Writer to Share Memories of 70s Sitcoms in West Bloomfield Today

Mark Rothman's name may look familiar to you if you watched the credits for 1970s hit shows like “Happy Days". 

The Farmington Hills resident, who wrote for the show and co-created its "Laverne & Shirley" spin-off, will share his memories on Wednesday, 7 p.m., at the West Bloomfield Township Library. Rothman said he'll read from essays in a memoir he published, but readers will have to buy his novel I'm Not Garbo to find out what it's all about. 

"I don't talk about the plot of the novel," he said. "I talk about how I thought of the idea for the novel, which is almost as interesting as the novel itself." 

Rothman said he got started as a screenwriter in 1972, at the tender age of 24. He worked "pretty much steadily" until about 1987, when he turned his attention to writing plays and screenplays. Some of his plays have bene performed, he said. 

Because his wife, Camille, grew up in Michigan, the couple moved here when Rothman's work no longer required him to live in Los Angeles. 

"Ever since the last series I worked on, I've gotten offered things I just didn't want to do," he said. "If that happens often enough, you get the reputation of being the guy who turns you down." 

He said there are only a handful of shows that he would be interested in working for today, but Rothman considers this "the greatest era for television that's ever been". While people talk about the "Golden Age" of television in the 1950s, he said remote control devices and technology like digital video recording provide many more options for consumers. 

"I think there are as many really good shows on now as there ever were," Rothman said. "And everything that was live in the '50s, you can find on YouTube ... You're never stuck having to watch what you don't want to watch."

His line-up includes "Big Bang Theory", "Two and a Half Men", "Mike & Molly", "Hot in Cleveland", "Mad Men" and the "Law & Order" series. 

Rothman's 7 p.m. presentation will include plenty of time for questions. "I do as long as they want me to do," he said. 

No registration is required and the event is free. For more information, visit www.wblib.org.