| Mary | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Promotional photo featuring Mary Tyler Moore and John Astin | |
| Genre | Sitcom |
| Created by | David Isaacs Ken Levine |
| Written by | David Isaacs Dennis Koenig Ken Levine Emily Marshall Merrill Markoe Tom Straw Douglas Wyman |
| Directed by | Peter Baldwin Jeff Chambers Rod Daniel Danny DeVito Ellen Falcon Dolores Ferraro Nick Havinga Will Mackenzie |
| Starring | Mary Tyler Moore James Farentino John Astin David Byrd Katey Sagal James Tolkan Carlene Watkins Derek McGrath Harold Sylvester |
| Theme music composer | Dan Foliart Howard Pearl |
| Composers | Dan Foliart Howard Pearl |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 13 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | David Isaacs Ken Levine |
| Producers | David Isaacs Ken Levine |
| Editor | Andrew Chulack |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera setup |
| Running time | 22 min |
| Production company | MTM Enterprises |
| Original release | |
| Network | CBS |
| Release | December 11, 1985 (1985-12-11) – April 8, 1986 (1986-04-08) |
Mary is an Americansitcom television series that aired onCBS from December 11, 1985, to April 8, 1986. The series starsMary Tyler Moore in her return to series television after an absence of over six years, during which time she appeared onBroadway inWhose Life Is It Anyway? and in the dramatic filmOrdinary People. AfterThe Mary Tyler Moore Show, her subsequent ventures into series television on the variety showsMary (1978) andThe Mary Tyler Moore Hour (1979) had been short-runningratings disasters, and Moore decided to return to the sitcom format which had brought her the greatest television success; the sitcom nonetheless met the same fate as the variety shows.
InMary, Moore plays Mary Brenner, a 40-ish divorcée working at a second ratetabloid, theChicago Eagle. She was formerly a high-profile writer at afashion magazine namedWomen's Digest, which recently went out of business, and she is now reduced to writing aconsumer-assistance column, "Helpline", helping to expose substandard business practices and products and the often uncaring reaction of government to these problems. Her boss, Managing Editor Frank DeMarco (James Farentino), concentrates onsensationalism as he is convinced that that is what really sells papers. He is also quite a ladies' man, and is attracted to Mary, as she is to him, but she finds dealing with that situation to be quite awkward.
Also working at theEagle are the cynical, chain-smoking columnist Jo Tucker (Katey Sagal), the condescending theater critic Ed LaSalle (John Astin), and Tully (David Byrd), a copy editor who can scarcely function because he is going blind but knows he isn't going away; his job has strong protection from theunion. Neighbors include Susan Wilcox (Carlene Watkins), Mary's good friend, whose fiancé Lester Mintz (James Tolkan) seems to be somehow "connected".
The newspaper was originally calledChicago Post. Chicago aldermanRichard Mell, who owned a newspaper by that name, asked that the name be changed because "TheChicago Post is not a sleazy newspaper." The producers changed the name before airing.[1]
Throughout its run,Mary was paired with the sitcomFoley Square starringMargaret Colin, which also premiered on December 11, 1985, and aired at 8:30 p.m. on Wednesdays immediately afterMary at 8:00 p.m. Neither show ever really found much of an audience, and afterMary's tenth episode aired on February 19, 1986,Mary went into hiatus, as didFoley Square after its eleventh episode was broadcast on February 26, 1986. Still paired, the two shows moved to Tuesdays and a later time slot in the hope of boosting their ratings. Broadcasts of both shows at the new day and time resumed on March 25, 1986, withMary at 9:00 p.m. andFoley Square at 9:30 p.m. OnMary, Susan and Lester were written out and Mary's personal life was generally downplayed in favor of her business one. There were some favorable reviews, although some critics pronounced it as more or less a clone of her previous sitcomThe Mary Tyler Moore Show. With the two shows still suffering from poor ratings in their new time slots, CBS broadcast only three more episodes of each before cancelling both of them after the thirteenth episode ofMary and fourteenth episode ofFoley Square aired on April 8, 1986.[2][3][4]
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "From Pillar to Post" | Danny DeVito | Ken Levine &David Isaacs | December 11, 1985 (1985-12-11) | |
Mary is determined to prove she's tough enough to handle her new job as a consumer help-line columnist for theChicago Eagle. | |||||
| 2 | "Make My Day" | Danny DeVito | Ken Levine & David Isaacs | December 18, 1985 (1985-12-18) | |
Mary is chided by Jo for being too soft on a shady businessman, so Jo harangues the man by pretending to be Mary. | |||||
| 3 | "Chicago Hi-Lo" | Ellen Falcon | Dennis Koenig | December 25, 1985 (1985-12-25) | |
Mary accepts Jo's invitation to play in the weekly office poker game, hoping to gain acceptance as one of the guys. | |||||
| 4 | "Everyone's a Critic" | Will Mackenzie | Tom Straw | January 1, 1986 (1986-01-01) | |
Mary's vague comments about a play she was supposed to attend — but didn't — appear in Ed LaSalle's theater column review. | |||||
| 5 | "The Death Threat" | Nick Havinga | Merrill Markoe | January 8, 1986 (1986-01-08) | |
When theChicago Eagle is hit with death threats, Mary is shocked that Frank just laughs them off. | |||||
| 6 | "Forest for the Trees" | Jeff Chambers | Emily Marshall | January 15, 1986 (1986-01-15) | |
Mary is depressed because her birthday is the same day as her wedding anniversary, but then she receives a gift from someone unexpected. | |||||
| 7 | "Same Old Song" | Ellen Falcon | Ken Levine & David Isaacs | January 22, 1986 (1986-01-22) | |
Jo is visited by her on-again/off-again boyfriend (Richard Gilliland) who wants Mary to help him get his completed novel published. | |||||
| 8 | "Beans" | Rod Daniel | Douglas Wyman | January 29, 1986 (1986-01-29) | |
Mary threatens to go over Frank's head when she's convinced he made a bad editorial decision. | |||||
| 9 | "Table for Two" | Ellen Falcon | Emily Marshall | February 12, 1986 (1986-02-12) | |
When Mary's dinner date calls to cancel after she's left work, Frank engineers a spot at her table. | |||||
| 10 | "Mr. Lucky" | Rod Daniel | Dennis Koenig | February 19, 1986 (1986-02-19) | |
Although he thinks he's on a lucky streak, Frank invites Mary to go to Monte Carlo and she declines his offer. | |||||
| 11 | "And the Winner Is" | Peter Baldwin | Emily Marshall | March 25, 1986 (1986-03-25) | |
Mary is surprised to win a fashion writer's award for an article she wrote at her former job. | |||||
| 12 | "Little Jo" | Dolores Ferraro | Tom Straw | April 1, 1986 (1986-04-01) | |
Mary organizes a dinner in her apartment for Jo and her visiting critical parents (Doris Belack andDennis Patrick). | |||||
| 13 | "Steppin' Out with Mary Brenner" | Peter Baldwin | Jennifer Tilly | April 8, 1986 (1986-04-08) | |
Mary is placed in an awkward position when she is assigned by Frank to review a play written, directed and produced by Ed LaSalle. | |||||
| No. | Title | Air Date | Time | Rank | Rating | Viewers (Millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | From Pillar to Post | December 11, 1985 | Wednesday at 8:00 P.M. | #31 of 71 | 17.1 | 14.7 |
| 2 | Make My Day | December 18, 1985 | ##43 of 66 | 14.3 | 12.3 | |
| 3 | Chicago Hi-Lo | December 25, 1985 | #45 of 67 | 11.9 | 10.2 | |
| 4 | Everyone's a Critic | January 1, 1986 | #16 of 64 | 21.0 | 18.0 | |
| 5 | The Death Threat | January 8, 1986 | #44 of 65 | 14.8 | 12.7 | |
| 6 | Forest for the Trees | January 15, 1986 | #51 of 71 | 13.8 | 11.9 | |
| 7 | Same Old Song | January 22, 1986 | #38 of 67 | 15.8 | 13.6 | |
| 8 | Beans | January 29, 1986 | #49 of 68 | 13.6 | 11.7 | |
| 9 | Table for Two | February 12, 1986 | #64 of 66 | 12.6 | 10.8 | |
| 10 | Mr. Lucky | February 19, 1986 | #56 of 68 | 12.3 | 10.5 | |
| 11 | And the Winner Is | March 25, 1986 | Tuesday at 9:00 P.M. | #58 of 65 | 9.8 | 8.5 |
| 12 | Little Jo | April 1, 1986 | #57 of 67 | 11.8 | 9.3 | |
| 13 | Steppin' Out with Mary Brenner | April 8, 1986 | #63 of 71 | 9.5 | 8.2 |
Source:A.C. Nielsen Company viaLos Angeles Times