The Mary Tyler Moore Show 20th anniversary: Cast & creators interviews

7/28/2019 The Mary Tyler Moore Show 20th anniversary: Cast & creators interviews

1/8

THE BATTLE OF BRITAIIU Display until S

M agazine of Then and Now August/September 1990

,'",4Sirt2


2/8

20 YEARS AGO= MARY TYLER MOORE SHOWBREAKS THE MOLD OF STTCOM TELEVTSTOilWith its liberated beroine, the program was realistic,topical, subtle----and uery funny.

By Frank LoveceIt was a different kind of Saturdaynight fever. Back before VCR's letus time-shift, long before the term"couch potato" first sprouted,viewers vegged out on the bestnight on television: The Mary Ty-ler Moore Show, followedby TheBob Newhart Show andThe CarolBurnett Show. Truth be told, westayed home mostly for Mary.The Mary Tyler Moore show premiered on Sept. L9, r9i0.Its liberated, working-girl-next-door realism provided a wel-come alternative to the broad, escapist fantasies that filled the

airwaves. Months before the premi ere of All in the Family, twoyears before M*A*S*H came to the small screen, this sharp butgentle comedy about a fledgling news producer and her surro-gate family at a third -rate Minneapolis TV station re-cast the60's sitcom formula of Martians, Munsters, bumbling cast-aways and flying nuns. And widowers, countless widowers.The Mary Tyler Moore show offered a fresh sensibility: It


3/8

_--ryi#;


4/8

was topical and literate, internally consis-tent from episode to episode and political-ly aware. In a remarkable leap for televi-sion, its thirtysomething, unmarriedheroine was no wisecracking spinster likeThe DickVan Dyke Show's Sally Rogers.Neither was she a widow nor a girlishvirgin like the ''career g als" of The DorisDay Show or That Girl. Astonishingly,Mary Richards had lived with a man-thisat a time when such a thing was still con-sidered scandalous.Unlike generations of sitcom womenpast, Mary-quavering but determined-could confront her boss over being paidless than a man doing the same job. Shecould fire an incompetent female co-worker without feeling feminist guilt. Shecould even spend the night with someoneshe wasn't in love with. On The MaryTyler Moore Show, the laughs didn't de-pend on somebody burning the roast.

A generation of women grew up think-ing of Mary as a role model as she strug-gled for sexual and economic equality in aman's world. "I think it made the idea ofworking women acceptable," observes,*&," Cheri Eichen, co-executiveproducer of Cheers. "Mymom was a career wom-an, and I didn't like theidea that everybody else'smom was homewhen they gottraz,

home from school and my mom wasn't.But when you see Mary and she's work-ing, you get a sense that it's okay for awoman to have a grown-up life. "Moore's own grown-up life had begun,for most of us, when she captured Ameri-ca's hearts-as well as two Emmys--{ur-

ing the five years she portrayed the lovableLaura Petrie on the popular DickVan DykeShow. But the show ended its run in1966----creator Carl Reiner and the otherprincipals wanted to go out on a peak-and nothing she had worked on since hadsucceeded. A musical based on TrumanCapote's Brealcfast atTiffany's, in whichshe-had the starring role, went throughtorturous rewrites before closing in pre-views. And the handful of movies shemade-T ho ro u g h ly M ode rn M illie, D on' tJust Stand There, Whai.t's So Bed AboutFeeling Good? and Change of Habit-were greeted with indifference.Buta l969CBS special, DickVanDykeand the Other Woman, Mary TylerMoore, showcased her talents and got thenetwork's complete attention. Grant Tin-ker, then her husband and vice presidentof television for 20th Century- Fox, askedfor an immediate commitment to a series,as well as creative autonomy. Remark-ably, without having to shootapilot, with-out even so much as a sample script, CBSagreed to Tinker's conditions and signed aI 3-episode deal.All he needed was a show.

Tinker turned to Allan Burns, then awriter/producer for the hit TV show Roon222, andto222's creator, Jim Brooks. aformer CBS copyboy andsometime newswriter whohad broken into sitcom TVwith scripts for My Motherthe Car, That Girl andTheAndy Grffith S/row. Withtheir eyes on various filmprojects, the two were re-luctant to get involved inanotherTV series, butTin-ker convinced them toteam up as writer-produc-ers on a vehicle for hiswife. "That makes mesound like a genius," saysTinker today, "but I wasjust looking to hedge mybet. Each brought some-thing to it. It's hard to saywho brought what. Butwhatever it was, it was ahell of a combination."The producers' first idea

Mary Richards was a role modelfor some , but creators Allan B urns(right) and Jim Brooks say thatwasn't their intent.

oFoI

F

z

84 MEMoRIES


5/8

was to have Moore's character do the leg-work for.a bitchy, powerful Hollywoodcolumnist. So far, sotypical. Butthey alsowanted to make her a divorc6e-a first fora TV sitcom . ' 'Every writer in town had adivorce story on the drawing board,"Burns once said. "lVe had the lady itwould work with. "But CBS wasn't buying it. "They hadheart attacks," says Burns. "They said,'You can't do that. Everybody hqtes di-vorce. They'll think she's divorced DickVan Dyke and they'll hate her evenmore!' " Then the writers came up withan equally daring alternative: a live-in re-lationship gone sour. "We had to handlethat very delicately," Moore remembers,"because you didn't want to imply anyloose morals. So we just vaguely hinted atsome prior relationship." By January1970, Brooks and Burns had a solid, 2l-page treatment for a show in a newsroomsetting, a milieu that Brooks knew well.Lou Grant, WJM's crusty, curmud-geonly news producer, was modeled onJohn Merriman, the late news editor ofThe CBS Evening News. "There was no-body he'd back down from, whether it wasCronkite or anybody else," remembersBrooks. On Tinker's suggestion, EdAsner was asked to read for the role. Hewas deemed perfect.Newswriter Murray Slaughter wasloosely based on another old CBS Newsfigure, Dick Robinson, who was, Brooksrecalls, "much more eccentric than Mur-ray. He was a famous, colorful guy, sortof outrageous. But Murray finally becamejust 'the oppressed writer.' " The partwent to Gavin Macleod, who had firstread for the part of Lou.The producers were having a tough timefinding the right actress for the crucial roleof Rhoda, Mary's wisecracking foil,whom Brooks had based on an old friendfrom the Bronx who worked in a brassierefactory. But they hadn't yet hit on the rightactress, one who was harder-edged thanMary without being too abrasive. Finally,

about a week before shooting was to com-mence, Brooks spotted Valerie Harper in arevue at Los Angeles's Melrose Theater.For her audition, "she came in loadedwith props, like Rhoda was cleaning win-dows or something," Brooks recalls. "Ascarf around herhair, a pail, a sponge. Wewere sort of kids at this, " he says, "and sothe idea of somebody actually bringingFnexxLoveceis a columnistfor United Fea-ture Syndicate and the author of three booksabout television.

86

The Doting GomeEligible men in Mary's lifi were played by (fromtop) Laurence Luckinbill, Richard Schaal, EdAsner, Peter Haskell and John Saxon.

YI.[lLI{

something, it was just. nou' isn't rftarextra mile !" Harper got the role.The part of Phyllis Lindstrom. \laflighty. mock-intillectual landladr. r*to Cloris Leachman. a highll rigardMethod actress and former beautl' quee"You had an extraordinary trianglHarper observes today. "Mary's the pson you want to be, Rhoda's the peryou probably are, and Phyllis is uyou're afraid of being. Phyllis *oucome in the room, say somethin-e. anwould just turn to her and [the audienwould be laughing. They would lauwhen I looked at her. And then I'd gir,eline and we'd get adouble laugh."Ted Baxter, the vacuous, silver-mananchorperson, was conceived as a youman. But Ted Knight's audition chan_ethat. "Ted was hysterical," says Brooof the late actor, who died in August I 98"Ted was magic. Ted came in andwere so touched; we were sure he hbought ablazer specifically for the aution, because he wasn't doing so grbefore this. And he was magic. I thinkhim as the happiest spirit I ever met. "Asner, noting Knight's seemingly eless ability to conjure up different comapproaches to situations, agrees: "lways felt there's no way I could be funn1I were compared to him," he says.would look at him and say , that is funnyFinally all the key players wereplace, and away they went. To disaster"Our first run-through was terribleBrooks recalls. Adds Jay Sandrich, wdirected most of the 168 episodes, "l'ralways said it's amazing that Grant aMary came into work the next morning."After that run-through," Tinkermembers, "Mary and I did have a readifficult scene at home, where she juwent to pieces: 'This is terrible! Fix iAnd that's about what I did. I called Jand Allan and said, 'Fix it!' ""I'm kind of nervous and pessimisabout everything I'm involved in," saMoore, "but this show really was in troble, and it probably was my fault, whwith what the audience expected of mand from me. "The producers went to work, sharpeing the timing, honing other details. Oof the most important fixes involved maing Rhoda more likable.TheTinkering worked. CBS's new prgramming vice president, Fred Silve'man, loved the first episode and persuadthe network's president, Robert Wood,give the series a better time slot.Buoyed by a TV Guide cover sto

t


6/8

about Moore and hercomeback ("Mary isback in the 'intimate' medium, cozying upto the live audience in the kind of TV sheloves," it said), The Mar1, T),ler MooreSfton, bowed to big ratings. Then itslumped to the middle range but perked upin the summer after Asner, Harper, direc-tor Sandrich and writers Brooks and Bumsall took home Emmy Awards. The showearned nominations for Outstanding Com-edy Series and Outstanding New Series;there were also nominations for Mooreand director Alan Rafkin.Though it finished the season in 22dplace, the show found its audience andbegan picking up momentum. It finishedlOth in its second year and remained in thetop 20 until the 1916-77 season, its last. Inall, the series won 28 Emmys (out of 66nominations), including three as Out-standing Series. Moore won four actingawards, Harper and Asner three each, andtwo each went to Leachman, Knight, andBetty White, who joined the cast in 1974.As The Mart, Tyler Moore Show pro-gressed through its seven-year run, char-acters matured, moved away, saw theirfamilies change. Like millions of womenacross the country, Mary Richards be-came more confident in her career. LouGrant went through a divorce. Rhoda andPhyllis spun-off into series of their own.Dim, sweet Georgette Franklin (GeorgiaEngel) came aboard as Ted's girlfriendand became his wife. And the man-hungrybut sunshiney Sue Ann Nivens (Betty

White), host of WJM'sHappy Homemak-er show. added a delicious sass.Through it all, the show stayed fresh bytaking chances. In violation of the tabooagainst changing the set of a successfulsitcom, Mary moved to a new apartment atthe start of the sixth season. An episodeabout a clown killed by a rogue elephant("Chuckles Bites the Dust") was cited byMichael Winship, author of ?'e1et,i siort, asthe first in which "a sitcom did a reallyfunny episode about death. "There were other new-to-sitcom topics,such as Mary's existential boredom withher life. It is Ted who boosts her spirits.first describing her day in a boring mono-tone ("You get up in the morning, you goto work . . . . "), then, in the same words,making it sound exciting: You g,et up inthe morning ! You go to workl"Each episode, it seemed, was aboutsomething, and the topic was generallytreated with more subtlety than the broad-ly satirical strokes of other "relevant"shows. Mary Richards began taking bar-biturates for insomnia; Ted and Georgettefound out they were infertile; Phyllis'shusband cheated on her. But there were nogloomy "problem" episodes; rather, withhumor as the show's thread, the eventswere simply woven into the tapestry of thecharacters' lives.Moore, of course, set the tone of theentire affair. "She never became a quoteunquote star," says Sandrich. "She wasalways one of the ensemble actors. She

never had the attitude, 'This is my compa-ny and my show.' If she disagreed with ascene or the script, she stated her opinion,but if we said, 'No, we really like this, doit.' she'd do it full out. "The last group decision Moore wentalong with was ending the show. "Allthose wonderful people wanted to try theirwings in other mediums," she says, "andI had to respect that and also take from thamy cue to be a little brave myself. After afew weeks of saying, 'Ohmigod, whatwill happen to us all'i' I cheerfully agreed,too, that it was best to end the show on ahigh." The last new episode aired onMarch 19, 1971 , and marked both a happyand sad occasion all overthe country. Sad.of course. because it was the end of thisfresh, originalshow, and happy because iwas, as always, funny.In that Emmy Award-winning finalepi-sode-titled simply "The Last Show"--anew station manager is brought in to boosratings. and he fires the entire newsroomstaff, with the ironic exception of the ineptanchor, Ted. Alter 23 minutes on an emo-tional roller-coaster, the characters pre-pare to leave the newsroom for the lastime. Instinctively, they clutch each otherfor support, and spontaneously they starsinging "It's a Long Way to Tipperary."In that huddle, Moore remembers, everyactor's vision "was bluned with tears."After they shuffle out the door together,Mary returns to shut off the light.Thus ended production of what Win-ship calls "one of the first sitcoms to showpeople in real human relationships. "

Today, the show's creators insist theirintentions were never ideological. "l remember going around defending the show'to feminist groups who really wanted tocontrol it,' ' says co-creator Brooks. ' 'WeClinging together, the WJMteam left the newsroom for thelast time on March 19, 1977.

frit.l''"

AUG /SEPT.I99O


7/8

always took the position that these wereour characters, nobody else's, and theyweren't part of a movement and theydidn't represent women. But we certainlygot great episodes out of Mary reacting tothe times she lived in. "Moore agrees. "We never got on asoapbox and made any declarative state-ments about any issues," she says. "Ifthey evolved, they evolved slowly out ofthe writers' goodness and vision. I don'tthink we ever did a show on the subject oft'eminism."Since its departure from prime time in1971, The Mary Tvler Moore Sftow hasgone into syndication (minus three min-utes per episode, which were cut to ac-ommodate more commercials). Theshow is still going strong in marketsaround the world.Moore earned acclaim, and an Oscarnomination, for her role as the stony moth-r in the filmOrdinary People (1980) and\'on a special 1980 Tony Award for hererformance inWhose Lift Is It Anyway?Broadway. At about the same time,88

Mary Tyler Moore (third from left), feted bythe Juvenile Diabetes Foundation in March1990, was joined by Ed Asner, NancyWalker, Gavin MacLeod, Betty White,Eileen Heckart and Cloris Leachman. "Thebest thing lou can do," Moore says, "issurround yourself with talented people."however, she suffered a series ofpersonalsetbacks, including the 1980 death of heronly child, Richard Meeker, 24. from aself-inflicted gunshot wound. That sameyear she discovered she had diabetes. (To-day she is the international chairperson ofthe Juvenile Diabetes Foundation.) In198 I she and Tinker were divorced afterl8 years of marriage.Moore's failed attempts to repeat herhuge TV sggggss-rwith the variety showsMary (1918) and The Mary Tyler MooreHour (1979) and the sitcoms Mary (1985)and Annie McGuire (1988)-have souredher on the medium. "I will never do atelevision series again," she says now."The way networks think and the waythey schedule things is beyond me-it

kills me. " The only way she'd come backto TV, she says, is if she is "given somesay-so in what the time period is going tobe-up front. "Today Moore, 53, stays busy with TVffrovies, including the upcomingThe LastB e st Y e ar of My Life for ABC and T hanks -giving Day for NBC. When she is notacting, she can often be found on the 30-acre farrn she and her third husband own inDutchess County, N.Y. (She wed Dr.Robert Levine, a cardiologist 16 years herjunior, in November 1983.) "I've gotteninvolved in gardening and growing vege-tables," she says. "I still haven't learnedto cook, but I make a hell of a salad. "No matter what the future holds, it islikely that she will always be best known,and best loved, for her classic series. Theinscription that Grant Tinker wrote for aplaque says it best. Hanging on the wall ofStage 2 at the MTM/CBS lot, it readssimply: "On this stage a company of lov-ing and talented friends produced a televi-sion classic. The Mary Tyler Moore Show

MEMORIES

1970-t977."


8/8

VOLUME THREE, NUMBER FOUR, AUCUST/SEPTEMBER I99O

FROM THE EDITORGetting the PictureBY CAREY WlNpnevYEARBOOKTU GumshoesI REMEMBERMy Father, illt/ BossBY RHENA ScswurzEn MLLsnLETTERSFILM FESTIVALA Certain SmileBY JoAN FournrNeINDELIBLE IMAGESW. Eugene SnithBY MeuneeN McFnoorNPERSPECTIVELet's DanceBv B.qpsA.nl LplvrrucALBUMDinerLOST AND FOUNDThe Music GoesRound and RoundBY OWEN EDWARDSTAKING ISSUEAn Exenplary FellowBY FRANCES FrrzGeneloPHOTO FINISHComic Turns

(clockwise from top left): Joitr R.Photos, FPG ltternational,BonnaylBla

The Mary Tyler Moore Show 20th anniversary: Cast & creators interviews

Documents