Welcome to the first of a new series on ye olde blog! Last year I did the Happy Days Epics series which saw my site traffic roar from 1.8 users a week to 2.1 users! Now that’s marked improvement!
This new series will spotlight episodes of television shows presented as they originally aired on the network, “w/o/c” or “with original commercials”. Watching a show with all of the bumpers, announcements and such can really take you back in a way watching the show episodes themsevles can’t.
We start with the legendary final episode of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”, titled appropriately enough, “The Last Show.” I’ll start by posting the full video if you’ve a mind to watch it, then I’ll dig into some things I find interesting. Hopefully you do as well!
This copy of the MTM finale is sourced from CBS affiliate WBBM-TV Chicago:
After the quick opening, a commercial break!
The show begins as Lou gets some disturbing news…the new owner of WJM-TV wants to meet with Lou, Mary, Murray and Ted.
Ted Knight is hilarious in this scene, scrambling through possibilities to avoid what seems almost unavoidable: The WJM News Team is headed for the last roundup.
The next scene, in the new owner’s office, begins with Ted’s ultimate attempt to save himself: An in-person appearance by Georgette, their adopted son (played by Robbie “Cousin Oliver” RIst), their baby and their family dog.
The owner dismisses the Baxters (save for Ted) and does pretty much the same thing with the WJM News department.
The team returns to the newsroom, where they find out that Happy Homemaker Sue Ann Nivens has also been fired.
MURRAY: Being fired is like being violated.
SUE ANN: Leave it to Murray to find a bright spot.
Act One closes with a Hail Mary (pardon the pun): Maybe when the owner said “you guys” he was leaving Mary out? Nnnnnnnnnnnnnno. No, he especially wanted her fired. Fade out.
Commercial Break!
Of the two preceding products–the Volkswagen Rabbit or Nature Valley Granola Bars–which is still currently manufactured today?
The answer is….Nature Valley Granola Bars! The VW Rabbit was discontinued in 1984. It should be noted that chewy granola bars seem to be a lot more popular than the old-school hard as a brick kind. “The first step in the wussy-fying of our youth!” -Old Man On A Porch
Back to Minneapolis and Mr. Grant, old softie that he is, has used WJM petty cash to fly out some familiar friends of Mary’s.
Rhoda and the always-burdensome Phyllis have a hilarious reunion with Mare, most of which revolves around Phyllis being jealous of Rhoda’s effort to console their chum. There’s something very relatable about a group of three friends with two who, honestly, can’t stand each other. Rhoda hears for the first time that Phyllis’ husband Lars has died.
RHODA: How’s good old Lars?
PHYLLIS: Old Lars is dead, Rhoda.
RHODA: Phyllis, why didn’t you tell me?
PHYLLIS: I was afraid you might want to come to the funeral.
Side trip: “Rhoda” and “Phyllis” offer two textbook examples in misguided spin-offs. “Rhoda” married off the title character almost immediately and viewers and critics found the marriage to be a complete snore in terms of plots, characters, etc. Rhoda and Joe divorced but the ship had sailed. Phyllis, meanwhile, was a crazy choice for a spin-off. MTM had been knocking out hit after hit after hit so they might have felt bulletproof. But the Phyllis character was too strident to play the essential “straight man” (or woman) title role. Successful spin-offs, in most cases, take characters who are fairly straight to begin with and build a whole world around them, “Frasier” being the classic example.
Well, we’re reaching the end. Kleenex time. It’s an incredible feat of writing and performance that Ted’s goofy close to his final newscast–quoting the lyrics to “It’s A Long Way To Tipperary”–that same set of lyrics, sung by the cast on their way out of the WJM newsroom, is a moment of sadness, melancholy, joy and triumph all at once. And in between Ted’s Tipperary and the final Tipperary the hits just keep on coming. Lou’s “I treasure you people.” Mary’s speech about coworkers being family. The Kleenex shuffle. It is, in a word, perfect.
Commercial Break!
It’s a CBS promo for their annual telecast of “The Wizard Of Oz”! Y’see kids (puts on cardigan sweater, begins smoking pipe) back in the day, “The Wizard Of Oz” was only on television once a year! And television was the only place to see it! Oh, my, did we get excited when that special evening came around. Mama Mary would pop popcorn and we’d get to make a blanket fort on the livingroom floor and watch “The Wizard Of Oz”! Ahhhhh, those were the days.
Oh, and Mom waited for the one time a year “Gone With The Wind” was on television. And that damn movie was so long they aired it over two nights!
This is from a commercial for Avon–specifically, the door-to-door “Avon lady.” I could have found a better screenshot but this one just makes me laugh. The old creeper on the left is the middle lady’s husband, and he enjoys the smell of her perfume. She seems to be thinking, “Go clip the hedges old man!”
Post-Show Promos!
ANNCR: “Tomorrow night see a special preview of a great new romantic comedy series, ‘Loves Me Loves Me Not’ starring Susan Dey and Ken Gilman…right here, after ‘Bing.'”
In 1977, a lot of the way television was presented was pretty low tech. This promo, for example, was read by an announcer live while a 35mm slide with this artwork was projected onto the screen. The booth announcer used to be a major cog in the wheel of television presentation..when I was a kid, I thought that would be an awesome job! Just sit there and watch TV, then every 30 minutes hop on the mic and say stuff like, “Hawkeye has an ethical dilemma in the operating room on an all-new MASH, Saturday at 9, 8 central and mountain. Now stay tuned for The Incredible Hulk, next on CBS!” By the time I was old enough to even dream of such a job, it didn’t exist. All that stuff was pre-recorded by slick Hollywood voice artists. Ah well.
(Incidentally, “Loves Me Loves Me Not” went unloved in its first and only season of a mere six episodes. Susan Dey would bounce back in the 80s with “L.A. Law.”)
One more promo before the station break:
“Bing!!” was a 90-minute television spectacular celebrating Bing Crosby’s 50th anniversary in show business. And it would be warmly regarded today had it not nearly killed him. According to IMDB:
During his final comments of the musical special, Crosby said, “I hope it won’t be another 50 years before we can celebrate like this again.” As the audience honored him with a standing ovation, he turned the wrong way to exit the stage and fell into the orchestra pit.
Crosby was rushed to Pasadena’s Huntington Memorial Hospital and admitted for a few days treatment and recovery of the trauma-a cut to the head and some bruises. Days later, the hospital spokesman told the media Bing was “in very high spirits.”
(I have this special on DVD, from a Time/Life collection of Bing Crosby TV specials. I think I am the only person under 90 who bought it.)