A Celebration of The Mary Tyler Moore Show

(This was originally posted 2 years ago today; incredibly, since then the cast has lost Ed Asner, Cloris Leachman, Gavin McLeod, AND then unsinkable Betty White. I watch a few episodes every week and am almost through the 5th season. Anyone who doesn't consider this one of the greatest shows of all time is, in a word, an idiot.)

Happy (Belated) 50th!

I missed September 19th being the 50th anniversary of the debut of Xmastime superslice The Mary Tyler Moore Show - hey, I'm pretending to have a life here, people - but thankfully there's been a million articles celebrating it, including this one pointing out 50 great things to love about the show, a show without which who knows how many great sitcoms that followed would not have existed. I've pulled out a few selections I agree with the most. You're welcome!

2. No marriage, no problem: Mary had boyfriends, but marriage and motherhood were not her primary goals, as had been the case for so many TV characters who preceded her. Her fulfilling life delivered a strong message.

4. Home at work: It established a new dynamic, the workplace family, which soon became its own comedy format. 

22. "Love Is All Around" (Season 1): The series premiere gets so many things right: Mary parrying Lou's inappropriate job interview questions; Mary and Rhoda bonding after an apartment battle; and Mary, in a series-defining stand, declaring independence from her ex. 

26. "Chuckles Bites the Dust" (Season 6): The grimly hilarious death of WJM's Chuckles the Clown – a parade elephant tried to shell him when he was dressed as character Peter Peanut – is a wonderful treatise on grief and has been hailed as the best sitcom episodes ever. Mary's laughing/crying jag at Chuckles' funeral is genius.

27. "The Last Show" (series finale): As new station management fires the staff – keeping only the incompetent Ted – everyone says goodbye to each other as viewers say goodbye to them. The group-hug shuffle to Mary's tissue box is an indelible highlight of one of TV's best finales.

28.  "You've got spunk. I hate spunk!" "MTM" signaled its originality when Lou rejected, rather than embraced, Mary's all-American moxie. 

31. "A little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down your pants.” Chuckles the Clown's motto-turned-eulogy.

41. The big "M" on Mary's apartment wall: Her first apartment was so much better than her second.

45.“Love Is All Around”: The theme's memorable lyrics, recorded by Sonny Curtis, evolved from uncertain hope in Season 1 ("How will you make it on your own?"/"You might just make it after all") into an anthem of affirmation (“You’re gonna make it after all”). 

47. The opening-credits shot of Mary flinging her tam into the air is one of TV’s most iconic moments. A Minneapolis statue commemorates the image. Long may she stand.

Indeed.