Watching Laverne & Shirley today, it's hard to imagine that this idiotic sitcom was ever intended for adult consumption: its putative heroines come across, at best, as mentally retarded, and at worst, as whiny, shallow bimbos (but that's hardly a surprise: producer Garry Marshall would go on to make a career of denigrating the female gender with films like The Princess Diaries and Runaway Bride). Living in the same 1950s Milwaukee universe as the Happy Days gang (from which it spun off), the title characters Laverne DeFazio (later director Penny Marshall) and Shirley Feeney (Cindy Williams) work at Shotz Brewery and share a basement apartment, as well as a rigid uptightness about everything and everyone outside their claustrophobic little social circle, even though they ostensibly dream of expanding their horizons beyond their current blue-collar world. The laugh track cannot cover up the shortcomings of the 15 first-season (1976) episodes on this extra-less triple-disc boxed set, which boasts a solid DVD transfer, though the sound is mono (but, hey, who needs to hear these two mewling in stereo?) Optional. (M. Johanson)
Laverne & Shirley: The Complete First Season
Paramount, 3 discs, 373 min., not rated, DVD: $38.99 Volume 19, Issue 6
Laverne & Shirley: The Complete First Season
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