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

‘An Early Frost:’ A Breath of Fresh Air in the Era of AIDS

On November 11, 1985, NBC aired “An Early Frost,” the first TV movie about AIDS – although its greater historical significance may lie in its depiction of gay men, which was unusually honest for the time.

The two-hour film cast Aidan Quinn as Michael, a young Chicago lawyer who discovers he has AIDS – and that he probably contracted the mysterious disease from his live-in boyfriend Peter (D.W. Moffett), who confesses he’s been unfaithful.

Michael leaves Peter and heads home to New England, where he decides to tell his parents that he’s gay and has AIDS.

Michael’s mother Katherine (Gena Rowlands) is upset but supportive; his macho father Nick (Ben Gazzara) is seemingly as anguished to discover that his son is gay as he is to learn that Michael is dying.

Michael’s grandmother (Sylvia Sidney) is more compassionate, telling him he shouldn’t feel ashamed, but his pregnant sister (Sydney Walsh) is afraid to be in the same room with him and shouts him away when he tries to hug her young son.

Of course, Michael also experiences prejudice outside the home: When he suffers a seizure, the paramedics refuse to transport him to the hospital. Later, when a new friend dies of AIDS, Michael watches a nurse toss the man’s possessions into a garbage bag, fearing contamination.

“An Early Frost” doesn’t depict Michael’s death, but it offers viewers some closure: Before the movie ends, Michael and Peter reconcile, and Nick finally accepts his son’s homosexuality.

The final scene shows a smiling Michael telling his parents he loves them as he departs for Chicago, presumably to die at Peter’s side.

Out, Dated

“An Early Frost” – the title comes from a line of dialogue about rose blossoms being nipped prematurely – is typical of the era’s disease-of-the-week TV movies, with the on-screen doctors (including one played by “Lost’s” Terry O’Quinn) delivering dialogue that sounds like it was lifted from a waiting room brochure.

Inevitably, this dates the film: No one, for example, mentions “HIV,” which wasn’t identified as the virus that causes AIDS until six months after the broadcast.

“An Early Frost” also seems old-fashioned in its portrayal of Michael’s life in the closet: The fact that the filmmakers chose to make the character’s coming-out a major subplot underscores how being openly gay in the 1980s was the exception, not the rule.

Contrast this with contemporary series such as “Modern Family,” where another gay lawyer, Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), is out to both his family and coworkers, and Kurt (Chris Colfer), “Glee’s” out-and-proud high school student.

TV’s First Gay Yuppies?

Not everything about “An Early Frost” is outdated; its depiction of Michael and Peter’s relationship was decidedly ahead of its time.

The couple may be prime time’s first gay yuppies: They share a stylish apartment, take expensive vacations and struggle to balance their personal and professional obligations (when Peter confesses his affair, he explains the indiscretion happened when Michael was busy with work).

Michael and Peter never kiss or appear together in bed, but they are affectionate.

As Steven Capsuto notes in “Alternate Channels: The Uncensored Story of Gay and Lesbian Images on Radio and Television,” the first time viewers see Peter, he is playfully waking Michael for work.

In another scene, the couple performs a variation on what Capsuto calls “one of TV’s classic spousal scenes”: Michael, half-naked, shaves, as Peter sits on the counter.

“The two do not just recite lines that say they are in love: they interact and talk like a couple. They smile spontaneously when they look into each other’s eyes,” Capsuto writes.

Michael and Peter show how far gay men have come in prime time since 1977, when television’s first regular homosexual character – “Soap’s” Jodie, played by Billy Crystal – planned a sex-change operation in order to be with his boyfriend.

The Washington Post’s Tom Shales seemed to hint at this in his review, describing Michael as being “so far removed from the stereotypical homosexual that … he is stereotypically unstereotypical.”

Post-Hudson Hysteria

“An Early Frost” aired six weeks after Rock Hudson became the first major celebrity to die of complications from AIDS.

As the Advocate noted in yesterday’s tribute to the movie, AIDS had claimed just 5,000 lives by 1985, but Hudson’s death sparked hysteria, stoked by nightly news reports on the epidemic.

“An Early Frost” demonstrated prime time entertainment’s ability to educate the public in ways that broadcast journalism couldn’t – or wouldn’t, as the New York Times’ John J. O’Connor noted at the time.

“The single moment of the grandmother’s insisting on kissing her troubled grandson makes an important point far more effectively than a month of breathless newscasts,” O’Connor wrote.

“An Early Frost” is also a reminder of a time when the broadcast networks embraced “prestige projects” that addressed the issues of the day.

Before the film aired, NBC sent viewers guide to hospitals and social services agencies and held advance screenings for science reporters and public health officials.

On the night of the broadcast, Tom Brokaw hosted a late-night special about AIDS, and several NBC stations set up hotlines to answer viewers’ questions about the disease.

An Enduring Legacy

The film was seen in 20 million homes, ranking sixth for the week, and won multiple Emmys and a Golden Globe, but its greatest legacy lies in the way it humanized gay men – not only as victims of AIDS, but also as everyday people.

See for yourself: “An Early Frost” is on DVD.

 

On TV

Here’s the prime-time lineup for Monday, November 11, 1985:

8: “Hardcastle and McCormick” (ABC), “Scarecrow and Mrs. King” (CBS), “TV’s Bloopers & Practical Jokes” (NBC)

9: “Monday Night Football” (ABC), “Kate & Allie” (CBS), “An Early Frost” (NBC)

9:30: “Newhart” (CBS)

10: “Cagney & Lacey” (CBS)

 

The Record

For the week of November 10, 1985:

Top novel: “Texas” by James A. Michener

Top song: “Miami Vice” by Jay Hammer

Top movie: “Death Wish 3”

Top TV show: “The Cosby Show” (NBC)

In the news: Prince Charles and Princess Diana visited Washington

 

 

Captions: “An Early Frost” stars Ben Gazzara, Gena Rowlands and Aidan Quinn in an NBC publicity photograph (top, photographer unknown); the network’s advertisement for the movie, from TV Guide’s November 9, 1985, issue.

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, Sept. 21, 1979

Thirty years ago tonight, ABC aired “Diary of a Teenage Hitchhiker,” a cautionary tale about the dangers of accepting rides from strangers that is now regarded as one of the worst TV movies of all time.

As Associated Press TV critic Peter Boyer wrote in his review, “Diary” was based on “the premise … that every American teenage girl has an irrepressible urge to rush out to the nearest highway and hitchhike.”

Boyer wasn’t being snarky – that really is the movie’s premise.

Charlene Tilton of “Dallas” played Julie Thurston, a recent high school grad who doesn’t know what to do with her life, so she spends a lot of time thumbing rides.

Because isn’t that what you would do if you were in Julie’s shoes?

Her parents – played by Dick Van Patten of “Eight is Enough” and Katherine Helmond of “Soap” and “Who’s the Boss?” – spend much of their time worrying about their daughter’s dangerous habit.

(Boyer: “Dad … doesn’t seem concerned about social disease or drugs. It’s that scourge of our nation’s young people – hitchhiking!”)

Julie continues hitchhiking, despite her parents’ fretting.

Even after one friend is raped and beaten while hitchhiking and another is killed in a high-speed car chase doing the same, Julie continues to thumb rides.

Of course, eventually Julie has her own brush with danger.

The movie manages to reach a happy ending, though it’s colored today by a real-life tragedy involving one of Tilton’s co-stars.

Dominique Dunne, who played Cathy, the friend who was raped and beaten, was strangled to death by her boyfriend in 1982.

Her father, author and journalist Dominick Dunne, spent the next 17 years reporting on celebrity murders and advocating against violence. He died of bladder cancer Aug. 26.

 

From the Pages of TV Guide

Also airing Sept. 21, 1979:

8 PM ABC FANTASY ISLAND

1. Two “Gone With the Wind” fans (Lisa Hartman, Pamela Franklin) want to be Scarlett O’Hara for a weekend. 2. Tattoo (Herve Villechaize) has his own fantasy – to be “adored and loved by many beautiful women.” Roarke: Ricardo Montalban. (60 min.)

Additional Cast

Rawlins … Dack Rambo

O’Grady … Gene Evans

Hampstead … Christopher Connelly

8 PM CBS INCREDIBLE HULK

Opening his third season, Dr. David Banner (Bill Bixby) receives a questionable cure for his affliction: a dose of LSD administered by a rock-and-roll roadie on a jealousy trip. Hulk: Lou Ferrigno. (60 min.)

Guest Cast

Lisa Swan … Mackenzie Phillips

Jackie Swan … Katherine Cannon

Greg … Gary Graham

Ken … James V. Reynolds

8 PM NBC DIFF’RENT STROKES

Arnold (Gary Coleman) learns about love and prejudice in this second-season opener. Hospitalized with appendicitis, he comes down with a bad case of puppy love for another patient (Rachel Jacobs), and to Arnold it’s quite unimportant that she’s white. Drummond: Conrad Bain. Tanner: Dabney Coleman. Willis: Todd Bridges. Dr. Padnick: Kip King. Mrs. Garrett: Charlotte Rae. Kimberly: Dana Plato. (60 min.)

[Expands to 60 minutes, pre-empting regular programming.]