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<blockquote data-quote="Snarky Oracle!" data-source="post: 436778" data-attributes="member: 57984">I think that&#039;s a common view, and sort of one that I share.Some have correctly called Season 1 &quot;magical&quot; and in many ways it was -- the bittersweet, heartbroken vibe was simply in the water on the cusp of the &#039;60s/&#039;70s, and in MTM&#039;s freshman season, with its montage-y, more melancholy opening theme design and lyric and orchestration. There was a collective sense that they are leaving the trials &amp; tragedies of the &#039;60s behind and are trepidatiously stepping into the new era. (Even though one could argue that &#039;60s went on for another three or four years). The world actually felt like that in real life as the &#039;70s were embarking.And yet, the jokes at Ted&#039;s expense, during Season 1 in particular, are pretty cringey today (and seemed so just a year or two later). But in 1970, even lampooning the then-revered silver-haired-news-reader image was -- hard to believe now -- considered iconoclastic enough at the time, that just having Ted be &quot;dumb&quot; and &quot;vain&quot; was enough to generate standing-room-only laughs. (Which says more about where the media culture was at the time than anything).But the producers were smart enough to know that that shock-effect approach to Ted Baxter&#039;s boorishness wouldn&#039;t last, and by Season 2, the writers were using more layers and subtlety to mine chuckles out of his selfishness. (And with the other characters as well).MTM was one of the best examples of a sitcom which actually grew creatively as it went on, and yet didn&#039;t change too much that it lost its original appeal.Most producers just don&#039;t know how to do that, listening to nature.As you may know, Penny Marshall was scooped up mid-season for LAVERNE &amp; SHIRLEY, while Mary Kay Place was snatched up, at exactly the same time, for MARY HARTMAN, MARY HARTMAN (now forgotten, but a huge hit in 1976).Could they have worked long-term on MTM? We never had to test it. (But with Penny&#039;s and MKP&#039;s yin-yang Scorpio Rising vs. Aries Rising dynamic, it just might&#039;ve, had MTM run longer). Although I&#039;m glad the show ended when it did, critics then viewing the series as coming as close to &quot;perfect&quot; that a sitcom ever had, born in an era where the multi-character situation comedy, filmed in front of a live audience, was far from the polished assembly-line trope that the genre would later be.MARY TYLER MOORE drooped a little towards the closing seasons because CBS moved ALL IN THE FAMILY from Saturday night. (Networks just can&#039;t help themselves from smashing up hit line-ups with a baseball bat as soon as they happen).Also, Season 2 of STARSKY &amp; HUTCH moved to Saturday and scheduled directly against MARY. And, believe it or not, it hurt the numbers.<img src="https://www.closerweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/mary-tyler-moore-show-9.jpg?fit=2000%2C1370" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="width: 833px" /></blockquote>

[QUOTE="Snarky Oracle!, post: 436778, member: 57984"] I think that's a common view, and sort of one that I share. Some have correctly called Season 1 "magical" and in many ways it was -- the bittersweet, heartbroken vibe was simply in the water on the cusp of the '60s/'70s, and in MTM's freshman season, with its montage-y, more melancholy opening theme design and lyric and orchestration. There was a collective sense that they are leaving the trials & tragedies of the '60s behind and are trepidatiously stepping into the new era. (Even though one could argue that '60s went on for another three or four years). The world actually felt like that in real life as the '70s were embarking. And yet, the jokes at Ted's expense, during Season 1 in particular, are pretty cringey today (and seemed so just a year or two later). But in 1970, even lampooning the then-revered silver-haired-news-reader image was -- hard to believe now -- considered iconoclastic enough at the time, that just having Ted be "dumb" and "vain" was enough to generate standing-room-only laughs. (Which says more about where the media culture was at the time than anything). But the producers were smart enough to know that that shock-effect approach to Ted Baxter's boorishness wouldn't last, and by Season 2, the writers were using more layers and subtlety to mine chuckles out of his selfishness. (And with the other characters as well). MTM was one of the best examples of a sitcom which actually grew creatively as it went on, and yet didn't change too much that it lost its original appeal. Most producers just don't know how to do that, listening to nature. As you may know, Penny Marshall was scooped up mid-season for LAVERNE & SHIRLEY, while Mary Kay Place was snatched up, at exactly the same time, for MARY HARTMAN, MARY HARTMAN (now forgotten, but a huge hit in 1976). Could they have worked long-term on MTM? We never had to test it. (But with Penny's and MKP's yin-yang Scorpio Rising vs. Aries Rising dynamic, it just might've, had MTM run longer). Although I'm glad the show ended when it did, critics then viewing the series as coming as close to "perfect" that a sitcom ever had, born in an era where the multi-character situation comedy, filmed in front of a live audience, was far from the polished assembly-line trope that the genre would later be. MARY TYLER MOORE drooped a little towards the closing seasons because CBS moved ALL IN THE FAMILY from Saturday night. (Networks just can't help themselves from smashing up hit line-ups with a baseball bat as soon as they happen). Also, Season 2 of STARSKY & HUTCH moved to Saturday and scheduled directly against MARY. And, believe it or not, it hurt the numbers. [IMG width="833px"]https://www.closerweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/mary-tyler-moore-show-9.jpg?fit=2000%2C1370[/IMG] [/QUOTE]

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