Mary Tyler Moore 

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

Creators:

James L. Brooks, Allan Burns

Stars:

Mary Tyler Moore, Edward Asner, Gavin MacLeod

Won 3 Golden Globes. Another 39 wins & 82 nominations.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Mary Tyler Moore	...	Mary Richards 168 episodes, 1970-1977
Gavin MacLeod	...	Murray Slaughter 168 episodes, 1970-1977
Edward Asner	...	Lou Grant 166 episodes, 1970-1977
Ted Knight	...	Ted Baxter / ... 165 episodes, 1970-1977
Valerie Harper	...	Rhoda Morgenstern / ... 93 episodes, 1970-1977

Storyline

Mary Richards moves to Minneapolis after a relationship goes bad. She finds work as an associate producer in a small television newsroom where the characters include Lou Grant, her gruff boss, Murray Slaughter the humorous writer, and Ted Baxter the Anchor Man who spends his time mispronouncing country names. Mary continues to hope for romance, but finds that her friends are more dependable.

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Plot Keywords:

woman | producer | single | single woman | television | 

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Taglines:

Being Gal Friday at a television station lands beautiful Mary in hilarious jams seven days a week. Watch Saturdays and see. (season 1)

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 September 1970 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Mary Tyler Moore Show

Filming Locations:

Stage 2, CBS Studio Center - 4024 Radford Avenue, Studio City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

MTM Enterprises

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min (168 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

4:3

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the opening credits, the two joggers who pass Mary in the park are producers James L. Brooks and Allan Burns. The gray-haired man Mary has lunch with, and later takes an evening walk with, is Mary Tyler Moore's then-husband Grant Tinker, president and co-founder of MTM. The woman who scowls at Mary as she tosses her hat is local resident Hazel Frederick.

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Goofs

In the first season installment "Divorce Isn't Everything", Mary mentions that she can't speak French but can speak Spanish. Later in the series, while at a Mexican restaurant, she indicates that she can't read the menu because she took French in college.

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Quotes

Lou Grant: Rule number one: never hire friends. I hired a friend once and you know what happened? Worked out great. But that's me. You couldn't handle it.

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Crazy Credits

In episode 71 the MTM Kitten was replaced by Miss Moore herself, saying "Th-th-th-that's all folks!", a line spoken by Mary Richards during that episode.

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Connections

Referenced in Mary Tyler Moore: Love Is All Around (1970)

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Soundtracks

Love Is All Around
Written and Performed by Sonny Curtis

User Reviews

Love is Indeed All Around

For the longest period of time, I couldn't understand the appeal of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show". Having caught the occasional episode every now and then, the series struck me as being somewhat "ordinary" in nature. However, at the beginning of 2002, I began to watch the series on a regular basis, right from it's first season and found to my surprise, what a funny, insightful and entertaining sitcom it was.

Mary Tyler Moore deserves kudos for her portrayal of Mary Richards, a ground-breaking character who was allowed to be her own person (a rare thing for female characters on television in those days). An intelligent, independent young woman in her 30's, whose wasn't "hung up" on not being married, and enjoyed her life and her career. The rest of the cast also deserve mention for their memorable performances. Ed Asner as the gruff, yet lovable Lou Grant (Mary's boss at WJM-TV), Valerie Harper as the sharp and sassy Rhoda Morgenstern (Mary's best friend and next door neighbour), Gavin Macloud as the witty & thoughtful Murray Slaughter (Mary's fellow work mate at WJM), the late Ted Knight as the self absorbed and talentless Ted Baxter (who "anchored" the news in more ways than one at WJM-TV) and Cloris Leachman as the flighty and somewhat over-opininated Phyllis Lindstorm (Mary's other next door neighbour and friend).

The show was fortunate enough to benefit from first rate scripts from talented writers such as Jim Brooks & Allan Burns (both of whom created the series), Treva Silverman, David Lloyd, Bob Ellison and Ed Weinberger.

Along with solid direction from vetran TV sitcom director Jay Sandrich (of "I Love Lucy" fame), it comes as no surprise that the series was both a critical and commerical success during it's seven year run on US television from 1970 to 1977. The show also benefited from later additions to the cast such as Georgia Engel as the sweet natured, yet rather naive Georgette Franklin (who was introduced into the series as a love interest for the idiotic Ted Baxter) and Betty White as the conniving & man-hungry Sue Ann Nivens (host of "The Happy Homemaker" show at WJM-TV). On screen, she is the image of domestic knowledge and bliss, but once the camera's have stopped rolling, she is a woman on the prowl, striking at any man within distance (single or otherwise) who grabs her fancy!!. Earning a whole swag of Emmy Awards, the show was highly praised and rewarded for it's stellar efforts. I recommended those who are unfamiliar with the show to watch the series from the beginning, to appreciate and understand the nature of what it's all about. The humour is natural and witty (unlike many other sitcoms where the laughs are either forced or over-the-top). The characters grow and change over the years (once again unlike many other comedy shows), and the series itself contains it's own warmth and natural charm. Check it out and see why this lady can still turn the whole world on with that smile ...