"Bowling for Razzberries"

"Bowling for Razzberries" [sic]
February 10, 1976
C+

I couldn't help feeling like this episode might've been better done in Season Two or Three.  There's nothing terribly wrong but it's not that funny and the guest stars don't do that much with their roles.  Randy Powell is a partial exception as the nameless Doctor, yet I felt like the sequence with him was missing something, either to editing for syndication or just something in the original script by Marty Nadler, who didn't do any others for this show, although he did five for Happy Days.

The liveliest scene is actually the bowling montage, although I have to wonder if Fats Domino's "I'm Walkin' " will be the only '50s song that will survive the music rights problem.  I do like that Laverne thinks she's outsmarting Shirley but, as in the previous episode, Shirley is on to her.

Note that Carmine, who again sings the "Rags to Riches" line, had called Laverne "Vernie" once in the previous episode, while Shirley uses the nickname a few times.  She also refers to Lenny as "Leonard," and he elongates "Shirley" as if he can't think of how else to respond.  A minor Lavenny moment is when he asks Laverne but not Shirley for butter to get a bowling ball off his hand.  And, yes, although the previous episode was hello-less, here Squiggy says it while dragging Lenny in.

Ruth Silveira plays Karen and would be part of the "Blue Team" in one of the Army episodes.  Alan Myerson would direct eleven more episodes.