"Mary Tyler Moore" (1970) TV series 1970-1977

Creators:

James L. Brooks
Allan Burns

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Release Date:

19 September 1970 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

The lives and trials of a young single woman and her friends, both at work and at home.

Plot Keywords:

Television | Producer | Single | Single Woman | Unrequited Love

Awards:

Won 3 Golden Globes. Another 36 wins & 69 nominations

Cast

Mary Tyler Moore	...	Mary Richards (168 episodes, 1970-1977)
Gavin MacLeod	...	Murray Slaughter / ... (168 episodes, 1970-1977)
Edward Asner	...	Lou Grant (167 episodes, 1970-1977)
Ted Knight	...	Ted Baxter (166 episodes, 1970-1977)
Valerie Harper	...	Rhoda Morgenstern (92 episodes, 1970-1977)

Also Known As:

The Mary Tyler Moore Show (USA) (promotional title)

Runtime:

30 min (168 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

CBS Studio Center - 4024 Radford Avenue, Studio City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

MTM Enterprises

Trivia:

Following the conclusion of the series, Edward Asner continued to play Lou Grant in a long-running dramatic series of the same name.

Goofs:

Factual errors: On the newsroom wall there are various world clocks like you would see in a typical newsroom of that era. In the center is the Minneapolis/St. Paul clock, and to its left is a Chicago clock. Minneapolis and Chicago are both in the central time zone, so there is no need to have two different clocks. Furthermore it can be seen that the Chicago clock is set roughly an hour ahead.

Quotes:

[On the air]
Ted Baxter: I've just been handed a bulletin: "You have something on your front tooth!"

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Aurora Borealis (2005)

Soundtrack:

Love Is All Around

The show with spunk!

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!