The Last Show (Mary Tyler Moore Show episode)
| "The Last Show" | |
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| The Mary Tyler Moore Show episode | |
The station crew's poignant farewell
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| Episode no. | Season 7 Episode 24 |
| Directed by | Jay Sandrich |
| Written by | Allan Burns, James L. Brooks, Ed Weinberger, Stan Daniels, David Lloyd, and Bob Ellison |
| Original air date | March 18, 1977 (Canada) March 19, 1977 (US) |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
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"The Last Show" is the 168th episode and series finale of the television sitcom, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and was written by Allan Burns, James L. Brooks, Ed Weinberger, Stan Daniels, David Lloyd, and Bob Ellison. Internationally, it was first aired in Canada on CBC Television, March 18, 1977 at 8 p.m. In the U.S., it was one day later on Saturday, March 19, on CBS.
The episode won an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series." In executive producer Allan Burns' "Outstanding Comedy Series" acceptance speech at the 29th annual prime time Emmy Awards, he stated, "We kept putting off writing that last show; we frankly didn't want to do it. I think it said what we wanted it to say. It was poignant, and I believe The Mary Tyler Moore Show was, in the long run, important for many women."
The new station manager of WJM-TV, Mr. Coleman (guest star Vincent Gardenia), is firing people left and right, and wants to do something about the Six O'Clock News' low ratings. Surprisingly, Lou, Mary, Murray, and Sue Ann are fired, but the person widely perceived as the cause of the Six O'Clock News' low ratings, Ted, is retained.
Everyone takes the news pretty hard, except for Ted, who saunters back into the newsroom, but it is Mary who takes the news hardest. To cheer her up, Lou arranges for old friends Rhoda Morganstern and Phyllis Lindstrom to fly to Minneapolis for a surprise visit at Mary's apartment. Time had failed to tame their rivalry, however. Both agitate for Mary to move with them to New York and San Francisco, respectively, but they compromise that she stays in the Twin Cities. Rhoda gets to the heart of the matter and comforts Mary, then reluctantly allows Phyllis to do the same.
At one point, Ted threatens to resign if they fire the rest of the staff. However, he caves in quickly when pushed. This causes Murray to quip, "When a donkey flies, you don't blame him for not staying up that long."
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