On September 19, 1970, audiences tuned in and fell instantly in love with “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” a series about a single working woman and her coworkers. The hilarious sitcom lasted seven seasons and resulted in three spin-offs. And thanks to reruns, the series has been introduced to many younger generations over the years. But how well do you remember this classic sitcom and all of the milestones of Mary Richards’ life? Take this quiz and find out.
On September 19, 1970, audiences tuned in and fell instantly in love with “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” a series about a single working woman and her coworkers. The hilarious sitcom lasted seven seasons and resulted in three spin-offs. And thanks to reruns, the series has been introduced to many younger generations over the years. But how well do you remember this classic sitcom and all of the milestones of Mary Richards’ life? Take this quiz and find out.
Sue Ann’s “Happy Homemaker” show often had ridiculous themes like “What’s all this fuss about famine?” And although the character came off as sweet, she was capable of backstabbing anyone at any time.
The apartment was nothing more than a studio, but it was a lot better than Rhoda’s old place, which was a cramped attic. So naturally, when Mary also went for the studio apartment, Rhoda was upset.
Mary was hospitalized for tonsillitis in the episode titled “Hi!” But the original script had Mary going to the hospital to have a tattoo removed, but the actress didn’t like that idea, so it was changed.
Halfway through the sitcom’s run, the character Rhoda left Minneapolis and the series. But this was actually a good thing since she fell in love, got married, and got her own spin-off series, “Rhoda.”
The actress played Phyllis, a longtime friend of Mary’s who became her landlord in Minneapolis. But the recurring character only appeared in 35 episodes of the series.
Although she’s standoffish against Mary at first, the two of them eventually become close and Bess soon thought of Mary as a second mom. This was evident in the season 2 premiere when Phyllis asked Mary to talk to Bess about the facts of life.
The kitten appeared in almost every episode of the series and was intended to be a parody of MGM’s lion. But in season 3, episode 23, Mary Tyler Moore appeared in the kitten’s place doing an imitation of Porky Pig’s famous line: “Th-th-th-th-that’s all, folks!"
Rhoda was the first female main character on any primetime television show that was Jewish. But that interesting tidbit wasn’t really mentioned until season 2 during the episode titled “A Girl’s Mother Is Not Her Friend.”
Betty White was supposed to play Sue Ann Nivens for only one episode, but her comedic talents made her a hit with audiences. She then became a recurring character during seasons 4 through 7 of the series.
The First Lady wowed the sitcom’s fans when she made a cameo appearance in the episode “The Seminar.” It was considered the first television cameo that any First Lady of the United States had ever made.
The ABC series “That Girl” starred Marlo Thomas as Anne Marrie, a single aspiring actress. Sadly, the show premiered and ended the same year that “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” premiered.
In the episode titled “Chuckles Bites the Dust,” she laughs at the funeral, which under normal circumstances would be okay given that Chuckles was a clown. But it was inappropriate given that everyone was mourning Chuckles.
The series ran from 1980 to 1987 and was considered a major hit. Unfortunately, the series ended when Ted Knight passed away unexpectedly from colon cancer at the age of 62.
MTM Enterprises had two huge hits on their hands. One was “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and the other was “The Bob Newhart Show.” Another fun fact was that MTM Enterprises was run by Grant Tinker, who was Mary Tyler Moore’s husband.
Despite being 4’11, Nancy Walker made a huge impression on the series as Ida, Rhoda’s overbearing mother. Her performance earned her several Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. Unfortunately, she didn’t win any.
Since Rhoda and Phyllis had already moved on with their lives, Mary felt that it was time for a new move, too. So she moved into a one-bedroom high-rise apartment in season 6.
Producers feared that Mary would be confused with Laura Petrie, which was her character on “The Dick Van Dyke Show.” They felt that viewers would think that Laura left Rob, even though Moore was playing Mary, a completely different character in the new sitcom.
Rhoda got promoted to “Manager in Charge of Windows” which was just fancy talk for store window dresser. But she did a marvelous job at it.
Lou told Mary this in season 1, episode 1 shortly after the two of them met. Ironically, the actors had a rough time finding the right chemistry in the beginning, but eventually, the two of them became very good friends in real life.
In the episode titled “Some of My Best Friends are Rhoda,” Mary learned that her new friend was anti-semitic when she didn't want to invite Rhoda to her tennis club.
Phyllis does speak about her husband Lars an awful lot on the show, but unfortunately, the audience never gets to see him. All they learn about the character is that he’s a dermatologist with some likeability issues.
In the opening sequence, Mary tosses her hat while standing at the intersection of South 7th Street and Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis. In 2002, TV Land placed a statue in the same spot to honor this famous moment in the show.
In season 5, episode 6, Mary refused to give up the name of her source when the feds arrived. She even kept her mouth shut despite being forced to appear in front of a grand jury.
At the time, Mary Tyler Moore’s husband, Grant Tinker was seen eating lunch with her during the opening sequence. Tinker was also one of the show’s producers. But Moore and Tinker later split in 1981.
“The Mary Tyler Moore Show” really pushed the boundaries of television in the episode “The Good-Time News” to discuss the topic of equal pay. Then again, the show also covered other topics like premarital relations, which was considered taboo at the time.
The two-hour ABC TV movie, “Mary and Rhoda,” starring Moore and Harper, was intended to be a pilot for a new series. Unfortunately, the project was never produced.
The actor played a newly ordained minister who was in the middle of a tennis match when he got called away to preside over Ted and Georgette’s wedding. Unfortunately, everything was in such a rush that he didn’t even have time to change out of his tennis clothes.
This version of the line was more appropriate given that Mary was delving into an uncertain future at the beginning of the show. But as the character evolved, producers felt that it was necessary to change the lyrics from “might just” to “going to.”
The annual Teddy Awards always brought on some form of misfortune or chaos, like when Rhoda tricked Mary into thinking that they had called her name in season 1, episode 9.
Moore and her husband at the time, Grant Tinker, used their studio MTM Enterprises to produce hits like “Hill Street Blues,” "St. Elsewhere,” and “WKRP in Cincinnati.” But “Dynasty” was not among them.
In this episode, the station got a new owner who decided to make some major changes, which included firing a lot of the original staff. Sadly, he chose to get rid of everyone but Ted, who is ironically the most incompetent employee.
Mary was driving a white 1970 Mustang while heading to Minneapolis. But she eventually upgraded by opting for a newer model as the series progressed.
When “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” ended, actor Ed Asner continued to play the character Lou Grant in a TV drama series. And luckily for him, he won Emmys for his comedic and dramatic roles.
Mary Tyler Moore was a total fashion icon and so was her character, Mary Richards. But while she was seen in different types of scarves, belts, and turtlenecks during the run of the series, she never wore a barrette.
MacLeod and Leachman’s characters didn’t have much interaction on the show, and perhaps that was a good thing since they didn’t like each other at the time. But they did patch things up eventually.
Moore claimed that Elvis told her that he had a crush on her. Elvis also made this wild claim: "I slept with every one of my leading ladies except one." Moore then replied: "I don’t want to bust anyone’s cover, but I know who the 'one' is."
In the series finale “The Last Show,” which was season 7, episode 24, Lou told his colleagues a single, touching line that resonated with them; “I treasure you people.”
The actress was 15 when she landed the role of Murray’s daughter in season 7, episode 20. But the Slaughter family also had other siblings which included three sisters named Bonnie, Ellen and Susie as well as an adopted Vietnamese brother, Le Chan.
She was 30, single, and a working class gal who wasn’t really in a rush to find a man and get hitched. This made Mary Richards a total girlboss during the show’s original run.
During Ted’s campaign to win an award he had sought after for six years, Walter Cronkite showed up in the newsroom. This made Ted believe that he might have finally won.
“The Mary Tyler Moore Show” produced three-spin-offs. Two of them were sitcoms named “Rhoda” and “Phyllis.” The third series was actually an hour-long drama called "Lou Grant."
Gavin MacLeod and Georgia Engel were both nominated for being supporting characters on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” Unfortunately, neither performer won an Emmy.
Mary had never been able to call Lou anything other than Mr. Grant throughout the series. So, while she did kiss him in the episode, it wasn’t exactly the kind of kiss that lead to anything.
In the episode titled “The Dinner Party,” Ted had a hissy fit after discovering that he was left out of Mary’s dinner party. To add insult to injury, she had served Veal Prince Orloff.
Mary Richards was originally supposed to move to Minneapolis after a divorce. But in those days, divorce was highly controversial. So, the creators changed that detail to Mary having just broken off her engagement.
In the episode named “Ted and the Kid,” Ted shared that he and Georgette were going through fertility issues. So they adopted a 12-year-old boy named David. But then, Georgette got pregnant.
The news station is totally fictitious and also one of the lowest rated newsrooms in the Twin Cities. And yet, it became Mary’s work home throughout the entire series.
The CBS lineup began with “All in the Family,” followed by “M*A*S*H,” “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “The Bob Newhart Show,” and “The Carol Burnett Show.”
"The Lars Affair" was Betty White’s debut episode as Sue Ann Nivens. Cloris Leachman, who played Phyllis, delivered the classic line “I’m going to rip her face off,” in this episode.
Actor Robert Moore played Ben Sutherland, the first non-stereotypical gay person on TV. Another major milestone this episode surpassed was that it was believed to be the first time the word gay was used on television in a manner other than to describe happiness.