TV Time Capsule

Happy New Year, ‘Laverne & Shirley’

“New Years Week” continues.

On December 27, 1977, ABC aired “New Year’s Eve 1960,” the “Laverne & Shirley” episode that showed how the girls spent the last night of the 1950s.

 

Ah, the “Laverne & Shirley” credits: Sadly, another example of a sitcom that doesn’t quite live up to its terrific theme song. And we’ll do it our way/Yes our way/Make all our dreaaams come truuue/For me and yooou.

The girls are counting the money they’ve collected for the New Year’s Eve party that Shirley (Cindy Williams) is throwing. Laverne (Penny Marshall) wants to go with Norman, the cop she’s been dating, but the “entire Milwaukee police force is on duty New Year’s Eve.” She’s narrowed her remaining options to Jake the Snake, Benny the Newspaper Guy and Herbie Schul.

SHIRLEY: Hmmm. A motorcycle hoodlum, a man with filthy hands and a guy who turns his eyelids inside out.

LAVERNE: Yeah, they’re really nice guys.

The girls learn Laverne’s childhood crush Pete has broken up with his latest squeeze, Beatrice. Shirley tells Laverne if she can lure Pete to their apartment, Shirley guarantees she can persuade him to ask Laverne to the party.

 

Scene change!

 

Pete (guest star Craig Littler) brings Laverne home. She puts on some make-out music, but the record she chooses – “Chances Are” – turns out to be Pete and Beatrice’s favorite. “Stupid song!” Laverne says as she rips the record off the phonograph player. Laverne and Pete get chummy when Shirley arrives and begins dropping hints that Laverne needs a date for New Year’s Eve. Before Pete departs, he asks Laverne if he can escort her to Shirley’s party. The plan worked!

 

Party time! Shirley’s boyfriend Carmine (Eddie Mekka) tries to teach Laverne’s dad Mr. DeFazio (Phil Foster) how to dance the twist: “Just pretend you’re drying your backside with a towel while putting cigarettes out with your feet.”

 

 Time lapse!

 

SHIRLEY: I’m telling you Laverne, this is the best New Year’s Eve party I’ve ever thrown!

LAVERNE: Yeah, being here with Pete is like a dream come true.

SHIRLEY: Well, would you look who’s dreaming?

LAVERNE: What? I dream. I just don’t like to talk about them. It don’t hurt so bad if they don’t work out.

SHIRLEY: Well, I’m glad this one’s working out. It’s nice to see you so happy.

Oh, this is going to end well.

 

Carmine gives Shirley a diary as a present. She opens it and finds the first page already filled in:

SHIRLEY [reading]: January 1, 1960. Dear Diary: Spent New Year’s Eve with Carmine as usual. This year’s midnight kiss was his best ever. After everybody left, Carmine stayed and told me that the nicest thing about the ’50s was me.

CARMINE: And you’re going to be the nicest thing about the ’60s, too.

That Big Ragu is so sweet!

 

Pete wants to kiss but there’s no mistletoe, so Laverne hangs some oregano. Then Pete’s ex Beatrice enters and plays “Chances Are” on the jukebox. Pete and Bea fall into each other’s arms and begin dancing; Laverne is crushed. Altogether now, studio audience: Awww!

 

Laverne returns to the apartment, where she mixes a bucket of her favorite drink: milk and Pepsi. Shirley arrives and tells her it’s not her fault Pete left her standing under the oregano.

“Yes it is. I just ain’t pretty enough for him,” Laverne says as a slow version of the “Laverne & Shirley” theme begins swelling in the background.

Shirley, take it away:

SHIRLEY: Don’t ever say that. I don’t ever want to hear you say that again.

LAVERNE: It’s true.

SHIRLEY: It’s not true. You’re very pretty. Very pretty. What’s more important, you’re pretty on the inside.

LAVERNE: Big deal, pretty inside. If they ever cut me open, maybe I’ll be Miss America. Pretty inside is what they say to people who ain’t pretty, Shirl.

SHIRLEY: Laverne, you’re pretty on the outside too, and you know it.

Shirley begins singing – Should auld acquaintance be forgot/And never brought to mind – and it’s so awful Laverne smiles.

 

The girls move to the front stoop, where everyone has gathered to witness the mysterious stunt goofball neighbors Lenny and Squiggy (Michael McKean, David L. Lander) have planned for midnight. A squad car arrives – it’s Norman, the cop Laverne had hoped to spend New Year’s Eve with in the first place!

 

It’s time for the big surprise: Lenny, dressed as Father Time, leads the countdown to midnight as Squiggy, dressed as Baby New Year, lowers himself down a rope from near the top of the building.

 

Ten, nine, eight …

 

… seven, six, five …

 

… four, three, two, one!

 

Happy New Year!

 

See for yourself: “New Year’s Eve 1960” is part of the “Laverne & Shirley: The Complete Third Season” DVD set.  

 

On TV

Here’s the prime-time lineup for Tuesday, December 27, 1977:

8: “Happy Days”* (ABC), “CBS Reports: Illegal Aliens in Los Angeles” (CBS), “Pine Canyon is Burning”* (NBC)

8:30: “Laverne & Shirley” (ABC)

9: “Three’s Company”* (ABC), “M*A*S*H”* (CBS)

9:30: “Soap” (ABC), “One Day at a Time” (CBS), “Terraces”* (NBC)

10: “Family”* (ABC), “Lou Grant”* (CBS)

 

The Record

For the week of December 25, 1977:

Top novel: “The Silmarillion” by J.R.R. Tolkein

Top song: “How Deep is Your Love” by Bee Gees

New at the movies: “High Anxiety”

Top TV show: “Laverne & Shirley” (ABC)

In the news: Sadat planned a visit to Sudan

Tuesday, March 11, 1980

“United States,” an experimental comedy about a contemporary marriage, debuted on NBC 30 years ago tonight.

The series starred Beau Bridges and Helen Shaver as Richard and Libby Chapin, described by TV Guide as “an intelligent, well-to-do couple … and their two young sons, and how the day-to-day events in their lives affect the family’s friendships.”

Rossie Harris and Justin Dana portrayed their sons, Dyland and Nicky.

In the opener, Richard and Libby argue over money and she urges him to borrow money from her father. “We’ve had this fight so many times, I bet it goes on even when we’re not here,” Libby says.

Larry Gelbart, one of the creative forces behind CBS’s “M*A*S*H,” was also the creator and producer of “United States,” which Washington Post critic Tom Shales championed.

“Not since ‘All in the Family’ unfurled a decade ago has a domestic comedy been so artful and satisfying in mixing statement and amusement. …,” Shales wrote.

“If it succeeds with audiences, it won't purge all drivel from the airwaves, but it will mean a breakthrough for writers and producers who still consider prime-time entertainment tenable territory for actual ideas.”

Wishful thinking, Mr. Shales.

“United States” was one of the era’s biggest bombs, last less than two months.

It was NBC’s lowest-rated series of the 1979-1980 season, finishing 102nd out of 105 shows.

 

Elsewhere on Television

TV Guide listings for March 11, 1980:

8 PM CBS WHITE SHADOW

Carver High wins a shot at the championship – but one of the starters isn’t going to make tap-off. Reeves: Ken Howard. Buchanon: Joan Pringle. Hayward: Thomas Carter. Jackson: Eric Kilpatrick. Thorpe: Kevin Hooks. Reese: Nathan Cook. Goldstein: Ken Michelman. Salami: Timothy Van Patten. Gomez: Ira Angustain. Coolidge: Byron Stewart. Vitaglia: John Mengatti. Phil: Russell Phillip Robinson. Willis: Ed Bernard.

Guest Cast

Kathy Plunkett ………. Fran Myers

Willie ............. Beany Williams

8:30 ABC LAVERNE & SHIRLEY

Vicki Lawrence is back as mean WAC sergeant Plout, ordering the girls into a survival test pitting men against women in “the frozen wilderness.” Laverne: Penny Marshall. Shirley: Cindy Williams. Private Duff: Gary Epp.

9 PM NBC BIG SHOW – Variety

Hosts Marie Osmond and Gavin MacLeod present John Byner (who plays a murder defendant’s cheap lawyer), Mel Tillis, Bert Parks, illusionist David Copperfield and members of the original Broadway cast of “Ain’t Misbehavin’.” The production finale follows a tourist (Marie) on her first visit to New York. Pink Lady, Shabba-Doo, Graham Chapman, Joe Baker, Owen Sullivan, Mimi Kennedy. (90 min.)

Musical Highlights

“Cryin” ………………….. Marie

“Coca-Cola Cowboy” ……….. Mel

“My Best Days” ……………. Bert

“But I Wanted You” ….. Marie, Gavin

 

For the Record

Also on March 11, 1980:

Judith Krantz’s “Princess Daisy” is the week’s best seller. Queen’s “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” tops the charts. “Coal Miner’s Daughter” is the week’s box-office champ. And in Florida, George Bush campaigns against Ronald Reagan in the GOP primary.

Tuesday, February 14, 1978

“Be Mine Week” concludes with “Be My Valentine,” the “Happy Days” episode ABC broadcast 32 years ago tonight.

Sing! Valentine’s Day finds Joanie Cunningham (Erin Moran) daydreaming – in music! – about the couples in her life. The loveliest sequence stars her parents, Howard and Marion (Tom Bosley, Marion Ross):

HOWARD: We met at nine.

MARION: We met at eight.

HOWARD: I was on time.

MARION: No, you were late.

HOWARD: Oh yes, I remember it well. We dined with friends.

MARION: We dined alone.

HOWARD: A tenor sang.

 

MARION: A baritone!

HOWARD: Oh yes, I remember it well. That dazzling April moon.

MARION: There was none that night. And the month was June.

HOWARD: That’s right. That’s right!

MARION: It warms my heart, to know that you, remember still, the way you do.

HOWARD: Oh yes, I remember it well. That carriage ride.

MARION: You walked me home.

HOWARD: You lost a glove.

MARION: I lost a comb.

HOWARD: Ah yes, I remember it well. That brilliant sky.

MARION: We had some rain.

HOWARD: Those Russian songs.

MARION: From sunny Spain?

HOWARD: Ah yes, I remember it well. You wore a gown of gold.

MARION: I was all in blue!

HOWARD: Am I getting old?

MARION: Oh no! Not you. How strong you were, how young and gay. A prince of love, in every way.

HOWARD: Ah yes.

TOGETHER: I remember it well.

 

Elsewhere on Television

TV Guide listings for February 14, 1978:

8:30 ABC LAVERNE & SHIRLEY

The girls bus to a distant city for a rendezvous with two medical students, who meet – and strand – them in a deserted depot. Laverne: Penny Marshall. Shirley: Cindy Williams. Greg: Christopher Guest. Larry: Thomas Leopold. Bum: Peter Elbling. Station Master: Carl Gottlieb.

9:00 ABC THREE’S COMPANY

Janet and Chrissy are visited by a girl who says she’s looking for Jack because he has gotten her in trouble. Jack: John Ritter. Janet: Joyce DeWitt. Chrissy: Suzanne Somers. Larry: Richard Kline. Linda: Anne Schedeen. Sandra: Susan Blu.

9:30 ABC SOAP – Comedy

To save his skin, Danny (Ted Wass) must marry Lefkowitz’ daughter. Meanwhile, Mary (Cathryn Damon) decides to have Burt committed. Burt: Richard Mulligan. Elaine: Dinah Manoff. Lefkowitz: Sorrell Brooke. Franklin: Howard Hessman. Judge: Charles Lane. Eunice: Jennifer Salt. McCallam: Edward Winter. Chuck: Jay Johnson. Jodie: Billy Crystal.

10:00 ABC FAMILY

Willie (Gary Frank) has serious doubts about his future. He’s almost 21, a high-school dropout, and his first screenplay was rejected. Doug: James Broderick. Kate: Sada Thompson. Nancy: Meredith Baxter Birney. Buddy: Kristy McNichol. (60 min.)

Guest Cast

Bambi ……………. Shera Danese

Skipper Thor ……… Richard Masur

 

… And in the News

New York Times excerpts from February 14, 1978:

Experts Say This Winter Approaches 1977’s in Severity

WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 – Federal meteorologists today forecast sharply colder weather for the he eastern, central and southern parts of the country, and indicated … this winter, which so far has been warmer than last year’s, could end up about as cold.

Friday, January 23, 1976

Thirty-four years ago tonight, ABC introduced “Donny and Marie,” a weekly musical-comedy variety hour starring the singing Osmond siblings.

The network scheduled the series on Friday nights at 8, the time slot where “Mobile One – its short-lived action show about a heroic TV news crew (!) – had recently perished opposite NBC’s powerful “Sanford and Son” and “Chico and the Man” combo.

ABC probably hoped “Donny and Marie” would provide a better lead-in to its popular Friday night movie series, which seemed to target younger viewers.

Indeed, the stars of “Donny and Marie” were teenagers, putting them squarely in the demographic ABC was likely courting.

“It boggles the mind to think that a boy 18 and a girl 16 can have a network show of their own. I can’t recall any other teen-agers breathing that kind of rarefied air,” Copley News Service’s Joseph Thesken wrote before the “Donny and Marie” debut.

The premiere introduced the show’s regulars: the Ice Vanities skating group, the Tommy Oliver Orchestra, comedian Paul Lynde and the six other singing Osmonds.

Donny and Marie’s first guests were Lee Majors, star of ABC’s “Six Million Dollar Man,” and his then-wife Farrah Fawcett-Majors, who was probably best known at the time for starring in TV commercials for Wella Balsam shampoo. (Her ABC series, “Charlie’s Angels,” wouldn’t debut for another 10 months.)

Majors joined Donny and Marie in a spoof of silent movies (he played Rudolph Valentino; Donny was Charlie Chaplin and Marie was Jackie Coogan), while Farrah starred in a sketch about a used-dinosaur dealer.

No, really.

Other highlights included multiple costume changes (Donny wore eight; Marie, nine) and several musical performances, including “Down by the Lazy River” (Donny), “Make the World Go Away” (Marie) and “That’s the Way (I Like It)” (Donny and Marie).

In her Washington Post review, Megan Rosenfeld suggested producers Sid and Marty Krofft were trying to turn Donny and Marie into “a junior Sonny and Cher:”

They throw cutesy-pie wisecracks at each other in an apparent attempt to become a snappy duo flinging put-downs, but the end result is a pair of 1976 teen-agers looking like overgrown Mouseketeers.

Donny and Marie may have been corny, but “Donny and Marie” was an instant hit: The debut tied with “Sanford and Son” for 13th among the week’s 62 broadcasts, helping ABC win the week. The network also benefitted from the first episode of “The Bionic Woman,” which aired two days earlier and ranked second.

(The following week, ABC’s “Laverne & Shirley” premiere captured an astounding 49 percent of the available TV audience, becoming one of the few shows to debut in first place.)

Today, teenage TV stars – so novel in 1976 – are common on cable channels like Nickelodeon and Disney, where Miley Cyrus, the Jonas Brothers and other child performers reign supreme.

 

From the Pages of TV Guide

Also airing January 23, 1976:

7:00 ABC NEWS – Harry Reasoner

7:00 CBS NEWS – Walter Cronkite

7:00 NBC NEWS – John Chancellor

Tuesday, Dec. 21, 1976

TV Time Capsule begins “Christmas of ’76 Week,” a celebration of the seven days between Dec. 21 through Dec. 27, 1976, when original holiday episodes aired each night. First up: “The Christmas Story,” the   “Family” episode ABC broadcast 33 years ago tonight.

And they remember all the lyrics! “The Christmas Story” opens with a scene that illustrates perfectly what made “Family” such escapist entertainment for me in the ’70s. Suburban lawyer Doug Lawrence (James Broderick) and 19-year-old son Willie (Gary Frank) are driving to their Pasadena, California, home with a Christmas tree strapped to the roof of the family station wagon, happily singing “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” If this scene were playing out in my family, my dad would be singing a dirty limerick about “Sally Rottencrotch” while I cringed with embarrassment.

My kind of people! Father and son carry the tree into the living room and Doug announces plans to light the fire. Wife Kate (Sada Thompson) reminds him it’s 90 degrees outside. “Well the fire is going to be inside,” Doug says. “Oh of course. Why didn’t I think of that? I’ll go ice the hot toddies,” Kate replies.

Guess who’s coming to dinner? Doug’s dad James (guest star John Beal) comes to help trim the tree and brings a surprise: his new, much younger fiancée Constance Hume (Sheree North, the future Babs Kramer). “She’s not much older than we are,” a worried Doug tells Kate. “I don’t know quite how to take that,” Kate retorts.

Here comes trouble: While doing some holiday shopping, Willie stumbles across an old album and realizes Constance used to be known as “The Sultry Miss Sullivan,” a ’60s jazz singer with a sordid past. Meanwhile, oldest Lawrence daughter Nancy (Meredith Baxter Birney) is fuming because ex-husband Jeff Maitland (John Rubenstein) plans to whisk their toddler Timmy off on a holiday cruise. “If only it would snow. At least everything would look right,” Kate sighs.

You say you want a resolution? Doug urges James to drop Constance, infuriating the older man. On Christmas Eve, Constance visits the Lawrences and politely reminds Doug her past is none of his business. Realizing she’s right, Doug finds his father at midnight mass and apologizes. Jeff realizes he was wrong to take Timmy away at Christmastime and brings the boy home to the Lawrences. Youngest daughter Buddy (Kristy McNichol) surprises Kate with a miniature snowman. “It’s the closest I could get to the real thing. I hope it helps,” Buddy tells her mom. “It’s perfect!” Kate exclaims.

“The Christmas Story” is part of the “Family: The Complete First and Second Seasons” DVD set.

 

From the Pages of TV Guide

Also airing Dec. 21, 1976:

8:30 ABC LAVERNE & SHIRLEY

Carmine (Eddie Mekka) talks Laverne and Shirley into contributing whatever talents they can to a hospital Christmas show. Laverne: Penny Marshall. Shirley: Cindy Williams. Lenny: Michael McKean. Squiggy: David Lander. Frank: Phil Foster. Mrs. Babish: Betty Garrett. Pulper: Roger Garrett.

Sunday, Oct. 17, 1982

Twenty-seven years ago tonight, NBC devoted three hours of prime time to showcasing Erik Estrada.

To be more specific, it devoted three hours to showcasing Estrada’s body.

First, the network aired the latest episode of the series that made Estrada a star – the motorcycle cop drama “CHiPs.”

But this wasn’t just any episode of “CHiPs.”

It was a very special episode.

In the storyline, Estrada’s character, Sgt. Francis Llewellyn “Ponch” Poncherello, moonlights as a male model.

And not just any model – he becomes a designer jeans model.

As NBC’s ad in TV Guide explained, “When Ponch models designer jeans, he finds himself in a tight situation … with criminals, child models and jealous CHP officers!”

This is what happened to cop dramas in the ’70s and ’80s when they became too long on tooth and too short on fresh ideas.

After “CHiPs,” NBC aired “Honeyboy,” a TV movie starring Estrada as Rico “Honeyboy” Ramirez, a Puerto Rican kid from the South Bronx who becomes a middleweight boxing champ.

Estrada produced the film, which was conceived as a vehicle for him to show off his acting abilities.

It also gave him a chance to show off something else, as critics were eager to point out.

Fred Rothenberg, writing for the Associated Press: “The swarthy ‘CHiPs’ star … is given numerous chances to strut in his bikini underwear.”

John J. O’Connor in the New York Times: “Mr. Estrada’s acting abilities are somewhat underwhelming. He is more of a presence, a fact that is carefully underlined by having him appear bare-chested and in underwear briefs whenever possible.”

Tom Shales in the Washington Post: “Apparently we are supposed to find attractiveness his redeeming quality; so many references are made to Estrada’s good looks that you’d think the actor would have been a trifle embarrassed.”

Shales also noted Morgan Fairchild, playing Honeyboy’s publicist/lover, “does far less disrobing in the film than Estrada does.”

As it turned out, viewers weren’t quite as interested in Estrada’s body as NBC probably hoped.

“CHiPs” was the network’s only series to crack Nielsen’s top 20 in the week ending Oct. 17, 1982; the show tied with ABC’s “Laverne & Shirley” for 20th place.

“Honeyboy,” in the meantime, got its clock cleaned by CBS’s Sunday night lineup, which included “The Jeffersons,” “One Day at a Time” and “Trapper John, M.D.”

 

From the Pages of TV Guide

Also airing Oct. 17, 1982:

8:00 ABC MATT HOUSTON – Crime Drama

A flamboyant couturier (Mr. Blackwell) is murdered at his own fashion show; was it by design of his top model (Cristina Ferrare)? Matt: Lee Horsely. C.J.: Pamela Hensley. Novelli: John Aprea. Bo: Dennis Fimple. (60 min.)

Additional Cast

Vera … Brit Ekland

Garth … Vic Tayback

Valeska … Carol Lawrence

8:30 CBS GLORIA – Comedy

On an emergency call, Gloria and Dr. Adams (Sally Struthers, Burgess Meredith) make a near-fatal mistake that gives them both pause about their careers. Clark: Lou Richards. Maggie: Jo De Winter. Sid: Ian Wolfe.