A Quick Look at Behind Laverne N Shirley

[Flying Dutchman]

Seen behind the scenes of mork and mindy and got a quick preview of what it was like behind the scenes of laverne and shirley i always knew cindy williams was imposible to work with, I read that gerrit graham who played in the slapstik comedy movie spaceship said about williams she was very hard to work with very self centered and argumentive, so i think if they do a behind the scenes look at L&S we know how its going to look, dont think penny marshal was the problem with that show even when they did the laverne and shirley reunion show where the camaras were hiding that cindy was very overweight, you cvould see that penny was reluctant to be there with her.

[TV DVD Fan]

... thats a good idea of yours Dutchman


pat

[shotzette]

Interesting comments, Flying Dutchman.

I know that when/if the L&S "Behind the Scenes" movie comes out, it will be interesting. I was actually impressed that they didn't seem to over-sensationalize the M&M movie.

I think BOTH actresses were probably quite difficult to deal with during the run of the show, and I'm probably one of the biggest PM fans out there.

I know that CW didn't want to do the show initially since there was still a stigma attached to being a "TV" actor as opposed to "Movie" actor--the same form of snobbery that existed in the 1920s and 1930s when it was "Stage" actors vs. "Movie" actors. Sorta makes one wonder how these "Reality" show idiots are going to be perceived in ten years, doesn't it?

Anyhow, I know that there was talk during the time between the Happy Days ep where the girls were introduced and the pilot about replacing CW with Gilda Radner. Fortunately/unfortunately, depending on your views, Gilda felt obligated to SNL and and CW was turned down for a part in yet another George Lucas film. As we all know, the role of Princess Leia went to Carrie Fisher instead--ironcially, the person who's PM's best friend.

Needless to say, CW went into the L&S project probably feeling like she won second prize instead of first. Couple that with more Laverne-centric eps, and it's pretty easy to see how she could have become very neurotic and defensive.

PM, on the other hand is well known for her rampant insecurity, and probably could have made things very difficult for another actress who's trying to share her spotlight. Add the fact that you probably couldn't swing a dead cat on that set without hitting a Marshall, or someone who was in the Marshall camp; I can imagine that CW probably felt a bit marginalized throughout the run of the series.

Despite all of that, I really don't think the two actress actually hated one another. I'm sure that their relationship was rocky during the series run, but I always felt it was a rivalry rather than genuine emnity. I think that there were many occassions (none gossip worthy of course, when they got along with each other beautifully. But let's face it, who wants to hear about that.

With the exception of Betty Garrett and Phil Foster, I really don't think anyone was happy on that show. CW was constantly fighting for what she perceived to be unfair treatment, PM hung with the "cool" SNL crowd who constantly belittled her show, and MMK and DL hated the revolving door of writers who tried to write the characters that they themselves invented, but who didn't understand or care enough to do them justice.

Sadly, all of this unhappyness manifested itself in the show's lackluster final season. CW walked off, pregnant and slapping both Paramount and Garry Marshall with a multi-million dollar lawsuit. PM didn't want to do the show anymore and has aired her regrets on staying on post-CW in countless interviews. MMK walked as soon as "Spinal Tap" found a distributor. I'm truly sorry that everyone couldn't have just back burnered their own egos, sucked it up, and let the show go off the air with some closure and given a decent good bye to the fans. In the end, the fans were the ones who got the short end of the stick.

Shotzette

[Flying Dutchman]

But isnt that the way it always is? i mean the viewers always get ousted in the end. the networks are always begging for more viewers and when they get them its like they dont give them what they want, once in a while they do, for example when star trek went off the air in the lates 60s the fans wrote in to have it put back on the air so nbc complied with the request of the fans and ran star trek one more season, but 1 abc is well known for not listening to the viewers, the one that made me stop watching abc sitcoms was back in the the 80s when they cancelled greatest american hero after 3 seasons this was a show i really loved alot and its funny cause the ratings were still more than good enough to keep GAH on the air but not for abc. L&S was a wonderful show very funny i miss this show alot, regardles of what happen behind the camaras the important thing is that PM & CW made us laugh so hard in front of the camaras.

Timerider315 Formerly Flying Dutchman

[shotzette]

Irony, TimeRider315/Flying Dutchman; you've mentioned both of my favorite shows in the same post!

L&S was terrific back in the day, the comedy chemistry between PM & CW was wonderful, and that between MMK & DL was nothing short of electric. I really wish that TPTB had paid more attention to the cast's needs and focused on attracting and retaining good writers, rather than the writer-of-the-week. I think the end product would have been even funnier and that the cast would have been happier.

I actually didn't mind L&S jumping the shark by moving to CA, but I think they ALL should have called it quits amicably a year earlier and tied up the lose ends. Unfortunately, the network needed X amount of episodes for syndication which meant beacoup $ for the remaining cast members (PM, PF, ED, & DL especially),without a thought to the lack of quality and direction of the episodes. Sad.

Then again, if all the lose ends were tied up, we wouldn't have the urge to write fanfic...

Shotzette

[GeminiX1985]

Er, well I don't think Cindy is really self centered at all; maybe she came across that way because she was stressed out on set but really...I've talked to her before and she is not even close to self centered. *shrug*

Originally Posted by Flying Dutchman

Seen behind the scenes of mork and mindy and got a quick preview of what it was like behind the scenes of laverne and shirley i always knew cindy williams was imposible to work with, I read that gerrit graham who played in the slapstik comedy movie spaceship said about williams she was very hard to work with very self centered and argumentive, so i think if they do a behind the scenes look at L&S we know how its going to look, dont think penny marshal was the problem with that show even when they did the laverne and shirley reunion show where the camaras were hiding that cindy was very overweight, you cvould see that penny was reluctant to be there with her.