I like, and have always liked, Laverne & Shirley MUCH more than Happy Days. Happy Days was more of a corny little family show that basically revolved around the time period it was in, which Laverne & Shirley kind of dropped as the show progressed.
I always thought that L&S had more developed characters as well. Though most of the episodes are comedic, there are some awfully sad ones where you find out the little sad backgrounds of all of the main characters. For instance...
Laverne lost her mother at a young age. She lost her boyfriend/almost-fiancee, Randy in a fire. And in the end, you find out that she's really a hopeless romantic... maybe even more so than Shirley.
Shirley's parents were divorced, and both her father and brother Bobby are alcoholics.
Lenny's mom walked out on the family on his fifth birthday, and it's obvious that he has low self-esteem a lot of the time.
Squiggy's dad wasn't around when he has a child, and during some of the earlier episodes, it's hinted that he had a foster mother... amongst other things.
So, really, Laverne & Shirley was better for me because there was a story behind the comedy. I don't watch it only because it's nostalgic, or quick humor, but you feel like you can really get into the characters, sometimes. You know
why the way they are. And even though all of this isn't really in the front of your mind, you atleast know that there's some substance to it
I'm not saying that Happy Days had no substance, but you just never really got all the information about the characters like you do with L&S.