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.
HAH. Shout out to whoever wrote that one, that line totally went by me when I rewatched.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to me that EM got his own "Do the Fonzie" this late into the show's run, when the audience would be...less likely to care. Bless GM, he really wanted EM to break out.
The "broom" line? I couldn't help thinking what https://santaburger57.wixsite.com/lands/lavenny would've done with it if they'd kept going into Season Eight.
ReplyDeleteI've heard that Eddie M has had stage success in the years since, which seems right. But, yeah, he was not the breakout star of this series, by a long shot.
And, Oh God, I had to go watch "Do the Fonzie" on Youtube, not as cringey as I expected. And it reminded me that I always preferred Leather Tuscadero to Pinky.
I need to poke Jamie on that. NATURE ABHORS A VACUUM.
DeleteYep, he's done standards/classic albums, done a lot of touring productions, and appeared in a lot of Pureflix types of movies. He was a regular on a Christian sitcom for awhile.
I love Suzy Quatro as Leather (And I kinda shipped Leather and Ralph Malph for awhile?), she improves every episode she's in.
I can see why she (he?) would give up at before California, but there's so much Lavenny in Season Six!
DeleteI can't remember Leather and Ralph interacting, but OK. (What is the ship name? Leatheralph? Ralpher?) I shipped Joanie/Potsie (Jotsie? Pony? LOL) for awhile, purely on the basis of the "dren" episode, but in my defense I was seven.
She! I think she got distracted by RL. I'll ask her about it.
DeleteThey went to a military ball together as dates and tried to act like different people but realized they liked each other as is! It was sweet! Also hehe, we've all got those ships.
Oh, geez, I remember that now! I think I shipped them a little, too, although I haven't thought about it in decades.
Delete(And I didn't want to assume with a name like Jamie.)
Yep! It's even in Leather's HD wiki that Ralph has feelings for her and vice-versa, so I know I wasn't pulling that one out of my butt from old memories.
Delete(Totally! I understand that!)
Leather and Ralph were both sort of misfits, weren't they? Not that that means chemistry, but I could see it being part of the bond. She was very cool but different, and he was a nerd who made everyone laugh.
DeleteYep, they were! *nods* I think that was part of it - it's been ages since I've seen the ep but now I want to track it down.
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