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In a recent post about 80s music, I pointed out how difficult it is to separate "good" from "nostalgic." Things you loved in your childhood hold warm fuzzy memories, and then you see and hear them again, and some of the charm is lost. My best example is the movie Fright Night, a film I dearly loved in the 80s that simply doesn't hold up as a classic 22 years later (though it's still fun in its way).
I was happy to find that Laverne & Shirley still holds up. It remains funny, and my nostalgic memories are not proven wrong. It still has some of that old-fashioned 50s-70s sitcom, "playing to the balcony" unreality about it, but so did I Love Lucy.
Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams were a remarkable comic team, with a prowess for physical comedy only rivaled at the time by John Ritter. Michael McKean and David L. Lander were seen as silly and stupid as Lenny & Squiggy back in the 70s. Modern day viewing shows a subversive--almost dirty--undercurrent to much of their comedy. I'm sure some of my love for this show still is colored by nostalgia, but I'm confident that there's more to it than that.
The third season DVD release has finally been slated for November 27th, after having been set for September. Since there were a few years between seasons 1 & 2's DVDs, I guess I should be grateful. I still can't figure out how so many crappy shows get full releases, and this one is just trickling out (and with box-cover art semi-foreign to the graphics on the show too). Oh well.
I posted the theme song to Laverne & Shirley several weeks ago, in one of my other "Guilty Pleasures" posts. So, to prevent making this post a rerun (hah!), here is the theme song that ran during the much-lamented California years. People tend to think Laverne & Shirley jumped the shark after the move. I disagree. Lots of funny adventures were found in LA. And don't tell me that whole groups of people don't just pick up and move across the country together. I DID!
I was happy to find that Laverne & Shirley still holds up. It remains funny, and my nostalgic memories are not proven wrong. It still has some of that old-fashioned 50s-70s sitcom, "playing to the balcony" unreality about it, but so did I Love Lucy.
Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams were a remarkable comic team, with a prowess for physical comedy only rivaled at the time by John Ritter. Michael McKean and David L. Lander were seen as silly and stupid as Lenny & Squiggy back in the 70s. Modern day viewing shows a subversive--almost dirty--undercurrent to much of their comedy. I'm sure some of my love for this show still is colored by nostalgia, but I'm confident that there's more to it than that.
The third season DVD release has finally been slated for November 27th, after having been set for September. Since there were a few years between seasons 1 & 2's DVDs, I guess I should be grateful. I still can't figure out how so many crappy shows get full releases, and this one is just trickling out (and with box-cover art semi-foreign to the graphics on the show too). Oh well.
I posted the theme song to Laverne & Shirley several weeks ago, in one of my other "Guilty Pleasures" posts. So, to prevent making this post a rerun (hah!), here is the theme song that ran during the much-lamented California years. People tend to think Laverne & Shirley jumped the shark after the move. I disagree. Lots of funny adventures were found in LA. And don't tell me that whole groups of people don't just pick up and move across the country together. I DID!
Five of us quit the same company, and all moved to Las Vegas together 13 years ago! And I don't think we've jumped the shark yet! Anyway, it was only after Cindy Williams left, and the show became "Laverne & Furniture" that this show ran out of gas.
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