The opening to "Laverne & Shirley" was pretty sad

Yea, so damn sad, Cindy and Penny were crying crocodile tears while on their way to the bank.

"Dreamless", OP? They're standing there day dreaming.

Not really. They're having fun as seen in other shots. In the photo they're a little bored but yes per R2, daydreaming. It'd be more depressing if they were doing any actual work.

At least they have jobs, Teafake...I mean...OP

I miss the American sunshiny optimism in the face of adversity and even bleakness.

Hard to believe that Michael McKean is the only surviving member from the original cast.

That must feel kind of sad.

They ride a bike in the sunshine at the end, how happier do you need them to be?

Rosie Greenbaum is still with us, r5.

AcrylicDesires sounds like the old AliensonMars

—you’ve been warned.

Are there many working class characters on TV currently? Remembering shows like Rosanne that came after this. Laverne and Shirley's jobs are now done by robots in Mexico. The same characters today would be living in a RV and hooking and doing fentanyl.

But not in the main cast credits, r7.

Now THAT is a spinoff Datalounge would’ve gone for.

Probably a legit union job with a pension. I'd be happy too.

R9. I'd watch that! Cindy Williams passed out, foaming at the mouth...

Their Milwaukee apartment.

Is the kitchen right?

[quote]Shirley having nicked a beer,

She didn't steal a beer. She ostensibly worked on the quality control line and was likely grabbing a "defective" beer.

That floor plan?—where’s the door into the apt?

That was back in the day when you could work a shitty job and still afford a decent apartment.

r8 Oh god, please no. We can't take any more of that freak.

R16. I liked the first apartment more than their Spanish Colonial in Hollywood.

[quote]Oh god, please no. We can't take any more of that freak.

Hello!

When I was a kid I thought the factory 🏭 looked cool

R19, you made my day.

[quote]That was back in the day when you could work a shitty job and still afford a decent apartment.

It was a basement apartment in Milwaukee with ONE small window in the entire apartment. Even Lenny and Squiggy's apartment was better than theirs.

R7, I dated Rosie Greenbaum's cousin years ago. We had her dad's (the Maytag man) very large peacoat in our closet. Cool story, bro, I know.

R13, not sure if the kitchen is right, but I think they had a dumb waiter (at least in one episode).

Was the Califirnia apartment repurposed for a later series? I remember seeing a sitcom a few years ago where I thought the set looked familiar.

R24. That was Webster.

A couple of single working gals waiting for the final whistle to blow after a long day. They had a ball. Friends, family, wacky neighbors, poodle skirts, beer and each other. I'd say they were doing beautifully.

r25, that was Two and a Half Men. I think it's just a coincidence. I can't imagine the sets from L&S still existed 20 years after the show was cancelled. Plus they were produced by different studios so that makes it even less likely.

That said they were strikingly similar in a lot of ways. Maybe the set designer worked on both shows? Or the Two and a Half Men set designer was a big Laverne & Shirley fan

What the fuck is this, OP? Your boring graduate thesis on Laverne & Shirley?

R28 your nuts—a house in Malibu set was literally nothing like a cramped apt.set.

Op is what is sad

Why did they get rid of Carmine and have Shirley marry someone else?

[quote]Probably a legit union job with a pension. I'd be happy too.

Fuck yes, that was a good job back then.

R13 They slept in twin beds in the same room? How did they deal with Carmine or some of Laverne's randos when they came over to voh-de-oh-doh?

You want sad?Try the opening after Cindy Williams left the show.

Carmine dated Rosie Palma and her five friends, and then fucked the women he gave dance lessons to every once in a while. Shirley never gave it up to him.

Laverne probably just gave handjobs and blowjobs on the sofa.

Shit, I wish I could go back to the days of my own apt while working in a machine shop. I never thought they seemed sad. Just a couple of working girls.

r30 we're talking about the L&S set after they moved to California. The layout of that apartment is very similar to the Two and a Half Men living room set.

[quote]I miss the American sunshiny optimism in the face of adversity and even bleakness.

Conservatives are still like that -- optimistic and hard-working.

How do you think they've been able to survive through the decades against the liberal Hollywood/Broadway/print media/MSM propaganda machine on the left?

Thanks to the internet, the right found a way to combat that twenty years ago.

And now that social media is king, Republicans have the upper hand, while the Democrats' legacy media is gong extinct.

Which will finally give them reason to be miserable.

Liberals are generally a gloomy bunch, especially the farther left they go.

It's no wonder that since the radicals took over Hollywood in the 2010s, movies/shows have gotten ugly and pessimistic and dystopian.

That's because they're atheists who believe we're all alone in the universe and it makes them feel vulnerable and scared.

Whereas conservatives believe in a higher power and thus feel safe and that someone's watching over them.

In short, conservatives are generally happy, optimistic, attractive, whereas liberals are generally unhappy, pessimistic, unattractive.

gee I gotta get some good dick, Shirl!

Laverne had gastrointestinal issues because of all that goddamned milk and Pepsi.

The OP sounds pretty sad. Chin up, OP.

R39, conservatives when faced with bleakness and adversity start airing their grievances, bitch and moan about migrants takin' their jurbs, parrot lies they heard on RW media, and vote for cretins. Doesn't seem sunny or optimistic or worth wasting time on a deity they made up. But keep telling yourself whatever you need to to support your ignorance and hate.

Oh, and the whole series was terrible not just the opening. But I'm glad the actors/writers had jobs. I remember from Bob Woodward's bio of Belushi that he and Penny Marshall were discussing their work at some party and Belushi had the nerve to call L&S 'shit' or something similar which was pretty rotten I thought.

Empathy, R39 - give it a try sometime.

Aaaaaaaaand this thread has enshittified.

I used to weep whenever the show came on, not because of the sad theme song, but because the show was so fucking stupid.

^ Ghost Of Belushi at R45.

Belushi was an overrated cunt who hated women and grunted for laughs.

Shirley did NOT vodeo do do!

R38 so wrong. Unless by similar you mean stairs and a window. Ridiculous.

It’s a pity because the Big Ragu always seemed like he’d be a very randy, thoroughly satisfying fuck.

R26, maybe Webster too, but definitely Laverne & Shirley

As a kid I thought Laverne was drunk most of the time.

I remember a lot of older people thought the main characters were vulgar and unlady-like at the time

they were mistaken for prostitutes at least twice a season.

[quote]they were mistaken for prostitutes at least twice a season.

It happens.

Ditto.

So does vodeo without the do do just mean anal?

Carmine Ragusa (Eddie Mekka) died at 69 yrs old in 2021

OP is correct. Even as a child, I always found the opening song & montage to be melancholy, yet wistful. There was a surprising amount of emotional heft, especially compared to a sitcom like Three's Company.

They were bottle cappers, R14

I don't think Shirley took it up the ass. She was a prude. Now Laverne....

I didn't know seasons 6-8 are in California! I only saw a couple of reruns of the early seasons.

Gilda Radner was briefly considered for the role of Shirley Feeney:

Pepsi and Milk. I actually tired it. Tasted like a watered down milkshake

The move to California was a thoroughgoing disaster.

It was fine, OP. Get over it.

When I was a kid in the early 90s, my mom and sister were speculating that a cousin was lesbian because she had moved from Boston to Oregon with her friend. As a little Christian closeted gayling I was aghast. I said she was not a lesbian! My mom replied that grown women do not live across the country together unless they were in a relationship and I replied that Laverne and Shirley did! Haha

Also R39 has the dumbest take on America I’ve ever heard.

For real R69! How anyone can perform such complicated mental gymnastics to argue that the conservative American clarion call of grievance, fear and carnage come from and represent the happier, healthier, more optimistic set of the population is beyond me.

R39 is the dumbest person who ever, ever, EVER lived.

The video at R48 must be one of the first episodes. Cindy was laying on the working class accent extra thick and is not how I remember her character speaking over the run of the show.

As a teenager, I wondered if Eddie Mekka or Ed Marinaro had the bigger bush.

R73. My vote is Eddie.

[quote]The same characters today would be living in a RV and hooking and doing fentanyl

Now that's a show I would actually watch.