Customer Reviews

The Mary Tyler Moore Show - The Complete Second Season (1971)

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Finally! While so much crap is coming out on DVD the best show of all time is finally getting it's due. Thank you Fox for having the good sense to release a TV classic. It was during this time [1970's] that sitcoms made the change to reflect what was going on in America. Always funny and sometimes controversial, Mr. Grant got divorced, Mary was a liberated women etc. The cast was perfect for their roles. This show is very tame by todays standards, but still original and hillarious. No need to go into details of the show because we all know about the show. I watched this show when I was a kid in the 70's and liked it then. Fans please buy this DVD so Fox will release the rest of the seasons, before they use up their supply of DVDs for more releases of American Idol or some other crap show.

She had spunk. As Lou Grant (Ed Asner) noted in the first episode, he hated that. Luckily, the rest of the nation loved it. Mary Tyler Moore lit up "The Dick Van Dyke Show" during its run and after a string of movie disasters returned to the small screen with "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" a series that was pitch perfect for her small screen persona. I always think of Mary Tyler Moore as a single, hipper Samantha Stevens without the magic. She had her comic foils but she didn't have to go home with them and deal with their ranting and ravings about all the mistakes she had made during the episode. Moore's show created by writer/director/producer James L. Brooks ("Broadcast News") and Allan Burns poked fun at everything from the nosy next door neighbor (Phyllis expertly played by Cloris Leachman soon to get her own show) to the goofy, uncertain best friend ( Rhoda played by Valerie Harper and soon to get her own show as well). She had the clueless but big hearted boss (Ed Asner as Lou Grant soon to get his own show- I see a trend here...) and the stuffy news anchor (expertly played by the funny, diverse Ted Knight so well that for many years nobody could see him as anything but the stuffy "you fill in the blanks" character on a number of shows).

After a two year wait the second season FINALLY comes to DVD. It seems that Fox was disappointed by the sales of the first season which came with many of the same bells and whistles as this one does. What Fox failed to factor they had priced the first season way too high. So the lesson learned here is that when you price any series or movie too high smart buyers are going to rent it or, better yet, wait until you finally drop the price to purchase it. So it really wasn't due to any fault in the quality of the boxed set but the idiocy and greed of the marketing department. This ain't "The X-Files" folks (and that series would have sold much, much better if it had also been priced more affordably like Fox has been doing lately with retailers). So this set has been languishing (along with extras) in DVD purgatory until this year two and a half years after the initial release of this series.

The second season of "MTMS" looks as sharp and colorful as the first. While some of the episodes are a bit dark, the colors are much richer and more vibrant than any syndicated version of the series I've ever seen. It's hard to compare to the original broadcast episodes because it's been so long and the quality of color TVs just can't compare (and neither can memory) to that of the current crop of HDTV ready TVs. The images are clean of analog artifacts for the most part and look crisper than Mary's 70's era disco inspired outfits. There's only so much that you can do to improve mono sound. "MTMS" sounds really good with clear dialog and music cues.

I was afraid with the lower price for this set that Fox might skimp on the extras but seeing as how they already had them lined up, they've kept them in tact for this release. Future releases, on the other hand, may not have much of anything. Fox has included the Mad magazine parody "The Mary Tailor-Made Show" with each panel presented in a large enough format to read. We get the first season and season two through seven openings with their dizzy pop zoom shots in karaoke format. The re-recorded theme with different opening lyrics and a more easy listening arrangement misses the energy of the later season opening theme. It sounds as if the opening was re-recorded and then edited together with the earlier theme song. We get clips from the Emmy Awards for Ed Asner and Valerie Harper for the second season of the series. Asner's acceptance speech is a crack up. Harper tied with Sally Struthers ("All in the Family") in a unique situation that hasn't occurred since. We get Struthers and Harper both giving their acceptance speeches. Struthers is a crack up.

We also get a "News Beat" segment from the comedy show. How is that tied into " The Mary Tyler Moore Show"? They go in search of Mary Richards and everywhere she went. "Moore on Sunday" is from a local TV program with behind-the-scenes footage of the shooting of the second season opening title. The color on this extra is quite faded and the picture quality so-so but, hey, it's a piece of history. "8 characters in Search of a Sitcom" features writers-producers-creators Jim Brooks, Alan Burns, director Jay Sandrich Joan Darling actor/teacher/director of the episode "Chuckles Bites the Dust" provides some great comments about the various characters in the series. Members of the cast such as Ed Asner, Betty White, Valerie Harper and others appear discussing their characters and the relationships on the show. We also get a photo gallery that includes pictures of scripts from the series all provided by Ed Asner. There are also photos of Gavin MacLeod and director Peter Baldwin at the DVD commentary session, Asner preparing to shoot the Trivia Game for the DVD, Paul Sand and producer David Davis again shot while they were prepping for their commentary tracks. We even get good old Cleveland Armory the TV critic for TV Guide during the 70's with his recap of the Emmy Awards and who won. There's also the "All-Star Trivia Challenge" hosted by Asner. Sadly, the only person missing from all this is Mary Tyler Moore herself.
A classic, classy package from Fox, I'm happy that "The Mary Tyler Moore Show: The Complete 2nd Season" has finally been released from DVD purgatory by Fox. It was worth it guys. With the second season more reasonably priced than the first, I'm hoping this second season will sell better than the first and prompt Fox to release the remaining seasons on DVD. Fox has done a marvelous job of transferring this classic series and providing great extras as well.

After a very long and uncomfortable wait-and-see period where every other TV show was being guaranteed multiple DVD releases, the Mary Tyler Moore show is back on DVD. 48 episodes in the 1971-1972 season give aficionados of quality classic television something of their own to smile about.

There are less DVD discs included this set than the previous MTM season release, but if it is needed to keep the price down and increase audience purchasing level, so be it. Personally, I would rather have a whole season DVD with extras dispersed throughout the package than pay lots more money for a package with an extras DVD or a really low price for a really limited selection of episodes with not much of anything.

Beginning with this season's opener, a new version of "Love is all around" is used for the show. These new song lyrics are now assuring us that Mary will indeed make it on her own. Mary is a confident independent woman who can and does survive whatever is in her work and personal lives.

Notable episodes from this season include "A girl's mother is not her best friend" because Rhoda's mother Ida Morgenstern (Nancy Walker). Seeing how her daughter's friends get along with their own mothers has encouraged Ida to try some bonding with Rhoda. It does not work as well as she had planned.

"And now, sitting in for Ted Baxter" has the WJM-TV staff ponder their next move after a fill in replacement for anchor Ted Baxter is actually more popular than the person who was being replaced. Ted isn't a bad person, but he just comes across on camera as being full of himself.

Rhoda begins wearing her soon-to-be-trademark headscarf in "The square-shaped room". Lou clashes with Rhoda after recognizing her own designing tastes are thoroughly modern. He had hired her to redecorate his family's living room while wife Edie was out.

Mary gets a personal dose of politics in "The five-minute dress" because she tries to date a Governor's aide. Unfortunately like their boss, governor's aides also have busy schedules. This public-sector reality hinders their relationship because a super-busy work literally prevents him from keeping a date.

Mary takes another dip into the world of politics with "His two right arms". After getting him to agree going on 'Face the People' Mary discovers that City Council member Pete Peterson (Bill Daily) is completely incompetent. She must then work in tandem with his aides in order for Peterson to have a fighting chance on that TV show.

I really like the strong buddy system which Mary, Rhoda, and Phyllis have this season. Although this series is officially called the `Mary Tyler Moore Show', having a member of the trio looking 'outcast' and reduced to a prop would not be appropriate. Each member of this clique shines in their own right.

Hopefully the prolonged (and truly unnecessary) delay of this season's DVD release will remind people that letting the studios know you want a DVD out is important business. Don't underestimate the potential clout of public opinion; we can make the studios produce the shows we want out on DVD.

It is hard to rate an unseen item but if the second season is as nicely remastered and as well packaged as the first season the wait will have been worth it. I don't really understand why it has taken so long to bring out Mary Tyler Moore on DVD, when you can get the complete Dick Van Dyke Show. But, whose to figure the mechanizations of this industry. The Mary Tyler Moore Show was one of the best series to come out of the 70s. It is so great to be able to relive it on DVD in all its glory.

I'm so excited that the FEEBS at Fox finally wised up and decided to continue their MTM season releases. Sitcoms from the 70s, like MTM, Bob Newhart, Maude & Barney Miller struck a chord in me that others that have aired since have not. So this DVD release will truly be one of the highlights of my summer.

As for the previous message poster's comment about getting his Veal Prince Orloff... do you know what happens to us fans if you leave seasons 3 thru 7 off the sales floor too long?
WE DIE!!!
...Okay, that's an exaggeration. But I couldn't help myself!

Other great MTM shows => Lou Grant, Hill Street Blues, Phyllis, Tony Randall Show, Rhoda, Newhart, WKRP...
Fox, if you're smart you'll get all these buried treasures out for us eager consumers to... well... CONSUME!

This 3-Disc DVD set of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show: The Complete Second Season" was released by Fox Home Entertainment on July 26, 2005 -- 1,036 days (nearly three years) after the first-season boxed set came out in late September 2002. But it was worth the wait, in my opinion, because the shows look excellent on these DVDs. The first-season MTM set exhibits nearly-perfect video quality, and this follow-up second-season set looks every bit as good as that first aggregation. Rich in color and detail, the DVD picture quality of these 1971-1972 programs belies their age. The transfer of these film prints to Digital Disc was done just right.

Episode numbers 25 through 48 of The MTM Show are presented in this 24-episode, three-disc collection, which comes housed in three "Slim" style plastic cases, placed inside an outer cardboard slipcase box. No booklet is included (except for a multi-page enclosure advertising other Fox TV DVDs).

Episode information is outlined on the back side of each of the three "ThinPak" cases, including original CBS-TV air dates and director credits for each episode.

The second season of Mary's series is highlighted by these episodes, which are among my favorites: "Some Of My Best Friends Are Rhoda", "Feeb", "The Square-Shaped Room", "Thoroughly Unmilitant Mary", "The Slaughter Affair", and "Where There's Smoke, There's Rhoda".

Two of the three discs in this collection are single-sided platters (with disc art); while Disc #3 is a dual-sided disc (which means no label on that one), with the bonus material being located on Side B of Disc 3.

Here's a detailed look at the Special Features that are contained within this MTM-2 boxed set.............

>> Audio Commentary Tracks on three episodes, one per disc (featuring cast and crew members, including series' co-stars Ed Asner and Gavin MacLeod). The episodes with a Commentary attached are: "The Birds...And...Um...Bees", "The Six-And-A-Half-Year Itch", and "The Slaughter Affair".


>> "Eight Characters In Search Of A Sitcom". .... This is a 57-minute retrospective documentary all about the MTM Show (no surprise there, eh?). Plenty of cast and crew interviews were filmed in 2002 for this lengthy documentary program, including chats with the writers, producers, plus actors Ed Asner, Gavin MacLeod, Valerie Harper, Betty White, Cloris Leachman, and Georgia Engel. About the only star missing is, unfortunately, the main star herself, Mary, who doesn't participate in any on-camera interviews here. Ted Knight ("Ted Baxter"), sadly, passed away in August 1986, at age 62.

This is very similar in style to the Season-One DVD documentary. In fact, I'm nearly certain this was filmed at the exact same time as that first-season program. Lots of video clips from the various seasons of the MTM show are sprinkled throughout this feature. Good stuff, although it would have been nice if some behind-the-camera stuff and some outtakes could have been included (but they weren't).

This "Eight Characters" bonus is broken into nine chapters, that can each be accessed from a separate Chapter Menu. There's a "Play All" option, too, for uninterrupted playing of the whole documentary.

There's a separate "Chapter" for each of the "8 Characters" who are "in search of a sitcom" -- Mary, Lou, Rhoda, Ted, Phyllis, Murray, Georgette, and Sue Ann. The ninth chapter is labelled "All Together Now".


>> "Moore On Sunday". .... This bonus is extremely fun and interesting. It's from a local Minneapolis TV news broadcast (called "Moore On Sunday", which was hosted by Dave Moore of WCCO-TV; no relation at all to Mary Tyler Moore, however). In this 21-minute behind-the-scenes documentary (which originally aired on Minneapolis-St. Paul television in late September of 1973), we follow the MTM film crew as they prepare for and film the new Main Title opening credits for the fourth season of the series in May 1973. (Of course, this really has nothing whatsoever to do with "Season Two" specifically -- but, IMO, who cares?! It's still great old, vintage stuff. The narration throughout this nearly half-hour piece is first-rate too; narrated by Dave Moore himself.)

A portion of this featurette had me laughing aloud, when Mr. Moore gets in a really nice "dig" (via irony) at the lady who owned the "119 N. Weatherly" apartment building that was used in the exterior shots of Mary Richards' TV home. This woman refused to allow the house to be re-filmed for the 4th-Season opening, and decided to hang "Impeach Nixon" banners all over the front of her house to dissuade the MTM filming crew. Mr. Moore's following comment is a nifty piece of commentary. I won't give it away here; anyway, I thought it was pretty clever. :)

The "Moore On Sunday" piece contains many scenes of Mary Tyler Moore and co-star Valerie Harper going through the paces of filming the show's new opening. Picture quality shows its age here; but this is a really cool hunk of very rarely-seen video; a super-nice inclusion to this boxed set, IMO. Some interesting trivia is revealed in this segment too (I hadn't known it heretofore anyway) -- The man sitting with Mary in the open-air, balcony-style restaurant during the opening credits is Mary's then-husband Grant Tinker.


>> Two 1972 Emmy Awards video clips. .... Ed Asner and Valerie Harper accept their well-deserved Emmy Awards in these video clips from the 1972 Emmy TV broadcast. Valerie actually tied with "All In The Family's" Sally Struthers, who we also get to see make her acceptance speech via this footage. The picture quality on these clips isn't too great; but this footage is still wonderful to see, because we get to see these actors step out of character for a moment, circa 1972.

Oddly, this Emmy bonus includes a "Play All" option for just this 2-item supplement; but they didn't put a "Play All" feature for any of the episodes on these discs. Kind of odd. Total run time for both Emmy clips = approx. 5.5 minutes.


>> "Newsbeat Segment DM-1509". .... This is a rather strange little bonus feature. It's an 11-minute comedy spot (or it's intended to be "comedy" at any rate); copyright date of 2002. It consists of a "fake" newscast of some kind, called "Newsbeat: In Search Of Mary Richards", which has a woman acting kind of crazy and off-the-wall as she "reports" from various Minneapolis landmarks known to be inhabitated in previous years by "Mary Richards" of The MTM Show.

Footnote: There IS one hysterical moment in this thing -- when, in remembrance of "Chuckles The Clown" (who, as we all know, was crushed to death by a rogue elephant during the 6th season of the MTM series), the "reporter" asks a man on the street "What were you doing October 25, 1975?" (the night of the "Chuckles Bites The Dust" classic TV broadcast). The man paused for a moment, and then responded: "In the penitentiary". THAT had me LOL for a minute indeed. :-)

This "Newsbeat" bonus is partially redeemed by what is, IMO, a very clever ending sequence, which features "Newsbeat Reporter Nancy Sykes" (played, btw, by Kate Asner, daughter of Ed Asner) placing herself in Mary Richards' shoes during an excellent "re-creation" of the MTM opening credits (while "Fonda's" jazzed-up, and quite good, version of "Love Is All Around" plays beneath the video). A very cute ending to an otherwise really odd and unfunny supplement.


>> "Mad Magazine" Parody: "The Mary Tailor-Made Show". .... This is a really funny text-only bonus feature that displays pages of an MTM Show parody from issue No. 155 of "Mad Magazine" (circa December 1972). Those "Mad" guys really let Mary have it too, in this scathing laugh-filled spoof that pokes fun at everything from Mary's clothes, to Lou's grumpiness, to Ted's ignorance, to Rhoda's Jewishness, to the lousy news-reporting performed at TV station WJM. The names of the characters were changed ("to protect the innocent", perhaps?; hehe) -- with Lou Grant becoming "Mr. Grunt" for the purposes of this "Mad" piece. While Ted is re-named "Klod", Phyllis is "Chillus", Murray is known here as "Blurry", and Rhoda's name is mangled into "Rodent Droopstern" (LOL!).

My favorite line from this comic-book-like parody is when Mary proclaims: "Let me change into another Christian Dior original! I want to be among the world's ten best-dressed $92-a-week office flunkies!" (ROFL!)

These "Mad" text screens must be advanced by the user via the remote control. Thankfully, it's an at-your-own-pace type of text-based DVD feature, without an automatic "timed" track. God help those people trying to read these text pages on a small TV screen, though. That might be kinda tough on the ol' eyeballs. :-)


>> Photo Gallery. .... Like the Season-One MTM "Gallery", this second-season batch of photos is a bit of a disappointment to this writer. There are no pictures at all from the actual Season-Two MTM set or of the cast or crew from the year this season was made. Instead, we get several "Script Pages" from Ed Asner's private collection (the covers for the scripts even show the word "Ed" in the corner); plus a few random shots of the cast and crew members preparing to do their Audio Commentary Tracks for this DVD collection. Like the "Mad Magazine" bonus, this Gallery is not on a "timed" screen-advancing track either; DVD remote keystrokes control the advancement of the Photo pages.


>> "Love Is All Around" Theme Song Karaoke. .... This consists of two different versions of the MTM Show Opening Titles, with captions on screen.


>> All-Star Trivia Challenge. .... Cloris Leachman ("Phyllis") introduces this "trivia" bonus; and then members of the cast and crew ask some MTM trivia questions. Then you've got to pick the correct answer among four choices on screen. After selecting an answer, a video clip from the show will provide the correct response to that question. Your "final score" is announced at the end of the quiz.

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Additional DVD Info ................

>> VIDEO -- Full Frame 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio (the original TV ratio).

>> AUDIO -- Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono soundtracks are included in English and Spanish.

>> SUBTITLES -- English and Spanish.

>> "PLAY ALL EPISODES" OPTION INCLUDED? -- No.

>> MENUS -- Non-animated; Silent (no music); Separate Episode Sub-Menus for each program. ... The Menus and Language Set-Up are exactly like the Season-One MTM set, including the slightly-annoying (but not overly so) mini "delay" after choosing anything from any of the Menu screens. There's that built-in "pause" that takes just an extra 'beat' to get to the next Menu choice. But the Menu design is very classy, IMO, with everything laid out in the unique "MTM-type Font/Lettering". Nice touch, to keep it all in the "MTM Spirit".

>> CHAPTER BREAKS? -- Yes. 10 Chapter Stops per show.

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Season Two is another great year of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show". And getting to finally see these 24 episodes via these well-polished DVDs makes Mary's sophomore campaign look even better than when the shows first aired on network television in 1971 and 1972. And with all of the Season-Two episodes combined with plentiful and really fun-to-watch bonus supplements, this 3-Disc DVD set from Fox Home Entertainment is a special treat for any fan of "Miss Richards" (aka: Mary Tyler Moore).

Oh My God! True fans have been eagerly waiting for this moment. With all the major crap that T.V. mostly has to offer and with the almost instant release of this crap to DVD it is no wonder that the tension of getting real, true "Quality" released is very palpable. Not since Freaks and Geeks has there been such noise about a DVD, in this case since season one was released over 2 years ago with a promise of season 2 coming soon? Now I know I'm gonna make it after all...

After two years of consumer petitioning and campaigning, Twentieth Century-Fox has finally reconsidered its stance on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show", and is releasing Season Two. The Season One release seems to have generated disappointing sales, at least in the beginning, so the Season Two release was "iffy" for a long time, with one Fox exec saying that it was unlikely to happen at all.

Fortunately, Fox has listened to the entreaties of fans, so we're getting Season Two, with what appears to be the same impeccable standard of presentation that made Season One one of the highest-quality classic television releases on DVD. Best of all, Fox has corrected the problem that many people felt was a "killer" for the Season One release- a very high list price. The Season Two release is popularly priced at a list of less than $30, and is already being discounted, so pricing should not be an issue this time.

Fans of the show are getting a very rare extra on the Season Two release; it's called "Newsbeat Segment DM-1509". When the MTM Enterprises crew visited the Twin Cities in early 1970 to shoot the famous opening credits, a real Minneapolis TV station did a news feature on the filming. That film, forgotten for over three decades, has been unearthed, and should give fans a "first day" look at the creation of the show.

Thanks to Fox for listening to fans, and here's hoping that the new release will lead to availability of more "Mary Tyler Moore Show" seasons. It should: this is one series that just got better as it went along.

When TV shows started being released on DVD, there were only a handful of shows I was going to allow myself to buy. While that number has increased, I've been waited anxiously to get more of this show, one of the originals on the list. I'm so thankful to finally have a chance to get season two.

With the groundwork laid in the highly successful season one, the cast and crew push on to better themselves with season two. Several of the supporting characters get better developed here, most noticeably Ted, who gets several episodes that show his big talk is hiding some very low self-esteem. Bess also gets more episodes this season and some very funny ones at that. Even Rhoda's mother makes a return visit. The only character who still seems to suffer is Murray, who only gets one episode devoted to him. Of course, he doesn't truly come into his own until he has Sue Ann to spar with starting with season 4.

Some of the standout episodes of this season include "A Girl's Best Mother is Not Her Friend," which features the return of Ida Morgenstern. "Thoroughly Unmilitant Mary" finds Mary and Lou the only two members of the newsroom not on strike. When Mary continues a chain letter, her responses include two men in "Don't Break the Chain." A spineless Mary gets frustrated with a "Feeb." Rhoda and Mary find they are better friends then roommates in "Where There's Smoke, There's Rhoda." And Phyllis overreacts to an A for Bess in "The Care and Feeding of Parents."

Fans will love this three-disc set. The episodes have been restored and look great with only the minimal dust in the full frame picture. The mono sound is great as well. The extras were originally completed before the set was postponed several years ago and are mostly featured on the back of the third disc. They included cast and crew commentary on three episodes, clips of the Emmy winners from this season, and an interesting documentary on all eight of the main characters and actors on the show. There's a twenty-minute look at filming the new footage for the fourth season opening which I found very entertaining. The parody from "Mad Magazine" has some funny bits, but like most stuff from them goes too far and looses it's whit before it's over. While the "Newsbeat Segment" had a few interesting bits in it, most of it wasn't worth watching.

Watching the extras, you get the feeling that everyone loved working on this show. I think this comes through in the finished product. While the fashions and sets are dated, the laughter isn't at all. Here's hoping season three follows soon.

Season 3 of the MTM show will be out on January 17, 2006 according to tvshowsondvd. This is great news for fans of the series, especially since the quality of the first two seasons is great, both sound and picture. The price is right, too - Just a $29.99 list price for 24 episodes. We should have had all seven seasons by now, but under the circumstances, this is the best news us fans could hear. Bring the rest on, Fox!!!