Written by: Ashtyn at 11:32 pm
Filed under: DVD Box Sets,Primetime,Television
Writer: Various
Director: Various
Cast: Penny Marshall, Cindy Williams, Michael McKean, David L. Lander
Rating: Not Rated
Studio: Paramount
Release Date: April 22, 2008
My first experience with Laverne and Shirley was through reruns, though that hardly mattered in the scheme of things. This was created back when television was made with a timeless mind set. This was hilarious in the 70s when it first aired and it is equally as funny today, where it is offered an entirely new generation of people. We had the chance to review the third season of Laverne and Shirley back in December. I didn’t realize how much I liked the series until I started watching the episodes from the third season. I watched them all for the review and then I found myself anxiously awaiting this new DVD set that I need would soon be coming out.
I couldn’t wait to discover what episodes would be in the fourth season. As you might expect from these two quirky females, there are several very interesting episodes. The girls manage to find trouble wherever they go and whatever they do. It seems as time goes on the show becomes funnier, even if it does have a way of making me miss all of the wonderful shows that used to be on from the 70s and 80s. It seems these days, good (new) television can be hard to find. It’s a good thing that box sets like this are around to keep me, and the millions of others who feel the same way, comfortable.
Release Information:
Laverne & Shirley began as a spinoff of Happy Days. The girls, Laverne De Fazio (Penny Marshall) and Shirley Feeney (Cindy Williams) played the friends of Fonzie. Soon after these few appearances on Happy Days, Marshall and Williams got a chance to do their own show about the roommates who live in Milwaukee and work in a brewery. The first season first aired in 1976, two years before I was born. The show ran for eight seasons, ending in the early 80s.
By the fourth season, Laverne & Shirley had already been one of the top watched shows in history and the female leads were the top paid females in television, at that point. Even when the writers lost their zing, people still watched the show until it became totally outlandish, eventually losing Williams, and ending for good in the eighth season. The fourth season was made available by Paramount and CBS on April 22, 2008. You can pick this set up just about anywhere, including Amazon, where it is available for $29.99 with free shipping.
The Laverne and Shirley: The Fourth Season Plot
This season of Laverne and Shirley not only features more laughs than I can count, there are also a plethora of guest stars that just add to the zany fun of the two crazy lead characters. If you have never seen this show, it’s pretty easy to grasp. Laverne and Shirley are single women who live together. They also work together, hang out together, and at times they even date together (but not each other). They are best friends and could easily be considered opposites.
Laverne is brash. She often says what she wants without thinking. She hates school, loves men, and has a tendency to get into stupid situations. Of the two, she is the messier, lazier, and more dependent roommate. Laverne is pretty quirky. She wears a big “L” on her shirt and her favorite drink is Pepsi and Milk. Some of these things may make her sound bad, but I haven’t mentioned Shirley yet.
Shirley is definitely the more obsessive, compulsive roommate. She has to have things her way. She is neurotic, annoying, and while she sometimes tries to be sexy, it isn’t long before her psycho nature shines through. She likes to try to control the situations that she and Laverne end up in, even if Laverne wants no part of them. Of course, this usually backfires horribly, and while she should learn her lesson, she never does.
This fourth season includes 23 episodes that have been spread out on four discs. There are a variety of scenarios here that are just overflowing with laughs. The girls are seen at musical auditions, on quiz shows, and in night school. They also deal with interesting topics such as robbery, amnesia, and dating men of all shapes and sizes.
There were so many guest stars in this season that most episodes had at least one guest and some episodes had two. Toni Basil, best known for her one hit wonder “Hey Mickey” starred in the episode “A Chorus Line” as Mickey. Other popular guest stars include Jack Perkins (who plays a bartender on Laverne and Shirley and played a drunk when he starred on Happy Days), Robert Alda, Paul Wilson, Larry Hankin, Rance Howard, Ed Begley Jr., Jay Leno, and Anne Ramsey to name a few.
Some of the funniest episodes include “The Robbery” where Laverne goes on a date that involves robbing a grocery store and “Laverne and Shirley Go To Night School” where the girls go to school, which proves to be disastrous, especially for the teacher. “The Quiz Show” offers a hilarious look at the girls on a game show and in “Laverne & Shirley Move In” we get a look back at the beginning of the living arrangements when Laverne and Shirley move in together.
“Supermarket Sweep” is another funny episode where Laverne wins three minutes of free shopping at Slotnick’s Market. “There’s a Spy in my Beer” shows that Laverne could be an industrial spy, well maybe, and Squiggy finds a girl to date in “Squiggy in Love” though Laverne and Shirley think that she just wants someone to move her into her new apartment. While these are not the only funny episodes they are certainly some of the funniest. You can see a complete list of all episodes in the fourth season box set, below.
Disc 1
The Festival (Parts 1 & 2)
Playing the Roxy
The Robbery
The Quiz Show
Laverne & Shirley Go To Night School
Disc 2
A Date With Eraserhead
The Bully Show
A Visit To The Cemetery
A Chorus Line
Laverne & Shirley Move In
Dinner For Four
Disc 3
It’s A Dog’s Life
Oh, Come All Ye Bums
Who’s Papa?
The Third Annual Shotz Talent Show
Supermarket Sweep
Lenny’s Crush
Disc 4
The Fire Show
Squiggy In Love
The Feminine Mistake
Tenants Are Revolting
There’s A Spy In My Beer
Shirley and the Older Man
Storyline/Plot: 
Replayability:
Acting:
Directing:
Audio/Visual:
Laverne and Shirley is around 30 years old. If you consider that fact and then add in that television transfers are never as good as movies then you might think this one turned out pretty good. Paramount offers the standard 1.33:1 aspect ratio. There are moments of grain, some compression artifacts, and some softness. On the bright side, the colors are decent and it’s always watchable despite minute flaws. It would have been better had it been cleaned up, but I was able to enjoy it immensely nevertheless.
The audio is somewhat more disappointing for various reasons. For one, it’s a standard Dolby Digital Mono audio track. Since the show is mainly dialogue oriented it isn’t too horrible, but it definitely could have been much, much better. The only language offered is English and while your television might support Closed Captioning, Paramount did not even add so much as a subtitle for those who might need them.
Visual: 
Audio:
Bonus Features:
Considering there have not been any special features on the last three season releases of Laverne and Shirley, I honestly wasn’t expecting to see a change here. It would have been nice to have some special features, but for whatever reason, Paramount has decided to throw this set together and leave them out again.
Bonus Features:
Bottom Line:
Laverne and Shirley: The Fourth Season is definitely worth purchasing even though there are no special features. A better quality audio and video would have been appreciated, considering the earlier seasons are the funniest, but what is here works and it will provide plenty of good laughs from start to finish. If you have never seen the show you should like it as much as if you’ve been a fan all 30 years. Of course, if you are new to the show you might want to check out the other seasons first, because they are even funnier than this one.
Overall Rating:
Technorati Tags: Movie, DVD Review, DVD Box Set Review, Laverne, Shirley, Laverne and Shirley, Cindy Williams, Penny Marshall, Squiggy, Lenny, Carmine, Brewery, Sitcom, Classic Television, TV on DVD
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Written by Ashtyn - Visit Website
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Ashtyn Evans is a writer, advocate, free thinker, and all around cynical person. Always quick to find the negative in anything pop culture, she loves being a part of that which she despises. Ashtyn and Dominick own numerous blogs together, as well as a full-time writing business. In her spare time she is a full-time college student studying History and Psychology. She plans to one day give up her freelance career and be a full-time blogger, novelist, and domestic goddess. She can be contacted for writing projects, fan mail, or just to say hi. She really is friendlier than we make her look.
