Retro TV

If you have no memory of why Valerie Bertinelli is a celebrity other than as someone that hawks diet food, then let’s take a trip back in time (because after all that what Retro TV is all about) to visit a sitcom that featured a lead female character that was…gasp…divorced.

Did you know that when the Mary Tyler Moore Show was being developed the idea of making Mary divorced was batted around before deciding that due to Moore’s previous job as Laura Petrie on the Dick Van Dyke Show it may cause confusion that Laura divorced Dick? So instead, Mary was the victim of a man who wouldn’t marry her, which lead to her feminine independence.

That was 1970. Divorce was not quite so commonplace as it is today. So, I’m sure that having America’s sweetheart, Mary Tyler Moore, be a divorced woman on television would have proven quite the scandal. But five years later, and make it Bonnie Franklin, and you got yourself a hit on your hands.

In 1975, CBS debuted One Day at a Time.

Though the first female divorcee on television was Diana Rigg (a goddess in my eyes) in Diana about two years before ODAAT, Bonnie Franklin’s Ann Romano was more realistic as a working class mom in Indiana with two teenage daughters to raise by herself. Also, One Day at a Time’s heroine was lashing out at her not knowing herself, getting married too young and becoming a stay-at-home mom.

It definitely has a feminist side, and you can thank Norman Lear for that politicizing. Lear, the man behind All in the Family and Good Times, was an envelope-pusher (too say the least) in the changing political and cultural landscape of the 1970’s. His real outlet for feminism was of course, Maude, with One Day at a Time filling the “feminism-light” category, but it could be because of the less-controversial nature of ODAAT that led to its longevity. One day at a Time lasted through nine seasons, although the last few were iffy.

Let the synopses begin…

One Day at a Time, Valerie Bertinelli, Bonnie Franklin, Norman Lear, All in the Family, Diana Rigg, divorce, television, Maude, Good Times, feminism, politics on television

I am thinking the title of this the fourth episode from the first season of the Mary Tyler Moore Show is a play on “money isn’t everything”, but I kind of have a feeling I am off on that one.

Open on the news room, and Ted Baxter is overthinking his answers on a questionaire from his fan club, and Murray needs an out-of-the-ordinary human-interest story to close the broadcast. He finds a little blurb in the paper about a club for divorced people — which must have still been a little exotic back in 1970 (bottom graph on left show this to be true), because I don’t quite get the “oddness” of the support group.

Back in Mary’s awesome apartment, Rhoda and Mary are exercising — Rhoda in baggy sweats and Mary in a leotard topped with a t-shirt. Odd combo, Mary. Rhoda just happened to see the news tonight and asks Mary about the divorce club thing. Of course, she wants to join and wants Mary to do it with her.

The kicker is that the divorce people’s club gets considerable discounts on travel to Europe if you are a member. Rhoda is a great salesperson, and Mary is sold.

It’s the “Better Luck Next Time” Club. Awesome. And from the get-go it seems more like a Cookie Kwan/Lindsay Nagel networking event from an episode of the Simpsons. There is a creepy dentist — the official club dentist — and he is going on and on about Mary’s wonderfully fabulous teeth. Mary is terrible at lying about her non-divorced divorced status, but luckily, lying is where Rhoda really shines.

The girls are forced to mingle with lame divorced people, with Mary trying hard to be polite and Rhoda not bothering. They get picked up on by some real winners, which is making me think that this theme of the struggles of the single girl will be a big part of the Mary Tyler Moore Show.

Mary’s had enough, but she is stopped from escaping by the beginning of the official meeting in which the club’s officers are being elected. Do I see a secretary position for Mary? No, the scene ends.

Back at the AA (awesome apartment), Mary is peeved. Phyllis calls and the news comes out. Mary was elected Vice President. Gee, I was being a little sexist there, eh, thinking she would be secretary instead of VP. Just trying to put myself in a 1970’s frame of mind.

Now, Mary has just arrived at the creepy dentist from the BLNT club. He is really creepy, and I cannot figure out Mary is still in the chair. The writing is very sexual beneath the surface, and the guy playing the dentist reminds me of Phil Hartman. And that makes me sad, because I really miss Phil Hartman.

Mary is forced to fess up about not being divorced. The dentist absolutely refuses to listen to her as he does not want to not work on her teeth. And what year did Marathon Man come out, because some of this scene is really, really similar in that a dentist is exploiting someone in a vulnerable position, and I want to think that it is on purpose. I’ll check on that.
[Marathon Man the book was published in 1974, and the film was released in 1976 -- just a coincidence, I guess]

The dentist’s real motivations for nominating Mary for VP was that his brother was running and he thought that by nominating Mary, his brother would be sure to win. He forces her to return to the club, tell the truth and resign, or he’ll snitch about her singleness.

Cut to the next meeting. The dentist offers Mary an out by letting her say she has reconciled with her phony ex. And now, Mary is forced to lie, which gets her out of confessing her lie, but she is terrible at lying. The guest characters we met earlier all object as she was just elected last week, and want to give her a shot anyway. Mary frustratingly confesses her sin in order to get the hell out of this crazy club. Rhoda defends her, by saying she is not really divorced either…and then everyone else starts confessing. No one is divorced, but the Young Republicans were all losers. Brilliant.

[And after watching this, yes, it is a play on "money isn't everything." Divorce represents the saving of money in terms of a ticket to Paris. Clever...]

Mary Tyler Moore Show, Mary Tyler Moore, Mary Richards, Rhoda Morgenstern, divorce, single girl, comedy, Marathon Man, Phil Hartman, Cookie Kwan, Lindsay Nagel, Simpsons, Young Republicans

The Mary Tyler Moore Show began it’s seven season run with “All is All Around.” It all began on a Saturday night at 9:30 way back in September 1970…

Funny how Saturday night is now one of the worst nights in TV programming. In the 1970’s, it was the night to watch network television. CBS Saturdays nights during the decade included All in the Family, M*A*S*H, and The Bob Newhart Show. I couldn’t even name one show that airs currently on a Saturday. What caused that change, I wonder? Did restaurants and bars ask the networks to stop showing their better shows on Saturday, so more people would go out and spend money instead of staying in? Hmm, another topic, another day.

“Love is All Around”

I am not entirely sure whether or not the premiere episode of the Mary Tyler Moore Show can be considered a pilot. Pilots are usually rougher than this, more awkward and unsure of themselves. Not only that, but pilots are usually a sort-of audition for a television series. I am thinking that The Mary Tyler Moore Show was guaranteed a spot in the CBS lineup, and maybe it is because of that confidence that “Love is All Around” may just be one of the best pilots ever produced for American television.

Ok, so Mary Tyler Moore is Mary Richards. She has just moved to Minneapolis. She has just left a long-term relationship with a man that she supported through medical school, but who doesn’t want to get married. Mary is living above her long-time friend, Phyllis, who owns a large Victorian house, and her new apartment is coveted by the aggressive and gruff Rhoda. You learn all of this in about four minutes. That is what I call efficient writing. And the writers you ask… James L. Brooks and Allan Burns.

Cloris Leachman is Phyllis and Valerie Harper is Rhoda. Both of these characters will go onto their own spinoffs.

In addition to the exposition in the first part of the episode, we also get insight into Mary’s less-than-assertive nature. However, I have a feeling that is all going to change. Of course, one of the foundations of storytelling is a little something called the character arc, and despite most shows best intentions, I find that few American sitcoms have much in the way of a character arc for it’s main characters. They may change a little, but can you name how Dr. Cosby grew as a character over the many years of the Cosby Show? I didn’t think so.

What makes the Mary Tyler Moore Show so good in terms of story and character is not only the absolutely stellar casting of the wacky band of newsmen that Mary is surrounded by as well as the strong personalities of Phyllis and Rhoda, but also that so many of those characters get character arcs. And when they get to really show development in an episode, it usually resulted in an Emmy.

But let’s get back to our episode, “Love is All Around.” The title itself is coming from MTMS’s theme song. it comes after the opening lines, including “How will you make it on your own?” This all goes back to the theme that Mary is unmarried, but rather than feel sorry for herself like so many of the women of the earlier decades did (but hardly on TV), she is a liberated woman. She was going to make it on her own. Dammit.

So after Mary sees her new home and meets the ascerbic Rhoda, she goes in for an interview at WJM news. She is going for a secretary position, but it has been filled. However, even though Mr. Grant (the brilliant Ed Asner) is “thinking of hiring a man” for the job, he’s willing to give Mary a shot at it, after she shows she’s got “spunk.” Grant: “I hate spunk.”

We also meet for the first time Ted Baxter, played by the delightfully obtuse Ted Knight (Caddyshack); as well as the chronically-put-upon newswriter Murray Slaughter (Gavin MacLeod before the awful Love Boat). These co-workers will become Mary’s family, in a twist from the traditional family-based sitcom. Instead of Mary as a wife or mother, she becomes just that to a hard-drinking father-type Grant, the boobish childish Baxter, and the angst-y Murray.

To finish the episode, Mary’s as-of-a-month-ago ex-boyfriend is coming for a visit. Rhoda hopes he’s coming to beg for Mary back with a marriage proposal, so she can finally get the apartment. Phyllis hopes Mary does get married so she too can understand how “suffocating” it is. The ladies leave, and the doorbell rings.

It’s a very drunken Mr. Grant. And why is he there, Mary asks. Grant slurringly tells Mary she’s got a great caboose, and Mary suddenly realizes why she got the job at WJM. Grant says his wife has a better caboose. And then he starts rambling on about missing her, before he resolves to type her a letter on Mary’s portable. The bell rings again and Bill has arrived. As Bill and Mary express their feelings to one another, Grant’s soused brain thinks it’s his own thoughts and the words go into the letter. Until Mary adds, “All my love, Lou.” And the letter is finished. Brilliant. Grant leaves to send the letter.

Bill is a dumbass, showing up with flowers from a patient in the hospital. He cannot say the words I love you without stumbling, and he pleads with Mary to say something, as she always has a way of saying things just right. But Mary says she is horrible at saying goodbye. Bill gets it, and takes off with a “take care of yourself.” Mary’s response: “I think I just did.”

You go, girl! She’s might just make it after all.

Mary Tyler Moore, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, CBS, All in the Family, Bob Newhart Show, M*A*S*H, Cloris Leachman, Valerie Harper, Ed Asner, Ted Knight, Gavin MacLeod, Caddyshack, The Love Boat,

Seinfeld’s Jerry Seinfeld lives in NYC, yeah, yeah, we know and we get it. But let’s look some of the details around the apartment to see what else his Manhattan bachelor pad says about the central character of the “show about nothing.” Will his one-bedroom prove to be equally vacuous?

Those damn cupboard doors

I hate the glass cupboards unless you are an 80-year-old lady with antique store quality stuff to show off, and even then it can be a bit much. Surprisingly, these glass cupboard doors tell us that Jerry is quite open and honest about what he keeps around the kitchen and perhaps that carries over into his real life…except it doesn’t. It is more than Jerry feels superior to those who come to his apartment and wants them to see the superior choices he makes when it comes to food, and the cereal shelf is more vanity on Jerry’s part — trying to show everyone he is young and will never grow old — a Peter Pan complex, if ever there were one.

The refrigerator

I don’t think the fridge is entirely character-driven when it comes to set design on Seinfeld. There are pictures of somebody’s kids on the refrigerator. Jerry Seinfeld would never have kids pix on his fridge. I am thinking the pictures are the designer’s or someone on the design staff’s kids. There is a large Superman magnet — read Peter Pan complex above — which obviously shows that Jerry is a Superman fan.

The kitchen overall

Obviously, Jerry does not cook. Typical bachelor, 90’s style. Now a sitcom like Seinfeld would have to have Jerry be a total foodie that can wow the chicks with his hot chef-i-ness. Also, there is no hood in the kitchen so that apartment would fill up with smoke if Jerry did decide to cook, maybe it’s best that he orders take-out or eats at that little diner. I guess that is why he never has dishes to wash.

Seinfeld, Jerry Seinfeld, sitcom, television, bachelor pad, apartment

After receiving the second disk’s-worth of Season One episodes from the Bob Newhart Show, I noticed that the first episode listed was called “P-I-L-O-T,” but hey, this is the second disk. Now, let’s see. Howard the neighbor is not a pilot but a navigator for the airline, but he’s not a pilot, and what’s with all the hyphens and caps. So, it must be the pilot.

Suzanne Pleshette’s hair is long and shag-a-rific. Truly, a sexy mama mullet of which to be proud. But the other episodes don’t have long hair, so it definitely shows that this was filmed prior to the other first season shows.

I love watching pilots. I love finding the differences, the tweaks, the cast changes or drops. So watching Bob Newhart’s pilot was a real treat. And I can say that the changes made were a tremendous improvement.

I did a little work, not much really, and I guess between the pilot and actual series production, Bob Newhart wanted to change the focus from babies, which was the whole focus of the pilot. Bob and Emily think about adoption, because…get this…they don’t want to wait nine months for a baby. Yeah, stupid. Luckily, comic timing help get you through the show. You can see the promise, but the pilot is the weakest show I have watched to date.

I mean why would you take a smart show about a couple and make it about the need to be normal and have kids. Babies usually show up during the show’s death knells, after the show has jumped that shark or an immediate precursor to the jump. That is rarely interesting, and that is exactly what makes the pilot rarely interesting. The writing is a little stilted as well.

Cosmetic changes between the pilot and the series include another good move from stripes to a light solid color on the walls of the Hartley’s apartment and on the couch. Emily’s hair definitely changes, and though my boyfriend seems to think rather highly of the pilot’s ‘do, I think it makes her look older and kinda dowdy. She is a hot, foxy mama with more modern short hair. They also put her in more sexy clothes in the series — lots of empire waists with her boobs all perky, as opposed to the pilot.

And the first floor neighbor, Hoover, is never seen again…

The pilot didn’t air until November 1972, so it was obviously held back as the first show aired during the first season. The first show was instead “Fly the Friendly Skies,” which was a much, much stronger debut for the show. It focused instead on Bob’s inherently funny profession of psychologist.

It’s an age old comedy equation: Crazy people = Funny

Bob Newhart, Bob Newhart Show, Suzanne Pleshette, pilot, comedy, sitcoms