After a spinoff involving Lenny and Squiggy was scrapped, Cindy Williams said... - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

TMC · 02-01-2025, 08:49 PM

...it was probably for the best

https://www.metv.com/stories/after-a...y-for-the-best

The Laverne & Shirley duo were going to get their own show!

Duster76 · 02-02-2025, 12:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TMC

...it was probably for the best

https://www.metv.com/stories/after-a...y-for-the-best

The Laverne & Shirley duo were going to get their own show!

What a joke, here's the headline:

After a spinoff involving Lenny and Squiggy was scrapped, Cindy Willaims said it was probably for the best

The Laverne & Shirley duo were going to get their own show!

Interesting headline, now we're going to learn all about the proposed spinoff right, well, not so fast:

8 paragraphs into the story we get this:

"In fact, the show became so successful, that
there were originally plans to give Lenny and Squiggy their own spinoff. This idea was later scrapped, which Williams believed was for the best".

That's it!

Those METV articles.

BestTVever · 02-02-2025, 07:29 AM

Spinning them off would be like spinning off The Ropers from Threes Company. It would weaken the show. People forget but Lenny and Squiggy made a record album and toured the United States on radio shows promoting it. They were really popular for a bit and could understand why a spin off was planned. Its good they didn't. Their subplots and entrances were the small spice that really worked. That is why I compared them to The Ropers. The Roper's banter and small subplots were hysterical. But its hard to build an entire show around them.

Duster76 · 02-07-2025, 10:18 PM

There isn't a great deal of information on this proposed spinoff, apparently it was an idea hatched by Fred Silverman early in the first season of Laverne & Shirley. The set-up, the boys get drafted into the army. Both Lander and McKean were opposed to using the army as a premise but Silverman was insistent, that's what he wanted. There was a pilot filmed and the test audience response was positive but ABC had a commitment with Nancy Walker for a series for the 76-77 TV season so the network did not move forward. I couldn't find any explanation as to why the idea wasn't revisited by the network for the 77-78 season (Silverman resigned ABC in January of 78).

David Lander felt the Lenny and Squiggy bit wouldn't work in the army, they'd have to look different, have different haircuts. The army idea was definitely misguided.

02-01-2025, 08:49 PM	#1
TMC Member Forum Idol Join Date: Jan 09, 2001 Posts: 124,453	After a spinoff involving Lenny and Squiggy was scrapped, Cindy Williams said... ...it was probably for the best https://www.metv.com/stories/after-a...y-for-the-best The Laverne & Shirley duo were going to get their own show!

02-02-2025, 07:29 AM	#3
BestTVever Member Senior Member Join Date: Jan 29, 2021 Location: Miami Posts: 1,874	Spinning them off would be like spinning off The Ropers from Threes Company. It would weaken the show. People forget but Lenny and Squiggy made a record album and toured the United States on radio shows promoting it. They were really popular for a bit and could understand why a spin off was planned. Its good they didn't. Their subplots and entrances were the small spice that really worked. That is why I compared them to The Ropers. The Roper's banter and small subplots were hysterical. But its hard to build an entire show around them.

02-07-2025, 10:18 PM	#4
Duster76 Member Senior Member Join Date: Mar 01, 2008 Location: New jersey Posts: 1,639	There isn't a great deal of information on this proposed spinoff, apparently it was an idea hatched by Fred Silverman early in the first season of Laverne & Shirley. The set-up, the boys get drafted into the army. Both Lander and McKean were opposed to using the army as a premise but Silverman was insistent, that's what he wanted. There was a pilot filmed and the test audience response was positive but ABC had a commitment with Nancy Walker for a series for the 76-77 TV season so the network did not move forward. I couldn't find any explanation as to why the idea wasn't revisited by the network for the 77-78 season (Silverman resigned ABC in January of 78). David Lander felt the Lenny and Squiggy bit wouldn't work in the army, they'd have to look different, have different haircuts. The army idea was definitely misguided.