I Love Lucy
Let's start with the godmother of them all. Before Laverne and Shirley were stuffing their faces on a chocolate assembly line, Lucy and Ethel were doing the same. Penny Marshall herself cited Lucille Ball as a major influence, and it’s easy to see why.
The show is the original blueprint for two fiercely loyal women getting into and out of hysterical, self-made predicaments, often driven by wild ambition and a healthy dose of physical comedy. The schemes are different, but the slapstick soul is the same.
2 Broke Girls
This is perhaps the most direct spiritual successor to Laverne & Shirley. The premise is nearly identical: two women from different backgrounds, one worldly and cynical (Max), the other naive and optimistic (Caroline), become roommates and coworkers while chasing a dream. They're broke, work in a diner, and their shared ambition (a cupcake business) is the engine of the show, just like Laverne and Shirley's dream of a better life. It's a modern take, with raunchier humor, but the core dynamic of two women against the world is pure L&S.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
While more sophisticated and less slapstick-heavy, The Mary Tyler Moore Show was revolutionary for featuring a single, independent woman focused on her career. Laverne and Shirley, in their own blue-collar way, were also products of this new wave of television. They weren't just waiting for husbands; they were working, living on their own terms, and supporting each other. Mary Richards walked so Laverne and Shirley could run (and skip, and fall down, and get back up again).
Broad City
If you want the chaotic, ride-or-die friendship of Laverne and Shirley, updated for the 21st century and turned up to 11, look no further than Broad City. Abbi and Ilana's bond is the absolute center of their universe. Their misadventures across New York City are often bizarre and outrageous, but beneath the absurdity is a deep, unwavering love and support for one another. They're broke, often stuck in dead-end jobs, and constantly scheming for a bit more fun, echoing the core of Laverne and Shirley's relationship, just with a lot more modern vulgarity and weirdness.
Parks and Recreation
At its heart, Parks and Rec is a show about finding your chosen family at work, and no relationship exemplifies this more than the friendship between Leslie Knope and Ann Perkins. Leslie's over-the-top, boundless affection for Ann feels like a modern-day Laverne declaring her love for Shirley. Their motto could easily be, as Leslie says, "Ovaries before brovaries." The show trades the brewery for city hall, but the core theme of a powerful female friendship driving the characters' lives and ambitions remains powerfully resonant.
Grace and Frankie
What happens when the friendship part of the equation comes much later in life? Grace and Frankie explores that question with hilarious and poignant results. Like Laverne and Shirley, the two lead characters are polar opposites forced together by circumstance. Grace is the uptight Shirley, and Frankie is the free-spirited Laverne. They bicker and misunderstand each other constantly, but their bond, forged in the fires of mutual crisis, becomes the most important relationship in their lives, proving that you're never too old to find your person.
Kate & Allie
This 1980s sitcom took the premise of two women leaning on each other and brought it into a domestic setting. After their respective divorces, two childhood friends, Kate and Allie, decide to move in together with their kids to save money and support each other. It’s less about slapstick and more about the practical and emotional realities of creating a non-traditional family. It captures the essence of female partnership that made Laverne and Shirley so special—two women realizing they are stronger and happier together than they are apart.
Rhoda
A spin-off of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Rhoda had that quintessential 1970s feel that Laverne & Shirley later perfected. The show follows Rhoda Morgenstern as she moves back to New York City and navigates life, love, and work. It captures that specific feeling of a single woman trying to figure it all out, with a strong emphasis on friendships and family. While not a duo-centric show in the same way, it shares the same DNA: a relatable, working woman striving for her piece of the American dream, one mishap at a time.
