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Three Things I Never Knew About MTM Till NOW! This Is A Shocker!

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Eyes Of A Generation.com


Three Things I Never Knew Till NOW! This Is A Shocker!

First, I never knew Mary Tyler Moore had a flop. Second, that flop included David Letterman! Third, David Letterman can sing and dance! WHO KNEW?

This is the only video clip of a show called ‘Mary’ that ran on CBS for three weeks. It aired on Sunday night at 8 from September 24 till October 8, 1978. It was a dud.

After starring in two huge success, ‘The Dick Van Dyke Show’ and ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show’, Mary tried unsuccessfully to launch this comedy/variety show which relied mostly on a group of repertory players, and what a group it was!

David Letterman, Michael Keaton, Dick Shawn, Swoosie Kurtz, Judy Kahan and James Hampton. The show was produced by her husband, Grant Tinker.

In 1985, ‘Mary’ took another swing and a miss, but this time Moore’s show was a sitcom and a return to the newsroom. In this incarnation, her employer was a sleazy tabloid newspaper. Her boss was played by James Farentino and John Austin was cast as a pompous theater critic. This version of ‘Mary’ debted December 11,1985 and ended three months later on April 8, 1986. Enjoy and share!
– Bobby Ellerbee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-T11erq_kI

From Mary’s 1978 variety show.

Source

15 responses to “Three Things I Never Knew About MTM Till NOW! This Is A Shocker!”

  1. Sammy Jones

    “An 18 rating, a 14 share!”

  2. Alex Gumpel

    it’s also Letterman doing the “from Television City…” VO in the intro. More here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MazkTtnhhI

  3. Don Newbury

    I noticed Michael Keaton and the man who played the bugle player on “F Troop.” I can’t remember his name. James….? Yeah the show was pretty bad. As I recall, she also had a show on CBS that tanked as well. People just weren’t ready for Mary after she left Minneapolis LOL.

  4. Dennis Degan

    This was during the dark days of Fred Silverman’s reign at NBC. He started the same day I did: June 5, 1978. I think I fared better than he did. Though he wasn’t responsible for ‘Mary’, I’m pretty sure ‘The Big Event’ was NOT very big at all. Silverman also brought ‘Supertrain’ to NBC. That’s his legacy there . . . . 😉

  5. Rob Kates

    A swing and a miss for Mary. This had to be so humiliating for Letterman. This was the phase where he was living in Los Angeles and doing stand up and appearing on TV whenever he could. Some may not know that he and Leno were trying to make it in the comedy clubs at the same time. They were actually good friends.

  6. Michael Scott Ferguson

    ………………………horrifying?!?

  7. Bob Batsche

    I’d share this but it’s just too……………………………….

  8. Steve Pomerantz

    I remember the ’78 variety show, but not the ’85 sitcom. In ’78, I was in college. By ’85, I was working at NBC Burbank. If I remember correctly, one of the running jokes on the variety show was for the cast to blame everything on Letterman.

  9. Brian Grossman

    I remember this well. All too well, and had already been familiar with Dave from seeing his standup on Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert and couldn’t believe what I was watching, even back then as a kid! Speaking of kids, if my calculations are correct, our current 67 year old Dave was just about 31 in this clip. Holy Toledo!!!

  10. Gerald Nahill

    Carson could also sing and dance very well. Check out on
    You Tube with Jack Benny

  11. Neil Rattigan

    I just checked the network lineups for the fall of ’78. “Battlestar Galactica” on ABC was the competition. NBC was running “The Big Event,” which presumably wasn’t as big as what ABC had.

  12. Terry Drymon

    omg wow !

  13. Alan Rosenfeld

    Painful…I remember both short lived shows.

  14. Pierre Seguin

    I could´nt say more Albert, you are totally right !

  15. Albert J. McGilvray

    Letterman looks totally embarrassed, and would have been happier anywhere else.

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