"Laverne & Shirley" (1976-83)

Brewery employees (Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams) insist on doing it their way, even if "their way" consists of spending too much time at the bowling alley, drinking milk mixed with Pepsi and tolerating nerdy neighbors.

"CAGNEY & LACEY" (1982-88)

New York detectives (Sharon Gless and Tyne Daly) battle crime and chauvinism (not to mention cancer, alcoholism and date rape) in a series that led to six Emmys between them.

"KATE & ALLIE" (1984-89)

Single mothers (Jane Curtin and Susan Saint James) split a Greenwich Village apartment and child-raising duties. They made up for their lack of love lives with jokes about trying to be modern women.

AMPERSAND PALS