Friday, March 20, 2009

Scene from a bad marriage

Longtime readers of this blog (otherwise known as gluttons for punishment) know I bring up THE MARY SHOW from time time. This was an ill-fated series my partner, David Isaacs and I did for Mary Tyler Moore and CBS in the mid 80s. This is the only clip on Youtube I could find. But it gives you some idea of the show. Katey Sagal and John Astin were particularly good.

The premise for the series was that Mary manned a helpline column for a sleazy tabloid Chicago newspaper. Here's what I remember about this episode. Mary felt the other characters and those she helped on the helpline didn't appreciate her enough. This was near the end of the run when we were a little fried.

So here's how we handled it. Looking back, we might have been just a tad passive-aggressive. You decide.

15 comments :

Anonymous said...

Directed by Rod Daniel. Rod was the line producer for us on WKRP. He was one of several people Hugh Wilson brought out with him from Atlanta.

Toby O'B said...

John Astin as Ed LaSalle was a real highlight from this series. I always thought LaSalle should have been rescued and placed in another show.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm... I wonder what Freud would say about some of that dialogue?

I liked Katey Sagal in that role a lot more than the one she became famous for.

growingupartists said...

Baseball, baseball, baseball. Is this what spring's always going to bring?

Love yer work, btw ;)

Anonymous said...

Good Morning all,

The You Tube clip of Mary came from me. I have the rest of that episode, and maybe a few more.

To make a short explanation incredibly long, the rest of the episode is on a drive that currently isn't hooked up the computer, but hopefully will be soon (when I get done messing with the Windows 7 beta)

wv: brackos: What my NCAA brackets are after last nights games.

Anonymous said...

BTW,

If you get one of those "output from the VCR into the computer" gizmos, you too can have shows like "Newhart" on DVD, rather than wait for the studios to come out with it, while every horrible series that was ever created gets released ahead of it.

wv: glint- The look in my eye thinking about the return of baseball (and this spring, the Stanley Cup playoffs).

Anonymous said...

Well, it was an exercise in frustration in the first scene already, watching and waiting for which of any of a few possible witty rejoinders to the line, can Mary beat a "queen-high straight"....

Her timing sluggish, Mary finally delivers a "oh you KNOW I can't beat a queen-high straight"...

That's IT?

And then John Astin has to make the point they lost everything and their dignity now etc.etc.. more self-evident talking about what we see...

I have to say, I was expecting more from that cast, as they could have delivered all zingers all the time.

Anonymous said...

Amazing what I'm able to do when motivated...

Mary Pts 2 and 3 (the rest of the episode) are now up.

Anonymous said...

Yes, I like it. Give inspiration

Ed I. said...

Quick question.......was your contribute left for the end credits, or was it was "cut" well?

Anonymous said...

hmm.... Mary, the prim fish out of water in the workplace dominated by the boys and a hostile tomboy, gets up and strides across the set to the closed office door of the roguish boss with whom she has a smoldering love-hate thing goin' on, as if to ignore the "nobody bother me edict" he has just issued.

Looked kinda familliar. ; )

By Ken Levine said...

One of our many mistakes with that series -- we originally had a different slant on the premise and CBS insisted we turn it more into what she did before.

So those similarities Jim pointed out, we cringed at those too.

But we were too young and naive to just say no at the time.

Karen from Mentor said...

"They actually show those acts?"
was the best part of this bit.

Ger Apeldoorn said...

I want to see the rest now! So thanks, Benson an where can I find the other parts?

Anonymous said...

"All we have left is our dignity"

"Your fly is open..."

Ha...

Baseball is a comin' yippee

Marc F