Mary Tyler Moore | |
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Title card with Peignot typeface
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Created by |
James L. Brooks Allan Burns |
Starring |
Mary Tyler Moore Edward Asner Valerie Harper Gavin MacLeod Ted Knight Cloris Leachman Georgia Engel Betty White |
Theme music composer | Sonny Curtis |
Opening theme | "Love Is All Around", written and performed by Sonny Curtis |
Composer(s) | Patrick Williams |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language(s) | English |
No. of seasons | 7 |
No. of episodes | 168 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producer(s) | James L. Brooks Allan Burns |
Producer(s) | David Davis Lorenzo Music Ed Weinberger Stan Daniels |
Running time | 25–26 minutes |
Production company(s) | MTM Enterprises |
Distributor | 20th Television |
Release | |
Original network | CBS |
Picture format | Color |
Audio format | Monaural |
Original release | September 19, 1970 | – March 19, 1977
Chronology | |
Followed by | Lou Grant (1977–82) |
Related shows |
Rhoda (1974–78) Phyllis (1975–77) Lou Grant (1977–82) |
The Mary Tyler Moore Show, originally known simply by the name of the show's star, Mary Tyler Moore, is an American sitcom created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns that aired on CBS from 1970 to 1977. The program featured American television's first never-married, independent career woman as the central character.
It is one of the most acclaimed television programs in US television history. It received high praise from critics during its run, including Emmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series three years in a row (1975–77), and continued to be honored long after the final episode aired. In 2013, the Writers Guild of America ranked The Mary Tyler Moore Show No. 6 in its list of the 101 Best Written TV Series of All Time.
Mary Richards (Moore) is a single woman who, at age 30, moves to Minneapolis after leaving her fiancé of two years. She applies for a secretarial job at fictional television station WJM, but that is already taken. She is instead offered the position of associate producer of the station's Six O'Clock News. She befriends her tough but lovable boss Lou Grant (Ed Asner), newswriter Murray Slaughter (Gavin MacLeod), and buffoonish anchorman Ted Baxter (Ted Knight). Mary later becomes producer of the show.
Mary rents a third-floor studio apartment in a 19th-century house from acquaintance and downstairs landlady, Phyllis Lindstrom (Cloris Leachman), and she and upstairs neighbor Rhoda Morgenstern (Valerie Harper) become best friends. Characters introduced later in the series are acerbic, man-hungry TV hostess Sue Ann Nivens (Betty White), and sweet-natured Georgette Franklin (Georgia Engel), as Ted Baxter's girlfriend (and later, wife). At the beginning of season 6, after both Rhoda and Phyllis have moved away (providing a premise for two spinoffs), Mary relocates to a one-bedroom high-rise apartment.