Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams only appeared in ''Happy Days'' as a favor to executive producer Garry Marshall

Nobody expected the characters to be a hit, least of all the actors playing them.

September 20, 2024, 4:11PM By MeTV Staff

CBS Television Distribution

Some of the best things in life are unexpected, and apparently, that includes hit television shows.

While it might seem easy to assume that television pitches are the result of careful and meticulous planning, sometimes the best television shows are made by looking at already-popular series and seeing what viewers respond to.

That's how Laverne & Shirley began. According to an article in the Scrantonian Tribune, Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams didn't go into their first appearance as Laverne and Shirley with delusions of grandeur. In fact, when the two guest starred in Happy Days, they only did it as a favor to Garry Marshall, brother to Penny Marshall and executive producer of Happy Days. When executives saw how much viewers enjoyed the two ladies, they took it as a sign to give the girls a spinoff, and the rest is history.

When the show did begin production, though, they had to hit the ground running. "We worked it out as we went along," said Marshall. "It's been on-the-job training."

Williams and Marshall have their own ideas about why the show is so successful. "I think it's because it's fun," said Marshall. "It's fun to do. Sometimes. And because it's fun to do, it's fun to watch."

While Williams agreed, she also argued that the show appealed to viewers because it was more realistic than what we normally see on television.

"It's more than that," said Williams. "Two working girls - has there ever been a show about two working girls? I mean, Mary Tyler Moore, Rhoda, Phyllis - they're working girls. But they wear great clothes. They have nice apartments. Laverne and Shirley are just barely making it. They live together to share rent. Their apartment's a dump..."

The simplicity of the series was another thing the two actors could agree was an important piece of the show. "Another thing, it's innocence," said Williams. "That was the age of innocence, the Fifties. Today is the age of anxiety."