Stars from Garry Marshall's Shows To Appear on "The Odd Couple" for Tribute Episode

[JamesG]

"The Odd Couple" Sets Garry Marshall Tribute, "Happy Days" Stars and More to Take Part
by Kimberly Roots
October 31, 2016


Stars of several of Garry Marshall’s television hits, including "Happy Days" and "Laverne & Shirley", will appear on an upcoming episode of CBS’ "The Odd Couple" honoring him, the network announced Monday.

Marshall was creator of the original "The Odd Couple" and an executive consultant on the reboot. He died in July at age 81 of complications from pneumonia.





Stars from his previous shows taking part include:

- "Happy Days‘" Marion Ross, Ron Howard, Anson Williams and Don Most

- "Laverne & Shirley‘s" Penny Marshall (who is also Marshall’s sister) and Cindy Williams

- "Mork & Mindy‘s" Pam Dawber





Marshall once appeared as Walter, Oscar’s father, in the series currently airing on CBS.

Per the network, the tribute episode will find Oscar touching base “with many significant people from Walter’s life when he agrees to carry out his father’s final wish to spread his ashes behind the candy factory he used to own.”



In a statement, EP Bob Daily said:

“The writing staff and everyone on The Odd Couple reboot was thrilled when Garry Marshall joined us as a producer because his shows were part of our TV DNA.

He was a kind, generous presence on the set, and we loved him dearly. And when we lost him, we knew we had to do something to honor his legacy — something that, like Garry’s work, was both heartfelt and zany. We are so grateful that the stars of these classic shows are able to join us in honoring him.”




The episode will air Monday, Nov. 7, at 9:30/8:30c.

http://tvline.com/2016/10/31/the-odd...sode-season-3/

[Babalu]

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment...e-me-life.html

Penny Marshall opens up about late brother Garry Marshall: 'He gave me a life'

ET was on the set of the upcoming "Odd Couple" tribute to Garry Marshall, where his sister, Penny Marshall, revealed just how much he meant to her.

"My brother gave me a life," Penny told her nephew, Scott -- Garry's director son -- who was interviewing her for ET. "It's not many people who have a brother who give them a life. He gave me a life and I appreciate it and I tried to not let him down."

Penny's career was just one of many that Garry launched in his five-decade-long career. As the mastermind behind such beloved TV shows and movies such as "Happy Days," "Mork & Mindy," "Pretty Woman" and "The Princess Diaries" (to name just a few!), Garry greatly impacted the careers of stars like Julia Roberts, Robin Williams, Anne Hathaway, Kate Hudson, Henry Winkler, Rob Lowe, John Stamos, Scott Baio and Mayim Bialik.

The legendary director, producer and creator gave his younger sister her first big break as Jack Klugman's secretary on "The Odd Couple," then lightning struck when Garry cast Penny as Laverne DeFazio on "Happy Days" in 1975. Her character, along with Cindy Williams' Shirley Feeney, was so popular it earned a spinoff the following year, which lasted eight seasons.

Williams is also featured in The Odd Couple tribute episode, and she told ET's Nischelle Turner how she found out about Garry's death.

"Penny called me," Williams recalled. "She said, 'Garry's sick. I think he's dying.' I didn't believe her. I thought it was a joke. That night he passed, and someone brought me this picture of Penny, me and Garry and Henry. It was at the Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony and I just burst out crying."

Thomas Lennon, who plays Felix Unger in the current "Odd Couple" on CBS, admitted he was also devastated by Garry's loss.

"If you could go back somehow and tell the childhood version of myself that the creator of "Happy Days" and "Laverne & Shirley" would be my friend, I would never have believed it. Excuse me," Lennon said through tears. "I am Irish. I cry a ton," he joked.

Garry brought the original "Odd Couple" to TV in the '70s and he stole the show as Matthew Perry's dad, Walter, in the CBS reboot. Perry told us Garry was an invaluable asset on set.

"He was always around pitching jokes at every table read," Perry said. "He helped design the sets. He said, 'Put a peephole on the door. Peepholes are funny.' And so we put a peephole on the door. We just listened to everything he said."

The tribute episode, airing Nov. 7, follows Oscar (Perry) as he reconnects with people from his father Walter's life while preparing to scatter his ashes behind the candy factory his father used to own.

In addition to Penny and Williams, Ron Howard, Marion Ross, Anson Williams, Don Most and Pam Dawber will also guest star on the episode

[TMC]

http://www.cinemablend.com/televisio...garry-marshall

BY NICK VENABLE

Among the many entertainers that passed away in 2016 was television legend Garry Marshall, who spent a big chunk of his 81 years creating and producing some of TV's most classic shows. And though it's coming five months after Marshall's death, the CBS sitcom The Odd Couple paid tribute to him in a fantastic way for last night's episode, which brought in a host of stars from several of Marshall's most popular comedies.

The episode was titled "Taffy Days," a pun-riffic take on Happy Days, and it centered on Matthew Perry's Oscar coming to grips with the death of his candy-making father Walter, a character Garry Marshall appeared as in a past episode. Barely a couple of minutes passed before we saw the first famous face, Happy Days' star and filmmaker Ron Howard. He played Walter's numbskull of an attorney who gave the episode its driving force by revealing Walter's last wish was to have his ashes spread in the river behind the old taffy factory he operated with his sister Patty. A journey then ensued.

As seen above, another one of the Odd Couple's guest stars was Penny Marshall, the sister of the late Garry Marshall. She was, of course, one half of the iconic BFF duo Laverne & Shirley, which aired for eight seasons from 1976-1983. They'd been estranged for years, and Oscar finally does get some closure after talking with her in the third act, at which point Walter's ashes had been accidentally dropped into a barrel of taffy. Sitcoms are wild, y'all.

And there were a bunch of other excellent cameos from others that came between Ron Howard and Penny Marshall's episode-capping spots. Oscar (and a road trip-ready Felix) end up meeting Patty's mother Edna, played by the always fabulous Happy Days matriarch Marion Ross, and sister Vivan, who was portrayed by Cindy Williams, Penny Marshall's co-star on Laverne & Shirley. (No Squiggy or Lenny to be found, sadly.) More Happy Days stars showed up, too, as both Anson "Potsie" Williams and Don "Ralph Malph" Most were former co-workers of Walter's.

Pam Dawber, the female non-alien half of Mork & Mindy, was in the episode as Annette, a bartender who knew Walter. Her presence is doubly touching, as her Mork & Mindy co-star Robin Williams died a little over two years ago.

For more sad feelings, check out the pre-credits tag below.

All in all, The Odd Couple offered a way to honor Garry Marshall - the use of TV cameos - that really couldn't be more fitting. It wasn't necessarily on par with the best episodes of Marshall's best comedies - "pain in my butler" was a noteworthy groaner - but it was worth it to see all these excellent actors back on primetime TV.

The Odd Couple Season 3 airs on CBS on Monday nights. To see what other future and present TV classics are on the way, check out our schedules for both the fall debuts and midseason premieres.

[AB]

Enjoyed the episode and getting to see all the guest stars.

[Edison]

A wonderful half hour.

[gidgetgrape]

Originally Posted by AB

Enjoyed the episode and getting to see all the guest stars.

Me too! It made me happy and sad at the same time.