity. Most episodes of Laverne & Shirley feature the girls in some ridiculous situations of there own making, ripe with comedic overtones. The formula worked to perfection and made Laverne & Shirley a consistently funny show throughout the third season.
The girls clueless neighbors, Lenny Kosnowski (Michael McKean) and Andrew “Squiggy” Squiggman (David Lander) just added to the comedy. These two greasers had no social skills but some of the best entrances to a scene in television history. One of the highlights of Laverne & Shirley for me as a kid, was when Squiggy would bust through the door of the girls apartment with his nasally, “Hell-o!”
Laverne & Shirley never set out to be serious drama or address serious issues. The goal of the show was to give viewers thirty minutes of fun with Laverne, Shirley and the people in their lives. On that score, Laverne & Shirley: The Third Season is a knockout. Fans of the show and those who appreciate slapstick comedy will want to add the third season of Laverne & Shirley to their collections.
As with most of these Paramount releases, the audio is in Dolby digital 2.0 and there are no special features.
