"The Horse Show"

"The Horse Show"
January 17, 1978
B-

If you can get past the implausibility that Shirley would take home a horse and Mrs. Babish would be not only OK with it but supportive enough to tell off the authorities, this Judy Ervin story is a pretty good one.  There are some funny moments, like when the girls compare Mr. DeFazio and Buttercup, and when the boys* come in wearing ridiculous cowboy outfits.  I also like Penny M's Harpoesque mime when she accidentally swallows a horse pill, even though I saw that coming. 

I vaguely remember the "Mr. and Mrs. Ed" joke from the time.  (And Mr. Ed wouldn't premiere until about a year after this is set, but that's a minor anachronism for this show.)  The girls pretend that the horses can talk, in order to discourage the boys from jumping them (Laverne and Shirley) at the farm.  Earlier, Lenny bites his hand when he's reminded that he's in Laverne's bedroom.  More of a shipping note is that it takes only one kiss from Shirley to make Carmine drive all over the Wisconsin countryside to find a home for Buttercup.  Both girls must've been Fonzie-level kissers if this series is to be believed.

Bob McClurg has an unnamed role here and would be Policeman #3 four years later.  Robert Casper, who played Max Gruber and is apparently still alive at 95, has TV credits going back to the '50s, but I mostly recognize him as the judge who performed Carol's wedding on The Bob Newhart Show and a bizarre man off the street on Bosom Buddies.


*By this point, just assume that I mean "Lenny & Squiggy" when I say "the boys."  Carmine was in his own category, while Laverne and Shirley do in fact call their upstairs neighbors "the boys."