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As a high school student, I spent many a Saturday night watching The Mary Tyler Moore Show, a popular 1970s sitcom. My friends and I idolized this 30ish, college-educated single woman. Even though her rewarding job as an associate producer at WJM-TV didn’t pay much, she still managed to have her own apartment with a gorgeous view, handsome boyfriends, and nice clothes. That was what we hoped our lives would be like. These memories prompted me to watch the 3-DVD set of The Mary Tyler Moore Show: The Complete Fifth Season.
To bring you up to date: Mary Richards (Mary Tyler Moore) relocated to Minneapolis to start a new life after breaking up with her fiancé. She found a job in a newsroom—with co-workers who displayed their share of quirkiness. Her gruff boss, producer Lou Grant (Ed Asner), dim-witted anchorman, Ted Baxter (Ted Knight), disgruntled but quick-witted news writer Murray Slaughter (Gavin MacLeod), and the host of the Happy Homemaker Show, the quicker-witted, sex hungry Sue Ann Nivens (Betty White) provided a warm family—but not one without conflicts. Murray resented Ted for taking the credit for his hard work in spite of his stupidity; Sue Ann constantly tried to seduce an unwilling and now-divorced Lou. Through it all, Mary provided the cohesiveness to keep this “family” together, while trying to make sense of her personal life. Other characters included Ted’s girlfriend, Georgette (Georgia Engle), friend and neighbor Phyllis (Cloris Leachman), and best friend, Rhoda (Valerie Harper), who, by the fifth season, had moved to New York and started her own spin-off series.
Nostalgia aside, I was concerned about how sitcom would hold up 35 years later. My comedic tastes have changed, and while re-watching some of my favorite shows from the 1960s and 1970s, I often just scratch my head and wonder how I could have enjoyed something so stupid.
Although now, years later, I watched the show through different eyes, I still found myself laughing hysterically. This isn’t slapstick, but it’s well-written comedy with superb acting and storylines centering on relationships. This sitcom deals with adult situations like dating and infidelity, but not in a raunchy way. Sue Ann’s sexual comments are obvious, but they contain enough innuendo that you don’t have to worry that your 7th grader will pick up on them.
Though some of my favorite episodes, like “Ted Baxter’s Famous Broadcasters School,” are on this DVD, there were some I didn’t remember—that is, until I heard a memorable line that stayed with me throughout these years. And, yes, the laugh tracks get on my nerves, but they were standard in sitcoms of that era.
There are 24 episodes in all, and although the original air dates are not included, they are all presented in the order that they originally aired. There are no outtakes or documentation, so if you’re looking for more than the show itself, you will be disappointed.
However, you won’t be disappointed if you just want a lot of laughs—or to chill on a rainy afternoon. So pop some popcorn and put on The Mary Tyler Moore Show: The Complete Fifth Season for 581 minutes of feel-good comedy.
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