Why did Penny Williams leave the show? What exactly happened it the last season(series-wise) and what is all of this about the opening theme?

Who in God's name is Penny Williams?

Penny MARSHALL played Laverne

CINDY Williams played Shirley

Cindy left because she was pregant and Paramount gave her an offer to leave for 10 episodes, then come back. But she thought they were trying to force her off the show or something and sued them for $20 million, but dropped the lawsuit. Instead she left the show permanently.

And, despite what people think, the first half of the last season got really good ratings. Then they declined and the show was cancelled. They kept the name Laverne & Shirley because Penny didn't want anyone thinking she forced Cindy off the show.

Yes, the exact reason why the ratings were so good for the last season was that people wanted to see how the show would be without Shirley, and to give their opinions in it, but I guess that ABC really thought that it would flop, even though it was #25 at the end.

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Andrew Carden