Would any L&S spinoffs have worked?

[installLSC]

Do you think any of the characters on "Laverne and Shirley" would have been good enough to have their own spinoffs? I think an Edna Babish spinoff could have worked, whether with Frank or not. Betty Garrett definately had the comic chops to have a show based around her. Lenny and Squiggy worked more as supplementary characters than as the center of attention, and Carmine was too bland. What's your thoughts?

[comedyfreak]

I don't think any character spinoff would have worked, the characters they had were great as supporting but not on their own.

On another thought, I always thought that they should have brought in Big Rosie Greenbaum to replace Shirley. Rosie could play off Laverne and eventually they could have learned to become friends that friction between them would have worked. It's what made their scenes together so funny.

[shotzette]

Originally Posted by installLSC

Do you think any of the characters on "Laverne and Shirley" would have been good enough to have their own spinoffs? I think an Edna Babish spinoff could have worked, whether with Frank or not. Betty Garrett definately had the comic chops to have a show based around her. Lenny and Squiggy worked more as supplementary characters than as the center of attention, and Carmine was too bland. What's your thoughts?

As much as I would have loved to have seen more of these characters, I don't think an L&S spin off would have worked. Lenny and Squiggy were the most viable characters to get their own show, but they would have had to have been "normalized" to the point they would lose their special edge. They worked best as second bananas. Look how much the girls themselves changed between their initial appearance in Happy Days and the L&S pilot.

The series' last episode was actually a back door pilot for a Carmine spinoff, but the network (and the viewers) weren't interested.

I like your idea for a Betty Garrett spin off, though. They could have had Edna and Frank break up (which they did) and have Edna move back to Milwaukee.

[TVFactFan]

Originally Posted by installLSC

Do you think any of the characters on "Laverne and Shirley" would have been good enough to have their own spinoffs? I think an Edna Babish spinoff could have worked, whether with Frank or not. Betty Garrett definately had the comic chops to have a show based around her. Lenny and Squiggy worked more as supplementary characters than as the center of attention, and Carmine was too bland. What's your thoughts?

The laverne and shirley audience would have ran home to watch a spinoff centered around Frank and Betty??

There was no supporting character strong enough to have their own show