![Appreciation: Penny Marshall broke ground as a director, but on TV she was loved as 'Laverne' - Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/resizer/vIY2lZVT-oHWYiwYaTXcPdrFmH4=/1200x0/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tronc.s3.amazonaws.com/public/ZL7KINXTLNG4JDZPPFV3JZULQA.jpg)
It’s easy to dismiss “Laverne & Shirley,” which debuted as the No. 1 series on television, as hectic fluff, a Lucy-and-Ethel knockoff, especially given its later, decadent seasons. But at its best, there is something surprisingly natural in its staging and performance, a blue-collar comedy whose characters seem, most of them, much of the time — I make exception, of course, for the farcical two stooges, Michael McKean’s Lenny and David L. Lander’s Squiggy — pretty real. That Bronx accent was all Marshall’s.
Source: L.A. Times – Entertainment News