MovieChat Forums > Laverne & Shirley (1976) Discussion > "Duh" Moments in "Laverne and Shirley"

"Duh" Moments in "Laverne and Shirley"

posted 9 years ago by horizonbeach
1 reply | jump to latest

You know, those moments where you're watching and you're saying to the TV screen, "Oh, come ON! You can't be that dumb!"

Here's one I thought of: In "The Robbery" (season 4, Ep. 4) when the biker guy that Laverne dates hangs her and Shirley on coat hooks by the backs of their coats and they make a huge production of trying and failing to get down, why don't they simply raise their arms above their heads, slip out of their coats, and drop onto the floor? Duh...

Another one: In season 4's "Who's Poppa", Shirley goes to the very illegal extreme of impersonating a doctor to try to find out if she's adopted, based simply on the fact that she does not look exactly like her brother. How many families do you know of where the biological siblings do not bear a strong resemblance to each other? It's called genetics, as in, one can take after Mom's side and one can take after Dad's side. And if I remember correctly, didn't her sailor father have dark hair and wasn't especially tall? Duh...

Any others?

[–] IcingOnTheCake 9 years ago

There's plenty of those moments on shows like these because they're just going for the laugh.
Laverne wouldn't have had time to sleep prior to the party during the guinea pig episode but Shirley could have eaten on the way to it. They though wanted to show Laverne nodding off and Shirley desperate for food.

The world seemed like a much larger place during the setting and even the airing of L&S. She and the viewers probably didn't think how extremely illegal it was to impersonate a doctor. The average person also didn't then know much about genetics, at least compared to today.

If I'm remembering correctly, it wasn't just that she looked differently than her siblings but that they were very blonde. We know that can happen but it was easier during that time period to implant doubt.