Review of The Mary Tyler Moore Show

"The Mary Tyler Moore Show" was a classic sitcom about single 30s something Mary Richards,moving to new town Minneapolis,when her relationship breaks down,she gets an apartment through old friend Phyllis(Chloris Leachman)at the start,causing friction with Rhoda(Valerie Harper)from upstairs,the friendship of Mary and Rhoda becoming one of the backbones of the series until Valerie Harper spun off to her own spin off success "Rhoda",after four seasons. Mary gets a job at WJM-TV,the local news station with the lowest ratings but warmest people,she meets gruff but caring Lou Grant(Ed Asner)the classic moments in the series would be when Lou would say "come into my office Mary". Murray Slaughter(Gavin MacLeod)was the married man,who loved Mary without any sinister meaning,Ted Baxter(Ted Knight)was the stupid vain anchor man as the seasons went on,he got funnier and funnier and his character got some depth later with the introduction of a girlfriend,later wife,Georgette,played by the hilarious Georgia Engel. Betty White was a welcome addition in season 4 as man hungry "Happy Homemaker",Sue-Ann Nivens,the episode when she has an affair with Phyllis'unseen husband Lars in "The Lars Affair" was a classic,Sue Anne helping fill the void as "the blond darling" when Phyllis left after season 5 for her own spin off series "Phyllis". Amongst all the laughs there were touching,"real" moments of life like retirement or "The Lou and Edie Story" when Lou's wife Edie leaves him or "Chuckles Bites The Dust",the best known episode of TMTMS when the station's clown,Chuckles,dies in a bizarre elephant crushing,Mary is disgusted at the sick jokes until she gets the giggles at the funeral,then there is a debate about people's reactions to death,all very deep indeed. The show ended after a seven year run with the news gang all being sacked apart from Ted,ironically the one worst at the job,Rhoda and Phyllis returned to support Mary and Lou Grant was launched as a dramatic spin off and was another big success. A real joy of a series,the catchy theme "You're Gonna Make It After All" and Mary throwing her hat in the air,never fails to please!