"The Laverne & Shirley Reunion" (1995)

OK, here we go, three parts in decent condition, from Youtube....

I won't comment on every little thing, but I should note that Henry Winkler does the introduction after the introduction.

Lots and lots of clips.

I disagree that they were at their best when they were fighting.  I usually enjoyed it more when they teamed up.

Looks like the bloopers will be sprinkled throughout the show.

Um, Cindy, there were times when it was more than just talk about sex.

"The longest unconsummated romance in television history."  Um, Eddie, Tony Micelli and Angela Bower would like a word with you.

Penny brings up class issues.

I hadn't actually seen the part of the Happy Days episode before the girls show up in, oh, centuries.  I like the bit with the telephone call.

"The most lovable and yet repulsive characters on television"-- David L. Lander describing Lenny & Squiggy

It's kind of sweet that 1995 Cindy describes David and Michael as "those boys."

They keep referring to each other by their real names rather than character names.

I've seen this batch of bloopers as a separate Youtube clip.

Apparently 1995 Penny is not, as she would in later interviews, going to say it was a bad idea to move the characters to California.

Cindy explains why Shirley left, leaving out the contract dispute and all that.

They can't get the five of them together in a room in '95 until the last minute?

I would've liked to have had them talk about Frank and Edna, or simply talk more.  And there should've been more about all the relationships in the clips, not just slapstick.  But oh well.

It looks like it's the 2002 reunion that has the really crappy copy on Youtube, but maybe I'll see it someday.

"Laverne & Shirley XXX: A Dreamzone Parody"

...And I'm back!  Since this is the second time I've watched this porn parody (or "sitcum" as some call it), I won't "review" it as such.  I'm just going to take notes as I go along, and I don't think I'll grade it.  I'll mostly be commenting on how it is as a parody, how faithful (or not) it is to canon.  And, yes, that includes "Laverne's" accent.  And, no, there will be no screencaps.  (I'm trying to keep this R-rated at most.)  Here goes....

00:36 to 01:58*, a reasonably faithful tribute to the theme song, both lyrics and images, until we get to previews of the sex scenes.

Approximately 02:18, after Shirley walks in on Laverne masturbating, she objects that this was in front of Boo Boo Kitty, who is a stuffed cat, but black & white rather than black.  The apartment, by the way, is vaguely like the girls' apartment, but more generic.  Oh, and there's a laughtrack.  (Common in this sub-genre.)

02:32, wait, both girls sort of have accents, like in the first season.  Oh, and Laverne bought a bunch of L's at the Letter Barn.

02:46, right after Shirley says they're desperate, we get a delayed "hello" entrance from Lenny & Squiggy.

02:54, the boys' costumes are reasonably canonical, although the lettering is the wrong style for "LONE WOLF" (no Lavernian L for one thing).

03:05, after making leering comments, the boys flick their tongues.  (What, is the hand-bite copyrighted?)

03:50, the boys make a very lengthy exit because they, according to Squiggy, disgust Shirley, although Lenny says they have feelings, too.

04:10, the girls are having trouble paying the rent (very canonical), so Shirley suggests Laverne have her father pay it, but Laverne thinks Shirley should have Carmine pay it.  Shirley objects that since she's having sex with Carmine (not canonical!), she would feel like "a whore."

04:24, Laverne storms out after the girls argue.  Shirley, who's been holding BBK all this time, pets him.

04:53, at the Pizza Bowl (which looks like a coffee bar where they serve pizza), Laverne's "Pops" promises to try to get the girls an extension on the rent from his girlfriend, their "landlord."

05:15, Carmine tap-dances to cheer Shirley up at his cinder-block bachelor pad.

05:33, the always reliable Anthony Rosano as Carmine does a bit of an accent (and wears a ridiculous wig) as Carmine when he talks to "Shirl."  Riley Reid, by the way, is dressed very early-season Shirley, with short black hair.  (We'll get back to Laverne's costume later.)

05:38, Carmine refers to himself as the Big Ragoo, which definitely takes on another meaning here.

05:53, Carmine and Shirley are sweet together for about a minute and then start making out.  No cold showers here.

Approximately 08:25, Shirley says, "Oh my gosh," while Carmine is, ahem, cheering her up, a nice touch keeping her language clean (for the moment).

Carmine and Laverne incidentally both have very un-'50s tattoos.

09:57, Shirley keeps her scarf on while pleasuring Carmine.  I'm not sure if this is in character. 

10:47, this Shirley doesn't stuff her bra, but Carmine is happy with her figure.

11:24, she giggles as she calls him, inevitably, the Big Ragoo.  And she's got un-50s tats also.

13:00, I doubt Carmine would ever call Shirley "so f***ing dirty," but shrug, it's porn.

Approximately 14:15, Shirley says, "Oh my goodness!"

Less than thirty seconds later, she's talking dirty, but they are really going at it.

17:39, by the way, I see Shirmine as more into the missionary position, but OK.

18:29, well, this Shirley indeed has dimples in her (face) cheeks.

19:16, it is a nice touch that this Shirley and Carmine are the right physical types.  Also, I like that they're somewhat affectionate with each other, kissing mouths now and then, and making eye contact when they can.

Approximately 21:00, they've both dropped their accents by the way.

24:11, she says she's not usually such a dirty girl.

25:22, there's a lot of him giving her directions, although she doesn't always follow them.

26:15, it's important for a couple to be able to laugh together.

Around 28:26, he calls her Shirl again.

31:02, he finally takes his shirt off.  (His costume is pretty generic, no "Big Ragoo" jacket by the way.)  Her scarf is still hanging in there, though it probably got in the way at some points.

33:18, they end the scene with affectionate laughter.  Since I think this is his only appearance in the movie, I'll say that Anthony Rosano did a decent job with what is arguably the least defined (uh, I mean, no, developed, whatever) regular character.  It's not one of his best acting jobs (I like his Tony Micelli and Barney Rubble in particular), but it, well, got the job done.

33:19, the helpful label of "Laverne Gets F***ed by Lenny and Squiggy," the only threesome in the movie, although it will be a V rather than a three-sided triangle.

33:27, Laverne is back in her echoing apartment.  (It's like the Pizza Bowl got the main set budget.)  By the way, Chanel Preston is wearing a much more revealing "regular" costume than Reid was, but admittedly not more revealing than some of Penny M's on the show.

33:30, the boys enter the front door again because they heard Laverne screaming.

33:38, Tommy Pistol does a pretty good Squiggy delivery on "We were hoping you were coming."

33:55, after Squiggy says Shirley is uptight (I guess he doesn't know what's happening in CinderBlockLand), Lenny says Laverne is fun-loving.  Squiggy agrees.

34:15, as Lenny lightly strokes Laverne's hair and she bats him away, Squiggy suggests the three of them have some fun while her "tight-ass roommate" is gone.

34:19, looking kind of bored, Laverne says, "Why not?"

34:28, both boys bite their fists as she starts to unbutton her low-cut blouse.  From Chanel's pose afterwards, this Laverne is canonically proud of her chest.

34:45, the boys make inarticulate noises and she taunts them about whether they've seen a pair of tits before.  And the makeout+ begins.

34:54, Lenny kisses her neck, which is pretty Leonard-Feathery of him.

35:05, I guess the boys tumbling Laverne over the couch is sort of slapstick?  And then they strip off their jackets.  Kudos to the costumer for giving Tommy a black shirt and Seth Gamble (Lenny) a white shirt.

35:33, Laverne seems too tall, Lenny too short.  Squiggy's height is fine.

36:13, the sound isn't great (and for some reason we have an instrumental version of the theme), but Laverne refers to a part of Squiggy's anatomy by using his name.

37:52, would Laverne wear that much eye shadow?

38:22, Squiggy seems a lot more aggressive than Lenny, which is in character.

38:40, Squiggy has yet another non-'50s tat.  (I haven't noticed any piercings except Shirley's ears.)

Approximately 39:00, I think Squiggy said he'd give Lenny the honors of going first, which would be pretty generous of canonical Squiggy.

39:26, that look on Lenny's face is not too far off from Michael McK's just-kissed-by-Laverne face, although I don't know if that's deliberate.

42:02, and the Lavenny shippers can take note that Laverne specifically requests something from Lenny while on top of Squiggy.

43:11, Lenny is shyer and/or gentler than Squiggy.

45:52, Lenny's eyes rolling back in his head is a nice McKeanian touch.

46:12, Lenny is overall reacting more than Squiggy (very canonical).

48:17, Squiggy is still wearing his sweat socks by the way.

49:42, Preston's Laverne accent is shaky, but that was a nice New-Yorky "Ohmigawd!" there.  And then another, maybe the director said something.

54:00, despite some spanking earlier, Lenny is almost tender with Laverne at some moments, the way he touches her back for instance.

54:42, there goes Lenny's white shirt.  (A helpful visual cue, with the boys' faces not in every shot.)

54:53, Gamble has that "luckiest man in the world" look that Lenny should have right now.

57:42, Laverne is more playful finishing off Lenny than Squiggy.

Gamble and Pistol stayed in character, both before and during the sex scene.  How much of this is due to the actors' styles, and how much they (or the director) were aware that Squiggy is the "leader" I don't know.  My shipper's bias made me feel like Laverne was a little more into Lenny than Squiggy, and he was definitely (ahem) into her.  Squiggy looked more like he was out for fun, which he got.

57:57, back at the Pizza Bowl, Raylene as Mrs. Babish for some reason does have an East Coast accent.  I forwarded through this whole scene last time I think (not an Evan Stone fan), so this is a bit of a shock.  He does not sound a bit like Phil Foster.

58:07, let us give thanks that the hair & make-up person(s) didn't give Frank a mustache.

58:30, Frank tells Edna to "give her Italian meatball some sugar."

59:03, "You guys get out!  We're closed!"  LOL, I would love it if we saw a reaction shot of customers.

59:44, I don't know if I can stand twenty minutes of Evan Stone comparing his anatomy to food.

1:00:00, they don't seem to have made any attempt to make Raylene look like Betty Garrett. At least they gave Stone an apron.

1:02:26, Edna has, yes, non-'50s tats.

1:03:18, a '50s jukebox, probably handed down from the Happy Days parody.

1:04:30, Mrs. Babish has probably forgotten all about the rent by now.

1:06:00, I hope the Health Department doesn't decide to make a surprise inspection.

1:07:00, I confess I'm visiting other tabs while letting the audio play, just checking back in now and then.

Approximately 1:08:00, did he just say something about Italian people?

1:10:00, checking the weather report.

1:11:00, it's not even that it's Fredna, it's that it's Evan Stone and some actress I don't know, playing characters that they don't know much about.

1:12:00, I wonder if "sheltering in place" has led to more online porn consumption.  Someone should do a study on this.

1:13:00, I know I should go to double speed, but I'm waiting to see if anything in character happens.  (I mean, don't you think Edna would be the one who would initiate it?)

1:15:00, looking at a Conners discussion board, and I'm a lot less into The Conners this season than last.  (I mean, they shaved Ben!  When will the character assassination end?)

1:15:25 approximately, more anatomy = food, which is fine when it's done well, but enough!

1:16:00, I wonder if there are any coronavirus updates.

1:18:00, and what's up with primaries being postponed?

1:19:00, Tulsi Gabbard finally dropped out, three days ago, but I hadn't noticed.  A good time to catch up.

1:20:00, Raylene is getting more verbal, hopefully they'll be done soon.

1:23:40, over finally!  Raylene is the worst cast or at least the one given least to do in terms of character, when Edna is one of the most complex characters on the show.  (Would it have killed them to have given her a line like "You're better than my five husbands"?)  Evan Stone seems to have been told his character is Laverne's father who runs a pizza restaurant.  If this couple had to be included, why not the equivalent of Edna coaxing Frank to dance?  This scene was just filler, so to speak.

1:23:43, Laverne is holding BBK when Shirley returns.  (Symbolism?)

1:23:55, "Mrs. Babische"?!  Is she Italian, French?

1:24:07, "Oh, you see, Laverne, there is a lesson here today."  I'd die if they did the lesson-learned music.

1:24:29, and now the Laverne & Shirley scene, as a reaffirmation of their friendship.  Or something.

1:25:19, the girls are more careful taking each other's clothes off than the guys were undressing them, a nice touch.  They also kiss on the mouth more.

1:27, Shirley scolds Laverne for her "dirty mouth," but as I recall, Shirley's language gets pretty dirty in this scene.  ("Laverne, you have a mouth like a sewer," as Shirley says in their introduction.)

It seems out of character that Laverne doesn't say much during her sex scenes.

1:30:42, another "Ohmigawd!"  Or two.  Or three.

1:36:05, um, Shirley, I really don't think Laverne is a "dirty little secret whore."  Not so secret now that she's been with Lenny & Squiggy.

1:39:00, Laverne seems a lot happier than she was with Lenny and Squiggy by the way.

1:41:00, I just realized there's no mention of the girls working in a brewery, not even in the opening credits.

1:42:00, Laverne is still wearing her L-embroidered blouse, although unbuttoned.  Shirley's still got the scarf.

1:45:00, in this movie, it's Shirley rather than Lenny who has a "pleasure center" on the foot.

1:48:00, Shirley is definitely the more dominant one, which may or may not be in character.

1:50:30, a very short tag scene and then a reprise of the theme song.

Well, this isn't the weakest porn parody I've seen, and it got the general gist of Laverne & Shirley, and of Laverne and Shirley, but it certainly could've been better, theme song aside.  I don't know if immersing myself in canon the last several months made me get more out of this, but it does make me appreciate the canonical cast more.


*Time marks are as accurate as I can get without spending too much time on this.

Conclusion

I wrote over five months ago, "I want to talk about how L & S, and Laverne and Shirley as characters, related (or failed to) feminism and a less political sisterhood.  I want to figure out why I'm still a Lavenny (Laverne + Lenny) shipper and whether that's justified.  I want to see how I really feel about what I at the time (my freshman year in high school) referred to as the "Laverne & Laverne" season.  I want to gasp at guest stars, even ones I know to expect.  I want  to marvel at the cluster of Northeast accents in Milwaukee.  And I even want to cringe at Garry Marshall schmaltz.  Most of all, I want to recount the experience, in broadcast order."

• While I haven't addressed feminism in every episode, I do want to say that having two female leads (albeit ably supported by mostly male regulars), on what was one of the most popular shows in America, was in itself an inspiring sight, and that Penny Marshall went on to become a successful film director does mean something.  Laverne & Shirley were like sisters, in good and bad ways, sometimes supporting each other and sometimes working against each other.  (And this is true of Penny and Cindy behind the scenes.)  Was Laverne & Shirley as a show feminist?  Yes and no.  It sent mixed messages about sex and love, and work and success, but it was also about two very different women who were people, in a way that not every female character was on television in that era.  Both women were gorgeous in approachable ways, but they weren't just about their appearances.
• Tracing the meandering path of Lavenny, and other ships, has been one of the most interesting aspects of this project.  Why was I a Lavenny shipper?  Because Penny Marshall and Michael McKean had incredible onscreen chemistry when their characters absolutely weren't required to, sometimes not even allowed to.  Laverne and Lenny as characters balance each other in a different way than each character does with her/his best friend, and they often bring out the best in each other.  The show wasn't designed for this ship, not like "will they or won't they?" Tony & Angela on Who's the Boss?, and sometimes Lenny and Laverne had other attractions, momentary or more serious.  But it's easy to see why I and so many others are invested in their frustrating relationship, more than we are in Shirmine or Fredna or, hell, the weird ships like Fronda and Carmine/Squendelyn.  (Squiggy/Beehive Girl though remains OTP!Endgame!)
• Sadly, there was not enough of Laverne, particularly as we knew her, in Laverne & Laverne.
• Oh, did I gasp at guest stars!  So many, from kind of obscure to "Jeff F***ing Goldblum!" as I put it on Facebook.
• Seriously, as someone wrote on Youtube once, why is everyone in the '50s Italian?
• I cringed but I was also sometimes warmed by the schmaltz, if it was earned rather than Garry M trying to shoehorn it into an abomination like "The Monastery Story."
• I've recounted the experience, in broadcast order, trying to recall what I thought at the time but also finding that this series really was a lost part of my youth, not irrevocably lost but distant in so many ways.  
• Thank you for reading my revisiting of Laverne & Shirley.  I could stay longer, tell you what I really think of Laverne & Shirley XXX: A Dream Zone Parody (short version, "Why doesn't Laverne have an accent?"), and the legacy of the show and all that.  But I'm off to read Garry Marshall's My Happy Days in Hollywood, including the chapter called "Schlemiel!  Schlimazel!  Laverne and Shirley Are Driving the Writers Crazy."

"Here Today, Hair Tomorrow"

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"Councilman De Fazio"

"Councilman De Fazio"
May 3, 1983
C

What it says on the tin: Frank runs for City Council and, after seeming to lose badly, wins.  And Laverne spends most of the episode home with mono, so she's not involved much.  However, it's nice to see Squiggy get the girl for an entire episode and perhaps beyond.  And Mary the waitress gets at least her second line of the series.  (She had to say something the time Mr. DeFazio accidentally locked her in the restroom overnight.)

Dottie Archibald plays Reporter Karen and was Mrs. Swisher last season, and in fact co-wrote this episode with Francis T. Perry Williams, who had played a Policeman earlier in this season; and Phil Foster, who'd written another episode about his character in '78.  TV Anchorman Wayne Powers had three previous minor roles on this series.

"Do the Carmine"

"Do the Carmine"
March 15, 1983
C

If you can get past all the anachronisms in this episode, the only one written by Jay Grossman (don't get me started on how backmasking was more of an '80s thing than '60s), this isn't bad, especially for Season Eight.  I do want to note that Rhonda is definitely nicer this season than she was in Season Six, here even offering to help Laverne make dozens of sandwiches.  And there are some nice Carmine moments, with Squiggy and Laverne.  Also, this is at least the third California episode with a Bob Dylan reference.

Oh, and while the previous episode had a couple Shirley references, this one has an exchange where Squiggy tries to hit a jukebox like "that kid we knew back in Milwaukee," and Carmine says, "Arthur?"  Not only that, but Laverne says that dancing with a broom as a teenager made her have a thing for "tall, skinny blond guys"!

Jay Leno's role as Bobby Bitts (sort of a West Coast Dick Clark) is less memorable than his appearance four years earlier as Laverne's boyfriend Joey Mitchell.

"How's Your Sister?"

"How's Your Sister?"
March 1, 1983
C-

In Roger Garrett's last L & S story, Squiggy's younger sister Squendelyn (yes, Lander in drag) visits from New Jersey, after her marriage to a man named Arnie ends, so Squiggy fixes her up with Carmine, for $200.  Carmine reluctantly takes Squendelyn to a Hollywood party, where he's hit on by a succession of very '80s-looking beautiful women.  The episode of course isn't particularly funny, and it wants to have it both ways, with Squen mocked for her looks but then in the end admired for her "inner beauty."  Still, it's interesting from a biographical standpoint I guess, and both Squigman siblings gets the best of the dialogue, like that she's on the Pill!

"Please Don't Feed the Buzzards"

"Please Don't Feed the Buzzards"
February 22, 1983
B-

 “Hey everybody, I found a new script! And this one’s funny!”— Tom Servo talking about a treasure map on the Catalina Caper episode of Mystery Science Theatre 3000

Lenny is back and we can laugh again!  (Then we can cry because it's McKean's last appearance as Lenny until reunion shows and such.)  In Andy Goldberg's only and Cheryl Alu's second of two L & S scripts, Lenny and Squiggy find a treasure map and soon they and Carmine and Frank are wandering aimlessly in the desert, fighting, drinking, and bonding.  The episode doesn't make a lot of sense, although by Season Eight standards this is icily logical, and the chemistry is good.  I laughed a few times and smiled a lot, and that heavy weight lifted off my chest for twenty minutes.

Shipping notes, a mirage of Rhonda as a harem girl makes Lenny drool, but he does say goodbye to Laverne before returning to the desert, presumably for the next forty days and nights.  Also, it felt completely in character for Squiggy to use Lenny as a pack-mule and drink all the water when he lets Lenny have all the peanut butter.  Family notes, a drunk Frank says Squiggy is the son he never wanted, which Squiggy says is what his own father said, while Carmine's anecdote about his dad makes him sound poor but joking.

Wayne Powers has his third of four L & S roles as Gus.

"The Ghost Story"

Remember Laverne & Shirley?

"The Ghost Story"
February 15, 1983
C-

Kenny Wolin & Barry Bleach's only L & S script makes no attempt, as just about every other episode has, to pretend to have any connection to reality.  As such, it's somewhat interesting, and it does offer what feels like a lot of the remaining regulars (five!), but yeah, it doesn't work.  Laverne's apartment is haunted by an Olympic-losing ghost (Richard Karron, who was Robert A. Markland in '77), therfore, the only solution is to recreate the 1932 Olympics in her living room so that the ghost can stop possessing her.

Note that Suzi must be even more "frigid" than Shirley, since Carmine gets excited about holding hands with both Rhonda and Laverne during a seance.

Jeannetta Arnette, who plays Marianne Vimvoli, the actress that Squiggy tries to give the casting couch treatment to (on Laverne's couch), would get her long-running gig on Head of the Class three years later.

"Short on Time"

"Short on Time"
February 8, 1983
C-

Frank DeFazio confides his marital woes to a chimp, as Laverne realizes the importance of family while singing with the Spinners.

Oh, you want me to go on?  OK, in Jack Lukes's last L & S story, Laverne has three different demands on her night, none of them romantic for a change: an invitation from Rhonda passing on a chance to sing with the Spinners, a request to baby-sit "Chucky, Jr." (and if you didn't guess that the presumably single Chuck* was talking about a "monkey," then you've probably never watched a slapstick sitcom in your life), and a chance to finally talk to her father about why he's recently decided he hates women.  So her solution is to have her father chimp-sit while she goes to the concert.  Then when she gets home, she finds Frank's conveniently dropped "Dear John" letter from Edna and discovers what her pop has already confided in Chucky, Jr.: Edna has left him for a jockey.

Quite frankly, the writing is a mess.  You've got three threads that might've worked individually but don't work together here, comedically or logically.  Even a detail like Laverne inexplicably being in her Cowboy Bill's waitress uniform (when we last saw her in the padded red gown she sang in, and before that it looked like the the costumer character ripped the blouse off her so that she's probably missing buttons) shows that no one really cared anymore.  And what about the thing with Carmine's girlfriend Suzi (the same Suzi as on the Jim Belushi episode?) being offstage and stupid?  What's that about?  I'd guess it might be in service to Lavmine, but on this episode and the "ulcer" one, Laverne and Carmine bicker more in a sibling kind of way than a romcom "They are obviously meant for each other" kind of way.

And, oy, really, show?  That's how you're gonna belatedly deal with the "absent Betty Garrett" situation.  I understand that due to Cindy W's unexpected early departure, this plot had to be pushed back, but with only six episodes to go, why tarnish Edna's image like this?  She deserts Frank and it has to be treated like a joke, because you know, jockeys are funny, amirite?

Anyway, the Spinners are pretty good of course, and this is far from the worst episode, but it is a mess.

Oh, calendar note, I almost forgot.  I couldn't see the month or year, but I did get a look at the calendar in the kitchen that has the 24th and the 31st on Sundays.  In 1967, this only fit December.  Awww, Edna left right before Christmas! 


*This is the last Chuck episode, so maybe he got beamed up at the Star Trek convention.  And don't ask me why there are already Trekkies in '67, when that show didn't become a cult until after it was cancelled.

"The Fashion Show"

"The Fashion Show"
February 1, 1983
C+

The last L & S episode written by Al Aidekman and Marc Sotkin, and the next to last written by Roger Garrett, has potential it doesn't live up to but, yes, it's not bad for Season Eight.  Laverne's fashion photographer boyfriend, Mike Bailey (Larry Breeding, as presumably the same character he was on "Window on Main Street," although this Mike has been dating Laverne only four weeks), has to flatter and flirt with his models, so Laverne gets very jealous, despite his reassurances.  Inevitably, she has to cover for the model she makes quit, and it goes disastrously, or does it?  Note that Mike likes Laverne because she's "real," and yet she never confesses that the chicken dinner came out of a fast-food bucket.

Speaker Kit McDonough, with her distinctive voice, was Julie the Stewardess in "Airport '59."  Guard Robert Arcaro was a nameless Man the season before.  This time Anjelica Houston plays Miss Paris, although I didn't recognize her.  And Joanna Kerns is unmistakable, if miscast, as spoiled model Monique, a couple years before Growing Pains.

"The Rock and Roll Show"

This isn't helping Laverne's ulcer.

"The Rock and Roll Show"
January 25, 1983
C+

Maybe I'm so beaten down by Season Eight that I sort of liked this episode, even if there's something a little heart-breaking about an episode with this title not only missing Michael McKean but with Lander soloing in the opening credits.  (And Squiggy isn't even in it that much.)

In Jill Gordon's third and final L & S story, Laverne encourages Chuck to pursue music because of his harmonica skills.  (Fleischer's harmonica had perked up a dreary final-season Welcome Back, Kotter episode four years earlier.)  He recruits a bunch of science geeks from work, played by Jack Mack and the Heart Attack, and it's up to briefly Carmine but mostly Laverne to teach these nerds how to rock out.  That they achieve only at best a sort of Huey Lewis and the Far from Headline News isn't her fault.  And don't get me started on the stadium audience that looks like it's from 1957 rather than '67.

Promoter Bob Perlow had written three episodes but this is his only onscreen appearance on L & S.  Former writer Chris Thompson does his only directing gig on the series, here in the post-Bosom-Buddies phase of his career.  Note that IMDB claims that "Weird Al" Yankovic is uncredited as the keyboard player, but I don't buy it, especially since the keyboardist looks too tall and not really anything like WAY would look in the "Ricky" video from later that year.