..there certainly was something about Mary.....

[ecoclean]

I remember as a kid growing up watching a lot of American comedy on TV. Happy Days was always on when I got home from school, and being the eldest, I was sometimes allowed to stay up and watch the adult shows...Mary Tyler Moore and Rhoda!!

I can still remember feeling how 'Cool' their lives were. Mary was just soooooo cosmapolitan, and she appeared to have it all...beautiful looking, great friends, a job at a TV station in New York (wrong!)..sure I would have thrown my hat in the air too!!

As for Rhoda, she appeared to be a bit more of a Cindarella type...had it all going for her, but in more down to earth surroundings! I used to LMAO at the stuff her sister Brenda and especially her mom Ida used to come out with, even though I didnt always get humour.

They stopped running the shows soon after, and I havent seen them run again since. I was on Youtube recently, and thought to do a search on MTM, and how the memories came flooding back. Mind you, I was surprised to see that Mary had not gone to New York, but had left for her new life in the big city of... Minneapolis!! (Big hi to Robert!) I then did a search on Rhoda, and saw some vintage footage of both Rhoda and Mary on the same show..what gives??!! Was one show an offshoot of the other??!! Did Rhoda not live in the Bronx in New York? I'm intrigued! Can anybody out there fill in the gaps on the evenings when I was obviously sent to bed early??!!

Can anybody also tell me whatever became of some of the cast members of both shows? Thanks!

 

[toggleswitch]

This is Carlton, your doorman.

Rhoda lived in Minnie, then moved to NYC, IIRC.

Betty White played a roll on MTM. She is alive and well and doing commercial advertisements on the telly for discount pet medicince via snail-mail.

(All are invited to use/pot this group hug pic as needed. *LOL*)

 

[chromacolor]

I watched entirely too much TV as a kid, and still do to this day.
On the early MTM episodes, Rhoda (Valerie Harper) started off NOT being friends with Mary. In the first few episodes it showed Marys move to Minneapolis,and it showed Mary looking at the apartment that she ended up moving into. Rhoda lived upstairs in a small attic apartment and was planning to get the apartment Mary was looking at, and was foul that Mary got it. They ended up as friends.
Most people from MTM are still alive. Ted Knight (Ted Baxter) has passed away. Betty White played the slutty cooking show hostess and ended up on Mama's Family and then Golden Girls. Chloris Leachman even had a short lived spin-off from MTM. "Phyllis". That show was not popular and didn't last to long. As for "Rhoda"... that was a spin off show from MTM. The character Rhoda was originally from New York and the spin-off show had her moving back to NYC to take a fantastic job. Her mom on the show "Ida" was played by Nancy Walker, who was in Viva commercials for years. "The Quicker Picker Upper!" Here's some trivia that most may not know... Rhoda's sister "Brenda" (Julie Kavner)went on to become the voice of Marge Simpson. Also the voice of "Carlton the doorman" was played by Lorenzo Music who was the producer of the show. There were MANY spin-offs from MTM. Even Ed Asner had a spin-off which I think was titled "Lou Grant".... IIRC it won MANY Emmy's.

 

[chromacolor]

oopsss.. Nancy Walker did BOUNTY commercials! My boring trivia is "off" as I have not had my morning coffee yet.

 

[63getelevision]

Trivia is seldom boring. Unless you talk to me for more than five minutes. Read your member profile-I love old TVs too! I loved the Mary Tyler Moore Show, Rhoda, and Phyllis, while she lasted. Can't watch the final MTM show and won't try. But I do like hugs!

 

[whirlcool]

Let's see..... MTM Trivia

Nancy Walker passed away some time ago as well. She later directed the 80's Village People movie!

This show had a few spin offs. In each of the spin offs the character moved to another city.

Rhoda moved to New York and got married.
Phyllis moved to San Francisco
Lou Grant moved to LA.

While the Rhoda and Phyllis shows maintained their connection within the story line to the original MTM show, Lou Grant did not. The Lou Grant show was a totally new show without any references to the MTM show. In fact his character was much more serious and the show was a drama rather than a comedy. The show was canceled a few years later not due to poor ratings, but the antics of Ed Asner and some of the highly controversial statements he made at the time. He ticked a lot of people off.

Back in 2000, I believe MTM & Valerie Harper did a reunion movie about what happened to them both over the years. It was nowhere as good as the original show as it was more of a drama than a comedy.

Back when Republic Airlines (MSP based) adopted a new livery (paint scheme) for their planes right before Northwest took over, they called this paint job "The Mary Tyler Moore colors".
The reason they called it this was that the type style was the same as was used on the MTM show, at least that's what I was told.

 

[hydralique]

I seem to recall that years ago Nancy Walker made Mr. Blackwell's famous list of worst-dressed people, and his comment was "Even vacuum cleaners come with better covers."

Shame on Mr. Blackwell for stereotyping all vacuum cleaners, some have much better covers than others!

 

[nurdlinger]

Lou Grant

I was a big fan of this show. For the first two or three seasons the stories were great. After that, the quality of the scripts declined. The characters did *stupid* things which they should have been smart enough not to do, based on their actions in earlier seasons. Also the stories in which the computerization of the newspaper was portrayed were, IMHO, technically flawed beyond hope of redemption.

 

[63getelevision]

Mary Tyler Moore A Go-Go

Here's Laura Petrie dancing to "Mambo Jambo". She's not "just a housewife".

 

[whirlcool]

Actually, MTM had quite and extensive backround as a dancer. Does anyone remember the dancing she did with Julie Andrews in the elevator in "Thoroughly Modern Millie"? That was quite something else!

 

[SactoTeddyBear]

Re: Nancy Walker:

Also played on the McMillian and Wife Mysteries Series/Movies, as their Housekeeper and "Super-Snoop" once in a while.

Peace and Great Good Ol' Days of Television, Steve
SactoTeddyBear...

 

[63getelevision]

I am rooming at the moment with a former dancer, who told me that MTM and Julie had to dance to "Stumbling" to get the elevator to work. There is an obnoxious commercial here for mattresses that sounds to me like the beginning of a '60s version of it, that's how that subject came up. When I dig up my albums that have Mary's pictures on them I'll show them off. After "Happy Hotpoint" she did pics that ended up on record covers.

 

[whirlcool]

Yes, that was it!
The elevator wouldn't work unless you were dancing in it. The best scene was watching Julie Andrews and MTM dancing in that enclosed space with luggage in it! Up and down and around and about.
Everyone who used the elevator used a different dance, depending on what kind of mood they were in! And let's not forget the faster you danced the faster the elevator moved.
Man, I think I saw that movie when I was in high school! You hardly ever see it shown anywhere anymore.