"From Suds to Stardom"

"From Suds to Stardom"
May 11, 1976
B-


This first of I think at least three Shotz Showcase episodes is a little weak, and yet it does feature the debut of the marvelous Lenny & the Squigtones.  ("I'm Lenny."  "And I'm the Squigtones.")  They here sing the McKean-penned "Starcrossed," which is a '50s parody played straight, including apparently one of those "Tell Laura I Love Her" tragic endings of the late '50s and early '60s.  The girls' attempt at Calypso is much less memorable, although Carmine does ask them to put "sex" into it.  (Mekka did the episodes' choreography.)  The tag even offers L, L, S, and S doing distracting backup (especially Squiggy) to Carmine's "Rags to Riches."  But the sum of all these parts isn't as good as I suspect it would've been a year or two later.  Still, as with so much of Season One, there is potential.

Garry Marshall is onscreen as the Drummer, while Ogden Talbot's first of three roles on the show is as Wilbur.