The Mary Tyler Moore Show Case (Part 1)
Back during the early days of TV sitcoms, audiences got familiar with a particular depiction of women. They often wore dresses, woke each morning with a full face of make-up, and stayed home to care for their children while their husband pursued a career. But these fictional portrayals of the modern woman were just that: fiction. As women continued to fight for their place in the entertainment industry, the concept of the ideal woman began to change. Women were carving out a place for themselves in the male-dominated writing rooms and would eventually have the opportunity to write characters that felt like someone they could identify with. One of the very first of these characters was Mary Richards, the protagonist of The Mary Tyler Moore show.
If there is one thing that everyone should know about The Mary Tyler Moore Show, it’s that it was groundbreaking. For the first time ever, a TV show followed the life of a single, career-driven woman, supporting herself financially while maintaining an active sex life. The show employed some of the first female TV writers in the business and took the advice of its leading lady, Mary Tyler Moore, who also understood the pressures that young girls were facing to be wives and mothers first, and people second.
So, let’s turn on WJM-TV and watch the 6-o-clock news. Tonight’s topic: the history of The Mary Tyler Moore show.
Summary
The show begins as Mary leaves her old life behind to start all over in Minneapolis. She immediately gets hired as an associate producer at WJM, the local news station. Supported by a colorful cast of friends and coworkers, Mary navigates the ups and downs of being a young woman in a male-dominated field. Over the course of its 7 seasons, The Mary Tyler Moore Show touched on gender discrimination, birth control, body image issues, and sex.
Who was Mary Tyler Moore?
Born in Brooklyn in 1936, Mary Tyler Moore knew from the beginning that she wanted to be an actor. Eventually her family moved to California, where Mary enrolled in dance classes. She got her first acting role right out of high school. She played the “happy hotpoint,” a mascot for appliance commercials. Soon after, Mary got married and became pregnant only a couple months later.
Mary began getting steady work throughout the following years. She played Sam, the sexy phone operator on Richard Diamond, Private Detective. Her face was never shown, but audiences heard her sultry voice and saw glimpses of her legs and body. When Mary decided to ask for more money for the part, she was denied. They told her that anyone could play the role, and so Mary left. In an interview later on, Mary couldn’t remember if she had been fired from the show or if she had quit.
Moore had been facing a disappointing week full of rejections when her agent tracked her down and begged her to audition for The Dick Van Dyke Show. She reluctantly agreed, nervous to meet Carl Reiner, a famous TV writer and producer. Reiner knew that Moore was right for the part of Laura Petrie from the moment she started reading the lines. Her chemistry with Dick Van Dyke was immediate, so she was cast as his wife.
Although Mary’s beauty was undeniable, Carl Reiner needed to know if she could handle comedic storylines. Before The Dick Van Dyke Show, housewife characters on other sitcoms were treated more like props than characters (with the obvious exception of Lucille Ball.) They rarely had storylines centered on the comedic aspects of their own lives. So, Carl Reiner wrote an episode where Laua makes a mistake and bleaches her hair, ending up with a disastrous hairdo. When Rob (Dick Van Dyke) asks her what happened, Laura is reduced to a sobbing mess in the most hilarious way possible. From then on, Reiner continued to write funny plots for Moore.
As Laura Petrie, Mary Tyler Moore revolutionized the image of the TV wife. She insisted that Laura wear pants, something that just wasn’t done on television. She was sexy and relatable in such a way that women saw her as a friend. At the height of the show’s popularity, Laura Petrie was America’s favorite TV wife.
When The Dick Van Dyke Show ended, Moore faced a rough spot in her career. She was offered the lead in a Broadway musical version of Breakfast at Tiffany’s. The play was a massive disappointment, and never truly opened because of the negative reaction that audiences gave at preview showings. The press blamed Moore, and it was a difficult time for her both professionally and personally.
While the writers for The Dick Van Dyke Show were putting together a TV special for Van Dyke, they decided to ask Moore to appear alongside her old co-star. It turned out that this was the break she needed, as the special showcased her talents and treated her as an equal performer to Dick Van Dyke. It was so successful that CBS called Moore and gave her the opportunity of a lifetime: her own show.
Production
When CBS reached out to Mary Tyler Moore and asked her if she would like her own series, she enthusiastically agreed. It was a big break, finally coming through after some of the toughest years of her life. Her husband, Grant Tinker, decided that it made sense to form a production company that they could manage together. Moore was the figurehead of MTM Enterprises, while Tinker was the man behind the scenes.
Tinker hired the two men credited with creating the sitcom, James Brooks and Allan Burns. Burns was a comedy writer in Hollywood and Brooks had a background in news writing. Both men were huge fans of The Dick Van Dyke Show, and jumped at the chance to write for a show starring Mary Tyler Moore.
Brooks and Burns developed a concept for the show that followed a recently divorced woman living on her own in a new city. When they pitched it to CBS, the network representative told Grant Tinker that he needed to fire both Brooks and Burns because there was no way that CBS would allow a divorced woman to be the lead in a TV show. Tinker didn’t listen, and kept the two men on as showrunners. But, they agreed to drop the topic of divorce, and instead made the lead a single woman getting over a long-term relationship.
The moment that CBS signed on for 22 episodes of Mary Tyler Moore, James Brooks called up Treva Silverman, an up-and-coming female comedy writer in New York. He asked her, “what are you doing right now?” Silverman replied, “washing my hair.” Brooks responded, “No, I mean with your life?” He told Silverman about the show and said that he wanted her to write as many episodes as she liked. Silverman was one of the first female TV writers in Hollywood who didn’t work with a male partner, and she would go on to win two Emmys for her work on the sitcom.
As time went on, more female writers filled the writer’s room. Brooks and Burns didn’t think it was groundbreaking to ask women to write for female characters, but it really was a sign that things were changing in the television industry. Writers like Susan Silver, Jenna McMahon, Marylin Miller, Monica Johnson, Sybil Adelman, Barbara Gallagher, and Ann Gibbs all contributed to the show, making their mark on television history.
Brooks and Burns made an uncommon policy that gave credit to the original writer of each episode. No matter how many changes were made before airing the episode was credited to the original writer for royalties.
Both showrunners loved Grant Tinker, the head of MTM enterprises. They praised him for preserving their creative freedom. When CBS gave Tinker notes to pass onto the writers, he would make sure that the writers never got the message.
It might be hard to believe because of its eventual success, but the pilot episode of Mary Tyler Moore did not do well with the audience. There were hardly any laughs, and the viewers disliked Rhoda, Mary’s neighbor and eventual best friend. Because CBS had already ordered the episodes for the first season, they couldn’t pull the plug after the pilot. Grant Tinker looked at his writers and told them to fix it.
James Brooks and Allan Burns were at a loss. They didn’t know what to do until their script supervisor, Marge Mullen, came up with a script change that solved their problem. She suggested that a character, the young girl Bess, talk about how much she likes Rhoda. This way, the audience would see her softer side, too. This–along with some cuts–saved made the pilot suitable for CBS.
Mary Tyler Moore had several directors over its 7-season run, but the most prolific of them was Jay Sandrich. Sandrich directed 119 of the show’s 168 episodes, including the first and last episodes of the show. Sandrich considered the day he was hired on Mary Tyler Moore to be the luckiest day of his career. He was there during that disastrous first taping of the pilot, and he stuck around until the end.
In order to keep a consistent wardrobe for Mary, costume designer Leslie Hall decided to make a deal with one designer, Evan-Picone. This was uncommon as most costume designers would pick items from multiple department stores and tailor them to the actors.
The famous first woman executive in television, Ethel Winant, took on the role of casting director. Ethel, who was VP of CBS at the time, had already cast shows such as Green Acres, Hogan’s Heroes, The Twilight Zone, and Hawaii Five-O. Ethel was impressed immediately and really believed in the project. She was excited about a show that would feature a successful career woman that Ethel herself had fought hard to be.
Mary Tyler Moore played Mary Richards, the young and enigmatic news producer.
Mary drew inspiration for the part by looking to her aunt who was a successful executive at an LA news station.
Her aunt had once told her “You’re going to be a dancer, or you’re going to be an actress. Whatever it is, you’re going to be very good at it.”
Valerie Harper played the out-going tell-it-like-it-is Rhoda Morgenstern. She and Mary form a strong friendship that showed two working women that were each making it on their own.
Before MTM, Valerie did not have an agent and was not a part of the Screen Actors Guild. Ethel Winant had seen her in a play and had to have her assistant track her down.
Valerie Harper was a last minute discovery and also the last one cast.. She showed up to her audition with a bucket and improvised a window washing scene. They were so blown away that they hired her, and you might remember that scene in the pilot episode!
Though she was most known as Rhoda and appeared in other TV movies and shows, she also starred in a show called Valerie that featured a young Jason Bateman.
Ed Asner played the grumpy WJM station head producer Lou Grant.
Lou’s character was one of the hardest to cast and took three months to find. While Brooks and Burns pursued other actors, Winant wanted Ed Asner for the role. She and Tinker had to convince Brooks and Burns to see Asner’s performance as they were not convinced that he would be able to do comedy.
Asner wanted the part. After auditioning he could tell he bombed it. He had yelled that he hated spunk so aggressively that he had actually scared everyone in the room. On the way to his car he knew that everyone had been too nice to tell him he didn’t get it and so he went back up and demanded that they tell him how the character should be played. Half an hour later he and Mary read together again and they knew he was perfect. Mary, however, reportedly didn’t like him for the part, which she denied later on.
Ed Asner may be most known for his roles as Santa in Elf and Carl Frederickson in Up.
Cloris Leachman played Phyllis Lindstrom, Mary’s friend and downstairs neighbor that gets her the apartment in Minneapolis. Phyllis often loves to interfere in Mary’s life (especially her love life) and has a rivalry with Rhoda.
At the time of casting Cloris’s most famous role was as the mother in Lassie. She felt that the role was not challenging enough and quit half way through to pursue the role of Phyllis. She came in with a strong first impression (apparently sitting on Brook’s lap and twirling his hair after finding out he was one of the two that made the decisions.) It was so strong that Mary had to be convinced that she could hold her own in a room with Leachman.
Her character of Phyllis was so good that it prompted a spin-off show called Phyllis that ended the same year The Mary Tyler Moore Show did.
Cloris appeared in many shows and movies but most notably she played the mother in Lassie, Ruth Popper in The Last Picture Show, Beverly Ann Stickle in The Facts of Life, and Maw Maw in Raising Hope. Her most famous role may be Frau Blücher from Young Frankenstein.
Gavin MacLeod played Murray Slaughter, WJM's wise-cracking writer.
Allan wanted Gavin to play Lou Grant, but Gavin asked to read for Murray. He landed the role, even though they actually wanted Murray to be TV’s first gay character.
Gavin had been playing tough guy roles that he thought he would be stuck with forever. When he saw the role of Murray he also saw the potential to be MTM’s peer and show a softer side. After reading for the role of Lou he took a chance and before leaving asked to read for Murray.
Gavin had also starred in The Love Boat and appeared in many other things including That 70’s Show and The Suite Life On Deck.
Ted Knight played Ted Baxter, the self-absorbed and pompous news anchor.
Knight showed up to audition in a thrift store bright blue blazer, the picture of a low budget news station anchor. He was a struggling actor and the extra step of buying an outfit for the role showed he really wanted it.
Ted Baxter was originally meant to be a young arrogant anchor that would pursue or flirt with Mary. After seeing Ted for three readings however, they could not turn him down. His personal insecurity showed through during the auditions and added an extra layer to the character.
Jennifer Aniston’s father almost played Ted Baxter, he was called back twice but Ted Knight won out.
Ted starred in a tv series called The Clear Horizon and the movie Caddyshack, he also appeared in many shows, and did voice work for animated series and movies such as The Adventures of Batman.
Georgia Engel played the sweet and soft-spoken Georgette. Georgette enters the show as Rhoda’s coworker and becomes romantically involved with Ted Baxter. Eventually she marries Ted and she becomes
Georgia was discovered by MTM, Tinker, Betty, and Allen Ludden while she was in a stage comedy in LA called “The House of Blue Leaves.” She was collecting unemployment when she got the call that she would play Georgette.
As she recalled getting the role Georgia said, “My manager at the time, who's long since gone, didn't think I should go because it would cost me money to go out there for such a little part. But even as a very young person, my instincts knew that sometimes you pay for the privilege of working with the best.”
Georgia appeared in The Betty White Show, Coach, Everybody Loves Raymond, and Hot In Cleveland.
Betty White played Sue Ann Nivens, the over-sexed “Happy Homemaker.” Sue Ann was originally meant to be in one episode, but Betty White instantly won over the audience as a foil to Cloris Leachman’s Phyllis. After Leachman left the show for her own spinoff, Betty White became a regular.
The producers auditioned almost a dozen other actresses before casting White. They wanted her from the beginning, but they were worried that if she didn’t get the part, it would hurt the friendship between Mary Tyler Moore and Betty White.
Betty White is one of the most recognized women in television history and starred in several shows and films like Golden Girls and The Proposal. You can learn more about her in our episode on Betty White!
John Amos played Gordy, the weatherman.
Amos appeared in several episodes early on in the show before leaving to play Norman Lear on Good Times. Amos loved being on the show, especially because the writers didn’t fall back on stereotypes to get a laugh. He felt like he was part of a meaningful ensemble and hated to leave.
Once during a photo shoot, a photographer made a racist joke toward Amos, who was Black. Amos said that the entire room fell silent and that the photographer was never seen back on set again.
The Mary Tyler Moore theme song is one of the most iconic openings of the 1970s.
MTM’s manager happened to also be the manager of a singer/songwriter Sonny Curtis. After being given the four page series outline he immediately was inspired. It took him only about 2 hours to write the song. He did this before the first episode was even written!
The final lyrics change between the first and second season to reflect that she has made it. It goes from “How will you make it on your own?” to “Who can turn the world on with her smile?” The other change is from “you might just make it after all” to “you’re gonna make it after all.”
At the end of the credits, Mary tosses her hat into the air. Entertainment Weekly once ranked this as the 2nd greatest TV moment. Moore herself said of the scene, “Wasn’t it great? Freedom, exuberance, spontaneity, joy — all in that one gesture. It gave a hint at what you were going to see.” The hat was one that Mary actually owned, gifted to her by her aunt.
The hat toss was a spur of the moment idea. Moore said in an Archive of American Television interview: “We were out there in the middle of February in Minneapolis, freezing. They just wanted shots of me in action. I was in front of a department and they said: ‘Oh! Look, here, run out into that intersection and take your hat — which I had in my hand — and throw it in the air, as if this is the happiest moment of your life,’ And I did, and that was it.”
In Minneapolis Minnesota there is a statue of the famous moment where she throws her hat up in the air during the credits. When TV Land dedicated the statue, they handed out 3,000 berets to the crowd and had them all toss them along with Mary Tyler Moore herself.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show premiered on September 19th, 1970. It held consistent viewership across its 7-season run. Grant Tinker and Mary Tyler Moore decided to end the show while it was still a hit, rather than risking a drop in quality over time.
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Sources:
IMDB
GLIATTO, T., & MCNEIL, L. (2023). Mary Tyler Moore: Behind the Smile. People, 99(23), 48–53.
Being Mary Tyler Moore (On HBO Max)
Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted; And All the Brilliant Minds Who Made The Mary Tyler Moore Show a classic
https://www.sj-r.com/story/news/2007/10/18/mary-tyler-moore-star/48418188007/
https://people.com/tv/mary-tyler-moore-show-opening-sequene-hat-toss-story-pop-culture-tributes/