The Mary Tyler Moore Show
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Mary Tyler Moore is an American television sitcom that aired on CBS from September 19, 1970 to March 19, 1977. It was one of the most critically acclaimed shows—and one of the most beloved—in television history, as well as a breakthrough for leading female characters in television, due to the single, career-minded title character played by Mary Tyler Moore.
The correct name of the sitcom is Mary Tyler Moore, although it has always been more widely known as The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Moore stated in an A&E documentary that she had hoped dropping "Show" from the title would emphasize the ensemble cast.
Contents
Overview
Mary Richards (Mary Tyler Moore) is a single woman who, at age 30, moves to Minneapolis, Minnesota after breaking off a relationship with her boyfriend of two years. She finds a job as an associate producer for local news station WJM-TV. Her new friends at work include her tough boss with a soft side, Lou Grant (Edward Asner), newswriter Murray Slaughter (Gavin MacLeod), and buffoonish anchorman Ted Baxter (Ted Knight). Mary's friends at home include the self-deprecating ex-New Yorker Rhoda Morgenstern (Valerie Harper) and insincere landlady Phyllis Lindstrom (Cloris Leachman). Friends of Mary that were introduced in later years include the man-hungry host of the ironically-titled The Happy Homemaker Show, Sue Ann Nivens (Betty White) and soft-spoken Georgette Franklin (Georgia Engel), who eventually marries Ted. The show deals with important issues (romance, death, career, friendships) in the lives of Richards and her friends in a comical way.
Cast and characters
- Mary Richards (Mary Tyler Moore)
- Lou Grant (Edward Asner)
- Murray Slaughter (Gavin MacLeod)
- Ted Baxter (Ted Knight)
- Rhoda Morgenstern (Valerie Harper) (1970–74)
- Phyllis Lindstrom (Cloris Leachman) (1970–75)
- Gordy Howard (John Amos)* (1970–73)
- Bess Lindstrom (Lisa Gerritsen)* (1970–75)
- Ida Morgenstern (Nancy Walker)* (1970–73)
- Martin Morgenstern (Harold Gould)* (1972–73)
- Georgette Franklin Baxter (Georgia Engel) (1972–77)
- Sue Ann Nivens (Betty White) (1973–77)
- Marie Slaughter (Joyce Bulifant)* (1971–77)
- Dottie Richards (Nanette Fabray)* (1972)
- Walter Richards (Bill Quinn)* (1972)
- Edie Grant (Priscilla Morrill)* (1973–75)
- Andy Rivers (John Gabriel)* (1973–75)
- Flo Meredith (Eileen Heckart)* (1975–76)
- David Baxter (Robbie Rist)* (1976–77)
Broadcast history
- September 1970 - December 1971, Saturday 9:30 p.m.
- December 1971 - September 1972, Saturday 8:30 p.m.
- September 1972 - October 1976, Saturday 9:00 p.m.
- November 1976 - September 1977, Saturday 8:00 p.m.
Memorable episodes
- "Love Is All Around" (September 19, 1970) The very first episode in which Mary Richards, 30, moves to Minneapolis after rebounding from a broken romance. She finds an apartment in the same building as her old friend Phyllis Lindstrom and becomes friends with her upstairs neighbor, native New Yorker Rhoda Morgenstern. She also gets a job as associate producer for The Six O'Clock News at WJM-TV.
- "Support Your Local Mother" (October 24, 1970) Mary finds herself caught between Rhoda and her mother Ida when Mrs. Morgenstern, a member of the keep-them-feeling-guilty school of child rearing, comes to Minneapolis for a visit and Rhoda refuses to see her.
- "The Lars Affair" (September 15, 1973) Phyllis makes a desperate bid to win back her husband Lars when she finds out that he's having an affair with Sue Ann Nivens, the star of WJM's Happy Homemaker series. The character of Sue Ann Nivens, played by Betty White, was introduced in this episode. This episode was ranked #27 on TV Guide's The Greatest Episodes of All Time.
- "Chuckles Bites The Dust" (October 25, 1975) The ludicrous death of WJM's Chuckles the Clown, crushed by an elephant while dressed as Peter Peanut, provokes a torrent of black humor which has everyone in the newsroom but Mary convulsed in laughter. Mary's suppressed laughter comes out at an inopportune moment: at Chuckles' funeral. This episode was ranked #1 on TV Guide's The Greatest Episodes of All Time.
- "The Last Show" (March 19, 1977) The new owner of WJM re-evaluates the news operation and, unable to determine the reason for the low ratings, arbitrarily fires everyone in the newsroom except for the supremely incompetent Ted. The tag of this episode shows Mary Tyler Moore introducing the other seven regular cast members to the audience as "the best cast ever."
Ratings
The show became extremely popular in the Saturday night CBS sitcom lineup. Although it never ranked #1 overall for a season, it maintained high ratings throughout its seven year-run. Despite finishing relatively well in the final season, producers argued for its cancellation due to falling ratings, afraid that the show's legacy might be damaged if it was renewed for another season. Grant Tinker was also aware that his show faced enormous competition from Three's Company, a midseason hit slated for a permanent primetime slot. The series finished strong, and the series finale was by far the most watched show during the week it aired. Listed below are its annual rankings among all television shows:
Theme song
"Love Is All Around", written and performed by Sonny Curtis.The lyrics were rewritten after the first season, and the style of the revised song was also more energetic than the original. The second version is arguably much better known. It has been covered by artists such as Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, Sammy Davis Jr. and Hüsker Dü.
(Season 1, 1970)
- ''How will you make it on your own?
- ''This world is awfully big, and girl, this time you're all alone.
- ''But it's time you started living.
- ''It's time you let someone else do some giving.
- ''Love is all around, no need to waste it.
- ''You can have the town, why don't you take it?
- ''You might just make it after all.
- ''You might just make it after all.
- ''Who can turn the world on with her smile?
- ''Who can take a nothing day, and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile?
- ''Well it's you, girl, and you should know it
- ''With each glance and every little movement you show it
- ''Love is all around, no need to waste it
- ''You can have the town, why don't you take it?
- ''You're gonna make it after all
- ''You're gonna make it after all
The opening montage was created by Reza Badiyi who also created the opening montage for Hawaii Five-O, and was a director on The Doris Day Show. Badiyi came up with the idea of having Mary throw her hat into the air.
Trivia
- Mary Richards was originally planned to be divorced, but because divorce was still a hot subject in 1970, they settled for a broken engagement instead. Also, the network was afraid people would think that Mary had divorced Rob Petrie, her character's husband on The Dick Van Dyke Show, losing the audience's sympathy. That issue was sufficiently settled by the 1990s that Nick at Nite often ran the shows back-to-back with no apparent sense of irony.
- During the first season Mary Tyler Moore wore a wig. In an effort to visually differentiate the character from "Laura Petrie" (Moore's hairstyle was essentially the same as when "The Dick Van Dyke Show" had left the air four years before) producers put the actress in a long "flip" wig.
- For the first few seasons in the series, Mary, Rhoda, and Phyllis lived in apartments at 119 N. Weatherly in Minneapolis. That address is entirely fictional ("North Weatherly" is an impish comment on the city's climate), although the exterior of a real house in Minneapolis (in the Kenwood neighborhood, on Kenwood Parkway) was filmed to provide a setting. Once fans of the series discovered the place, it became a popular tourist destination. However, the real owners at the time did not enjoy the attention. A sign saying "Impeach Nixon" was in a window for a time, discouraging many from taking more pictures. (In more recent years, the owners have repainted the house a dark color instead of its original white). When producers returned to Minneapolis in 1973 to film additional exterior shots of the house, the owners refused to remove the sign. This was allegedly the motivation behind Mary Richards' move to the high rise (Riverside Plaza), at the start of the 1975 season. Other Minneapolis sites were also featured on the show (especially in the opening credits), but the show's cast very rarely spent time in the actual city, as the regular filming was done in Hollywood.
- The establishing shots of Mary walking around a lake (be it in the summer or the winter) were filmed in the "Chain o' Lakes" area west of downtown Minneapolis, most notably at the coziest of them, Lake of the Isles, which is also near the Kenwood neighborhood.
- Following the conclusion of the series, Edward Asner continued to play Lou Grant in a long-running dramatic series of the same name. This is one of the few times in TV history that a situation comedy spun off a dramatic series. Other examples include The Brady Bunch/The Bradys and M*A*S*H/Trapper John, M.D.). The Bradys is often considered a revival/continuation rather than a spin-off.
- As the screen capture shows, when Moore throws her hat there is an older woman in a blue scarf and tan coat (standing out from the black building facade) walking in the background and bearing an incongruous look at the sight of this young woman throwing her tam in the air in the middle of the street. This unwitting "extra" was Hazel Frederick, a lifelong Minnesota resident who happened to be out shopping on the day when Moore and producers were shooting the scenes for the opening sequence. Moore and Frederick met in 1996 at a book signing at the Mall of America, and Moore introduced her to the crowd as "my costar". [Star Tribune] Frederick died in 1999 at the age of 91.
- On May 8, 2002, cable TV network TV Land dedicated a statue to Mary Tyler Moore and her television counterpart, near the corner of 7th Street and Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis. It was placed near the site of the famous tam o'shanter cap toss that Mary does in the opening credits (to use the actual point where it occurred would have required putting the statue in the middle of the street). Although many in the press were skeptical of TV Land's offer at first— some claiming it was a marketing strategy by TV Land, one Macalester professor stating that it was "like honoring a unicorn" [news.minnesota.publicradio.org]— crowds of onlookers at the unveiling revealed hushed excitement rather than animosity. Moore herself attended, the slender and somewhat frail-looking star braving the bone-chilling cold that had invaded the Metro area that week. Many Minneapolis residents were apathetic, while others were glad that the city was honoring a television and cultural icon who had helped make Minneapolis famous. It has become something of a tourist attraction for fans of the show, who can sometimes be seen throwing hats in front of it to recreate the famous opening. The statue by necessity shows her hand high above her head as she is releasing (or possibly catching) the cap. In the opening montage (see screen capture), it can be seen that she actually lets the cap go when her hand is about at her waist, and her hand goes high in the air only as the follow-throw to the toss.
- The Dayton's building in the background of some of those scenes later became a Marshall Field's, and has changed considerably in appearance. In fact, the exact spot where the cap toss occurred was debated extensively, because the layout along Nicollet has changed substantially since the early 1970s. (Exterior shots of the Dayton's store were also used to serve as the fictional Hempel's Department Store, where Rhoda worked as a window dresser.)
- In 2004, the decidedly non-fictional Twin Cities television station KSTP-TV began airing commercials featuring Ed Asner as a gruff newsman. Meant to evoke the persona of Lou Grant, the commercials featured Asner speaking to members of the station's staff. These commercials were intended to promote the channel's news department, which had seen poor ratings in recent years. For legal reasons the character was never named in the ads.
Cultural references
- MSNBC reporter and commentator Keith Olbermann has a long-running feud with Fox News pundit and commentator Bill O'Reilly whom he often refers to as "Ted Baxter." The reference is Olbermann's way of making fun of what he sees as O'Reilly's superficial righteous indignation and insecurity as a television broadcasting personality. Also, Olbermann's mocking impression of O'Reilly sounds similar to Ted Knight, the actor who played Ted Baxter.
- A "Mary Tyler Moore party" describes a dull or disastrous get together, i.e a bad party. In the series, a running gag was that when Mary had a party, it invariably went sour. Ironic use of this was made on St. Elsewhere when a mental patient who thinks he is Mary Richards faces reality and has a breakthrough when a party he gives is a huge success.
Awards and honors
1971
- Edward Asner, Outstanding Performance by Supporting Actor/Comedy
- Valerie Harper, Outstanding Performance by Supporting Actress/Comedy
- James L. Brooks & Allan Burns, Outstanding Writing Achievement/Comedy, for episode "Support Your Local Mother"
- Jay Sandrich, Outstanding Directorial Achievement/Comedy, for episode "Toulouse Lautrec is One of My Favorite Artists"
1972
- Edward Asner, Outstanding Performance by Supporting Actor/Comedy
- Valerie Harper, Outstanding Performance by Supporting Actress/Comedy
1973
- Mary Tyler Moore, Outstanding Continued Performance by Leading Actress/comedy
- Ted Knight, Outstanding Continued Performance by Supporting Actor/comedy
- Valerie Harper, Outstanding Continued Performance by Supporting Actress/comedy
- Jay Sandrich, Outstanding Directorial Achievement/Comedy, for episode "It's Whether You Win or Lose"
1974
- Mary Tyler Moore, Actress of the Year/Series
- Mary Tyler Moore, Best Lead Actress/comedy
- Cloris Leachman, Best Supporting Actress/comedy, Single Performance for episode "The Lars Affair"
- Treva Silverman, Best Comedy Writing in a Single Program of a Series with Continuing Characters and/or Theme, for episode "The Lou and Edie Story"
- Treva Silverman, Writer of the Year/TV Series
1975
- James L. Brooks, Allan Burns, Stan Daniels, Ed Weinberger, Outstanding Comedy Series
- Edward Asner, Outstanding Continuing Performance by Supporting Actor/comedy
- Betty White, Outstanding Continuing Performance by Supporting Actress/comedy
- Cloris Leachman, Best Supporting Actress/comedy, Single Performance for episode "Phyllis Whips Inflation" (award shared with Zohra Lampert, Kojak)
- Ed Weinberger & Stan Daniels, Outstanding Writing/Comedy for a Single Episode of Regular or Limited Series with Continuing Characters and/or Theme, for episode "Will Mary Richards Go to Jail?"
- Douglas Hines, Outstanding Film Editing for Entertainment Programming
1976
- Mary Tyler Moore, Outstanding Lead Actress/Comedy
- Ted Knight, Outstanding Continuing Performance by Supporting Actor/Comedy
- Betty White, Outstanding Continuing Performance by Supporting Actress/Comedy
- James L. Brooks, Allan Burns, Stan Daniels, Ed Weinberger, Outstanding Comedy Series
- David Lloyd, Outstanding Writing in Comedy Series for Single Episode of Regular/Limited Series with Continuing Characters/Theme, for episode "Chuckles Bites the Dust"
1977
- James L. Brooks, Allan Burns, Stan Daniels, Ed Weinberger, Outstanding Comedy Series
- Allan Burns, James L. Brooks, Ed Weinberger, Stan Daniels, David Lloyd, Bob Ellison, for episode "The Last Show"
- Douglas Hines, Outstanding Film Editing/Comedy Series, for episode "Murray Can't Lose"
- 1971 Mary Tyler Moore, Best Actress/Comedy
- 1972 Edward Asner, Best Supporting Actor/Comedy
- 1976 Edward Asner, Best Supporting Actor/Comedy (tied with Tim Conway for The Carol Burnett Show)
Honors
- In 1997, TV Guide ranked "Chuckles Bites The Dust" as #1 on their list of The Greatest Episodes of All Time. The episode "The Lars Affair" made the list at #27.
- In 1999, TV Guide ranked Mary Richards and Ted Baxter on their list of TV's 50 Greatest Characters Ever.
- In 2001, Entertainment Weekly ranked the opening credits image of Mary tossing her hat into the air as #2 on their list of The 100 Greatest Moments In Television. [link]
- In 2002, TV Guide ranked The Mary Tyler Moore Show as #11 on their Top 50 Greatest Shows of All Time List. [link]
Bravo ranked Mary Richards, Ted Baxter, Lou Grant, and Rhoda Morgenstern on their list of the 100 greatest TV characters.
- 1971 Mary Tyler Moore, Best Actress/Comedy
- 1972 Edward Asner, Best Supporting Actor/Comedy
- 1976 Edward Asner, Best Supporting Actor/Comedy (tied with Tim Conway for The Carol Burnett Show)
Honors
- In 1997, TV Guide ranked "Chuckles Bites The Dust" as #1 on their list of The Greatest Episodes of All Time. The episode "The Lars Affair" made the list at #27.
- In 1999, TV Guide ranked Mary Richards and Ted Baxter on their list of TV's 50 Greatest Characters Ever.
- In 2001, Entertainment Weekly ranked the opening credits image of Mary tossing her hat into the air as #2 on their list of The 100 Greatest Moments In Television. [link]
- In 2002, TV Guide ranked The Mary Tyler Moore Show as #11 on their Top 50 Greatest Shows of All Time List. [link]
Spin-off series
DVD release
The first season of the series was released to DVD in North America in 2002, after which it was initially announced that no further seasons would be released in that format. Three years later, however, in July 2005, release of the series to DVD resumed with season 2. Season 3 was released on January 17, 2006, six months after season 2. Season 4 was released on June 20, 2006.References
External links
- [The Mary Tyler Moore Show Online]
- [Encyclopedia of Television]
- [Citysearch: The Mary Tyler Moore Show Tour] describing locations featured in the series
- [The Mary & Rhoda Magazine], with a brief selection of articles about the series
- [Mary Tyler Moore Show details at tv.com] with information on each episode of the series
- [WJM-TV Channel 12] WJM-TV website
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