"Excuse Me, May I Cut In," Scene 8

The tag takes place in the "girls' living room - night."  Richie and Potsie were supposed to "start combing their hair, putting mints in the mouth" and "check each other over" while the girls were occupied with their new TV.  They did not close the door loudly twice; Richie just cleared his throat.

In the script, "Laverne is aware of what Potsie has on his mind," but she doesn't seem to be at first onscreen.  The thing about shaving was added.

They left out Richie telling Shirley, "And when you hugged the TV and gave it a kiss, it gave me a small hint."  In this scene in the script, Richie calls Shirley "a cute girl," which was again strengthened to "a very pretty girl."

They omitted Richie saying, "Well -- see you next year," before he exits.

The last page was split off to make the aired tag.  Laverne didn't mention Shirley's "little diary" in this script.

Thoughts:

• Shirley would become more sympathetic onscreen than in this version of the script, while Richie and especially Potsie seem less creepy.
• The loss of the "Lenny & Squiggy vs. Russians" subplot is a shame, but I can see how if they had to trim the episode, that was the obvious choice.
• Losing Madman Milton is fine though.