"With Time Off for Bad Behavior," Chapters Fourteen to Sixteen

"The once-hilarious network flagship was now a run-of-the-mill sitcom populated with forced jokes and canned laughter."  Not unlike this book.  (Sorry not sorry.)

Rhonda and Donna sell a pilot to NBC called Little Doggies, "about two girls who leave their home in Seattle to become rodeo stars in New Mexico."  Barry wants to leave the show, too, but can't since Bobby refuses to let Tommy leave.

They start working on an episode about Uncle Sal coming to work for Billy & Patti.  Billy repeatedly puts Uncle Sal down.  Ben Fisher is so unhappy about "doing crap like this," he pulls a gun out!  Luckily, he's a bad shot.  Bobby manages to take the gun away, but he's unhappy because Bobby Mitchell shows should be fun.

Billy realizes that they'll all get paid for the whole season, even if it's not finished.

In the next chapter, Barry has a chance to do a cable show about "two girls from Missouri who move to the south of France to become lifeguards."

In Chapter Sixteen, he does the new show and it's not funny but it does have topless women, so it's a hit.  Barry gets back with his ex-wife.  And I'm grateful I didn't pay for this novel.

"With Time Off for Bad Behavior," Chapter Thirteen

John Bracca, the 37-year-old Executive Vice President of Paragon, is mad at Barry because Lorraine has quit to "direct a fucking movie."  (No, not porn.)  Bobby is also mad.

Mimi wants to wrap up the season by January because she's acting in a different "fucking movie."

Barry suggests they write the Connie character out for a few episodes, and then they can marry her off or kill her.

Mimi gives the writers a pep talk but they laugh in her face because of her voice.  She tells them she's now executive producer.  She gets both her and Lorraine's salaries and her husband, Larry Brogan, is now a consultant.

Mimi suggests they do an episode where she wears big hats.  After she leaves, the writers fight with Larry.  They get John Bracca on their side.  Larry tells them, "You people are going to rue the day you crossed Larry Brogan," through "clenched teeth" no less.  Barry calls him Snidely Whiplash and helpfully explains to the reader that he is "comparing Larry to Dudley Dooright's [sic] arch enemy."

Rhonda Silverman, the plain writer who isn't so plain now that she's getting laid regularly (don't ask), suggests that Mimi do a fashion show where she has to wear big hats, "like an Eiffel Tower hat for France."

The episodes get worse, especially since Mimi wants her character to do nice things, so "America would love her."  However, "America wanted to laugh at her.  They wouldn't care if she killed babies as long as it was funny."

The show isn't as good without Lorraine, and guest stars don't help, not even "JoAnn Worley, the best of the lot."  

It is now 1980 by the way.

Barry starts seeing a shrink, which helps somewhat, but the show is still a headache.  And then....

Even Donna can't come up with a good solution, but luckily the writer from the Wrestle a Nude Woman club has an inspiration:

They do some more Billy & Patti stories, and then Mimi breaks out in hives.

I'm sure MMK would love creating a comedy classic like Spinal Tap being equated to playing a cocaine dealer.  As for the rest, sheesh!  Wait till we get to Chapter Fourteen....

"Doo-Wop-Wop"

To further refresh the viewers' memories on the night that Laverne & Shirley premiered, we get another crossover (non-L&S review here https://relivinghappydays.blogspot.com/2021/03/fonzie-superstar.html), so it's time for another minisode, from January 27, 1976, at approximately 8:15 p.m. (or almost twelve minutes into it on the DVD), it's "Fonzie the Superstar" and his backup singers:

• Fonzie calls out the girls' names and tells them to get in here, meaning into Arnold's.
• Laverne's blouse indeed has an L and, well, she looks more stacked than usual.
• He's surprising them by making them his backup singers.  Ralph resents this and the girls aren't thrilled.
• Fonzie uses the nickname "Vernie," which is kind of sweet.
• Shirley says Carnegie Hall is so classy they don't serve beer.
• Fonzie has been promising Laverne a great date, so he's going to put Friday night aside.  I think this becomes their date in "Society Party," but I wouldn't swear to that kind of continuity.
• The girls start singing backup.
• There's a moment around 13:13 where Fonzie looks at Laverne and grins, which feels like HW breaking character in amusement at PM.
• The girls have to do backup twice but Fonzie is too nervous to sing.
• As the girls follow Fonzie out, Laverne says Shirley was flat, in the singing sense.  Shirley says she was the one in the glee club, but Laverne says Shirley was a mouther.  This is their most civilized argument so far.
• The girls are sitting and waiting at the beginning of the next scene, since Fonzie hasn't shown up yet.  When he arrives with Richie, Richie hands Laverne his guitar and she strums a sour note.  (I half expected her to start singing like in LAS Season Six.)
• Arnold tells the two girls that they'll eat later, presumably after the show.  They don't look happy, as if they were promised free food.
• When the restless, mostly female crowd starts chanting, "We want Fonzie!", L & S whisper inaudibly and uneasily.
• The girls are in matching outfits, and Laverne (who still looks busty) is not wearing an L.
• Shirley comforts her when she says, "There goes my Friday night!" after Richie says Fonzie hit his head in the men's room.
• Shirley takes Laverne's hand and says, "They don't need us."
• But Arnold will sing "By the Light of the Silvery Moon" in the key of "Asia Minor," as the girls sing backup.
• Richie introduces the girls as "direct from the bottle-capping department of the Shotz Brewery," which I think is the first time the brewery gets named in canon.  He gives their full names and calls them the Arnoldettes.
• When the crowd throws things, Laverne looks like she wants to punch someone.
• The girls link arms and use their scarves, and somehow Laverne also holds the microphone.
• Fonzie finally goes on, reciting "Heartbreak Hotel," so the girls become backup dancers instead.
• When he gets into it more, he tells L & S to knock themselves out, so they both start shimmying.
• They can be seen looking at and perhaps talking to each other.
• Shirley flees when the girls in the crowd rush the stage.  I assume that Laverne hides over by Ralph and the piano.
• In the tag, Laverne wants to sell Fonzie's fringes, and she quickly convinces Shirley.
• Laverne kisses Fonzie goodbye on the cheek and says they'll see him Friday.
• Shirley's exit line is to ask Laverne how much she thinks they can get for these fringes.  Laverne says, "See?  Now it's we.  Now it's we."

NOW.  IT'S.  WE.  Penny and Cindy are utterly convincing as best friends here, completely supportive (especially, of course, Shirley supporting Laverne), squabbling a little but having roughly the same goal.  Shirley already seems much more demure than she did when first introduced, although still very working-class.  (She's a lady who works in the brewery, and she makes that not a contradiction.)  Laverne is maybe a bit less of a floozy now, although she sure wants that great date with Fonzie.  There aren't really any Shirley/Richie moments here, but he's mostly just trying to make sure the gig runs smoothly and worrying about his own best friend.

Not canonical to later (besides Shirley's accent obviously) is that Laverne thinks she's a better singer than Shirley.

"Laverne & Shirley & Booker"

Note that Laverne has her orange-lined coat, which she doesn't take off during her brief stay, so there's no telling if she's wearing an L.  I mean, I assume she is.  And no word yet on the girls' hymens.

Unlike their memorable debut, the girls' second quasi-crossover has them being shoehorned into an already meh episode.  (Reviewed here: https://relivinghappydays.blogspot.com/2021/03/football-frolics.html)  It's one week before the mid-season premiere of the spin-off, but on Happy Days it's shortly before Mardi Gras, a traveling late winter holiday, which confirms my theory that "A Date with Fonzie" is not actually set on Valentine's week but instead Arnold put the decorations up to give the diner a "romantic" feel.  (Maybe they were on sale.)  If this is 1958, Mardi Gras was February 18th, if 1959 (also possible) Feb. 10th, so I really doubt "DWF" is also from February.

Anyway, unlike in the debut of Laverne and Shirley, there's no set-up or anticipation.  The girls just show up, then leave, return, and leave again.  Let's see what we learn in this minisode:

• At about the fifteen-minute mark, someone knocks on the door and Richie answers, pleasantly surprised to see Shirley.
• She and Laverne have brought a kid for the mass babysitting "camp" Richie and his buddies are running in the Cunningham home.
• Laverne drags in a little Black boy with his arm in a sling.  This is Booker, whom Shirley promised they'd babysit, on the same night that Laverne set up a double date with "two big spenders."  At this point, the viewer (if recalling their earlier episode) must assume that the girls only go on double dates.
• Booker hurt his arm breaking up a fight between Shirley and Laverne (yes, the names in that order), suggesting the girls still fight with each other a lot.
• Laverne doesn't want to pick Booker up until the Fall, and Shirley says Laverne has no sense of responsibility and wanted to leave him in a bus terminal locker.
• Shirley says she doesn't like Laverne's jokes, so Laverne makes a pig face and then tickles her, making her laugh.
• The girls exit after a minute and a half.
• The audience claps a little after they leave.
• Booker tries to escape through the kitchen, but the girls are waiting for him.
• Shirley picks him up and Laverne takes his shoes, "again."
• Laverne suggests they hang the shoes from the rear-view mirror.  Again, notice that the girls own a car at this point.
• Shirley is much nicer to Booker and tells him he could grow up to be president someday.  Laverne asks why Shirley is lying to him, since "he's got a broken arm, no shoes, and a lot of other problems."  I don't know if she's being racist, but I hope not.
• The girls exit arguing about whether Booker could grow up to be president, less than three minutes after Shirley knocked on the front door.  Myron has much more of an impact on the episode than they do.

I assumed at first that the girls heard about the babysitting project from Fonzie, but it turns out he has no idea about it and is annoyed by the noise.  It really stretches the limits of plausibility that they somehow knew of the camp, without contacting Richie or Fonzie, when it's in another part of Milwaukee that they presumably have only been to once before.  On their own show, they would probably have asked Lenny & Squiggy, or maybe Terry Buttafucco.  

"With Time Off for Bad Behavior," Chapter Twelve

So it's a new season and all the other writers have made life changes, including Tommy finding Jesus.  The two writing partners/co-producers meet with The Ladies and ask them for story ideas.  Mimi suggests the following, which Barry surprisingly likes:

1. "I think we should be hypnotized and act like chickens."
2. Patti and Connie should be in a Murphy bed.
3. They should go skiing.

Lorraine comes up with:

1. "What if we went somewhere and we were really bored?"
2. "Well, what if we were buried in sand on the beach?"

The chicken show goes into production, but Lorraine is unhappy.  She hates the rest of the cast and she wants to direct feature films.  Barry encourages her to do what makes her happy.

The Ladies fight after the chicken show, even though it goes well.  Lorraine calls Mimi a bitch for getting in her shot.  Howie (I don't remember who Howie is and I don't care) tries to intervene but his bird dies.  Lorraine is unsympathetic, so Mimi calls her "the coldest cunt."  Lorraine "stomps off" to her dressing room.

Plus there's a lot of stuff in this chapter about Barry buying a new car, which makes a nice change from him whining about his love life.

"With Time Off for Bad Behavior," Chapters Seven to Eleven

There's almost nothing about the cast and you can skip these five chapters, unless you want to see Sotkin's racism, fat-shaming, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia coalesce as he goes to a club to "Wrestle a Nude Woman."  (And somehow recruits another writer.)

OK, there is Lorraine LaBarbara hanging out with Penny Marshall and Terry [sic] Garr on p. 189, but she understandably doesn't introduce Barry to her "celebrity friends."

"With Time Off for Bad Behavior," Chapters Five and Six

We can skip over Chapter Five, which is more about Barry, his wife, and her guru, and move on to the chapter "Casting the Monkey."  They've been wanting to have an episode with a monkey for awhile, and now finally they can, thanks to Donna Morris, who's written "a terrific script":

Everyone loves the script, even Willy and Billy, who usually improvise and throw off everyone else's timing in the read-through.  Well, everyone loves it except for Ben, who resists kissing the monkey but gives in as long as he doesn't have to call the monkey his best friend, because Uncle Sal's best friend has already been established as "Frank from the bowling alley."  Barry resolves the conflict and then it's on to casting monkeys, with the help of the very stereotypically gay casting director.  

Also of note (yes, I've gotten tired of transcribing longer passages):

And the chapter of course ends with Barry feeling conflicted about possibly having an affair with his not-yet-in-this-extended-flashback mistress.

Getting back to the fictionalized version of LAS, I don't know how literally we're meant to take this version of how the "Short on Time" episode, which was written by Jack Lukes, came to be.  By the way, I looked, and Sotkin actually isn't credited with having a consistent writing partner for LAS, and he in fact wrote many episodes by himself.  I suppose there was some collaboration going on, but maybe "Tommy" is a composite character.

And, yep, there's a reference to "A Visit to the Cemetery" and sort of to the "Festival" two-parter.

Note that Sotkin thinks the home audience as well as the studio audience was composed of morons.

"With Time Off for Bad Behavior," Chapter Four

At this point in the story, Barry and his cokehead partner (OK, the name is Tommy) are still waiting to officially be made producers.  There's some stuff about the warm-up, but let's cut right to the goods:

Needless to say, this is the highlight of the chapter.  Bobby doesn't show up, allegedly because of colon trouble but Barry assumes it's because Bobby doesn't want to admit that he hasn't made a decision about the producer credits.  And then there's some stuff about Tommy and his mother and I doubt you care, because I don't.

The writing partners have to tell The Ladies that Bobby won't be there that night.  Lorraine is cool about it but she does expose her "lovely left breast" to them in her dressing room.  Mimi on the other hand throws things and yells, until it all ends in a sing-along?

Ben goes into a rage but they don't stick around to deal with it.  They pass Larry Brogan hitting on an uncomfortable Donna Morris, so Barry rescues her by claiming Lorraine wants to talk to her.

Willy and Billy are stoned.  They hate Bobby because they were promised equal billing and now they're "very funny second bananas."

Barry does the warm-up.  W & B recite the poem "Baby Land."  "The Ladies are their usual dull selves" when introduced to the audience, who love them anyway.

The show goes very smoothly, but Barry has to praise Mimi afterwards.  "When you guys got on the roof and did that thing like you were skiing...I peed."

The rest of the chapter is about Barry's love life.  And the next chapter is about going to see his wife's guru.

So it turns out Sotkin hates the audience as well as the cast?  Good to know.  But I'd rather be an abnormal female fan I guess.  And I'm sure the late Penny Marshall would appreciate the shoutout to her chest.

"With Time Off for Bad Behavior," Chapters Two and Three

Chapter Two flashes back to the early days of Barry's relationship with his wife, so we'll just skip over it.

Chapter Three opens with them arriving in Hollywood.  I'm going to also skip over pages 41 to 49, and then he's finally back to In the Swim on p. 50.

• Lorraine and Mimi object to a string of producers.  "The Ladies," as they are sarcastically known, "love firing producers."
• "Fortunately, the writing staff was usually left in tact [sic] so that production of the show could continue."
• Lorraine's friends tell her the show is funny but not hip, so she hires her crazy friend Erica to produce it and make it more hip.
• Mimi objects to Erica, so Lorraine promises her that they can do four "Patti shows" in a row.
• Barry and his cokehead partner (well, he might be a pothead at this point in the story, I'm skimming) start producing the show.
• "In truth, Bobby had little to do with the everyday running of In the Swim.  He hated the bickering that went on so he avoided the show as much as possible."
• Despite the premise of In the Swim, Mimi hates her hair getting wet because she looks like a stork.
• There's some more backstage drama, mostly about the writers and producers, who I don't know well enough to know who they were in real life, so I'll gloss over that.
• I forgot to mention last time that this is set at "Paragon Studios."
• Some backstory on Barry's mistress ensues, although Barry is non-sexually in love with his fellow writer Donna Morris, who is tall and married.
• An explanation of rewrites, including when Lorraine and Mimi hate the scripts.
• More about Donna.  I don't know if this is meant to be Judy Ervin Pioli, but if so, she should probably sue, too.
• Barry has his neighbor write an episode and it's about "Connie and Patti going to the White House and hiding under the president's bed."  If this is based on an actual spec script, I desperately want to read it now.  ("Shirl, Kennedy slept here!")
• Donna patiently listens to Barry's marital woes and offers him drugs.  She also suggests he have an affair, but not with her.  Luckily, Barry has a hot secretary who's always showing off her legs

"A Date with Shirley"

It is now time to look at the "Laverne & Shirley" portion of the November 11, 1975 Happy Days episode, "A Date with Fonzie."  My Happy-Days-specific review is at https://relivinghappydays.blogspot.com/2021/03/a-date-with-fonzie.html.  Here's what we can cull for (or maybe against) LAS canon:

• The episode aired in November of 1975, in the middle of HD's third season, and yet there are Valentine's decorations up at Arnold's.  That Richie and Shirley's second date will be "eleven and a half months" later, and Richie is still magically a seventeen-year-old high school senior, only confuses the issue.
• As Fonzie is dialing Laverne & Shirley's phone number, he tells Richie that these girls don't know the word no.
• We don't hear the girls' half of the phone call, but Laverne answers and then Fonzie has her put Shirley on so Richie can say hi.
• Fonzie gives them the invitation and then hangs up.  They apparently know where Arnold's is, or can find out.
• Fonzie describes Shirley as "a very cute girl," but "not your usual type of girl."  She is a little bit older than Richie, and "wouldn't give him a hard time," if you get his drift.  And she's "a good sport."  I suppose it could be argued that he means that she'll be kind to Richie and maybe make out with him.  Or Shirley hasn't yet regrown her hymen.
• The girls don't look drastically different than they would in their own Season One.  Laverne even has an L on her blouse.
• She loudly calls Fonzie "Fonzie" and he greets her as "DeFazio."
• Shirley quickly snuggles up to Richie, her head on his shoulder, which would become a signature move, sometimes preceded by the Shirley Shimmy.
• Richie, who's wearing a tie and a handkerchief, helps Shirley off with her coat.  He is probably more of a gentleman than she's used to, even in later canon.
• Laverne takes off her own coat, which she'd wear on her series.
• Shirley thinks Richie is nice and is impressed by the tie, but she resents Laverne's hanky remark, which will have, if you think about it, long-ranging consequences.
• This Laverne apparently can drive but doesn't have insurance, which shocks Richie.
• Shirley is relatively more lady-like than Laverne and at least excuses them so they can argue in the ladies' room.
• Laverne and Shirley are "a little more boisterous than Fonzie likes," and actually he does seem to prefer the quieter types, like Paula Petralunga.
• Fonzie tells Richie that Laverne and Shirley don't usually get along and they fight.  (If my theory is correct that Shirley was putting on an act for Richie, Fonzie must've been in on it.)
• The girls yell and then when Laverne emerges, she says she held Shirley's face under the sink.  The subject of the argument was Laverne's "crude" remark about Richie's hanky.
• Laverne scares Potsie and Ralph since they keep staring at her, although can you blame them?  (She'll scare Potsie more pleasantly a year later.)
• Laverne calls Richie "Red," as I believe she would in subsequent crossovers.
• Shirley is in a slinky black dress with a broken strap.
• She again rests her head on Richie's shoulder, perhaps for comfort this time.
• Saturday night is the girls' big night out, and hitting each other "gets their blood up," if you get Fonzie's drift.  Richie is understandably dubious about this.
• On their way out of Arnold's, Laverne fusses with the fallen "dip" in Shirley's hair, while Shirley brushes her off, which feels very them.
• Laverne is happy to get some alone time with Fonzie, but not if it's in the kitchen.  (It's in his "penthouse," as he calls it.)
• On the way out the back door, Fonzie says, "I respect you, Laverne."  Take that as you wish.
• Shirley calls Laverne a bimbo but her best friend.
• She puts Richie's arm around her.
• She works at the still-nameless brewery as a bottle-capper.
• She doesn't mind taking off her sweater before she finds out that Richie's cufflink is hooked in it, but she doesn't want the sweater damaged, since she just bought it at the dime store.
• Once the sweater is safe, she puts her head on Richie's shoulder again.
• He's nervous, so he goes to get her beer, pretzels, and chips.  She's agreeable to whatever he suggests.
• While he's in the kitchen, he asks about the fight.  She says she told Laverne she has "a mouth like a sewah."  She recreates the argument and refers to Laverne's "chubby little hand."
• The punch, by the way, is spectacularly timed, and the audience of course goes crazy, especially when she offers to "kiss the boo-boo."
• Having his family come home in the middle of it is icing on the cake.  Shirley's first impulse is to try to fix her broken strap.
• I love that Richie's parents shake hands with Shirley in the midst of the chaos after Richie introduces them.
• Shirley calls out to Laverne, who probably can't hear her over the sound of Fonzie breathing heavily and playing Johnny Mathis.  (I assume.)
• Shirley is sympathetic, Richie apologetic.
• With sensitivity that we wouldn't expect from a gum-chewing bimbo, she knows that Richie was pushed into this and says that if he wants to go out again, he can call her, so she'll know it's his idea.  (Ironically, she'll call him.  Although I assume they see each other on the upcoming HD crossovers this season.)
• He clearly does want to go out with her, despite this disastrous date, and she says a girl would have to be "nuts" to not want to date "a cute kid" like him.  Showing confidence for the first time this episode, he asks for a goodnight kiss, and she tells him, "You bet!"
• The kiss lasts over ten seconds and must be quite a good one, since someone in the audience whistles, and Richie hides part of it by closing the door.
• Shirley is going to make Laverne hitch home.  One hopes Fonzie gave her a ride on his motorcycle.  (No, that's not a euphemism.)

So, yes, this is not The Girls As We Know Them, but then again, with hindsight, I can see why the characters developed as they did.  And, yes, I still ship Richie/Shirley.  Despite their different backgrounds, they have things in common and she is indeed the right girl to give him back his confidence, while he treats her like the lady she wants to be.  And, clearly, they enjoy kissing each other.

As for Laverne and Fonzie, well, that would morph into something less earthy, but their relationship four years later in the "Shotgun Wedding" two-parter is not all that foreign to this episode.

"With Time Off for Bad Behavior," Chapter One

Marc Sotkin, one of the writers and producers of Laverne & Shirley, has written a novel loosely based on his experiences in Hollywood.  It is free to download and so I will review at least some of it.  However, I will probably not judge the quality of it but rather pass on the fictionalized tidbits:

• I'm not going to go into the whole thing of narrator Barry Klein, a Jewish television writer-producer, cheating on his wife, unless this has some bearing on his scripts.
• I will note, however, that Barry's writing partner is a cokehead.
• It's 1979 and Barry works on a show called In the Swim, about "two girls, Connie and Patti, who leave their homes in Chicago to become lifeguards in L.A."
• The executive producer and creator of the show is Bobby Mitchell, "at forty-four, the hottest guy in all of TV."
• Most of Bobby's shows are variations on two girls from Place No. 1 moving to Place No. 2 to pursue some career, and they do very well in the ratings.  One of these shows is called Doing It Our Way.
• The one exception to Bobby's success is We Want It All, which is "mired at number sixty-six" and "is the story of eight girls from all over the place who live together and want to be dancers in Vegas."  (Sotkin co-wrote the episode "Blansky for the Defense.")
• This can't possibly be a satire of Garry Marshall, because Sotkin name-checks Norman Lear and Garry Marshall.  Also, Bobby is only 5'3" and has a 47-inch waist.
• "Ben Fisher plays Connie's crusty Uncle Sal on In the Swim.  Sal owns the bait shop on the show, above which Connie and Patti live, and right next door to Willy and Billy, two wacky morons who cut up chum for a living."
• Ben is a show-biz veteran with "mediocre" material, but in 1956 Bobby Mitchell became his joke writer.  And Bobby is very loyal.
• In the Swim is "probably the most emotionally taxing show being produced on network television."
• Its stars, Lorraine LaBarbara and Mimi Simms, are complete opposites.  Lorraine is "a big, busty blonde," and "not technically pretty, but with an earthy beauty that suggests a joy of life not that different from everyone's favorite waitress at the local diner." Mimi is "petite" and "manic."
• They hate each other because Lorraine, who plays Connie, is thought to be Bobby's favorite.  When Lorraine was three, Bobby cast her in a neighborhood production as Hitler's daughter, and she's been like a little sister ever since.  (Later in the chapter, we'll find out that Bobby is from Brooklyn.)
• Mimi is paranoid and counts her lines, so Bobby makes sure Lorraine has more lines, "just to piss Mimi off."
• Mimi has a voice like "the queen of the Munchkins" and "Chip 'n' Dale."
• "For no apparent reason, [the leads] both hate the writers.  Everyone hates Ben.  And nobody particularly likes Willy and Billy, the actual names of the actors who play Willy and Billy."
• And that's about it for backstage gossip for the next six or seven pages, unless you care about Barry's boring love life.
• Then on pp. 19-20 we learn that Mimi recently married Larry Brogan, a 32-year-old "drunk" and "womanizer" on his fourth marriage.  Mimi thinks she can keep him from "straying," although she's "a plain girl without much sex appeal."
• There's some more about how untalented bushy-eyebrowed Ben is, and how poor Barry has to choose between his wife and girlfriend.

So the big question here is, why hasn't Cindy Williams sued?  Not that anyone comes off well, but I can't imagine the late Penny Marshall minding too much how "Lorraine" is described, while Sotkin is truly vicious about "Mimi."  For that matter, I can't imagine Michael McKean being thrilled by the novel, although I'll reserve judgment on that until I can find out more about "Willy and Billy."  (I assume they are named after their characters because MMK and DLL had created "the boys" before LAS.)

Also, notice the clever way that Sotkin reversed the P & C initials.  No one will ever see through that!