tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post5351490419651530499..comments2023-11-03T06:02:02.128-07:00Comments on By Ken Levine: The CBS tribute to Mary Tyler MooreBy Ken Levinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17305293821975250420noreply@blogger.comBlogger50125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-85357838134421756702017-03-30T13:41:07.461-07:002017-03-30T13:41:07.461-07:00Oprah's "tribute" to MTM came to min...Oprah's "tribute" to MTM came to mind and I had to see if anyone else found it as obnoxious as I did. I'm glad to know I wasn't the only one who wondered why I was watching a show about Oprah. Oprah needs to take a few lessons from Mary about grace and class and lay off of her never ending self promotion. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-7299615209231199072017-02-03T06:32:18.434-08:002017-02-03T06:32:18.434-08:00I finally watched the special and Ken nailed it.
...I finally watched the special and Ken nailed it. <br /><br />How could CBS do such a poor job on one of the people who made the network what it was? Oprah met MTM once and the special revolved around Oprah? My God, what a terrible, terrible "tribute". Captain Jackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14493807389502468402noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-9034209337655745112017-01-31T22:25:16.824-08:002017-01-31T22:25:16.824-08:00@Jahn Ghalt
Thank you. Mad of course, was one of ...@Jahn Ghalt<br /><br />Thank you. <i>Mad</i> of course, was one of my earliest influences.D. McEwannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-80232490422269793402017-01-30T17:31:24.934-08:002017-01-30T17:31:24.934-08:00@ D. McEwan
That parody is worthy of Mad Magazine...@ D. McEwan<br /><br />That parody is worthy of Mad Magazine. Good One.Jahn Ghaltnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-28010415556127289542017-01-30T14:03:51.395-08:002017-01-30T14:03:51.395-08:00one of the ONLY sites I have noticed that is brave...one of the ONLY sites I have noticed that is brave enough to describe this program.<br />All the other sites speak about what an amazing tribute it was...<br />it was horrible to watch Oprah become the focus of this tribute.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-7987160229583816392017-01-30T12:20:23.321-08:002017-01-30T12:20:23.321-08:00Very disappointed. If they were going to have a sh...Very disappointed. If they were going to have a show full of Oprah, she should have hosted it. It ended up being about Oprah. Nichsyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05845679934696309750noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-59175532419372006912017-01-30T04:30:49.277-08:002017-01-30T04:30:49.277-08:00I think this would have been a better tribute if t...I think this would have been a better tribute if they played the theme song to her show more often because eight times in the hour just wasn't enough.Rock Golfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04945235295808697884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-44274568903481830432017-01-29T08:56:21.426-08:002017-01-29T08:56:21.426-08:00Are we sure Oprah Winfrey isn't a benign, dark...Are we sure Oprah Winfrey isn't a benign, darker-skinned, female Donald Trump? (Although I suppose had he ever run a magazine, <i>his</i> image would've been on the cover of every issue.)VP81955https://www.blogger.com/profile/11792390726196611188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-26918189259545840052017-01-28T18:07:00.817-08:002017-01-28T18:07:00.817-08:00"Who could turn the world off with her gab?
W..."Who could turn the world off with her gab?<br />Who could take someone else's death,<br />And use it for an attention grab?<br />Why it's you girl, and you should know it,<br />With each and every throb of your ego you show it,<br />Oprah's all around, you can't escape her,<br />She will always tell, to stop you can't make her,<br />She might just make me want to scream."D. McEwannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-11623946670754647232017-01-28T17:03:02.288-08:002017-01-28T17:03:02.288-08:00Could not agree more. We were looking forward to v...Could not agree more. We were looking forward to viewing classic scenes and instead we got clips with no context. Anyone who had not seen the Chuckles-the-Clown-funeral episode would look at the clip they showed and have no idea what was going on. One of the funniest scenes ever in a sitcom was reduced to a "what's that?" clip. Sad. And the contribution made by Oprah could have been boiled down to one or two minutes. One of the great TV question askers of our generation was really struggling in her question-answering role. Perhaps CBS should have waited an extra day in order to have time to put something meaningful together. It was not one of the network's better moments.Bob Johnsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-89454317702703816842017-01-28T11:18:03.691-08:002017-01-28T11:18:03.691-08:00I thought this was the most ridiculous "tribu...I thought this was the most ridiculous "tribute." I mean, it's bad enough the show was all about Oprah but I really did NOT need to see special, behind-the-scene footage of Oprah discussing her armpits. I mean, REALLY!! And when Oprah said that the appearance of MTM changed the way the Oprah show was run, I thought Ms. Winfrey was finally going to say something of substance. Instead it was again all about Ms. Winfrey: Oprah informed her staff that MTM was the last surprise guest to ever be allowed on the show. Who the heck cares??? This was supposed to be an MTM tribute. I completely agree with Mr. Kevin Levine: during the airing of the bits-and-pieces clips I thought it would have been so much more satisfying to air SCENES from MTM's shows. WHAT A MESS.GayAdventurehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13839862601744129922noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-3373416982650316812017-01-28T10:23:43.455-08:002017-01-28T10:23:43.455-08:00I did not see the special. (Perhaps I should be h...I did not see the special. (Perhaps I should be happy about that.) The "This was the best they could do in a short period of time" argument doesn't hold water. It was well known that Mary has been very ill for years. This show could have been 90% complete long before her tragic death. Newspapers prepare orbits in advance all the time for people with short life expectancies.Roy DeRoussehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11733800042482163999noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-75806882958469121262017-01-28T01:51:57.882-08:002017-01-28T01:51:57.882-08:00I just watched the ABC tribute and was highly disa...I just watched the ABC tribute and was highly disappointed to see only about 15 seconds of Oprah. What the hell were they thinking? It should all be about Oprah.Davehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14383234713692495686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-41502671029831012262017-01-27T20:24:19.910-08:002017-01-27T20:24:19.910-08:00Someone let me know it was on and I hurriedly swit...Someone let me know it was on and I hurriedly switched channels.. I am so glad I am not the only one upset by the Oprah-fied MTM tribute. I do wonder if it angers you that Moore got a lot of credit for the breakthroughs of women in TV when it was the writers that gave her those lines to say.<br />The special on ABC tonight was a bit better...but it still had a moment or two with Oprah...and I still was hoping for a slice of how cosmopolitan the Mary Tyler Moore show made Minneapolis seem in the 70's.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-5363806896227988022017-01-27T18:57:48.118-08:002017-01-27T18:57:48.118-08:00They even showed the wrong location on where "...They even showed the wrong location on where "Mary Tyler Moore" was filmed. The show was filmed at Studio Center (where MTM would eventually end up owning half of the facility with CBS), not Television City. CBS should have done a better job with this. And don't get me started on Oprah... T Doghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11829971495020996664noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-88971767956962003322017-01-27T16:53:08.179-08:002017-01-27T16:53:08.179-08:00Yes, the wonderful Treva Silverman. And lest we fo...Yes, the wonderful Treva Silverman. And lest we forget Mary Kay Place.Bob O'Brienhttp://www.bobobrien.tvnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-86289429659660612872017-01-27T15:59:54.339-08:002017-01-27T15:59:54.339-08:00CBS got it right at least once; when Jack Benny di...CBS got it right at least once; when Jack Benny died. Of course, Charles Kuralt isn't around anymore. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM71SNOcynIPhil In Phoenixnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-60308460471889525402017-01-27T15:29:41.863-08:002017-01-27T15:29:41.863-08:00Couldn't agree more. This was an hour of telev...Couldn't agree more. This was an hour of television devoted to Oprah. I changed the channel and watched a rerun of Chicago Med.Savannah Michaelshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02026810205489386464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-36537019787060462062017-01-27T14:24:54.081-08:002017-01-27T14:24:54.081-08:00Amen. As soon as I saw Gayle King I said, "O...Amen. As soon as I saw Gayle King I said, "Oprah can't be far away," and sure enough...There is no excuse for this kind of last-minute mashup. Major newspapers write obituaries in advance for prominent people and often let them suggest changes and corrections. CBS surely knew that Ms. Moore was 80 and in poor health, so they had plenty of time to prepare something more appropriate, where her singing commercial from the 1950s wouldn't get the same amount of emphasis as her Oscar-nominated role in ORDINARY PEOPLE. And when Dick Van Dyke passes, please, not Larry King or Steve Harvey or someone else who met him once at a party. Buttermilk Skyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07430011403223875192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-84015309669980666822017-01-27T13:38:11.871-08:002017-01-27T13:38:11.871-08:00I got the impression Gayle King said: let me host ...I got the impression Gayle King said: let me host the show - I can get Oprah! Many of the points made here are valid - this could have been sooo much better even with a tight turnaround. This was a news division show - they live for tight deadlines. I so wanted the show to be great. Peter K. O'Connellhttp://www.audioconnell.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-40821841779190875682017-01-27T13:28:33.469-08:002017-01-27T13:28:33.469-08:00Thank you, Ken, for pointing out how sadly lop-sid...Thank you, Ken, for pointing out how sadly lop-sided this CBS tribute to MTM was. It would have been much better to see and hear from people that actually knew and worked with the iconic MTM.Grace Fishernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-26676128670878710052017-01-27T12:44:58.304-08:002017-01-27T12:44:58.304-08:00Chuckles the Clown received greater respect.Chuckles the Clown received greater respect.Brian O.https://www.blogger.com/profile/06135578015612515545noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-73460321311309179012017-01-27T12:25:20.355-08:002017-01-27T12:25:20.355-08:00The Stan Laurel tribute special that CBS aired bac...The Stan Laurel tribute special that CBS aired back in 1965 is a perfect example of how networks can take a good thing and screw it up. After Laurel's death, one of the New York stations aired a Laurel and Hardy tribute that consisted of a few comments from people who knew and/or worked with the team, but was mostly lots and lots of footage from their films. Got great reviews and was widely hailed (by those able to see it) as a top-notch tribute to the boys. CBS hired the guy who had put together that show to do something similar for them. What happened, though, is that CBS ruined it, insisting that stars from current CBS series be showcased on the special, and fearing that the audience would be turned off by a lot of old film footage, pushed the clips from Laurel and Hardy's films out in favor of glitzy musical numbers and mostly unfunny comedy sketches that had precious little to do with Laurel and Hardy. The show is pretty worthless, though the sketch Buster Keaton and Lucille Ball do (with Harvey Korman as a cop) is at least amusing. <br /><br />Carl Reiner is one of the credited writers on that special. I've always been curious to know what his contributions to it were.Randynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-90219341546429732052017-01-27T10:43:04.163-08:002017-01-27T10:43:04.163-08:00Another item, perhaps deservedly overlooked: The M...Another item, perhaps deservedly overlooked: The MARY AND RHODA reunion movie from 2000. I can't remember much of it. It's on youtube, although separated into several parts. (The links there that claim to have the whole movie actually request that viewers go to a pay site.)Charles H. Bryannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-37421130532861125972017-01-27T10:33:53.119-08:002017-01-27T10:33:53.119-08:00Agreed. I like Oprah, and she was probably doing h...Agreed. I like Oprah, and she was probably doing her buddy Gayle a favor, and someone at CBS probably thought she was a better draw than the people who worked with Mary Tyler Moore. Still, not a great hour, and they also basically reran a piece that was used on the CBS Evening News. They should have waited until Saturday and showed some full episodes, just like when the original show aired.<br /><br />I also agree that pre-empting those two shows was a big favor, both to us and to the shows.<br /><br />I've been watching MTM on Hulu and here's one thing that maybe old people like me notice -- you pretty much couldn't do that show today because local tv stations don't produce as much of their own content as they once did. Sue Ann is on HGTV. Chuckles the Clown probably now works for Nickelodeon or Antenna TV so who cares if he dies? Charles H. Bryannoreply@blogger.com