U.S. Situation Comedy
The Mary Tyler Moore Show premiered on CBS in September 1970 and during its seven-year run became one of the most acclaimed television programs ever produced. The program represented a significant change in the situation comedy, quickly distinguishing itself from typical plot-driven storylines filled with narrative predictability and unchanging characters. As created by the team of James Brooks and Allan Burns, The Mary Tyler Moore Show presented the audience with fully-realized characters who evolved and became more complex throughout their life on the show. Storylines were character-based and the ensemble cast used this approach to develop relationships which changed over time.
The program starred Mary Tyler Moore who had previously achieved success as Laura Petrie on The Dick Van Dyke Show. As Mary Richards, a single woman in her thirties, Moore presented a character different from other single TV women of the time. She was not widowed or divorced or seeking a man to support her. Rather, the character had just emerged from a live-in situation with a man whom she had helped through medical school. He left her upon receiving his degree and she relocated to Minneapolis determined to "make it on her own." This now-common concept was rarely depicted on television in the early 1970s, despite some visible successes of the women's movement.
Mary Richards found a job in the newsroom of fictional television station WJM, the lowest rated station in its market, and there she began her life as an independent woman. She found a "family" among her co-workers and her neighbors. Among these were Lou Grant (Ed Asner), the crusty news director, Murray Slaughter (Gavin MacLeod), the cynical news writer, Ted Baxter (Ted Knight), the supercilious anchorman, and, later, Sue Ann Nivens (Betty White), the man-hungry "Happy Homemaker." Sharing her apartment house were Rhoda Morgenstern (Valerie Harper), Mary's best friend, and Phyllis Lindstrom (Cloris Leachman), their shallow landlady. This ensemble pushed the situation comedy genre in new directions and provided the show with a fresh feel and look.
The "workplace family," while not new to television sitcoms (Our Miss Brooks and The Gale Storm Show were among earlier incarnations of this sub-genre), was redefined in The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Here were characters easily defined by traditional familial qualities--Lou as the father figure, Ted as the problem child, Rhoda as the family confidante, and Mary as the mother/daughter around whom the entire situation revolved. But the special nature of these relationships gave the show its depth and humor. Never static, each character changed in ways previously unseen in the genre. One of the best examples occurred when Lou divorced his wife of many years. His adjustment to the transition from married to divorced middle-aged man provided rich comic moments but also allowed viewers see new depths in the character, to see behind the gruff facade into Lou's vulnerability, to grow closer to him. This type of evolution occurred with all the cast members, providing writers with constantly shifting perspective on the characters. From those perspectives new story lines could be developed and these fresh approaches helped renew a genre grown weary with repetition and familiar techniques.
Similarly, the program set the standard for a new sub-genre of situation comedy: the working woman sitcom. Beginning as a determined but uncertain independent woman, Mary Richards came to represent what has since become a convention in this type of comedy. Unattached and not reliant upon a man, Mary never rejected men as romantic objects or denied her hopes to one day be married. But unlike Rhoda, Mary did not define her life through her search for "Mr. Right." Rather, she dated several men and even spent the night with a few of them (another new development in TV sitcoms). Working-woman sitcoms since, including Kate & Allie and Murphy Brown, owe a debt to Mary Richards.
The program became an anchor of CBS' Saturday night schedule and, along with All in the Family, M*A*S*H, The Bob Newhart Show and The Carol Burnett Show, was part of one of the strongest nights of programming ever presented by a network. From September 1970 until its final airing in September 1977, The Mary Tyler Moore Show was normally among the top 20 shows. It garnered three Emmy Awards as "Outstanding Comedy Series" (in 1975, 1976 and 1977). Moore, Asner, Harper, Knight and White all won Emmy's for their performances and the show's writing and directing were similarly honored several times.
-Geoff Hammill
http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/M/htmlM/marytylermo/marytylermo.htm
The Mary Tyler Moore Show premiered on CBS in September 1970 and during its seven-year run became one of the most acclaimed television programs ever produced. The program represented a significant change in the situation comedy, quickly distinguishing itself from typical plot-driven storylines filled with narrative predictability and unchanging characters. As created by the team of James Brooks and Allan Burns, The Mary Tyler Moore Show presented the audience with fully-realized characters who evolved and became more complex throughout their life on the show. Storylines were character-based and the ensemble cast used this approach to develop relationships which changed over time.
The program starred Mary Tyler Moore who had previously achieved success as Laura Petrie on The Dick Van Dyke Show. As Mary Richards, a single woman in her thirties, Moore presented a character different from other single TV women of the time. She was not widowed or divorced or seeking a man to support her. Rather, the character had just emerged from a live-in situation with a man whom she had helped through medical school. He left her upon receiving his degree and she relocated to Minneapolis determined to "make it on her own." This now-common concept was rarely depicted on television in the early 1970s, despite some visible successes of the women's movement.
Mary Richards found a job in the newsroom of fictional television station WJM, the lowest rated station in its market, and there she began her life as an independent woman. She found a "family" among her co-workers and her neighbors. Among these were Lou Grant (Ed Asner), the crusty news director, Murray Slaughter (Gavin MacLeod), the cynical news writer, Ted Baxter (Ted Knight), the supercilious anchorman, and, later, Sue Ann Nivens (Betty White), the man-hungry "Happy Homemaker." Sharing her apartment house were Rhoda Morgenstern (Valerie Harper), Mary's best friend, and Phyllis Lindstrom (Cloris Leachman), their shallow landlady. This ensemble pushed the situation comedy genre in new directions and provided the show with a fresh feel and look.
The "workplace family," while not new to television sitcoms (Our Miss Brooks and The Gale Storm Show were among earlier incarnations of this sub-genre), was redefined in The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Here were characters easily defined by traditional familial qualities--Lou as the father figure, Ted as the problem child, Rhoda as the family confidante, and Mary as the mother/daughter around whom the entire situation revolved. But the special nature of these relationships gave the show its depth and humor. Never static, each character changed in ways previously unseen in the genre. One of the best examples occurred when Lou divorced his wife of many years. His adjustment to the transition from married to divorced middle-aged man provided rich comic moments but also allowed viewers see new depths in the character, to see behind the gruff facade into Lou's vulnerability, to grow closer to him. This type of evolution occurred with all the cast members, providing writers with constantly shifting perspective on the characters. From those perspectives new story lines could be developed and these fresh approaches helped renew a genre grown weary with repetition and familiar techniques.
Similarly, the program set the standard for a new sub-genre of situation comedy: the working woman sitcom. Beginning as a determined but uncertain independent woman, Mary Richards came to represent what has since become a convention in this type of comedy. Unattached and not reliant upon a man, Mary never rejected men as romantic objects or denied her hopes to one day be married. But unlike Rhoda, Mary did not define her life through her search for "Mr. Right." Rather, she dated several men and even spent the night with a few of them (another new development in TV sitcoms). Working-woman sitcoms since, including Kate & Allie and Murphy Brown, owe a debt to Mary Richards.
The program became an anchor of CBS' Saturday night schedule and, along with All in the Family, M*A*S*H, The Bob Newhart Show and The Carol Burnett Show, was part of one of the strongest nights of programming ever presented by a network. From September 1970 until its final airing in September 1977, The Mary Tyler Moore Show was normally among the top 20 shows. It garnered three Emmy Awards as "Outstanding Comedy Series" (in 1975, 1976 and 1977). Moore, Asner, Harper, Knight and White all won Emmy's for their performances and the show's writing and directing were similarly honored several times.
-Geoff Hammill
http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/M/htmlM/marytylermo/marytylermo.htm
One of the 1960s’ signature hairdos has endured over several decades.
“The Flip” was hip and initially favored by younger women-shoulder-length hair was backcombed slightly at the top and then curled out at the ends.
The classic style that Mary Tyler Moore wore on “The Dick Van Dyke Show” was considered a flip/bouffant combo (MTM could carry this off; she looked very cute in it!) And this became very popular (along with Jackie Kennedy’s classic bouffant) among famous and “civilians” alike throughout the decade.
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