"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.

"Feminine Mistake"

"Feminine Mistake"
March 6, 1979
B-

In this Chris Thompson story, Laverne decides to act more feminine to win over her latest crush, Joey Mitchell (a young Jay Leno, who'd play Bobby Bitts in the last season).  She gets advice from Shirley, including the Shirley Shimmy (seen on several earlier episodes).  But Laverne realizes in the end that she needs to be herself, and that she is a real woman.  Also, she says that Shirley is fine the way she is. 

Bum Jack Perkins previously played a Patient and a Bartender, and it looks like he usually was a bartender or a drunk on '70s shows.