I’m guessing Jen might be slightly addicted to the “not real but an incredible simulation” feeling Twitter gives. It’s like turning your life into a movie with your selected narration: you’re the director, the star, the editor—it makes it easy to frame and give context to things like ill health, accidents, moods. Very…

I did the National Civilian Community Corps and imagining Jenner in that program is delightful. Thank you for this comment; I am going to be laughing all day. 

Here’s my crabby Thursday morning take that you didn’t ask for:

On the other hand, what are people supposed to do if someone says “hey, we’d like to have you read this script to speak out against racism”?  Just say “nah, I’m good”?  Sure, it came off badly, but who wants to be that one person who’s not going to speak publicly against racism?  

A friend of mine lived there and I had to feed her goldfish for a week. I never felt unsafe. I will share that the hallways smell strongly of Somalian food, the elevators are craaaaaazyyy slow (and she lived on the 21st floor — a few times I just took the stairs down as my workout for the day), and you cannot find a…

I love that the owners of the MTM house were constantly bothered by people wanting to see inside (don't people know about soundstages?) and they asked the producers to stop using the house for exteriors. When they refused, the owners of the house hung a huge banner that read 'impeach Nixon'. Apparently by the end of…

I was at college in Eau Claire, WI at the time.  Most of our TV stations came in from Minneapolis.  But I lived in southeastern WI, and it was weird how I felt closer to Mary when I was at school, and closer to Bob when I was at home. *g*

@TheCzarCastIchbasTurd:disqus That sounds like she took a nothing day and suddenly made it all seem worthwhile.

I was about to say that this show taught me to never, ever have a dinner party!

Although we've seen a lot of dumb network executive decisions over the years, the suits running CBS in the early 70s were some the smartest, bravest and most perceptive in TV history.  They knew the fantasy sitcoms of the 60s were on their way out and saw MTM as the kind of show that would keep their network relevant…

There are times when I think it'd be fun to live the kind of life Mary did, yeah, definitely. Heck, lately I've been thinking that if I could get a better-paying job here for a time, one that would allow me to properly save up enough money, someday I could move to Minneapolis/St. Paul-close enough to my family, but…

I got that book for my mom a while back and she's really enjoying it so far. She's been sharing random bits of information from it with me, and it sounds like a pretty interesting read. If what's in there is any indication, then honestly, it's truly a miracle that certain TV shows like this one got on the air at all,…

"The Lars Affair" is actually Sue Ann's first appearance, and the most amazing thing in it is this:  when Phyllis is telling Sue Ann that Lars has his flaws, her example is that he has "a neurotic fear of swallowing hair".  Which I would not have noticed was a shockingly dirty joke had not the person I was watching it…

I was trying to figure out what "Mary Tyler Moore socks" were until I finished your sentence.

My in-laws live in Minneapolis, and often we drive past the original MTM house. I'm pretty sure that Mary Richards could not afford to live there now.

I once sold Mary Tyler Moore socks and gave her directions to the liquor store.

You have to remember in 1970, there were only 3 television stations and bars had not been invented yet. Cheers (and the subsequent invention of drinking) basically ruined Saturday television.{Citation needed}

Hell, Prime Time starting at 7:30 looks odd, as does the hour-long drama being the kickoff show.

I just struggled with how to indicate that Rhoda, Phyllis, and Mary all lived in the same building and decided "tenant" was the best way to indicate that without going into too much detail. But you are correct that Phyllis and Lars owned the building and rented out the other two apartments.

In the Armstrong book, she talks about how CBS initially scheduled it on Tuesdays opposite some huge hit program, with a lead-in that made no sense. Then, there was an executive changeover, and Fred Silverman watched the pilot of this, decided it had potential, and moved it to Saturdays, where it lived for its entire…