"Friendly Persuasion"

"Friendly Persuasion"
December 15, 1981
C-

Wally Dalton's only L & S script is moronic and only saved from a D+ or worse by some moments with Lenny and/or Squiggy.  The cousin of the girls' new boss shows up at the gift wrapping department and turns out to be a celebrity that Laverne immediately recognizes and crushes on.  Now, in 1966, a then 31-year-old Charles Grodin had hardly any screen credits (a My Mother the Car cameo is one of the more notable ones) but, fine, I'll go with the Scooby Doo Rule that says that any celebrity can make you starstruck.  However, how Grodin is used in this story makes no sense, and the other threads don't really either.  Let me just list them:

1. Shirley assumes that CG is after their jobs (both?  I guess);
2. CG makes a bet with his cousin that the girls need to be treated with friendliness and respect;
3. So Laverne invites him over and makes him bring the wine, which he agrees to;
4. Carmine and Shirley have a stupid fight over his overuse of coupons on their dates;
5. So he invites Rhonda to the Chinese restaurant, and she not only accepts but goes home and puts on a stereotypical Chinese outfit, complete with black wig (in a matter of minutes by the way);
6. Meanwhile, Lenny and Squiggy are irate because there's no hot water for Squiggy's semi-annual shower;
7. CG shows up while everyone (minus Rhonda for the moment) is arguing and he proceeds to tell them a bunch of psychobabble about positive energy, which they take as an attack on them, especially when he rejects Laverne's romantic interest, so they kick him out and keep his wine;
8. The common enemy unites them into, gasp, friendliness and respect;
9. He comes back to further make his point and stun them with his wisdom;
10. And everyone goes out to dinner, even though Shirley, Lenny, and Squiggy are all dressed in bathrobes.

I will admit that I smiled a little at Lenny and Squiggy trying to explain their dynamic to CG, like how Lenny will lather up Squiggy (standing outside the shower) but expects no favors in return.  And when Lenny fishes for compliments, Laverne (who he called "nice and easy...going") says, as she has before, that he's a real sweet guy and a good friend.

I think what they were going for here was some laughs and maybe insight provided by an outsider reacting to the group, but it would take a much better script than Dalton's to make this work.