Thursday, September 25, 2008

Grudge Match: Laverne and Shirley vs. Mary and Rhoda

The two most beloved girl-girl buddy teams of the '70s pitted in a brutal battle for ratings supremacy. Will the Minneapolis (and sometimes New York) team make it home alive after all, or will the Milwaukee (and sometimes Los Angeles) girls prove that this time, there's no stopping them?

Both teams have one clear weak link: Shirley got her ass kicked by Laverne the very first time they appeared on Happy Days, and Mary is fundamentally useless (unlike Laura Petrie, who was trained in judo). But I think I would personally be inclined to give this to L&S, because Laverne seems to be tougher than Rhoda and Shirley is somewhat less useless in a fight than Mary. But I could be wrong; after all, Laverne and Shirley usually cause more harm to themselves than others, and Mary and Rhoda might not even have to do anything for L&S to fall over and take themselves out of the fight.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It depends on when the fight happens. If it's in the early seventies, Mary and Rhoda win because they are at the height of their power. But after that, as the climate of TV changes and topics they were allowed to address, such as abortion, become TV taboos, they dwindle into wraiths of their former selves and likely would lose. Except...

If this is during the later seasons of Laverne and Shirley, the quality of everything is shrinking and eventually Shirley evaporates, leaving her outnumbered by Mary and Rhoda, who might then be able to take Laverne.

However, if Laverne and Shirley do lose the fight, you can count on Lenny and Squiggy to cook up some utterly foolish scheme of revenge on Mary and Rhoda.

burlivespipe said...

I just want to see Rhoda sock it to Carmine before he roars 'Rags to Riches' one more time...

Jacqueline T. Lynch said...

Since Mary was famous for having disatrous dinner parties, I would imagine such a fight might occur at her apartment during such a party with Laverne and Shirley as guests. Laverne and Rhoda might clobber each other, but I think Mary and Shirley would face off only with expressions of distress. Shirley was known as "Girly Shirley Feeney," after all, and I believe Mary once acknowledged that in her family to show anger, "we purse our lips."