Mark Rothman at Motor City Comic Con 2013

Motor City Comic Con is finally here. Today, I present one more great memory from our many years of covering MCCC.

Mark Rothman is a writer best known for having been involved with the creation and production of tv's Laverne and Shirley.  He was also the head writer on several other shows, including Happy Days and The Odd Couple.  I had the pleasure of interviewing him at the 2013 Motor City Comic Con and that can be found at On the Beat With Mark Rothman.

I wish comic cons would have more guests like Rothman.  He isn't recognizable to most, but we all owe a huge thanks to him for bringing us so much entertainment.  Rothman and his colleagues are vastly underappreciated and have so many interesting stories to tell.

My moment with Rothman was relatively brief, but fascinating.  I remember trying to narrow down my questions, because I had so many about his great career.  He worked with some legends like Henry Winkler, Ron Howard, Penny Marshall, Cindy Williams, Ted Knight and so many more.  Even now looking back, I can think of so many different questions to ask.

I want to publicly thank Rothman for his time at the MCCC and for so many great hours of entertainment of my youth.  I also want to thank the MCCC and credit them for bringing in such a unique guest.

The 2018 MCCC starts today and runs through Sunday.  I'll be "On the Beat" as usual.  Check MotorCityComicCon.com for more info.

Mark Rothman and me in Novi-MI-May 2013.

On the Beat with Mark Rothman at Motor City Comic Con 2013

One of the most underrated guests at the Motor City Comic Con 2013 was Mark Rothman.  While not as widely recognized as some of the other celebrities, Rothman holds a huge spot in television history, having a hand in some of tv's most successful sitcoms of all time.  The writer-producer-director was involved in such classics as The Odd Couple, Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley and others.  He was heavily involved in the creation and production of Laverne and Shirley.
Rothman was laid back, but so fascinating.  He is the kind of person I would like to interview for hours.  He has hundreds of stories and inside bits on each show.
One such story involves a script which never was filmed for Laverne and Shirley.  Rothman briefly discusses this in our interview.  Rothman wrote a script for L&S, which was never filmed.  It would have filled in many gaps and answered many questions about various parts of the show.  If you ever wanted to know how Laverne and Shirley met or how they met Lenny and Squiggy, it is included.  So many questions are answered.  It is amazingly interesting.  The multi-part video can be found on YouTube.
Rothman also freely admits to a few less-than-great shows, like Makin' It.  With all due respect to Rothman, I actually enjoyed that show which starred a young David Naughton and Ellen Travolta.  I even talked to Naughton about it several years back at another convention.  Even though the show ran for only nine episodes, I bet Rothman has great stories about it, too.
After you watch our interview, you really should check out him reading the "unfilmed" script for Laverne and Shirley on YouTube.  Also, head over to Mark Rothman's blog for updates and more fun.
I really appreciate Rothman for taking the time to talk to us and share some of his great stories.  It was extremely interesting!