Cindy Williams: A Dreamer with a Tremendous Audience
She was part of a national experience, every week.
News of Cindy Williams’ passing hit me hard this morning. I hadn’t thought of her or her work in ages, but the news brought back a flood of memories. Watching the opening title sequence for Laverne & Shirley, I was reminded of the power of music — it’s a wonderful theme song — and the promise of youth. Those two girls were Gonna Make Their Dreams Come True, come hell or high water. Sure, it’s just TV, but TV can capture our dreams and inspire us even when it’s not high art.
“Laverne & Shirley” came on the air in 1976, on ABC. I was a young television director, a year out of college, at an ABC affiliate station at the time. I may not have been working in a beer factory, but I was just starting out with dreams of my own. The opening music to the show resonated with me and so many other people my age trying to figure out next steps.
The show was silly, and it was fun. By its third season, it was the most-watched TV show in America, clearly resonating with folks of all stripes. That was in the days of the dominance of network television. There were only three commercial networks: ABC, CBS, and NBC. Fox didn’t come on the scene until 1986. Cable television was in existence but hadn’t reached the saturation it would by the end…
