The Mary Tyler Moore Show (TV Series) Mary's Aunt Returns (1976) User Reviews

Aged cognac

[Rrrobert · 8/10 · 18 February 2020]

Mary's aunt, seasoned newswoman Flo (Eileen Heckart), returns. Flo is in town to do a documentary on a family with 20 children. She bonds with Lou and they are kind of dismissive of Mary's ideas. When Lou and Flo disagree on the angle of the story, she teams with Murray to do a treatment with her angle, while Lou and Mary do Lou's version. Whiny Ted just wants to be included and plays both sides.

Flo is a real one-upper though we learn some of it is bull. She's a good character and funny, though if she were a real person she'd be annoying to work with. The story is well done with several strong jokes. Cool ending.

We Didn't Need This One

[Hitchcoc · 5/10 · 28 February 2017]

One of my least favorite character in this series is Mary's aunt. She is abrasive, insensitive, and really tiresome. In this one she shows up at the station to do a story on a blended family that has 20 kids. She starts out planning to work with Lou, but things get competitive and soon she is paired off with Murray and Mary works with Mr. Grant. The idea is that the powers that be in the station will look over the two plans and choose one or the other. Except for Ted's whining and changing sides whenever possible, it's kind of boring. Also, this camaraderie is so clichéd that it wears really thin.