Mary Tyler Moore Show and Its Spin-Offs

[Spooky Owl!]

Before my time, so I don't know how aware contemporaneous audiences were of the entertainment upheavals they were witnessing. Certainly I think AITF's impact was hardly subtle. In '69, American TV comedies were pablum. AITF had to feel like a full frontal assault, even if couched in domestic sitcom coziness. MTM's impact was more subtle and so perhaps only fully apparent in retrospect how it had one foot in the past and one in the future.

Sadly, it's not before my time. Yes, American TV in the late-'60s was bending over backwards to not reflect the topicality going on in the culture at the time -- the only reflection of it was the clothes and, sometimes, the music. The sitcoms were uber-repetitive goofy things like I DREAM OF JEANNIE and the rural shows.

AITF was a wildly impactful show when it premiered in February 1971, just five months after MTM. It was so loudly important a show that AITF became the top program of the decade, ranking at #1 for five consecutive years, helping kick off an era in which the TV sitcom genre became a literal agent of social change.

MTM's ratings, although quite good, were not quite as stratospheric as those of AITF (well, no one's were) but Mary's show was very well appreciated even at the time -- a quieter yet impossible to ignore artifact of the period which received more Emmy nominations (and more Emmy wins) than any other program in television history up until that time ... a record which wouldn't be surpassed for decades when such triumphs would seem somehow easier to achieve by less-distinct material.

Even AITF's successes with the critics, impressed with the in-your-face-politics and Nielsen ratings, would be usurped by MTM with its more low-key creative energy and freshness.

Also, both shows were aired on the same day and became the anchors for CBS' near-legendary Saturday night line-up from the early-'70s: ALL IN THE FAMILY, (M*A*S*H, for a while), MARY TYLER MOORE, THE BOB NEWHART SHOW and THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW.

Mary's success with her eponymous series didn't exist in a vacuum; she was well known to American TV audiences by way of her co-starring role on THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW the previous decade. If MTM was the sitcom masterpiece of the 70s, DVD was its 60s counterpart. On DVD, Mary was the lead actor's spouse, an unusually sexy housewife named Laura Petrie. Laurie's comedic image was heavily inspired by Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball), the star of the best sitcom of the 50s, I LOVE LUCY. And so, when Mary Richards struck out to make it on her own she carried with her two decades of audience familiarity; early Mary Richards feels very much like Laurie Petrie after leaving her clumsy husband in the suburbs. In fact, Mary was originally meant to be a divorcee but network execs feared audiences would think Laurie had left Rob. But Mary Richards is also symbolic (reluctantly on the part of the actress) of the second wave feminism that was in full bloom and an absolutely vital step in the development of women in sitcoms

Yes, Mary was the female lead in the two most-respected sitcoms from two consecutive decades, winning a slew of personal Emmys for both -- and in the fifth and final season of TDVDS, Laura Petrie seems to be rockin' some serious early-Mary Richards.

The gentle feminism of the MTM show was, as you say, probably more effective because it didn't seem to have an axe to grind (unlike AITF and, twenty years later, MURPHY BROWN). Mary Richards would gradually discover certain gender-based incongruities in the workplace as time went on -- which caused those discoveries to resonate with audiences more lastingly than the "I'm-going-to-teach-you-worthless-bastards-how-to-produce-the-goddamned-news!" approach Candace Bergen's series (and others) did later. (Not that I dislike MURPHY BROWN all that much, but all the comic obnoxiousness gets a bit tired pretty quickly).

It's similar to the effect that the now-forgotten POLICE WOMAN with Angie Dickinson had -- a show the feminists hated -- which drove an entire generation of women into law enforcement largely because the lead was an affable lady who didn't seem to hate her male co-workers (like later shows, where they did). Angie made it all seem accessible, and so did Mary Richards. (There was, for those who are zodiacally receptive, the similar dynamic of the overly-tough Scorpio Rising male boss -- Ed Asner and Earl Holliman -- so contemptuous-yet-admiring of the vulnerable, melancholy Aries Rising female underling -- Mary and Angie). But despite its influence in hiring at the police departments, the activist feminists were somewhat successful in pulling down Angie's show, and the quality began stumbling quickly. So it's not revered in the way CAGNEY & LACEY (a good show, and one the feminists adored) was a few years later.

Mary was more liberal back then (before she slipped into her Jon Voight-esque old-person conservative shift rightward) and asserted that the activists' atrocious behavior at protests for the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) had a lot to do with why the measure failed -- and Mary was at some of those protests, witnessing the misbehavior.

Her creator/producers were James L. Brooks and Allen Burns (who Mary's second husband, Grant Tinker, cleverly put together to make a show for his wife, a show that would lead to the creation of MTM Enterprises, a small, chic production company run by Grant and Mary through the '80s, although Mary admitted she didn't enjoy running a business and stayed in the background despite the company acronym that bore her initials). Brooks & Burns cheekily admitted they "exploited for our own profit" second wave feminism in their development of Mary's show, but they had no brittle agenda in doing so. Nor did Mary.

Decades later, Mary Tyler Moore would criticize Gloria Steinem's anti-mother rhetoric as "dead wrong."



1971: Doris and Mary and Angie, oh my!

 

[Sea - Boo! - Er]

As far as eras go, it feels like MTM has the best of several worlds. Some of the styling, as mentioned, feels contemporary, and it certainly has the Seventies sense of progressiveness despite its lack of garishness. At the same time, there’s also something of the Sixties Mod about Mary herself. I’m reminded of Barbara Feldon, Pat Morrow or Yvonne Craig.

I recall a contemporaneous interview in which Moore discussed her wardrobe, saying it was chosen to be timeless rather than stylish (my wording) with an eye to future reruns.

I’m a little unclear as to the title of the series. Onscreen it’s only Mary Tyler Moore, but it seems to be universally - and officially - known as The Mary Tyler Moore Show. I don’t suppose it matters hugely, since I’m going to end up just calling it MTM, but it’s still a matter of curiosity for me.

That discrepancy was a puzzle even at the time.

when Mary Richards struck out to make it on her own she carried with her two decades of audience familiarity;

to the extant that not one but two reviewers of Rhoda thought they would be clever and called it a "spin-off of a spin-off" because they thought that MTM was a spin-off of DVD. (Oddly, none recognised Good Times - which started at about the same time - as an actual "spin-off of a spin-off", being from All in the Family via Maude.)

 

[Crimson]

One of the things I wondered about as I watched last night was MTM's background before the series. The fact that MTM Enterprises produced the series strongly suggests she was experienced, knowledgeable and business minded at this point which feels impressive (and I'm more impressed reading your comment that she was reluctant for her character to be symbolic of the feminist movement).

Should you find yourself interested in Mary, her career, and the background of how Mary Richards came to be, last year's documentary was interesting and informative.

It does delve into Mary's ambivalence about her symbolic role of 1970s feminism.

Yes, Mary was the female lead in the two most-respected sitcoms from two consecutive decades, winning a slew of personal Emmys for both -- and in the fifth and final season of TDVDS, Laura Petrie seems to be rockin' some serious early-Mary Richards.

And of course, Mary learned a lot from her time on DVD and applied those lessons to her own show. MTM lacks the slapsticky comedy of DVD, but otherwise they are structurally and comedically quite similar. It's always a bit surprising to me that Mary resisted what must have been an obvious temptation: guest appearances from her DVD cohorts. Only Jerry van Dyke shows up, and his role in both shows was fairly minor. Also Jerry Paris directed a few episodes, so maybe Mary just liked men named Jerry.

 

[Crimson]

As I did for MAUDE, here are the articles related to MTM from the 1987 book TV SIRENS.

MARY TYLER MOORE

The most coolly accomplished comedienne in TV history, Mary Tyler Moore went from a disembodied pair of legs on RICHARD DIAMOND, PRIVATE EYE to an impossibly sexy housewife on THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW to a career girl determined to make it on her own on THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW. That she made it so big is a testament to her own sensibility. With hubby Grant, Mary forged an image that paralleled the aspirations of a generation of women. She's a bourgeois lady who wants the good life without being dependent on a man. A semi-stylish product of Doris Day comedies, Cosmopolitan magazine, and Bloomingdale's catalogs, Mary's Mary Richards seeks power from a position of powerlessness. Though an associate producer at a TV station, she performs secretarial duties and can't bring herself to call her boss by his first name. The key to her personality is when Mr. Grant asks her if she's "been around". Whimpers Mary: "I've been nearby." She's Mrs. Pynchon without the maturity, breeding, or a rich, dead husband. But she is, after all, making it on her own. When the real Mary decided to do the same, she left her series, divorced Grant, and became a dramatic actress on TV (FIRST, YOU CRY), on Broadway (WHOSE LIFE IS IT, ANYWAY?) and onscreen (ORDINDARY PEOPLE). Stripping away the artifice of her comedic image, Mary showed us the death mask underneath. But she was either a spirited victim of a disease or a pitiable sacrifice to family unity. Her performance in PEOPLE was scathingly exact, but it also endorsed the antifeminist bias against her character. Here was a wife and mother who kept a perfect house for twenty years, and all she got in return were two weepy nerds in crewneck sweaters harassing her for not "loving" them (if the movie had had any guts, it would've ended with the father and son trying to figure out how to work the washing machine). Yes, Mary dared to expose the darker side of the [Tinker] Tootsie -- the control freak terrified of affection -- but she had more independence as Mary Richards, who at least got to keep what she earned (even Laura Petrie got to stay in suburbia with her breast-beating husband and son). In more recent roles, Mary has watched others meet grisly fates: her little daughter in SIX WEEKS, James Garner in HEARTSOUNDS, Ted Danson in JUST BETWEEN FRIENDS. But she's denying herself the full power of the Tootsie's dramatic flip side -- the malicious drive of the prissy wit. In her latest sitcom, MARY, she added bitchiness to her old format -- Mary "grows up". But the show pretended to a light-spiritedness it didn't really feel. Its mustiness was underscored by ALL THAT IS FORGIVEN, a sparkling sitcom whose opening credits were more evocative of MTM than was all of MARY. The show's star, Bess Armstrong, was a delicious update of Mary Richards, partly because she was age appropriate for a struggling career girl. But America wants Mary to stay its sweetheart forever (MARY's being revamped to meet this demand). While her fans wallow in nostalgia, Mary approaches fifty. But the irony is that Mary's never been a sweetheart -- like Doris Day, she's an edgy diva. Basically, Mary botched her comeback. She shouldn't taken advantage of the family sitcom craze by staring as a PEOPLE-type mom who makes life hell for her snotty teenaged kids. It would've merged the Mary we love (MTM) and the Mary we respect (PEOPLE) into a Tootsie for tomorrow. But as the Real Mary becomes dwarfed by the Legendary Mary, she may never take the advice of another legendary survivor: Don't Look Back.


VALERIE HARPER

Until recently, Valerie Harper was the saddest casualty of California psychobabble: a gifted comedienne who'd lost her sense of humor. As Rhoda Morgenstern on THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW, and in her own spinoff, RHODA, Harper endeared herself to an ethnically diverse nation by embodying its best traits. Unpretentious, down-to-earth, self-deprecating, Harper proved a social point leavened by wit: it's the sass of the proletariat -- not the nuclear family -- that's the backbone of America. She won the hearts of women, who identified with her physical insecurity, and seized the affection of men, who responded to her dead-on sarcasm. But after RHODA left the air, Harper zealously set out to separate herself from her character. A fanatical est graduate, she recited pop-therapeutic buzzwords, robotlike, in interviews. Taking "responsibility" for her own life, she slimmed down, dumped her husband of thirteen years, and sought supporting roles in movies. To prepare for her part in CHAPTER TWO she worked with physical trainer Tony Cacciotti (who now shares her private life as well as her production company). Her near-anorexic appearances prompted critics to inquire about her health. Gaining a few pounds, Harper continued to polish her image as a concerned actress in high-minded TV movies: THE SHADOW BOX (cancer patients), FUN AND GAMES (sexual harassment), THE EXECUTION (Holocaust survivors). But in early 1986, Harper bounced back in VALERIE, a conspicuously minor sitcom that's also likeable and extremely smart. Its appeal rests on Harper's bullheadedness in the face of teenage smugness, embodied by the wonderful young actor Jason Bateman. It seems Harper's pulled off a miracle: she's merged the two Valeries in a way even Rhoda might like.


CLORIS LEACHMEN

An actress's actress, Cloris Leachman is an Oscar-winner (THE LAST PICTURE SHOW), a cult-movie star (KISS ME DEADLY), a PHILCO PLAYHOUSE heroine ("Nocturne"), a song-and-dance girl (CHER), a Mel Brooks stock player (YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN), and a Miss America runner-up (1946). It's this dizzying variety that allowed Leachman to bring such detail to her acid portrait of Phyllis Lindstrom on THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW and its spinoff, PHYLLIS. If her own show failed to match the glittering heights of her appearances with Mary, it's because Leachman's talent is the most concentrated of all Tinker Tootsies: she never forgot an effect she ever achieved. Like the immortal Mildred Natwick, Leachman is best in small doses -- her every gesture carries with the history of the theater. Perhaps Leachman played Phyllis so knowingly because there's a lot of Phyllis in Leachman. Self-dramatizing, self-centered, and self-consciously colorful, Leachman is continually asserting her dominance over more sensible characters. When Mary complains about the loneliness of her life, Leachman snaps, "You don't know what loneliness is till you get into bed with Lars." When Leachman, freshly widowed, appears at the top of the stairs in a flaming red gown in the first episode of PHYLLIS, a character cracks, "Why do I feel like we should be singing 'Hello Dolly!'?" It's this utter self-possession that makes Leachman such a great Tootsie. She brings dramatic density to punchlines and comic timing to kitchen-sink realism. An incurable ham, she's as indispensable as she as incorrigible.


BETTY WHITE

If Lucille Ball is the Queen of Television, Betty White is its Princess. In the '50s she starred in two sitcoms (LIFE WITH ELIZABETH, DATE WITH ANGELS), appeared as a regular on game shows (warming up for PASSWORD), and won and Emmy as the Most Outstanding Female Personality (Liberace won among men). But as the deliciously malicious Sue Ann Nivens on THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW (two more Emmys), White cashed in on a career of thankless chores. She got the role when MTM producers sent word out for a "Betty White type" until they realized they could get the real thing. A wit, a presence, a pro, Betty White has always been the real thing. When she sashayed into the set of MTM, she brought with her the history of TV. Every leer, every twinkle, every wisecrack was attuned to the dynamics of video. She knew how to fill the box with expressive effect. The shock of Sue Ann was a double-edged gag: White reflected the Happy Homemaker's squeaky-clean image -- when she talked dirty, it was as if Marie Osmond were picked up for soliciting. Whether commenting on Mary's chastity, Murray's baldness, or Lous' libido, White bullied her costars by natural right. If her own vehicle, THE BETTY WHITE SHOW, failed, it's a simple matter of too much of a good thing. White shines brightest among equally luminous stars. After MTM left the air, White supported Vicki Lawrence's tour de force on MOMMA'S FAMILY and won a fourth Emmy for the lame game show, JUST MEN! Her delightful metamorphosis as a dim-witted Harris Harridan on THE GOLDEN GIRLS shows she isn't content to play Sue Ann for the rest of her life. If she'd married Grant Tinker thirty years ago, she'd be running all three networks.



CGI video tour of Mary's apartment, including presumptions of what the bathroom and the fourth wall could have looked like.

@Mel O'Drama No spoilers exactly, but there are references to situations and gags.

 

[Spells & Karma]

I recall a contemporaneous interview in which Moore discussed her wardrobe, saying it was chosen to be timeless rather than stylish (my wording) with an eye to future reruns.

Interesting. I'd say this applies to the apartment set as well, which feels much more restrained and elegant than your average TV set of this era.

Should you find yourself interested in Mary, her career, and the background of how Mary Richards came to be, last year's documentary was interesting and informative.

It does delve into Mary's ambivalence about her symbolic role of 1970s feminism.

This looks like it will really hit the spot for me. I'll probably save this for a "bonus feature" to watch when I wrap up the series.

As I did for MAUDE, here are the articles related to MTM from the 1987 book TV SIRENS.

Oh great.

But in early 1986, Harper bounced back in VALERIE, a conspicuously minor sitcom that's also likeable and extremely smart. Its appeal rests on Harper's bullheadedness in the face of teenage smugness, embodied by the wonderful young actor Jason Bateman. It seems Harper's pulled off a miracle: she's merged the two Valeries in a way even Rhoda might like.

Of course, this would have been published just as Valerie was getting fired from her own TV series, with the titular character killed off between seasons. Yet another low point to add to the litany already mentioned in her write-up.

Cloris Leachman is an Oscar-winner (THE LAST PICTURE SHOW), a cult-movie star (KISS ME DEADLY), a PHILCO PLAYHOUSE heroine ("Nocturne"), a song-and-dance girl (CHER), a Mel Brooks stock player (YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN), and a Miss America runner-up (1946).

As I've watched the first eight or nine episodes I've found myself wondering about Cloris's background. Episodes in which she appears always bill her as the Special Guest Star in the end titles, even usurping Nancy Walker into penultimate position (Nancy, I imagine, was quite a well-known face). Knowing next to nothing about Cloris I'd guessed she must have been a "name" even at this time. Either that or she had a very good agent.

Leachman is best in small doses -- her every gesture carries with the history of the theater. Perhaps Leachman played Phyllis so knowingly because there's a lot of Phyllis in Leachman. Self-dramatizing, self-centered, and self-consciously colorful

An incurable ham, she's as indispensable as she as incorrigible.

As previously mentioned, I knew Cloris only from her turn in The New, Original Wonder Woman where these affectations were present in spades. I had considered that this might have been a one-off and different from her usual style, but it appears scenery chewing is kind of her thing.

The shock of Sue Ann was a double-edged gag: White reflected the Happy Homemaker's squeaky-clean image -- when she talked dirty, it was as if Marie Osmond were picked up for soliciting.

I'm looking forward to meeting Sue Ann in due course. The description here sounds rather like Lake Placid where she was cast to play against type by deadpanning lines that nobody else could get away with.

 

[Crimson]

Of course, this would have been published just as Valerie was getting fired from her own TV series, with the titular character killed off between seasons. Yet another low point to add to the litany already mentioned in her write-up.

Yes, Valerie's post-Rhoda career ended up being a big disappointment. Just as she was finding renewed success with her self-titled sitcom, she was fired and quasi-blacklisted. She remained steadily employed for the rest of her career, but never again found any sustained success.

Mary and Valerie did reunite in a 2000 TV movie called MARY AND RHODA. Even if you should be able to find it, I suggest bypassing it. It's a poor piece of apocrypha that would end your MTM journey on a sour note.

Knowing next to nothing about Cloris I'd guessed she must have been a "name" even at this time. Either that or she had a very good agent.

Both, I suspect. I don't think Cloris was exactly a star in 1970; Mary was far more famous, but Cloris would have been very recognizable to American TV viewers going back to the dawn of television. Her fame grew significantly in the 70s, aided a lot by her appearances on MTM. Should you want to expand your post-MTM documentary viewing, here's a good one on Cloris.

I knew Cloris only from her turn in The New, Original Wonder Woman where these affectations were present in spades.

Cloris was not a subtle actress, but WONDER WOMAN may be the one instance in which she was bad. Her performance there was a major miscalculation on what that show needed. She apparently thought she was appearing in the 1960s BATMAN.

 

[Spooky Owl!]

Yes, Valerie's post-Rhoda career ended up being a big disappointment. Just as she was finding renewed success with her self-titled sitcom, she was fired and quasi-blacklisted. She remained steadily employed for the rest of her career, but never again found any sustained success.

Yes, that was a seemingly vile situation. Harper had a clause in her contract that allowed her to negotiate a raise a year or two into the series. But Lorimar had been taken over by cheapy Telepictures and they tried to deny her that raise. (I'm sure there were other details).

It got nasty. But what was most notable was that after Harper won her suit over VALERIE, the brass had their publicists spin the story in the press -- largely successfully -- to make it sound like she lost.

Mary and Valerie did reunite in a 2000 TV movie called MARY AND RHODA. Even if you should be able to find it, I suggest bypassing it. It's a poor piece of apocrypha that would end your MTM journey on a sour note.

Another strange situation. ABC wanted a MARY & RHODA in the late-'90s and they actually shot several episodes. Mary, whose sitcoms standards are fairly high, thought the episodes were acceptable, but ABC wanted every episode to be as good as the best of THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW.

So they re-worked the project and started over with the MARY & RHODA movie. It was wrong-headed and wasn't good, but it did fairly well in the ratings and ABC was again up for a Moore-Harper series, but Mary was so disgusted with the byzantine development process they'd undergone with the network that she pulled away from it (although Valerie was still up for it).

 

[Spells & Karma]

Just as she was finding renewed success with her self-titled sitcom, she was fired and quasi-blacklisted.

Harper had a clause in her contract that allowed her to negotiate a raise a year or two into the series. But Lorimar had been taken over by cheapy Telepictures and they tried to deny her that raise.

Back when this happened I remember being very curious about what had happened. In my youthful naïveté I thought it highly unusual for there to be anything but joy behind the scenes of a sitcom so this seemed particularly brutal.

With there being no search engines and me being in Britain where Valerie aired in the afternoons and went mostly under the radar of media gossip, I struggled to find out very much. There may have been a titbit in a paper here and there, but I think my main clue that something was wrong was a line in another sitcom when Sophia referenced Valerie's ousting on The Golden Girls.

It seems she got a very raw deal. I had no idea she had won her legal suit, but that must have been bittersweet when her character was dead and buried.

Mary and Valerie did reunite in a 2000 TV movie called MARY AND RHODA. Even if you should be able to find it, I suggest bypassing it. It's a poor piece of apocrypha that would end your MTM journey on a sour note.

I appreciate the warning and will trust your judgement on this one.

Should you want to expand your post-MTM documentary viewing, here's a good one on Cloris.

Thanks. I'll keep it on the back burner for later (but must confess I think I may struggle with that narration).

WONDER WOMAN may be the one instance in which she was bad. Her performance there was a major miscalculation on what that show needed. She apparently thought she was appearing in the 1960s BATMAN.

Yes, that's always been my impression as well. It's understandable considering hers was the very first episode, but also a little surprising that the intended tone wasn't transmitted either through script or direction.

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

MTM's show had such a great supporting cast

Ted Knight (my favorite. The original choice for the role was Jack Cassidy.
I think Ted Knight was a better choice)
Ed Asner
Gavin McLeod
Valerie Harper
Chloris Leachman
John Amos
Betty White

Henry Winkler made a pre-Fonzie appearance

MTM was great as Laura Petrie, and she managed to surpass it as Mary Richards.

 

[Crimson]

Ted Knight (my favorite. The original choice for the role was Jack Cassidy.
I think Ted Knight was a better choice)

True. Cassidy played a similar part in the single season sitcom HE & SHE (1967-68). I've never seen it, but from what I've read about it it seems to have been a failed attempt at what MTM later succeeded at -- continuing the spirit of THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW. Cassidy was offered the role of Ted, but turned it down as being repetitious. When he turned up in the first season of MTM as Ted's brother, he proved why Knight was the better choice; he was funny enough playing dumb and egotistical, but had none of Knight's vulnerability that made Ted endearing.

 

[Spooky Owl!]

True. Cassidy played a similar part in the single season sitcom HE & SHE (1967-68). I've never seen it, but from what I've read about it it seems to have been a failed attempt at what MTM later succeeded at -- continuing the spirit of THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW. Cassidy was offered the role of Ted, but turned it down as being repetitious. When he turned up in the first season of MTM as Ted's brother, he proved why Knight was the better choice; he was funny enough playing dumb and egotistical, but had none of Knight's vulnerability that made Ted endearing.

Second season.

John Anniston, Jennifer's dad, was high on the list for Ted -- a potential romantic foil for Mary. Yikes!

 

[Spells & Karma]

Season One
Divorce Isn’t Everything / Keep Your Guard Up / Support Your Local Mother / Toulouse-Lautrec Is One Of My Favourite Artists / The Snow Must Go On / Bob and Rhoda and Teddy and Mary / Assistant Wanted, Female / 1040 Or Fight / Anchorman Overboard / He’s All Yours / Christmas And The Hard-Luck Kid II / Howard’s Girl / Party Is Such Sweet Sorrow / Just A Lunch / Second Storey Story / We Closed In Minneapolis



There have been a number of potential almost or actual love-interests for Mary, and the strong suit seems to be adorably awkward type of young man, such as Paul Sand as Mary’s tax auditor* or the ineffectual police officer played by Bob Dishy (warming up for his Columbo role, no doubt, but last seen in O’Dramavision in the opening episode of Maude). Not that it’s ended there: we’ve also had the deep-voiced overconfident swaggering type, such as Monte Markham’s smooth-talking character. Oh, there was also the Sid Fairgate lookalike who I’ve just found out was actually Valerie Harper’s husband.

I do enjoy that neither Mary nor Rhoda has any kind of steady relationship going. Both being freer allows more potential - which is being utilised - and also adds a little edge to the series which keeps it from feeling too safe. On the subject of steady relationships, it was a bit of a surprise to meet Murray’s wife, Marie relatively late in the day. I’d assumed such relatives would be left to the viewer’s imagination, but I do like her. The naming on this series is interesting. One scene had an interaction between Murray, Marie and Mary, which felt as though it broke an unspoken law of television series which requires characters to have names that sound quite different from one another.

As far as regular characters go, it’s an understatement to say everyone has gelled with me. Each serves their role really well and is perfect cast. Incidentally, Murray and Ted both initially reminded me of much characters from early Eighties films: Murray resembled that annoying camp guy in Airplane! who skipped round making commentary and crying out things like “Rapunzel. Rapunzel.” Ted - due to his character’s dependence on idiot boards - reminded me of John Van Horn from Tootsie. While the latter is no bad thing, both Murray and Ted have quickly become characters I enjoy in their own right. Poor Ted’s nervous breakdown after being asked questions at Phyllis’s women’s club was brilliant.

It possibly goes without saying that Lou is always 100% watchable, while Rhoda is great fun on the home front. The scene where she went into Karen mode, invoking her female privilege to ensure the police attended the scene of Mary’s burglary immediately was hilarious (even though, sadly, there’s more than a touch of social truth in it).

The title Christmas And The Hard-Luck Kid II is intriguing since it gave the impression I’d missed something. I’d assumed it was the title of a Christmas-themed film but it seems it comes from an episode of That Girl. I’ve looked up the synopsis and cast and can’t see anything tying the Mary and That Girl episodes more than any number of Christmas specials, so if anyone knows the story behind this one I’d love to know.

As always with a period series, the relative lack of political correctness is enjoyable. There’s nothing offensive here, but the abundance of height gags in the Toulouse-Lautrec episode were more enjoyable for feeling a little off-limits. As it turned out the person in question addressed things directly, diffusing the situation and allowing the series to have its cake and eat it while stopping short of being overly issue-based. Topics like divorce and infidelity also give the series a bit of an edge, even if they're generally only touched on in the most tastefully understated way.

With just five episodes left, it’s likely I’ll finish Season One in the next couple of evenings.

• The idea of doing taxes this way - combing over every receipt from the last year and explaining purchases to someone - looks very intimidating to me. Going by what TV feeds me, these seem commonplace in America which makes me feel relieved that the standard here is to simply add taxes onto the purchase price at the point of sale.

 

[Crimson]

I do enjoy that neither Mary nor Rhoda has any kind of steady relationship going.

I think this is something the producers of MTM held their ground on. Network execs, who had insisted Mary couldn't be a divorcee, also pushed for Mary to have a steady beau. As Snarky notes above, there had even been early consideration of Mary being romantically linked with (a different version of) Ted.

The title Christmas And The Hard-Luck Kid II is intriguing since it gave the impression I’d missed something.

As someone who'd wondered this for years and only recently answered the question -- no you didn't miss anything and there's no canonical connection between MTM and THAT GIRL. The two shows shared some key creative personnel and the title is little more than an inside joke. I mentioned up thread that MTM and Mary Richards were evolutionary in how women were portrayed on American TV. Women were generally shown as contented housewives, like Laura Petrie. But in the late Sixties, there were a few shows that started to explore the idea of single women in the workplace -- THAT GIRL being one of them -- even if they were limited by the mustiness of the TV era.

The idea of doing taxes this way - combing over every receipt from the last year and explaining purchases to someone - looks very intimidating to me. Going by what TV feeds me, these seem commonplace in America which makes me feel relieved that the standard here is to simply add taxes onto the purchase price at the point of sale.

I assume that's an old-timey thing, or just a TV contrivance like the swinging kitchen doors. I spend about 8 minutes doing my taxes.

 

[Spells & Karma]

I think this is something the producers of MTM held their ground on. Network execs, who had insisted Mary couldn't be a divorcee, also pushed for Mary to have a steady beau.

I mentioned up thread that MTM and Mary Richards were evolutionary in how women were portrayed on American TV. Women were generally shown as contented housewives, like Laura Petrie. But in the late Sixties, there were a few shows that started to explore the idea of single women in the workplace -- THAT GIRL being one of them -- even if they were limited by the mustiness of the TV era.

Yes, given the context of the time I can see how it would be viewed as fine for the men to have swinging singles pads while "nubile young woman"="steady relationship".

Curiously in an episode I've watched this week, Mary herself almost endorsed this view. I forget the exact wording, but there was a scene where she was speaking to Lou about her ambitions and it pretty much came down to marriage and motherhood. Like Mary's panic when left in charge in an early episode, I'm guessing (and hoping) this is all part of a long game to show Mary's growth as the seasons progress.

As someone who'd wondered this for years and only recently answered the question -- no you didn't miss anything and there's no canonical connection between MTM and THAT GIRL. The two shows shared some key creative personnel and the title is little more than an inside joke.

Thanks for confirming. I'm glad it wasn't just me who had that question.

I assume that's an old-timey thing, or just a TV contrivance like the swinging kitchen doors. I spend about 8 minutes doing my taxes.

Oh my. Another example of TV giving me duff cultural information.

 

[The Averyville Horror]

The idea of doing taxes this way - combing over every receipt from the last year and explaining purchases to someone - looks very intimidating to me. Going by what TV feeds me, these seem commonplace in America which makes me feel relieved that the standard here is to simply add taxes onto the purchase price at the point of sale.

Most people who get audited are flagged in the system because the numbers don't add up, or maybe they've taken way too many liberties in declaring dependents, donations to charity, or their income. They may still pick a few at random for audit, but typically they only take the time to do this if they have good evidence of fraud and want the person to "show their receipts" (hence the modern term). This has become a stock sitcom plot (to have a main character get audited) because of the "guilty until proven innocent" attitude of IRS agents and the myriad of jokes a writer can come up with concerning how poorly someone can fill out their tax returns.

And this is all done over our Income taxes, not sales tax (which, as you reference, is taken automatically). The US existed longer without Income Tax than it has with it, but unfortunately the government is so addicted to spending money that the Income Taxes are likely here to stay just like Sales Taxes (and any other ones the government can invent).

 

[Spells & Karma]

Most people who get audited are flagged in the system because the numbers don't add up, or maybe they've taken way too many liberties in declaring dependents, donations to charity, or their income. They may still pick a few at random for audit, but typically they only take the time to do this if they have good evidence of fraud and want the person to "show their receipts" (hence the modern term).

Thanks for the context with this one .

This has become a stock sitcom plot (to have a main character get audited) because of the "guilty until proven innocent" attitude of IRS agents and the myriad of jokes a writer can come up with concerning how poorly someone can fill out their tax returns.

I remember an early Will & Grace episode where Jack was in trouble with the IRS (but in his case he was more clearly guilty as he'd refused to pay, believing it was optional).

And this is all done over our Income taxes, not sales tax

And this makes much more sense to me now.

 

[Spells & Karma]

Season One
Hi! / The Boss Isn’t Coming To Dinner / A Friend In Deed / Smokey The Bear Wants You / The 45-Year-Old Man



Any episode that includes some kind of crisis for Lou is a good one. These final episodes of the season feature two of them: first one where Lou and his wife separate; then one where The Powers That Be at WJM decide to sack Lou. Each takes a similar approach in which Lou is stoical while the team in the outer office works to try and fix the situation (or Lou himself). As a result, each builds the strength of the work-based ensemble and shows how important each player is. In particular it also shows how valued Mary herself has become. She’s almost like a daughter to Lou and a sister to Murray (and perhaps even Ted). Ed Asner does great work with this side of things and it’s easy to see why his own series would be more drama than comedy.

A couple of bizarre little “did they think we wouldn’t notice?” things occurred in these episodes. First, Mary’s long-forgotten friend from camp, Twinks, is played by Patte Finley who previously appeared in the divorce club episode. Stuff like this happens all the time, but Finley herself has a very distinctive look, sound and delivery and (from what I’ve seen in these episodes) is pretty much a one trick pony. Certainly watching at this pace having her play two almost-identical characters in one season seems quite poorly thought out.

The second thing was even more bizarre. When Mary pays a visit to the eccentric cowboy who owns WJM to try and save Lou’s job, his place is very clearly Mary’s apartment set. The same painted wood slats, bare brick section and multi-level setup are very clearly visible. Even that shag pile carpet is present and correct. Granted, the set is filled with Western paraphernalia), but the only real concession towards pretending this isn’t a repurposed set is throwing a curtain over the main entrance door to the apartment set and having Mary enter from Stage Right (where the kitchen would be). This happened in the very last episode, and if sets had been so repurposed up to this point I hadn’t noticed. It’s a shame this move gave a sourly distracting note to the final episode. During the scene I even ended up having a conversation as I wasn’t sure if the Western bloke was meant to have moved in with Mary.

Then there was Michael Callan who was the right kind of distracting. Most of the male suitors in this series have a certain spark that strikes the perfect balance of appeal and accessibility. For this viewer, anyway.

Oh, and Ursula showed up, with Pat Carroll’s Loretta sharing a ward with Mary. As I get older, it’s perhaps a little worrying that I increasingly identify with grouch characters (I’m currently watching Brookside, and that series’ infamously grumpy old man character, Harry Cross, is someone I now view as “us” rather than “them”), and I have to take ownership of the fact that I, like Loretta, would find myself irritated if I had a roommate who liked to talk.

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

Always thought that MTM was an underrated actress.
Along with husband Grant Tinker, they founded MTM Enterprises which was quite successful

MTM Enterprises - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Her basic character/function was "straight man" in the MTM show.
This was a great creative decision because
Ted Knight, Ed Asner, Gavin McLeod, Valerie Harper, Cloris Leachman and Betty White,
all major talents,
had great material to work, and they became inevitable "scene-stealers"
It was quite generous of MTM as a star, and her cast was quite complementary to her as a result,
and the chemistry was evident on camera

 

[Crimson]

Mary’s long-forgotten friend from camp, Twinks, is played by Patte Finley who previously appeared in the divorce club episode. Stuff like this happens all the time, but Finley herself has a very distinctive look, sound and delivery and (from what I’ve seen in these episodes) is pretty much a one trick pony.

Someone at MTM productions really liked Patte Finley, apparently. Aside from her two appearances on MTM, she was a semi-regular on THE BOB NEWHART SHOW; no "in universe" connection to MTM show, but produced by MTM productions. Finley also turned up on LOU GRANT three times, playing different characters over a 2 year period. One actress playing 5 characters in the same continuity!

That said, the choice for her to play two characters on MTM that were so similar appears to have been a specific choice. Her persona on TBNS was completely different. Until I looked at IMDB, I didn't even realize it was the same actress.

 

[The Averyville Horror]

his place is very clearly Mary’s apartment set

If it was indeed the last episode filmed that season*, it might be something as simple as....they ran out of money. As it was a new show, the network might not have given them the same sort of budget they'd get once they were an established hit, and by the end of the season they might have spent what they had. Have you noticed how many American sitcoms do "clip shows" for their final episodes some seasons? That's typically a sign they ran out of money, too.

* Sometimes sitcoms film out of order, or (more often) producers might decide to air them in a different order for whatever reason.