My Top 10 this week is Top 10 The Mary Tyler Moore Show Characters. This is my all time #1 show so it was a list I took quite seriously!
The Mary Tyler Moore Show only had eight regular characters during its run and back in those days, recurring characters on shows were few and far between. One of the few was Gordy the weatherman played by John Amos before he hit in big with Good Times and Roots. Gordy was always good for a few quips and the show occasionally dabbled with him being the only black character in a white sitcom/ensemble. I'm sure he would have had more to do if the show was made today but he made the most of his limited opportunities.
9. IDA MORGENSTERN
Nancy Walker only appeared in four episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show but boy did she make her presence known in a role she then shined in on Rhoda too. Her first two appearances ("Support Your Local Mother" and "A Girl's Best Friend is Not Her Mother") are among the all-time best episodes of the series. Walker's mama bear persona mixed with some serious bite and passive-aggressiveness created a hilarious character to interact with both Rhoda and Mary.
8. GEORGETTE FRANKLIN BAXTER
It was very difficult to rank Georgette at #8. She might be the best character I've ranked this low on any of my Top 10 lists. That is just how strong the main characters on this series are. Georgia Engel made a career of being a soft spoken and slightly ditzy character but she was never better than she was here. Georgette was a very sweet character who humanized Ted and would occasionally surprisingly hilarious lines. She brought something different to the show when she joined.
Phyllis is another character who made the most of more limited appearances. Cloris Leachman was fully committed to the insanity of the character. She was a "small dose" character which is why her spinoff probably didn't work. But on the main show, Leachman's limited availability was the best thing that could have happened for the show. Every time she swooped in, it was like a hurricane as her character's blatant disregard for her surroundings and social etiquettes were pretty hilarious.
6. MURRAY SLAUGHTER
Poor Murray, he was always the forgotten one in the office and his portrayer, Gavin MacLeod, was the only main cast member never nominated for an Emmy. But Murray's loyalty to his beloved "Mare" is hard to beat. Sure, he sometimes did nothing more than offer a few good quips to Ted or Sue Ann. But he also was a vulnerable character who always seemed to be searching for just a little bit more professionally or personally. I think MacLeod's performance was underrated on the show.
The great Betty White was known for many things in her nearly 100 years on the planet. But my favorite performance of hers will always be as Sue Ann Nivens. She brought a jolt of energy when she joined the show in its fourth season with her epic put-downs delivered with the sickly sweetness of something she might bake on her Happy Homemaker show. The show did eventually give her character more depth too but White was mostly the strongest comedic foil in the show's later years.
4. TED BAXTER
Ted Knight did something pretty amazing on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. His character could have (should have?) been pretty unlikable. He was a buffoon who was as self-centered as any character in TV history. And yet Knight made him lovable, not irritating. Similar to Steve Carell's Michael Scott decades later, Ted Knight actually made us believe that the crew at WJM would tolerate Ted Baxter just enough to not force a change. It was a really dynamic performance. And of course quite funny too.
The main character comes in at #3 on this list which is really just a reflection of how strong this cast is and not a knock on Mary herself. The one who could turn the world on with her smile was of course a groundbreaking character. Self-assuredly a single working woman in an era where female characters were mostly wives and mothers, Mary blazed a trail in a way that wasn't as "in your face" as a Norman Lear sitcom. Mary Tyler Moore did it with class and humor and her character, while sometimes a straight woman, really was the reason the entire show worked.
2. RHODA MORGENSTERN
I'm not sure Rhoda Morgenstern would rank this high on a list for Rhoda characters because Rhoda was so much better as a supporting character. She was the opposite of Mary in so many ways and yet they were best friends. And she zigged in ways that Mary zagged so they were the perfect TV best friends. Valerie Harper liked to say that Mary was "who you wished you could be" and Rhoda was "who you probably were." She was so relatable, so down to Earth and so funny. While The Mary Tyler Moore Show continued to be great, there was a void when Rhoda left for her own show after the fourth season.
The late, great Ed Asner is probably TV's best boss of all time. How many times in the years since has a character in authority been compared to Lou Grant? He was gruff on the exterior but actually a giant teddy bear. The show probably did more character development with him than any other character especially through the arc of his divorce with Edie. It was an on-going story in an era where shows didn't really do that. Asner was a very funny character but he was also an expert actor who could convey so many emotions and character quirks in the context of a standard sitcom. Some of that is the writing of course but Asner deserves a lot of the credit.
Tomorrow: A One Season Wonder look at The Building!
Tuesday in Three Weeks: Top 10 8 Simple Rules Characters!
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