History Series / TheMaryTylerMooreShow

* CurseCutShort: Sue Ann, on the air, when a recipe doesn’t turn out right: “OH SHHHH…urely that’s not how a strawberry surprise is supposed to look!”

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This was also one of the first series to feature a single woman as the main character, and to focus on her career rather than her love life. As originally scripted, Mary was to have been recently divorced. This was considered too controversial in 1970 (plus, in a case of classic ExecutiveMeddling, network brass was afraid the viewers would think that Moore's ''[[Series/TheDickVanDykeShow Dick Van Dyke Show]]'' character, Laura Petrie, had gotten divorced from Rob), so her BackStory was changed to one of rebuilding her life after a broken engagement.

* HypocriticalHumor: In "Chuckles Bites the Dust", Mary is horrified at her co-workers' jokes revolving around the titular deceased clown. Fast-forward to the funeral, where they remain appropriately solemn while she completely cracks up at the eulogy. Then zigzagged, when the minister for the funeral tells her it's okay to laugh, that Chuckles would have ''wanted'' her to laugh and be happy. Cue Mary breaking down and bawling.

--->'''Mary''': ''[discussing disaster coverage on the news]'' How many big disasters are there in Minneapolis?

--->'''Mary''': ''(enters the room)'' Hey guys, guess what? I'm going to be a guest on ''The Ted and Georgette Show'' next week!

* ChristmasEpisode / CrappyHolidays: "Christmas and the Hard-Luck Kid II"[[note]]the title references a '60s ''Series/ThatGirl'' episode, which James L. Brooks had scripted[[/note]] has Mary roped into working at the station on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, while "Not a Christmas Story" has the WJM staff trapped by a blizzard while Sue Ann films a Christmas episode of her ''Happy Homemaker'' show...in November.

One of the many tropes it established was the recurring gag about Mary's disastrous dinner parties, similar to how ''Series/{{Friends}}'' later built continuity around its Thanksgiving episodes, ''Series/{{Frasier}}'' had catastrophic Halloweens, and ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' typically had ruinous birthdays.

The show was famous for the quality and depth of its writing, particularly the attention and care given to supporting characters such as Lou Grant (Creator/EdwardAsner), Rhoda Morgenstern (Creator/ValerieHarper), Murray Slaughter (Creator/GavinMacLeod), Ted Baxter (Creator/TedKnight), and Phyllis Lindstrom (Creator/ClorisLeachman). Even "Happy Homemaker" Sue Ann Nivens (Creator/BettyWhite), who could have been played as merely two-dimensional, was given some measure of depth.

** Likewise, Gordy Howard, WJM-TV's meteorologist, also moves to New York to become a successful talk show host after season 4. (His actor, John Amos, left the show to play James Evans, Sr. on ''Series/GoodTimes''.)

A legendary sitcom, created by Creator/JamesLBrooks and Allan Burns and aired on Creator/{{CBS}} from 1970–77, that forever reshaped American television comedy; pretty much every WorkCom that has followed in its wake bears its influence.

This legendary sitcom, created by Creator/JamesLBrooks and Allan Burns and airing on Creator/{{CBS}} from 1970–77, forever reshaped American television comedy; pretty much every WorkCom that has followed in its wake bears its influence.

A legendary 1970–77 Creator/{{CBS}} sitcom, created by Creator/JamesLBrooks and Allan Burns, which forever reshaped American television comedy; pretty much every WorkCom that has followed in its wake bears its influence.

[[quoteright:315:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mary_tyler_moore_opening_credits_7.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:315:''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuuYvQsN-ak You're gonna make it after all!]]'']]

Legendary 1970–77 Creator/{{CBS}} sitcom, created by Creator/JamesLBrooks and Allan Burns, which forever reshaped American television comedy; every WorkCom that has followed in its wake bears its influence.

* DreamSequence: "Mary's Three Husbands" has Lou, Murray, and Ted each imagining what it would be like to be married to Mary, which [[FourthWallBreaking breaks the fourth wall]] in that Mary refuses to act out Ted's dream of a romantic honeymoon.

** "His Two Right Arms" was a pilot for a proposed series about an incompetent city councilman named Pete Peterson (played by Bill Daily) and his wacky but competent staff. CBS didn't pick it up to series, and Daily went on to join ''Series/TheBobNewhartShow'' a year later.

* ''Magazine/{{MAD}}'': Parodied the series with "The Mary Tailor-Made Show".

The show was famous for the quality and depth of its writing, particularly the attention and care given to supporting characters such as Lou Grant (Creator/EdwardAsner), Rhoda Morgenstern (Creator/ValerieHarper), Murray Slaughter (Gavin [=MacLeod=]), Ted Baxter (Creator/TedKnight), and Phyllis Lindstrom (Creator/ClorisLeachman). Even "Happy Homemaker" Sue Ann Nivens (Creator/BettyWhite), who could have been played as merely two-dimensional, was given some measure of depth.

-->'''Mary''': ''[discussing disaster coverage on the news]'' How many big disasters are there in Minneapolis?
-->'''Ted''': ''[entering]'' [[CatchPhrase Hi, guys!]]
-->'''Murray''': [[LampshadeHanging Nice timing, Ted.]]

-->'''Murray''': Hey Lou, where do they find those guests, anyway? I mean, they're so dull. The night watchmen and the dry-cleaners. It's like they make dollar requirement to get on the show.
-->'''Lou''': Go figure it out, Murray. Who with ''any intelligence'' would want to ''be'' on a show like that?
-->'''Mary''': (enters the room) Hey guys, guess what? I'm going to be a guest on ''The Ted and Georgette Show'' next week!

The show was famous for the quality and depth of its writing, particularly the attention and care given to supporting characters such as Lou Grant (Creator/EdwardAsner), Rhoda Morgenstern (Creator/ValerieHarper), Murray Slaughter (Creator/GavinMacLeod), Ted Baxter (Creator/TedKnight), and Phyllis Lindstrom (Creator/ClorisLeachman). Even "Happy Homemaker" Sue Ann Nivens (Creator/BettyWhite), who could have been played as merely two-dimensional, was given some measure of depth.

The show was famous for the quality and depth of its writing, particularly the attention and care given to supporting characters such as Lou Grant (Creator/EdwardAsner), Rhoda Morgenstern (Creator/ValerieHarper), Murray Slaughter (Gavin [=MacLeod=]), Ted Baxter (Ted Knight), and Phyllis Lindstrom (Creator/ClorisLeachman). Even "Happy Homemaker" Sue Ann Nivens (Creator/BettyWhite), who could have been played as merely two-dimensional, was given some measure of depth.

The show was famous for the quality and depth of its writing, particularly the attention and care given to supporting characters such as Lou Grant (Creator/EdwardAsner), Rhoda Morgenstern (Valerie Harper), Murray Slaughter (Gavin [=MacLeod=]), Ted Baxter (Ted Knight), and Phyllis Lindstrom (Creator/ClorisLeachman). Even "Happy Homemaker" Sue Ann Nivens (Creator/BettyWhite), who could have been played as merely two-dimensional, was given some measure of depth.

* LastSecondWordSwap / GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Sue Ann, of all people, comes within a hair of saying one of the SevenDirtyWords in "The Dinner Party". She's cooking a strawberry swirl for her TV show, which is live. Well, she ''thinks'' she's cooking it, but the oven was never turned on. When Sue Ann takes the pan out and turns it upside down to drop the dessert onto a plate, the uncooked mixture falls out and splatters onto the plate and surrounding counter.

[[caption-width-right:315:[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuuYvQsN-ak ''You're gonna make it after all!'']]]]

[[caption-width-right:315:''You're gonna make it after all!'']]

** Mary's teeth are highlighted and portrayed in-universe as FetishFuel for a dentist she meets in the first season episode "Divorce Isn't Everything".