The Mary Tyler Moore credit sequence

Did she ever find the hat she threw?

My sister did it and a dog ran away with her hat

I like when the two joggers run past Mary. She looks back at them, thinks "They're gay" and keeps walking. It was a nice affirmation that not every woman felt she needed to be a fag hag.

She was great at body language. The way she threw the meat into the grocery cart said it all.

When Mary filmed Ordinary People for Robert Redford, his actual quote to the journalist from Esquire Magazine: "Mary is shit-free."

Minneapolis! The glamorous city!

Robert Redford: “Once while renting a house in Malibu, California, I saw her bundled up, walking alone on the beach. I wanted to introduce myself and walk along with her, but my respect for other people’s privacy prevented it. The Mary Tyler Moore Show is the only network show I consistently watch, aside from Sesame Street. She seems at once positive, vivacious, vulnerable, attractive, independent, adventurous and feminine. I would still like to walk with her on the beach.”

I was enthralled by the giant M on the wall in her Victorian apartment.

How come Mary never had a steady boyfriend? Was she a lilac lady?

Well, she's gone but at least you have me today!

r1

Hazel Frederick took it

She was a "career gal," so no possibility of a serious romance, much less a husband and kids: in 1970, one or the other, not both.

Oh, that's not true at all, r12. Sometimes career girls married and left their jobs, and in some cases they indeed managed to have the career and the husband and the kids. My mom did.

r13

I agree, FINALLY someone gets ME

I loved Mary's apartment and imagined having one like it

R10...Relationships with the main characters of sitcoms often ruin the show. The writers were wise to have Mary date but not have a steady boyfriend.

There was a "reunion" of Mary and Valerie on one of the talk shows, I forget whether it was Oprah or something else. Valerie said she still has the "etc." from her apartment on the show and Mary said she still had the big "M."

r17

I doubt they are the original. You can get them on eBay, Amazon or Hobby Lobby for USD$2.

she looked like a dream

What a legend, knew this was coming, but still so hard. Love ya Mary.

Well we all know IT'S coming.

r3, those joggers in the opening credits sequence are actually co-creator James L. Brooks and producer David Davis...

James L Brooks is best known for the Simpsons.

Marlo Thomas' Ann Marie on "That Girl" had a career (sometimes landing acting gigs and lots of temporary survival jobs) and a cute boyfriend in Donald Hollinger; she also moved to a big city, though her caring but overbearing father always kept showing up.

Mary Tyler Moore moved far, far away from her family and played the field. Interestingly, Ted Bessell who played Don Hollinger might have been one of her only boyfriends on the show who lasted more than 2 or 3 episodes.

is her teeth real or fake?

Was Mary's couch a fold-out bed? I was very young when I watched it and never could get the layout. Was the bathroom through the closet or did the renters have to (shudder) share facilities?

Oddly enough between the Mary Tyler Moore show, Bob Newhart and the Jeffersons, I ended up spending the last 20 years of my life in a big city high-rise. One not so bright gay friend said "dont you want a house, its like living in a hotel" to which replied exactly, I love hotels, I worked in hotels and some of the richest people actually live in hotels. It was never a goal, just somehow it happens when I was at the right place at the right time in life. I don't have a buzzer intercom like Mary, but trust me, the security guards are just as wacky and gossipy. Its kid of fun.

She probably had an industrial strength vibrator considering it's workload! And a closet jammed top to bottom with batteries!

I always thought that fish face father was going to open the closet and get avalanched!

[quote]Mary Tyler Moore moved far, far away from her family and played the field.

It wasn't far far away it was only a few hours Roseburg (or as Rhoda calls it "Rosenburg...They probably changed it") Minnesota. Then her parents moved close to Mary...Mary wanted to put them in St Paul because it's nicer over there, it's quieter over there...It's (Murray interrupting) "Over there"

They had to walk the tightrope with Mary between "popular" & "sleeping around"

Was Murray supposed to be Gay on the show? He was too witty not to be!

He was gay, the thing was he was also MARIE, you never saw the two together, except A LA Patty / Cathy Lane style.

I outlasted you, you bitch!

R30 they didn't want her to become MARY Mattress

I wasn't impressed with her life so much as I was impressed with Minneapolis. It seemed like a glamorous place-- like New York.

I was a little kid in suburban hell.

I always though Lou had a nice ass!

What ever happened to babooshka lady? She seemed nice to watch Mary throw her hat in the air. She was pretty.

R35, had the show been set in NYC at the time, she would have been throwing her hat in front of a porn house, amongst drug addicts, hookers, and muggers. And that was the glamorous part.

R36 Very underrated Bear

My first real apartment was in the roof a Victorian house. And it was wonderful. I felt very Mary.

r37 meet r11

The first opening sequence was much more innocent, but the show was really groundbreaking. Except for Ted, the show played against expectations. That first episode Mary thinks Lou is going to be an ass and a lech, but instead once he's had a few drinks and loosens up he reveals very funnily how much loves his wife.

The show as very clear that Mary herself was sweet and witty but a classic WASP, very stiff. She turns down a handsome doctor who's equally stiff and says he loves her but awkwardly. By episode 2 realises that at 30, she's "ma'am" (outside the 18-29 TV demo) and treated that way by people in their 20s. Lou is honest in the first episode. She LOOKS 30 when she asks. Over the next 7 years, Mary proves, when given a chance as producer (rather than the secretary she applied to WJM to be), what she did WELL was her job. She was a professional woman. She was bad at giving parties, playing the hostess, being a girlfriend. She was smart and it was OKAY for her to be not the perfect girlfriend, wife, lover, homemaker, hostess and by the way professional.

Can you name a show that takes that position today?

By the end of the series, Mary is that sanguine, less innocent and willing to tell people what they're doing wrong. There's never been another character like her -- a GOOD person, who was often witty, kind, flawed, but not a caricature. Lou Grant, Sue Ann Phyllis, Rhoda all were fresh then and they're sill entertaining today.

[quote]Mary proves, when given a chance as producer

She was never a real producer, she was just Lou's assistant. When Lou made her producer he still made himself oversee her work. When Lou became program director he promoted Murray over her. She was never a real producer.

Settle this for me--was she really disgusted by the price of the meat or was she expressing the unhappiness of a single person making the same meal all the time?

I loved her on TV, too bad she was such a Republican cunt in real life.

R45 that was later in life, when she was 1/2 there! People are more vulnerable when they're not playing with a full deck anymore! Consequently people know when to exploit them!!

R44 I thought she was famously shrugging "that's the only meat I'll be getting this weekend!"

R44 it was the price on the package. It was all getting too expensive in those days, the show was set in a time period of scary annual inflation.

They could never have filmed that scene with real thick kielbasa!

Buck never would have thrown his meat into the shopping cart like that.

That's because it might remind people of a penis.

R26 Yes; it was a fold-out couch. There are several episodes where it shows her folding the bed up before she goes to work. I was obsessed with that apartment and wanted to live in it. I loved the elevated part with the gold shag carpet. I also always wondered where the bathroom was; I assumed you went through her walk-in closet to get to it.

Rhoda was always set up as the looser, more ethnic foil to Prissy WASPy MARY!

I always thought that a lot of guys left Mary's apartment with blue balls after being shut down and took that short flight of stairs up to Rhoda's!

r11 Frederick's identity remained a mystery to nearly everyone else until 1996, when Moore was in the area for a book signing. Moore invited Frederick to join her on stage and introduced her to 5,000 people as "my co-star." Frederick signed autographed over 500 books that day along with Moore.

r54 Mary and Hazel in 1996.

[quote] I assumed you went through her walk-in closet to get to it.

Much like my bedroom now

I assume that Hazel has croaked by now, too.

Mary, not Rhoda was the one who landed the Jewish doctah!

LOL R47!

I loved the closing credits as well. Especially when Mary rests her head on her guys shoulder as they walk home from the evening out.

Mary was shaking her head because the meat was enough for two or three and she was single.

R61 She could invite Rhoda and Bess over for dinner.

Fuck Phyllis, she would probably be dieting anyway.

I always liked The Rhoda opening - New York appealed to me much more as a kid from London & I loved the "New Yawk, this is ya last chance!"

But it looks awful now.

So many 70s sitcoms had very New York intros.

Best intro & theme tune of the era, along with Mary's was The Odd Couple >>

That's what occurred to me, R61.

She apparently had an infinite clothes budget. She's wearing something different every time you see her.

r66 Yeah, and they were all Evan Picone originals.

Mare's clothes do repeat, especially in the earlier seasons, just not very often.

Favorite episodes, anyone? I can never decide between "Put on a Happy Face" (in which Mary has a very bad day) and "The Lars Affair" (when Phyllis finds out Lars is having an affair with Sue Ann Nivens).

[quote]Evan Picone originals

Were those something special?

r69 They were a hot label in the 1960s and early 1970s. The fashion company of Evan Picone designed original outfits for MTM rather just giver her their off the rack line.

r70^^^give her^^^^

R68 "Lars Affair" was my all time favorite. Perfect episode. There are lots of great ones though...but I like them more for particular moments rather than the whole episode. Season 4 is my favorite.

MTM was the first "adult" show i watched: so many memories. I'm not in the US, the show was broadcast here a few years later. I was 7 or 8 and even then i could sense this was a smart, funny show. I adored Mary, Rhoda and all the cast, and yes, Mary's pad looked super cool (Rhoda's purple, hippy nest was great too). Watching it again now two things stand out the most: that Mary was scary thin, and that Rhoda was gorgeous but played the loser for some reason. It still holds up great, tho.

Season 4 is the best. Mary's still in the Victorian, Rhoda and Phyllis are still there, and Sue Ann and Georgette have arrived too. Her life feels full and fun.

[quote]I loved the elevated part with the gold shag carpet. I also always wondered where the bathroom was; I assumed you went through her walk-in closet to get to it.

I watched an episode last night where Mary kept changing outfits before a big interview and, yes, she walked through the closet into the bathroom (which wasn't seen) while Rhoda stood outside trying on earrings and cracking wise.

[quote]She apparently had an infinite clothes budget. She's wearing something different every time you see her.

This was addressed on the show, when Ted complained to Mary that Georgette was jealous of Mary's large collection of clothes, so Ted told Georgette all of Mary's clothes were reversible.

R61 Actually, that sequence with her rolling her eyes and throwing the meat into her shopping cart was filmed in the midst of a beef shortage in the U.S., which resulted in huge price hikes. She was reacting to the high price of the meat and doing a "well, what choice do I have" reaction.

She should've married a cattle rancher.

Equipped with the same information, r77, I took it as she settled for the cheaper cut of meat, and was "mannering" the extra effort to make it edible, kinda like her boyfriend prospects.

R68 The "Put on a Happy Face" episode was amazing, because it was like one of Mary's personal nightmares come to life. She wins a Teddy award, and on the day of the ceremony, she gets a cold, sprains her ankle, screws up her hair, tears her dress, loses a false eyelash, and has to stand in front of a room and accept her award.

The Lars Affair episode is classic, too, because it's the first time we see Sue Ann, and her scene at the end with Phyllis is like a master class in comedic timing.

R79 That's a valid interpretation, too.

To a junior high school kid watching the MTM show every Saturday at 9 in my bedroom, the super-effective credits transported me to Minneapolis every week and kept me there for thirty minutes. I knew it was shot in LA but it just didn't come off that way at all. And the little meowing cat at the end, the MGM lion steal, I just thought that was so clever!

Same R82. A bit younger but loved being able to stay up and watch the adult shows.

It's not a credit sequence. It's a title sequence.

I don't think the meat toss came until Season 4. Remember that a couple of years before, the US had been through Nixon asking companies to freeze employee wages. I always thought the meat toss was "I can't believe I have to pay this amount, but if I want a good dinner...."

One thing always puzzled me. When Mary invited the political lady for dinner and Lou took the huge portion of food, why did they invite such a prestigious woman to Mary's crappy apartment? Why didn't they take her out to a restaurant?

R86 Because Mary made an off-the-cuff remark and said, "Next time, you're in town, I'd love have you over for dinner." Then the Congresswoman took her up on it, so she had no choice.

What about Mary going thru a receiving line of hugs with the men on the show, starting with Lou and ending with Ted, whose hat she flattens?

If Gordie was still there he'd have pulled her close and "let that part of her body know how much he wanted it"

r79 "Mannering"?

R88, that's from a Christmas episode where Mary has to work by herself on Christmas Eve and the guys come back in to the office to cheer her up. I think it's from the first season.

Yes, I made up a word r89. English is my native language. But I also speak Italian, French, Spanish and Portuguese.

Do you have a problem with that? Or should I have written "u" instead of "you"

r90 which shows how much she is like Ann, men always rescue her. Unlike me

Ann Romano looked as if she smelled bad.

Mary smelled good, except for the toe ends of her pantyhose. And so many pantyhose packages had that multicoloured, multilined text look of her "logo" back in the 70s.

I moved out of my parents house in 1977 and when I went grocery shopping I mimicked the 'Mary Richards fling' every time I bought a steak, which wasn't very often.

Yes, I always took it as a response to the spike in beef prices in the mid 1970s.

But, as a little gayling, I was much more enamored by the THAT GIRL title sequence, especially when she twirls her way through Lincoln Center, but I suppose we'll have that discussion when Marlo croaks.

I had a huge crush on hairy Lou. Wanted to giggle about Ted, gossip with Murray.

And I wanted Mary's life!

[quote]Ann Romano looked as if she smelled bad.

Of course I did, I had to work AND raise children, deal with an over sexed handy man and a wise cracking slut for a neighbor. Who had time to spend an entire evening washing their hair BUT Mary

I took it as the high cost of meat, as well as prices were going up at that time. I did the Mary thing with a friend as a joke once when I was shopping for meat.

It funny how we were fascinated by all the details in the opening credits, closing credits, apartment etc.

It's like the Hitchcock movies in that there is so much to be charmed by - the opening/closing, Mary, the other characters, the setting, the apartment, decor, clothes, good dialogue and story, humor, acting, and overall good vibe of the show.

A little long - but if you really want to know more about the later opening credits.

[quote]washing her car in an old Minnesota Vikings jersey

Would love to know the back story of the jersey ... was she banging an tight end?

[quote]What about Mary going thru a receiving line of hugs with the men on the show, starting with Lou and ending with Ted, whose hat she flattens?

[quote] that's from a Christmas episode where Mary has to work by herself on Christmas Eve and the guys come back in to the office to cheer her up. I think it's from the first season.

Yes and no. It did happen in the Christmas episode and was used in the title sequence briefly, then it was completely refilmed later on and was not part of an episode when it was refilmed. You can tell because it has Mary's shorter hair and she completely fluffs Ted's hat back up.

In “Tunnel Vision,” a 1976 comedy about no-holds-barred television in the future, here is a takeoff on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” (CBS, 1970–1977).

Go to the 14 minutes and 30 seconds mark.

I liked the first year when Mary's driving to the big city a la "That Girl" and in the flash pics inbetween you see them giving Mary a send off party and you see some old guy trying to grab Mary.

And then there's Mary's car: a 1970 Ford Mustang.

People today associate them with powerful muscle cars but they also made economical base versions like the one Mary drives.

Base Mustangs and Camaros appealed especially to young women.

Even though it usually isn't held up as one of the funnier seasons, the first season has my two favorite moments in the entire series, Mary's interview with Lou in the first episode, which I think is such a well constructed and well acted sequence, and Rhoda's 'This is my date, Mr and Mrs. Armand Linton.' Just brilliant stuff.

The second episode was gold. Rhoda shines throughout the first season her "Hello, I'm another person in the room" and her pouring the bacon curls in her lap and stuffing her face, when she she's Armond's wife are absolutely the best.

r105

Especially since the guy infatuated with Mary is Valerie Harper's real life husband and Wendy Schaal's father.

R104, episodes 1&2 are available on demand with TW Cable in NYC, and you were right...the interview scene in episode 1 and all of the Rhoda bits in episode 2 are hysterical.

Why did Valerie suck on her own show Rhoda?

My mother still flings meat into her shopping cart just like Mary, and it never fails to make me laugh. We were talking about it just this weekend

[quote] Why did Valerie suck on her own show Rhoda?

Some characters are meant to be second bananas. Rhoda was only funny when she was playing off Mary's character. As a main character she became grating and annoying, not someone you'd welcome in your home every week. Same with THE ROPERS. Characters that provide you with a laugh when they pop in and pop out become tiresome when you have to spend 30 minutes with them.

Spinoffs built around a stereotype are rarely successful (MAUDE being an exception). Mostly, the ones that worked were ensemble shows, such as LOU GRANT, HAPPY DAYS, GOOD TIMES, LAVERNE AND SHIRLEY, and FRASIER.

Rhoda became Mary except she wasn't funny anymore. Mary was always funny. Julie Kavner became the funny one.

Rhoda actually got BETTER as the show went on but the ratings didn't. Rhoda was basically "Mad About You" 20 years too early. Then they dumped Joe and the show did get better. By the last year, Rhoda was better than ever with Jack, Benny, and Tina to back her up with her sister and mother.

Rhoda lacked a good friend. Anne Meara who was brought on as Sally was too overbearing. She played Rhoda, to Rhoda's Mary. That didn't work though Meara was very good on Archie Bunker's Place. Vivian Vance was supposed to be brought back as a recurring character but she got ill. It's a shame that didn't happen.

Vivian was horrible on that episode of Rhoda, the camera kept going in for close ups for some reason. She was not funny at all.

R26 R52 ... And here's a picture of the couch in its fold-out bed state.

And here's the complete apartment lay out. Sometimes the couch was parallel to the front door like this, while other times it was parallel to the back window.

Yeah, I think everyone was obsessed with the opening credits and song...men and women alike. She just always had that whole vibe of "a fresh start," carefree, reflecting on the past yet moving on, being in a brand new city and the freedom that comes with that, and son.

[quote]Mostly, the ones that worked were ensemble shows, such as LOU GRANT, HAPPY DAYS, GOOD TIMES, LAVERNE AND SHIRLEY, and FRASIER.

"Happy Days" was not a spinoff of anything.

[]quote]Vivian was horrible on that episode of Rhoda

Blasphemer!

I love the opening.

I don't know why, but my favorite scene is when she's coming up the escalator.

who's the ugly chick with the glasses when Mary is in the elevator? How come she didn't get the attention the old woman got when Mary threw her hat in the air?

btw - The house is still for sale. On the market for over four years now.

Inside.

Some Trivia

The song lyrics changed after Season 1...

Season 1: ....you might just make it after all...

Season 2+: ...you're gonna make it after all...

The man Mary is eating with (seen from a distance) and walks home with....is her then husband, Grant Tinker.

During the show

Murray was supposed to be an enemy of Mary's, but the actor was such a nice guy, they wrote him as a friend. He was also supposed to be gay initially.

Mary was supposed to be divorced but that was too controversial so they had her as recently dis-engaged.

Ted Bessel was supposed to be a long-term boyfriend for Mary, but that storyline was dropped for an unknown reason.

Rhoda was supposed to be the unattractive neighbor but Valerie lost a lot of weight between the first couple of seasons and looked great, so they had to dress her really loosely and schlumpy.

Me too R119. It's a really great shot and there's something in the way she looks at that moment.

I'm glad OP started this thread. I thought I was the only gayling who was enamored with the opening.

I love the credit sequence, too - it really is a work of art.

I liked the episodes with Bess & Phyllis, Rhoda and Mary, and Bess and Lou Grant.

It's interesting that "That Girl" and "Mary Tyler Moore" were really about the same thing: single career women living their lives. But "That Girl" seems to be a bit of cotton candy while "MTM" seems to have more substance and has had a greater impact on viewers.

Happy Days was a spin-off from a Love American style segment.

R127 No. The "Love, American Style" segment was the PILOT for "Happy Days."

They also tried to give Betty White a show after MTM that flopped. It also had Georgia Engel. She was still essentially Sue Ann but had no target. Caren Kaye became the Sue Ann character and was the critical hit of the series. Some funny moments with John Hillerman as her ex husband but again, the second banana couldn't handle star billing.

The shopping scenes in the credits were done at the Century City Mall, the same place they did the outdoor scenes when Mary babysat Bess. I think Judy's supplied Mary's wardrobe and she's seen there as well. I remembered going up the elevators at the Mall as a kid and thinking about Mary.

I've noticed that r130.

Interestingly the same mall is used in Conquest of the Planet of the Apes as a "futuristic" city. I guess it was back then.

the house is different now. Somewhere else someone was asking where Rhoda lived. I watched a rerun yesterday and noticed Mary lives on the second floor and then Rhoda is up in the turet. there is no third floor (at least no windows in the shot they used at the opening)

The mall is getting close to a one billion dollar make-over.

"Did anyone else marvel at Mary Richards' cosmopolitan existence?"

Every time Mary was on my TV screen, she had all kinds of spunk.

Don't want to derail this thread, but ... for r128:

Happy Days began as an unsold pilot filmed in late 1971 called New Family in Town, with Harold Gould in the role of Howard Cunningham, Marion Ross as Marion, Ron Howard as Richie, Anson Williams as Potsie, Ric Carrott as Charles "Chuck" Cunningham, and Susan Neher as Joanie.

Paramount passed on making it into a weekly series, and the pilot was recycled with the title Love and the Television Set (later retitled Love and the Happy Days for syndication), for presentation on the television anthology series Love, American Style in February 1972.

In 1972, George Lucas asked to view the pilot to determine if Ron Howard would be suitable to play a teenager in American Graffiti, then in pre-production. Lucas immediately cast Howard in the film, which became one of the top-grossing films of 1973.

Show creator Garry Marshall and ABC recast the unsold pilot to turn Happy Days into a series that debuted in January 1974.

[quote]I watched a rerun yesterday and noticed Mary lives on the second floor and then Rhoda

No Mary lives on the third floor, Rhoda in the attic, Phyllis on the ground and another flat on the 2nd

watch the first few minutes of this episode r136. Isn't Mary on the second floor here? The way it is the only one lite and then goes in for the close up?

did she ever say what floor she lived on?

[quote]A little long - but if you really want to know more about the later opening credits.

Thanks, r98.

For OP and ALL. Mary Tyler Moore Show S1E1, including opening credits.song.

[quote]It's interesting that "That Girl" and "Mary Tyler Moore" were really about the same thing: single career women living their lives.

It's the kind of treatment Doris Day should have been given for her show. They should have had as a childless divorcèe career woman living NYC... a character more along the lines of Pillow Talk...and she would have been great. Instead they had her living on a ranch with kids. It was such a waste.

They had her living on a ranch with kids, until they didn't ...

R115 Oh, my gosh! I love this! I've never seen this! Now I know where her bathroom was!

My favorite bathroom scene is in her new apartment when she's in the bubble bath and everybody comes in to make sure that she's all right. Ted asks her "is this the only seat in here" and I've use that line many times since then

R143's post reminds er what a goddamned funny man Ted Knight was. He took what could have been a one dimensional stooge and made him unforgettable.

The last episode where everyone is going to be fired but they all think Ted will be the only one to go, as Ted's groveling at Lou's desk he stops and says between sobs, "You're office is small there's no room to crawl." Ed Asner looked like he was about ready to bust out laughing and could barely contain his smile.

I hated Ted Knight, the weak link in the cast, if not for him the show would have been perfect.

I liked Ted and he had some funny moments, but some of the episodes from the last season or two where they tried to mature him (adopted son, baby etc) were a little forced. He would act like a child the first 28 minutes of the episode and have a moment of maturity at the end that was supposed to deepen him, but it just came off as false.

[quote]My favorite bathroom scene is in her new apartment when she's in the bubble bath and everybody comes in to make sure that she's all right. Ted asks her "is this the only seat in here" and I've use that line many times since then

I remember Mary's reaction when Ted's glasses go flying into the tub. "Don't you dare!" I think this is when she was hooked on sleeping pills.

Love the escalator scene also

R146 "I'm in the bathtub! Naked!"

The bathroom scene starts around 14:40

R145=Nancy Dussault

Did Nancy Dussault have problems with Ted?

R151 No. She's very kind when she speaks of him today.

Still so sad about Mary's son.

When the show ended, Mary took the big M on the wall, and the pumpkin cookie jar from her kitchen. I've looked for one of those cookie jars for years.

I hope she is buried with the M.

The CBS tribute to her was shoddy. Way too much Oprah and Gayle. The PBS one from a few years ago is so much better. More clips and more reminiscences from important people in MTM's life.

Yeah, we didn't need all that Oprah stuff, for sure.

Sometimes I question the criticism of Oprah I see/hear, but in this case it's so totally justified.

R156 I think the problem with the CBS tribute to Mary was that they were scrambling to assemble something at short notice and were looking for anything to fill air time. Gayle probably said, "Hey! Oprah loved Mary and had her on her show. I'll call her and see if she can talk about Mary for a while and share that clip from her show!"

Unfortunately, what we got was The Oprah Winfrey Show, with a cameo appearance by Mary Tyler Moore. They should have aired the tribute at a later date when they had time to put together a proper show.

Jeez, be glad she got any kind of a network tribute since no one in their target viewing audience even knows who she is.

Nancy Dussault hated the scripts on [italic]Too Close for Comfort[/italic] but she got along with the cast, and she gave a pretty scathing interview for TV Guide when it was still on ABC. I don't think I've ever seen an episode in my life, and the edited DVD release of season 1 is no incentive.

Too Close for Comfort was not a good show, but probably not worse than a lot of sitcoms of the late 70's - early 80's. There was a lot of bad TV at that time.

Mary got a tribute because she put blood, sweat and tears into that network. Her show, plus a number of other MTM produced shows, made CBS pisspots of money and helped them have the "Tiffany Network" reputation, which in and of itself made them more billions.

The least they could give her - and I do mean the least - is an hour on a repeat-filled winter night.

R151=Deborah Van Valkenburgh

"Dick Van Dyke and the Other Woman," their 1969 special, was on getTV this week. I watched it last night and it was really good. And I loved Mary's hair and her Bob Mackie outfits.

The 20/20 special on MTM was much better

If Dussault really badmouthed the show when it was on the air, it's no wonder she never got another series. One of my favorite lines from a TCFC review was "Ted Baxter (Knight) is a lousy actor but Nancy Dussault is lousier." Then again, if I had to hear Karen Morrow belting while eating my pussy, I think I'd be cranky as well.

The episode when Monroe got raped was good.

I like the episode where Mary admitted to Lou she lied about her age when they got married.

Remember when Big Rosie Greenbaum was on the show.

Oprah was on for 20 minutes and then gone. But I agree, the 2020 special was much better

If the special isn't till 2020 won't you have to wait three more years to know?

Still makes me sad watching it.

I used to know a teacher who worked with special needs kids who looked like the woman in front of Mary in this shot.

Husker Du - "Love Is All Around"

[quote]Nancy Dussault hated the scripts on Too Close for Comfort but she got along with the cast, and she gave a pretty scathing interview for TV Guide when it was still on ABC

The cast including Audrey Meadows all said the same thing, "it wasn't what I signed on for." It quickly became the Henry and Munroe Show, which is fine, but the other cast members were stuck in contracts and didn't do much of anything.

Just like Happy Days after season one basically became the Fonzie Show, no matter how nice Henry Winkler was and no matter how many stories the other characters got, it still from that point, revolved around him.

The best title sequence ever. I watch this show in its entirety almost every year. Definitely one of my most prized possessions.