"Admit it, Mary. Suddenly, your life got crummy. So, it'll get better. It has to. You're not the crummy life type. Truly, you aren't. I am the crummy life type. You're just on a lousy streak. I happen to be on a terrific streak. But soon things will be back to normal again. Tomorrow you'll meet a crowned head of Europe and marry. I will have a fat attack, eat 300 peanut butter cups and die." - Valerie Harper as Rhoda Morgenstern
The Mary Tyler Moore Show: The Complete Third Season DVD Review
By Jonathan Boudreaux
By the time season three of The Mary Tyler Moore Show premiered on September 16, 1972, the series' writers, actors, and audiences were so familiar with the show's characters - thirtysomething single Minneapolis career woman Mary Richards (Mary Tyler Moore); her blustery boss, Lou Grant (Ed Asner); news writer Murray Slaughter (The Love Boat's Gavin MacLeod); vacuous newsman Ted Baxter (Too Close for Comfort's Ted Knight); Mary's best friend, Rhoda Morgenstern (Valerie Harper); and snobbish Phyllis Lindstrom (Cloris Leachman) - that they were free to explore themes and plotlines that further enriched our understanding of the characters.
The show's producers often denied that MTM was trying to make any kind of feminist statement. In the third season, this becomes a harder position to defend as Mary further exerts her independence. In "The Good-Time News," the new station manager puts her in charge of WJM's new "happy news" format. In the process, she learns that her male predecessor earned $50 more per week than she does.and that he was less competent. She refuses (albeit gently) to accept Mr. Grant's explanation that her predecessor had a family to support and therefore needed the extra funds. Her status as the only woman in the newsroom lands her in a newspaper column ("What is Mary Richards Really Like?"), but it also gains her unwanted attention from the smarmy newspaper columnist. When a replacement is needed after Mr. Grant is promoted to program manager, Mary takes her name out of the running, until Phyllis convinces her that she owes it to herself as a woman to try for the job. Mary also deals with the divorce of a "perfect couple" ("Have I Found a Guy for You"), lets slip that she's on "the pill" ("You've Got a Friend"), finds herself in charge of the newsroom when Lou is ill ("Operation: Lou"), and accepts the fact that she is perfectly happy as a single woman...even when a seemingly perfect guy proposes to her ("The Courtship of Mary's Father's Daughter").
One of the season's most outrageously funny episodes avoids such social commentary. In "Put on a Happy Face," Mary gets nominated for her first Teddy Award. She should be thrilled, but then things begin to go horribly wrong. She has to recreate a missing obituary file, develops a "hair bump," sprains her ankle on a freshly waxed floor, and catches a cold. By the time she makes it to the award ceremony, she's a mess - ill fitting dress, a slipper on one foot, limp hair, leaky nose. Unlike most MTM episodes, the emphasis here is on belly laughs. "Put on a Happy Face" is extremely successful, especially since it shows that perfect Mary has definite imperfections.
Each of the characters undergoes personal growth during the third season, with Rhoda perhaps changing the most. In previous seasons, she was insecure about her weight and looks. In "Rhoda the Beautiful," she must come to terms with her newly svelte self after losing twenty pounds thanks to the help of a weight loss group. She still thinks of herself as the supposedly fat girl she once was, but her attitude begins to change when she is invited to enter a beauty contest at Hempel's Department Store. In "Rhoda Morgenstern: Minneapolis to New York," a vacation to New York City leads to a window dressing job at Bloomingdale's. It is an excellent opportunity, but is she willing to leave her Minneapolis pals to return to the Big Apple? "Enter Rhoda's Parents" sees the return of Nancy Walker as Rhoda's mom, Ida, and introduces Harold Gould as her father, Martin.
Murray also becomes a richer character this season. In "It's Whether You Win or Lose," we learn a shocking secret about the seemingly perfect family man - he is a recovering compulsive gambler. He loses his confidence when a former classmate wins a Pulitzer Prize for journalism while he is stuck writing copy for Ted Baxter ("Murray Faces Life"). He even leads Rhoda's weight loss group in "Rhoda the Beautiful."
Season three takes steps toward humanizing automaton newscaster Ted Baxter. In "Operation: Lou," Lou enters the hospital to have old World War II shrapnel removed. He tries to keep the operation a secret, but when Ted finds out and starts spending time at the hospital, Lou is surprised to learn that Ted is actually a decent person. They become friends, and Lou even finds himself defending Ted's moronic behavior. This classic episode mixes touching moments (Ted admitting that Lou is his best friend) with absurdly hilarious flourishes (Ted's misguided on-air tribute to Lou). "Rhoda Morgenstern: Minneapolis to New York" introduces Georgia Engel as Georgette Franklin, Rhoda's co-worker at Hempel's. Engel's rather...unique...portrayal of Georgette makes her a perfect match for Ted, and their flirtatious courtship at Rhoda's going away party is fun to watch. When they actually begin to date, Ted takes advantage of Georgette's naiveté and sweet nature by having her do his laundry and perform other menial tasks, but when she finally confronts him, she learns that he really does love her ("The Georgette Story").
Not all of the cast additions are as successful as Georgette. "Just Around the Corner" introduces Nanette Fabray (One Day at a Time) and Bill Quinn (Archie Bunker's Place) as Mary's parents who have moved to Minneapolis now that her father has retired. Mary has been so independent for the previous two seasons that it is strange and somehow wrong to have her parents in such close proximity. Not that they actually do anything. As a matter of fact, they rarely appear. In "You've Got a Friend," Mary decides to set her father up with Lou Grant because she thinks her dad needs friends. Pop also shows up in "The Courtship of Mary's Father's Daughter" to fix Mary's deadbolt. And that's pretty much it. After three episodes, they disappear, never to be seen again.
Familiar faces in season three include Peter Haskell (The Law & Harry McGraw), Jerry Van Dyke (My Mother the Car), Bert Convy (Super Password), Beth Howland (Alice), Florida Friebus (The Bob Newhart Show), Jack Riley (The Bob Newhart Show), Gordon Jump (WKRP in Cincinnati), Michael Tolan (The Nurses), Stuart Margolin (The Rockford Files), Lois Nettleton (In the Heat of the Night), Joseph Campanella (The Bold and the Beautiful), Louise Lasser (Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman), and Craig T. Nelson (Coach).
The twenty-four episodes that make up season three are divided onto three single-sided discs. Each disc is housed in a slim, black keepcase. The front of each case features the same publicity photo of Moore perched on a giant "M." The back of each case features a listing of episode titles, airdates, brief synopses, and writing/directing credits. The cases slide into a cardboard outer sleeve which features the same photo of Moore.
The menu design is a bit more simplistic than those in previous MTM releases, but they are still pleasing. From the main menu, each episode on the DVD is numbered in airdate order. Clicking on a title brings up that episode's individual menu screen. From here, the episode options (scene and language selection) can be chosen and the episode can be played. Each episode is divided into chapters, including one immediately after the opening title sequence...not that you'd want to skip it.
