Mary Tyler Moore

For the longest period of time, I couldn't understand the appeal of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show". Having caught the occasional episode every now and then, the series struck me as being somewhat "ordinary" in nature. However, at the beginning of 2002, I began to watch the series on a regular basis, right from it's first season and found to my surprise, what a funny, insightful and entertaining sitcom it was.

Mary Tyler Moore deserves kudos for her portrayal of Mary Richards, a ground-breaking character who was allowed to be her own person (a rare thing for female characters on television in those days). An intelligent, independent young woman in her 30's, whose wasn't "hung up" on not being married, and enjoyed her life and her career. The rest of the cast also deserve mention for their memorable performances. Ed Asner as the gruff, yet lovable Lou Grant (Mary's boss at WJM-TV), Valerie Harper as the sharp and sassy Rhoda Morgenstern (Mary's best friend and next door neighbour), Gavin Macloud as the witty & thoughtful Murray Slaughter (Mary's fellow work mate at WJM), the late Ted Knight as the self absorbed and talentless Ted Baxter (who "anchored" the news in more ways than one at WJM-TV) and Cloris Leachman as the flighty and somewhat over-opininated Phyllis Lindstorm (Mary's other next door neighbour and friend).

The show was fortunate enough to benefit from first rate scripts from talented writers such as Jim Brooks & Allan Burns (both of whom created the series), Treva Silverman, David Lloyd, Bob Ellison and Ed Weinberger.

Along with solid direction from vetran TV sitcom director Jay Sandrich (of "I Love Lucy" fame), it comes as no surprise that the series was both a critical and commerical success during it's seven year run on US television from 1970 to 1977. The show also benefited from later additions to the cast such as Georgia Engel as the sweet natured, yet rather naive Georgette Franklin (who was introduced into the series as a love interest for the idiotic Ted Baxter) and Betty White as the conniving & man-hungry Sue Ann Nivens (host of "The Happy Homemaker" show at WJM-TV). On screen, she is the image of domestic knowledge and bliss, but once the camera's have stopped rolling, she is a woman on the prowl, striking at any man within distance (single or otherwise) who grabs her fancy!!. Earning a whole swag of Emmy Awards, the show was highly praised and rewarded for it's stellar efforts. I recommended those who are unfamiliar with the show to watch the series from the beginning, to appreciate and understand the nature of what it's all about. The humour is natural and witty (unlike many other sitcoms where the laughs are either forced or over-the-top). The characters grow and change over the years (once again unlike many other comedy shows), and the series itself contains it's own warmth and natural charm. Check it out and see why this lady can still turn the whole world on with that smile ...

Right up there with the Dick Van Dyke show, in fact directed by some of the same people, this is another great sitcom. It seems they come along once a decade or so, and this is definitely a great one. Mary Tyler Moore is the newly liberated woman at work, dealing with all the same sexist stuff she dealt with in 1961 on the Dick Van Dyke show, but in a totally different way. The supporting cast is marvelous, from Ed Asner to Valerie Harper (as 'Rhoda') to the irrepressible Ted Knight as the vain news anchor. Hysterical stuff.

As a 25-year-old woman, it's a shame that the so-called "feminist icons" of my day have been klutzy, man-hungry ninny Ally McBeal and tabloid wench Paris Hilton. I've really come to envy women who had real feminist heroes, real or fictional, such as Gloria Steinem, Bea Arthur as "Maude", and, of course, Mary Tyler Moore as Mary Richards. "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" isn't just an excellent sitcom with perfectly realized characters, but it featured an imperfect but winning heroine that any woman could look up to. Mary was a sweet-natured thirty-something who alternated between being high-strung and confident. She happily lived alone and had a loyal gal pal in smart mouthed New Yorker Rhoda (the incomparable Valerie Harper). Mary also was an associate TV producer at the low-rated WJM news network, where she had the respect of her male co-workers, including her arch-conservative boss Lou Grant (Ed Asner), wisecracking but tender-hearted work buddy Murray Slaugher (Gavin McLeod), and buffoonish anchorman Ted Baxter (Ted Knight). Not that everyone loved Mary... she constantly had to deal with her insufferable, overbearingly perky landlady Phyllis (Cloris Leachman). When Phyllis was written out of the show, WJM's "Happy Homemaker" Sue Ann Nivens (flawless Betty White) replaced her as Mary's foil. Passive-aggressive and sex-starved, Sue Ann was a hilarious combination of Blanche from "The Golden Girls" and Harriet Nelson. Best of all, the show had running gags that somehow never went stale: Mary's tendency to attract the wrong men, her disastrous dinner parties, Ted's slips of the tongue on the air, Lou's annoyance at being the lowest-rated TV network, and Rhoda's quest for the perfect husband. An addictive show that didn't wear out its welcome in its seven year run, "MTM" is a shining example of great writing, fully developed characters, and perfect casting that has never been equaled. It was a show with spunk... we need spunk!

Mary Tyler Moore - a great comedic actress & a great long running sitcom. This show was incredible. The writing always seemed to set up funny situations. The pace of the show was just perfect.

Where & how did they get so much talent in one cast? Besides Mary, there is Gavin McCloud who is brilliant as Murray Slaughter. Ed Asner is the same as Lou Grant, Mary's boss. Where did they find Ted Knight? Ted Baxter is one of the great send-up characters of all sit-Com's & Knight played him brilliantly. Knight made it big with this series, went on to his own series, Too Close For Comfort, & also scored big in the original CADDYSHACK.

Then, the is Rhoda & Phyllis who spun from here into their own series. While their series were not as good as this one, they definitely contributed to this one. Let's not forget Betty White as the indomitable Sue Ann Niven. This show was good enough to her, & she played her character brilliantly. This was her springboard for Golden Girls later. She is even better than this.

Not only did Mary turn the world on with her smile, she widened the world a lot by introducing a lot of great character actors in their best career roles. This show could be touching & sentimental at times as well. This show has it all.

I always enjoyed The Mary Tyler Moore Show. The characters were all funny, especially the goofy fights between Ted Baxter and Murray Slaughter. Lou Grant ("I hate spunk!") was always good for a laugh, especially the episode where he ended up drunk on Mary's doorstep!

Of course, the real two stars of the series were Mary Tyler Moore (duh) as Mary Richards and Valerie Harper as her best friend, Rhoda Morgenstern. My all-time favorite episode is the second one, where the two host a small gathering at Mary's apartment for two potential suitors, and everything goes wrong!

A true classic, and it earned every Emmy it got.