Mary was cute, but as you say, Valerie was gorgeous. Penny was not a conventional beauty as you said, but as I’ve gotten older I’ve noticed what a great figure she had. A good dancer and athelete, too.If I have a single complaint about early MTM, it's the ridiculous notion that Rhoda was the dumpy one. No amount of schlubby sweatshirts or Phyllis putdowns could disguise the fact that Valerie was gorgeous and, what, at most 5 lbs "overweight"? Whatever Penny's great gifts, conventional beauty was not one of them and she did "morose loser" pretty well.
Mind you, I'm glad Penny hit it big with L&S, but I'd have liked to see her on MTM longer.