The Mary Tyler Moore Show

The backstory: Mary Richards moves to Minneapolis, MN, specifically into an apartment with a sunken in living room. She applies for a job at a local television newsroom with high aspirations. The show not only deals with situation comedy, but with how a woman could "make it after all" in a male dominated workforce. Mary becomes close with her newsroom family, from tough-love boss Lou Grant to bumbling news anchorman Ted Baxter. She also deals with wacky neighbor Phyllis and of course, wise cracking Rhoda. The show is great because you care about all the characters and while funny, it can still deliver a strong message. Truly one of the best shows on television.

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.

"The Mary Tyler Moore Show" is absolutely my FAVORITE television show of all time, with "The Dick Van Dyke Show" falling a hair behind. I love all the characters of the MTM show...they all had great lines, and those actors knew how to deliver. Mary Tyler Moore exemplified true sportsmanship in making this whole show a wonderful example of COMPLETE ensemble acting. Every character had his/her shining moments, time and time again. I was about nine when this show debuted, and truly grew up with it. I used to hate Ted, because he was so unbelievably stupid. However, now that I've spent twenty or so years in the work world, I have had the complete displeasure of working with Ted Baxters everywhere....so many who rise to their level of complete incompetence. And over the years, in watching reruns, I have come to fully appreciate Ted Knight's genius in his portrayal of Ted Baxter. The episode in which Mary is simply feeling completely down in the dumps...her motivation is gone for no apparent reason, other than the fact that she has hit a slump (a "new apartment" episode). Ted Knight's portrayal of Ted Baxter imitating her in her slumpy condition, and repeating the whole scene with identical dialog but with a completely different attitude, basically showing Mary that she has to appreciate what she has in life, and look at it all with a different, positive perspective, was sheer comedic genius at its finest.

The final episode of this series portrayed my comment about Corporate America very realistically, and the episode itself is one for a time capsule....just bottle it up. Ditto for the "Chuckles the Clown" episode...and for the "Veal Prince Orloff" episode. Actually, I'd love to put all of MTM's episodes, along with those from the Dick Van Dyke Show, in a time capsule and send them into space. Nick at Nite should run episodes only from MTM, the Dick Van Dyke Show, Bob Newhart, and The Wonder Years. That is all that that station needs, and I'm sure that the ratings would go through the roof. But back to Mary....her show was a brilliant gem that graced the world of American television, and no other show will ever hold a candle to it....EVER. Yes, Seinfeld was funny, and "breakthrough", in being a show about nothing, and it even offered phrases that entered our vernacular. But it missed the one key element that MTM had in spades...heart. The Seinfeld show, as funny as it always was, really never made you cry or pulled at your heart strings...ever (other than maybe making you cry from laughter). The MTM Show, on the other hand, combined humor, drama, reality, the absurd, the sublime, and a lot of warmth all rolled into one magnificent, shining, seven-year love-fest for our pop culture, and I thank Mary for giving us this bright light. In a comic strip that was published I believe just the Sunday after the last episode aired, a man was depicted throwing his television set out his window, crying. The cartoonist captured the national sentiment quite beautifully. I miss Mary and her gang to this day. Thank goodness for the complete DVD set.

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.