When television started usually modern day shows be they comedy or drama were set in four cities or the suburbs thereof, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles or
San Francisco. The Mary Tyler Moore Show was one of the first not set in any
of these, in fact it made sure to film even establishing shots in Minneapolis where
the show was set.
I think it was great that the rest of the country got to see and identify with Mary Richards starting a career working for a local TV station. On the Dick Van Dyke Show. Moore was at first just a pretty face. Then it was discovered the woman actually had a gift for comedy. Which flourished on this show.
Three other characters started with Moore. Gruff Ed Asner was the boss, Gavin McLeod was the much put upon engineer and Ted Knight the self centered news anchor. All three starred in their own shows later and all three as well as Moore had episodes centering around their characters.
Some really wonderful characters were added on. Valerie Harper as Mary's friend Rhoda, Georgia Engel as Baxter's wife, another friend Cloris Leachman for Mary. My favorite was Betty White as Sue Ann Nivens the happy homemaker whose cooking show naive appearing character belied a devastating wit. And a lot of these went on to other shows.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show was fun and enjoyable and it spawned a lot of spinoffs. Catch this when its rerun.
I think it was great that the rest of the country got to see and identify with Mary Richards starting a career working for a local TV station. On the Dick Van Dyke Show. Moore was at first just a pretty face. Then it was discovered the woman actually had a gift for comedy. Which flourished on this show.
Three other characters started with Moore. Gruff Ed Asner was the boss, Gavin McLeod was the much put upon engineer and Ted Knight the self centered news anchor. All three starred in their own shows later and all three as well as Moore had episodes centering around their characters.
Some really wonderful characters were added on. Valerie Harper as Mary's friend Rhoda, Georgia Engel as Baxter's wife, another friend Cloris Leachman for Mary. My favorite was Betty White as Sue Ann Nivens the happy homemaker whose cooking show naive appearing character belied a devastating wit. And a lot of these went on to other shows.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show was fun and enjoyable and it spawned a lot of spinoffs. Catch this when its rerun.