Customer Reviews

The Very Best of the Mary Tyler Moore Show [VHS]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

One of the quintessential television comedies of the 1970's. While it is difficult to summarize 7 seasons of outstanding acting, directing and writing in only 7 video cassettes (two episodes per tape), this collection does a rather good job of highlighting each seasons' best. Wish they could have expanded the collection to include more classic episodes... "Ted's Wedding;" "The Good Time News;" "Mary's Delinquent;" "SueAnn's Sister." Maybe we can look forward to another Best of the MTM Show Collection, Volume II. Kudos all around!

"The Mary Tyler Moore Show" ran for seven seasons on CBS-TV from 1970 to 1977 (168 total episodes), and in my opinion is certainly one of the best TV program of the 1970s. Mary, Rhoda, Phyllis, Lou, Ted, Murray, Georgette, and Sue Ann will forever be remembered as one of the best TV casts in history. Who could argue? All are great actors and all are very funny too. Is it even possible not to break into laughter while watching Mary trying to hold it in at Chuckles' funeral? ("...A little seltzer down your pants.") LOL!

Actress Mary Tyler Moore, who had wrapped up her very successful 5-year stint as "Laura Petrie" on "The Dick Van Dyke Show" some four years earlier, was 33 years old when "TMTMS" first aired on September 19, 1970, although her character ("Mary Richards") is said to be only 30 in the debut episode. That excellent premiere show (entitled "Love Is All Around") is included on the first tape of this collectible VHS boxed set.

This set of seven videocassettes, released in 1997, provides the viewer with two "MTM" episodes per tape (arranged by seasons, #1 through #7). A very good "Best Of" selection was arrived at for this collection (IMO), including the appropriate "bookend" shows (the premiere show and the series finale), plus the much-beloved "Chuckles Bites The Dust" episode from the sixth season.

The seven individual VHS tapes are housed in a handsome and very sturdy cardboard slipcase, with the spines of each tape forming a piece of an MTM Show mosaic picture. The cute "MTM Kitty Cat Logo" is also printed on each of the tape sleeves (and as part of the mosaic that makes up the front of the package). Very nicely-designed (and rugged) packaging.

The video and audio quality of this 7-Tape set is pretty good (given the limitations of VHS tape). Not nearly as pristine as the gorgeous "MTM" DVDs that are available on the market today, but still -- not bad. The original TV aspect ratio is utilized here (Full Frame; 1.33:1), and the sound comes through fine via the Hi-Fi Mono audio.

One odd thing (audio-wise) I noticed on Tape #1 of this set comes in the debut episode, during a scene in the middle of the show where Rhoda hires a locksmith to get into Mary's apartment. During that scene, just after the locksmith exits the apartment, there is no "Live" studio audience laughter heard where there should be (in fact, there's no laughter at all, "canned" or otherwise, used for a portion of this scene). The print used for this set is obviously different from other VHS prints I've heard (and also differs from the DVD version of this episode), because the audience laughter *is* present on the "Complete First Season" DVD version of the episode released by Fox Home Video. And the laughter is also audible on the VHS set entitled "Mary & Rhoda: The Very Best Of Friends", a boxed collection which also contains the show's premiere episode, and a set which was released by this very same distributor. Very strange.


Here is a list of the episodes that can be found in this boxed set ................

Tape 1 (Season 1) --- "Love Is All Around" and "Support Your Local Mother".

Tape 2 (Season 2) --- "He's No Heavy, He's My Brother" and "Where There's Smoke, There's Rhoda".

Tape 3 (Season 3) --- "My Brother's Keeper" and "Put On A Happy Face".

Tape 4 (Season 4) --- "The Lars Affair" and "Ted Baxter Meets Walter Cronkite".

Tape 5 (Season 5) --- "Will Mary Richards Go To Jail?" and "The System".

Tape 6 (Season 6) --- "Chuckles Bites The Dust" and "Once I Had A Secret Love".

Tape 7 (Season 7) --- "Lou Dates Mary" and "The Last Show".

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The "Season 7" tape actually contains the last two shows that were ever aired in the MTM series, with "The Last Show" providing a good mix of tears and laughs for the viewing audience when first aired on network TV on March 19, 1977.

Also found within this set is one of the funniest "Ted Baxter moments" of the "MTM" series -- that being Ted's shocked reaction when he thinks he has bet more money on a football game than he actually had wagered, in Season Five's "The System" --- "Ten THOUSAND dollars!!??!! You mean I bet TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS!!??!!" (Followed by the proverbial Ted Baxter-style "whimpering/sobbing".) (ROFL!)

The above Ted Baxter outburst, of course, is ratcheted up on the "funny meter" by the ever-present inclusion of the guy I refer to as "The MTM Honker", whose distinctive laugh can be heard many times throughout several MTM episodes. "The Honker", btw, is none other than MTM Producer/Creator/Writer James L. Brooks (he sounds like he's "honking" all the time; it's hilarious). Brooks' unique "honk"/laugh is audible on the soundtrack of many episodes of some of the TV series that were produced under Mary Tyler Moore's "MTM Enterprises" label -- including Mary's own series, plus "Taxi" and "Rhoda" (and probably other shows as well). He's especially noticeable and audible with his "honks" on the "Rhoda" series, which was a very good spin-off of Mary's own series, featuring "Rhoda Morgenstern" out on her own in New York City.

Actually, I think the presence of the "Brooks honk" (which certainly stands out from the rest of the live studio audience laughter) is a good idea from a production standpoint. Because every time I hear Jim honking away (sometimes when the rest of the audience is dead quiet), it makes me want to laugh even harder -- which, I imagine, was exactly what the producers of these shows wanted.

It's kind of a shame that more episodes of Mary's outstanding series aren't included on these tapes, because there's certainly more than enough room on a standard 2-hour (T-120) VHS cassette to include more than just two episodes (50 minutes) per tape. Five shows would easily fit on a standard tape (in SP speed). If the "New Video Group" (which distributed this video set) had placed 5 shows on each tape, it would have given fans 35 total episodes, rather than the 14 we get here.

But, even with just a pair of programs per tape, this boxed set of "THE VERY BEST OF THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW" is still a most worthwhile purchase, and a good representative sampling of the 168 episodes that make up the entire MTM series.

Love is all around, as the theme song of The Mary Tyler Moore Show tells us; and there's lots of love in this collection. Rediscover your old friends from the 1970s! The Mary Tyler Moore Show was one of the finest, funniest sitcoms ever on TV, and this collection has some of the best episodes! Someday the complete show may come out in DVD, but until then, this is our best bet.

This collection of classic episodes from "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" should be Fan Heaven, but it misses all around. First, there were 168 episodes of TMTMS, and this handful of shows hits only the high spots. While any single episode of TMTMS can stand on its own as great comedy, the great strength of the series was the way it explored the relationships between characters in depth. The comedy of TMTMS came from our knowledge of, and love for, the characters; we got to know them as well as anyone in our real lives. Over the seven years of the show, those relationships and characters were drawn and nurtured with exemplary care, week by week. This collection gives a beginning Maryphile almost no hint of that development over time. Those who are intimately familiar with the WJM gang will go away dissatisfied, too, because they know you have to see all the episodes to fully appreciate this aspect of the show.

It is nice to see a decent video transfer of the material that is presented; seeing TMTMS this way is far better than seeing it via the shopworn, brutally time-edited prints currently shown on cable TV. But the technical limitations of VHS tape mean that these episodes still don't look as immediate and fresh as they did in their first network run. This is definitely a job for DVD.

To the folks who did this compilation: For what this is, it's okay, and it's worth what you're charging. But fans of the show would love to see all 168 half-hours on DVD, and would be willing to pay for it. It also wouldn't hurt to go ahead and get this material digitised for another important reason: TMTMS was shot on film that is already 25 to 30 years old, and is probably fading fast.

I'm giving this set four stars, not five. The SHOW deserves five, but the lack of a complete set of episodes means one has to be held back. Not to worry, when the people at Viacom come through with the rest of the episodes, and do some preservation homework, I'll come through with the other star.

The attraction of this show is the characters, and the reality of the dialogue, even 30 years after the show premiered. The writing and directing talent that got its first break can be seen all over television in celebrated series such as "The Cosby Show" and "Frasier." There's something for everyone in this boxed set; Mary's done it all. She's started over in a new city, made new friends, dated her boss, even had a bad day to end all bad days in "Put On A Happy Face."

This set has all the classic episodes, including "Chuckles Bites the Dust." The audio and video quality on the tapes is far superior to that of the episodes shown in syndication, so if you are a fan, this set is a must.

I like The Mary Tyler moore Show, it is one of my favorite clasic sitcoms and I have watched most of the episodes on Nick At Nite and TVLand and I love this classic sitcom and think it's a real gem! This tape has some great classic episodes including The Chuckles Bites The Dust Episode and I now have the complete first season on DVD and I'm contemplating buying the second season on DVD and I'm hoping the rest of the seasons are put on DVD soon including the season that has the Chuckles Bites the Dust episode.

I really enjoyed this video compilation; it shows how Mary (and Rhoda too) grew over the years. Mary is still the all-time best show ever, and I hope they make more video compilations. All the way to the last show, I never wanted this to end.

Mary's show had a sense of humor, but had topics that are still relevant today. I loved the episode where Lou dates Mary, the one where Phyllis learns that her brother is gay, and especially the one where Ted meets Walter Cronkite! I hope they make more compilations of MTM.