35 years ago tonight, on Tuesday, January 27, 1976 “Laverne & Shirley” premiered on ABC.
The “Laverne & Shirley” marquee at Paramount Studios where the series was taped, June 1979.
The show starred Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams as bottle-cappers at a Milwaukee brewery. Like “Happy Days” the show was set in 1950s.
Technically “Laverne & Shirley” was a spin-off of “Happy Days” since the characters of Laverne DeFazio and Shirley Feeney once went on a double date with Richie Cunningham and The Fonz. But in truth, that episode of “Happy Days” was just one way the producers tested out the new characters. Traditionally speaking, a spin-off is when a regular or recurring character from a series is given their own series. Prime examples of this would include “The Jeffersons,” “Lou Grant” and “Frasier.”
This writer at the historic Paramount Pictures gate on the lot where “Laverne & Shirley” was taped, June 1979.
The mid-season replacement series shot straight to the top of the ratings, finishing its short first season as the #3 primetime series. The next year it was #2, followed by two seasons as TV’s #1 show. By the 1979-1980 season “Laverne & Shirley” had dropped out of the top 10 for good.
“Laverne & Shirley” ran for eight seasons (7 ½ really). In the fall of 1980 the setting moved from Milwaukee to California, and then in 1982 Cindy Williams left the show. It ran for one final season with just Laverne, no Shirley and left the airwaves in May 1983.
Raised by TV 
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