M is for Mary: The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Thread Two

Do be a dear and finish the first thread before you start on THIS amazing course......

Welcome to my big opening!

It's amusing how an early comment on the previous thread tried pointing to the lack of responses as an indication that the show had little lasting impact.

^^^for the "oh dear" ladies in the crowd ( you know who you are ) autocorrect invariably alters "its" when I type the word,

The actors are all good and appealing, but the scripts suck, or at least do not age well.

R3, yeah and it only took three weeks to get there.

Sorry for the shit framing, alright?

Get over it and enjoy some Ida.

How come she never threw her wig into the air?

The actress in the lead role was too warm and malleable.

I was a kid when this show was on the air. The first time I heard the word "gay" it was said by Rhoda Morngenstern. I asked my parents what it meant and they wouldn't tell me. Figured it out right then. There was a word for what I was. Corny as it sounds the show gave me hope.

Damn wasn’t MTM show discussed into the ground on here when she died early last year?

Spunk? I still hate spunk.

Did young Craig T.Nelson take Mary for a test drive in her canary yellow car?

In a rare inconsistency for the writers, in that episode, they had Mary say how she hates the color yellow, yet her apartment is full of yellow and yellow-toned accessories.

And of course, as OP shows, she was seen every week in the opening credits wearing the most cheerful yellow pantsuit ever.

Oh yeah, this was the night of my date

My date with Mr. and Mrs. Armand Linton

Actually, I think my date with them may have been the first threesome on TV Sit Coms

TV History, not too shabby, huh kiddo?

Armand was hot.

She was a tramp. No shutters or blinds on the windows, and those drapes are just for show. If they closed upwards on a slant (unlikely) they would be hideously uneven.

Did MTM really get implants that early on? Did people really get implants back in the 70s?

I thought it started early 80s at the earliest.

Evidently breast augmentation started in the late 1800s. MTM resisted for years before going big.

[quote] Damn wasn’t MTM show discussed into the ground on here when she died early last year?

And we at the DL never revisit a topic or start more than one thread on it......

Armand Linton returned in the "Don't Break the Chain" episode where Mary sent him a chain letter.

Bigger boobs weren't the only thing MTM got during the run of the show.

I'm pretty sure she also got a face lift.

She went from having a small pert mouth ala Laura Petrie, to having a big ole Cesar Romero joker mouth.

Lou in one of his Mary diatribes:

"Mary chipmunk cheeks."

"I'll lose some weight and you lose some teeth. You must have 50 or 60 of 'em."

From the MentalFloss article - "Fifteen Awfully Big Facts About 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show'"

If Lyle Waggoner had accepted the role of Ted Baxter - be still my young gay heart.

6. Ted Knight was living paycheck-to-paycheck when he was cast as Ted Baxter. The second choice for the role of the anchorman was Lyle Waggoner, but he was happily ensconced on The Carol Burnett Show and had no desire to leave a successful series for an untested one. Jennifer Aniston’s father, John, read for the part of Ted and was called back twice, but the producers were not quite sure he was “the one." Producer Dave Davis happened to see Ted Knight performing in a local production of the Broadway comedy You Know I Can’t Hear You When the Water’s Running and reported to the rest of the team that Knight was hilarious and that they should have him read for the role of Ted Baxter.

Even though the silver-haired Knight was a far cry from the hunky heartthrob-type they originally had in mind, Knight came to the audition wearing an anchorman-style blue blazer he had purchased from a thrift store with part of his rent money and impressed them with his booming voice and comedic chops. During that brief reading, he brought some layers to the anchorman character (cocky and arrogant on the outside, but secretly vulnerable and very human) that impressed the MTM staff and inspired some new newsroom story ideas for the show.

Damn! I know it’s sacrilege but I would have loved to see Lyle in the role.

I’d love to see the legs uncrossed version of that photo!

Lyle Waggoner. Yummy. As a baby gay, he was the primary reason I watched Carol Burnett, even though I didn't understand what that meant at the time. Would LOVE to see his audition tape as Ted.

Can't really imagine John Aniston as Ted, but he was quite handsome in his 30s. Would also love to see his audition tape.

John Aniston at roughly the era when he would have auditioned for Ted.

Aniston was too Greek ethnic-looking for Ted Baxter. Although Ted Knight was Polish, he didn't look it.

If you're looking for a YouTube channel with undistorted MTM episodes, check out this channel:

Spunk. What is spunk?

[quote]Spunk. What is spunk? —Georgette Baxter

Georgette, its not spunk, it's spank. Come in here and you can spank me all night long.

And what happens when you boil spunk?

It becomes Steam Heat!

That Mental Floss thing is misinformed. Ted Baxter was written specifically for Jack Cassidy, who had played a very similar character on "He & She" a couple of years before. That show was smart and funny but had lasted only one season. Cassidy turned the part down although he later guest starred as Ted's brother. We discussed all this in some detail early in the first thread.

So you know, R35, that the producers of MTM didn't talk to or consider any actors other than Jack Cassidy or Ted Knight for this role?

It must be so hard being the only bitch queen who has the answers all the time.

[quote] So you know, [R35], that the producers of MTM didn't talk to or consider any actors other than Jack Cassidy or Ted Knight for this role?

I didn't say no other actors were considered after Cassidy turned the part down.

[quote] It must be so hard being the only bitch queen who has the answers all the time.

I was not the only person who posted about it.

It's a bit early to be so drunk, r36.

Do any of you mtm trivia buffs know when shooting began on the first episode? My recollection was that it began in late 1969 but I could be mistaken.

[quote]It's a bit early to be so drunk,

Yreah, R37, it's a bit early to be so cunty too

It’s never too early to be cunty.

Jack Cassidy on He&She. You can see the inspiration for Ted Baxter.

Starts at 1:00

Good choice for a pic, r39. You are "that girl."

We are all dying to know what you think, R35

[quote]That Mental Floss thing is misinformed.

Why don't you write one of your cunty letters to the editors of "Mental Floss" and tell them how misinformed they are.

And you prove it by explaining how you discussed in on DL.

You're adorable, r43.

[quote]If you're looking for a YouTube channel with undistorted MTM episodes, check out this channel:

An even rarer thing is mtm episodes not edited for syndication. When the show was syndicated something like 1-3 minutes was edited from each episode and those are the tapes that survived to the present day.

A rare exception would be those CBS affiliate stations which kept the original reels of the show for initial broadcast. They of course would have the full show content.

[quote]The actors are all good and appealing, but the scripts suck, or at least do not age well.

I’m just rewatching the show right now and nothing’s better evidence that the above is wrong than an actual rewatch.

My much older brother worked for the CBS station in my hometown during the original MTM run. He knew I loved the show, so he'd bring home films that we could watch together whenever we wanted. Promo spots too. Movies for slumber parties. Terrific memories. He was a great guy.

[quote] The actors are all good and appealing, but the scripts suck, or at least do not age well.

Couldn't disagree more. Sure, no show can translate 100 percent from its original context, but much of MTM is timeless.

On the other hand, a lot of Carol Burnett, for example, has NOT done well. The parodies and some of the richer character work has done well, but some of the more silly, broad skits.....not so much.

So which show outro do we like the most? I’m probably in the minority, but mine is from season 1, the boozy, brassy saxophone outro. Adore that big band.

My favorite shot in the intro is of Mary & Rhoda walking down the street. Rhoda is laughing and Mary has a shy smile. Really captures a girlfriend moment.

I really like the changes they did for the intro season 2. We see her house. Rhoda. Phyllis. It creates her world. And the snow. It's homey and cozy.

The plaid pants suit in the cover pic is accutely f'ugly, but somehow, on Mary, it looks cute.

I love that, in later seasons, even after Valerie left to star in her own show, they kept a little clip in the closing credits of Mary and Rhoda sitting by a pond feeding ducks.

Cloris and Mary seem to be breaking character in that montage, I wonder what episode they were filming...

I've always loved that too, R53--though it always makes me think how much Mary would've missed Rhoda after she moved back to New York :(

(I know they're not real people, but they're pretty damn close for characters on a TV show....)

There's a half hour featurette somewhere out there, about the making of the opening and closing credits, as it follows a crew with Mary and Valerie in different Minneapolis locations. There is some footage of them filming the duck scene.

For all the talk about MTM being a cold bitch or whatever she was really extremely generous with all her Co-stars and always allowed them to shine, which says a lot.

And it’s not like Mary didn’t shine as well but she was apparently secure enough to realize that surrounding herself with the best talent would only make her show better.

Professionally, sure.

MARY!

I definitely don't think MTM was "cold", she was just a bit reserved. But any interview I've ever seen of her, she was always gracious and charming. I don't think I've ever heard her make a derogatory comment about anyone. Even Rose Marie, who supposedly didn't get along with Mary during the "Dick Van Dyke Show", she said very nice things about in later years.

Can anyone find a link to the tv spot about shooting the MTM opening? I looked everywhere. No luck.

Meow.

I think that this is it

I think there was a cold edge to Mary Tyler Moore. I didn't notice it when I was younger, but watching it now, I can see it. Robert Redford picked up on it and put her in "Ordinary People."

R63

Not sure if he saw a cold edge, but he certainly saw a depth behind the cheery exterior, which was perfect for 'Beth.'

Thanks R62!

How soon will the Veal Prince Orloff be ready?

^^^^^^ Too late, It died!