"Lost in Spacesuits"

"Lost in Spacesuits"
October 26, 1982
C-

I don't know that this unfunny and uninteresting episode, Barry Rubinowitz's last, would've been better with Shirley, but maybe she would've perked up the Laverne's birthday party scene.  At least the wire-work is decent for its time.  This episode introduces Laverne's spacy (pun intended) coworker Chuck (Charles Fleischer, post-Welcome-Back-Kotter, pre-Roger-Rabbit), who'd be back three times.

"Bad Girls"

"Bad Girls"
November 8, 1979
B-

Barry Rubinowitz wrote this episode where the girls help Mrs. Babish's teenage niece join their old group the Angora Debs (and we get another rendition of the song), but it turns out to be more of a gang now, given to stealing and vandalism.  This episode contains kittens, more Sea Hunt references and of course Lenny and Squiggy in drag.

Uh, yeah, about that.  So first of all, '70s drag for laughs, it's a definite thing on ABC sitcoms.  We already had Laverne and Shirley in Lenny and Squiggy's clothes and I suspect that Squiggy is in one of Shirley's outfits since they're about the same size.  Lenny is more obviously wearing at least Laverne's top, since it's got an L on it.  Generally, this sort of thing hasn't aged well, although it's not bad here until the tag, when the girls joke that the guys are teases for leading "big spender" sailors on and now have to "face the music."  The "half-ladies" seem perfectly comfortable in drag, but I assume we're meant to chalk this up to their general perversion and weirdness, as well as a sort of innocence that even Squiggy has, not pre-sexual but not fully mature either.  Obviously, no one was meant to analyze this at the time, and you can tell that the makers of the show are just having fun, as in the credit card at the end for "Lenore" and "Squendelyn."  (Bizarrely, there's a 1983 episode where Squiggy's sister visits, and she's named Squendelyn, and I'll try to figure out the canonical explanation for that when we get there.)

Judy Ervin returns as Terry Buttafucco, who we learn (or relearn) works on the loading docks.   It feels a little odd to not have Big Rosie as one of the ex-Debs to show up, and I'm pretty sure Terry wasn't a member before, but oh well, retcon.  This time Tracy Reiner, now 15, plays Carole.  Elizabeth Daily, who's 18 here, would still look youthful enough to play Loryn in the movie Valley Girl four years later.

"Shirley and the Older Man"

"Shirley and the Older Man"
May 15, 1979
C+

Barry Rubinowitz wrote this story where Shirley is platonically dating a rich, older man, played by 65-year-old but still distinguished-looking Robert Alda.  I might've gone with a B-, but the last line has Laverne saying something about how you can only tease a man for so long before he hits you in the eye.  (Laverne has been away in Chicago for most of the episode, balancing out a bit the episodes where Shirley was mostly gone.)

Susan Barnes has her first of four L & S roles as Adele Harrison.

Season Four of Laverne & Shirley ranges from C to A-, averaging out to a B-, like the first three seasons.  (I'm counting the hour-long season premiere double.)  The series was #1 in the ratings again, although this time Three's Company was #2, while Happy Days tied with Mork & Mindy.  ABC, sitcoms in particular, and admittedly mostly juvenile sitcoms (Taxi was an exception), ruled the airwaves in this time when cable TV still wasn't really a factor.  L & S mostly stuck to its winning formula of slapstick and sentiment, although there were moments when the characters pushed against their not quite Flanderized characterizations, like Shirley as a stripper or Lenny as a sensitive soul.

I recall Season Five as much the same, and it would be the last to take place entirely in Milwaukee.  We'll see next week how my vague memories match up to reality....

"Squiggy in Love"

"Squiggy in Love"
February 27, 1979
B

This episode written by Barry Rubinowitz was Penny Marshall's directorial debut and she gets some nice performances out of the five regulars (Frank & Edna are absent), self included.  Squiggy falls for a gorgeous woman who uses him, and while the girls and Lenny are all concerned, it is Shirley who is most protective of him.  Squiggy at first thinks Shirley is jealous, since we know that he's convinced Shirley is in love with him.  She is affectionate with him, allowing him to put his arm around her and touching his knee, but she's more sisterly than romantic.  Still, this is progress for their relationship.  Note that Lenny misses hanging out with Squiggy, who thinks that Lenny is the "thing" that Shirley believes Squiggy has lost, when it's actually his pride.

In the subplot, which does actually connect with the main story (they don't always, and not just on this series), Shirley worries that her relationship with Carmine is getting stale, especially compared to Laverne's offscreen continuing romance with "Ted Nelson, fireman."  Then Squiggy helps her see how lucky she is to have a long-term, caring relationship.

Note that Marshall, Williams, McKean, Lander, and Mekka all had appeared on Happy Days earlier that evening, for "Fonzie's Funeral: Part 2," which I probably haven't seen since the '80s.

ETA: I found a blurry copy of that HD episode on Daily Motion and skimmed ahead to the 16 minute mark.  Carmine does a dancing tribute to Fonzie, then Lenny and Squiggy come in with a wreath and Squiggy says that Fonzie "was the nicest guy whatever ever beat me up."  Laverne and Shirley enter and Laverne says Fonzie "was the only guy who hickeyed his initials on my neck."  Laverne wants one of Fonzie's boots and tries to leave her blouse for him, but Shirley stops her in both cases.  She does rip Laverne's L off and place that on the boots.

Then Howard Cunningham introduces the Knapp Street gang to "the widow Fonzarelli," i.e. Fonzie in disguise as his own mother.  Lenny asks, "Does she know?", so Laverne elbows him.  The KSG do not one but two double-takes at the resemblance between Fonzie and his mother.  And they leave after four minutes.  Shipping note: Carmine puts his hand on Shirley's shoulder and arm, and then they lightly embrace on the way out.

So not a huge crossover, but certainly interesting.  (It looks like both Arnold and Al are there, too, but I'm not going to watch the whole episode.)

"Bus Stop"

"Bus Stop"
February 14, 1978
B+

I found this Barry-Rubinowitz-written episode delightful, from Harry Shearer as Interviewer asking Laverne and his future fellow Spinal-Tapper Christopher Guest about whether they prefer Kennedy or Nixon, to the other Spinal-Tapper, McKean, contributing the song "Milwaukee Moon" that the regulars sing in the tag.  It's a hot couple days, possibly shortly after the famous Nixon-Kennedy television debate, on Sept. 26, 1960.  (And, yes, we just had St. Patrick's Day three episodes ago, but no one ever said these all happen in order.) The girls appear on a pre-recorded person-on-the-street interview, and two cute medical students prefer Nixon, while the girls prefer Kennedy.  That right there is a tip-off that the young men are not the Mr. Rights that Shirley will later daydream of.

(Lenny somehow has never heard of Kennedy, while Squiggy says that Nixon reminds him of his dad, which is disturbing on several levels in the post-Watergate era, especially since Squiggy's father is dead.)

The med school guys invite Laverne and Shirley to visit them in Oshkosh, which, in a line that made me laugh out loud, Shirley says, is "everything she imagined," even though all they see of it is the bus station.  She thinks that if they act classy, they can marry future doctors, but the Nixon fans are only interested in a little vo-dee-oh-doe.  (I think there's an implication that this is partly an economic class thing, that the med students would only want working-class girls for one thing, although I might just be reading that into the show.)  Laverne is tempted but listens to Shirley, so the guys sneak out and abandon them in Oshkosh with only bus fare home, not enough to stay in a hotel.

There's some good physical comedy, as when Laverne realizes that the Station Master (actor-writer Carl Gottleib) is not just benevolently offering hotel money, and Marshall has to react to Williams's innocence.  But there's also something poignant in Shirley trying not to be such a dreamer and Laverne telling her to keep dreaming for both of them.  This is one of the episodes that really spotlights their bond and their differences.

Laverne leaves a message with "Mary the waitress," whom we've seen on several episodes and who has been referred to, although she is definitely a background character.  Mr. DeFazio gives Lenny and Squiggy $25 to go get Laverne and Shirley in their truck.  The guys decide to wake the two "Sleeping Beauties" with kisses, but the twist here is that Squiggy kisses Laverne, and Lenny kisses Shirley!  So this is definitely not a show with fixed ships.  (And I sort of ship Carmine/Edna-- Edmine? Carna?-- at least when they dance, as they do during "Milwaukee Moon.")

For once, Peter Elbling doesn't play a character with a foreign accent on the show, since he has no lines as the Bum.

McKean singing "Milwaukee Moon" solo in 2016:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1a0gIoLYMA

"Playing Hooky"

"Playing Hooky"

January 11, 1977

C+

The title turns out to be a pun in this Barry Rubinowitz story, as the girls call in sick to work but end up being mistaken for hookers by two vice cops.  Maybe Shirley would've been better off accepting Squiggy's offer to spend the day with him, watching TV and frying fish.  And it turns out that Laverne's father is using their apartment during the daytime as his love nest.  (I think it's safe to say that he and Edna are not an item yet.)

Archie Hahn, who was on what feels like half of the '70s sitcoms and would be one of the worst players on Whose Line Is It Anyway?, plays Bob here and would later be a nameless Worker.

"Bachelor Mothers"

"Bachelor Mothers"
October 19, 1976
C+

The Fonz is shoehorned into this story, written by Barry Rubinowitz (his first of eight), although I suppose you could argue that only his powerful smooches, of both Laverne and Shirley, could've convinced them to babysit on a Saturday night.  He also demonstrates that his finger-snap and/or "Ayyyyy!" work as well on babies and television sets as on jukeboxes.

Actually, it looks like this was sort of a two-parter, as Udana Power (who's most recognizable to me as Nurse Nancy Darwin on Soap) also played Louisa Corrigan on Happy Days that night, although in "Fonzie the Father" she's very pregnant by one of Fonzie's oldest friends.  Anyway, if they wanted to have an episode where the girls babysit, there were probably less contrived ways to bring this about.  They turn out not to be great sitters, wanting to ditch the baby when two fellas they like call, although Laverne can't even remember which one she likes.  And when Shirley has to race in the rain to catch Laverne at the bus stop before Laverne heads pointlessly to Chicago, Shirley leaves the baby under the care of Lenny & Squiggy, who tune the TV in to Heckle & Jeckle (the magpie cartoon referenced on I believe the episode where the guys move in upstairs).

Note that Carole Ita White is credited onscreen and at IMDB as Rosie Greenbaum, but I'm not sure where she would've fit into such an apartment-centered episode.