Why Did Mary Tyler Moore’s ’80s Sitcom Fail?
What To Know
- Mary Tyler Moore returned to television in 1985 with the sitcom Mary, playing a divorcée working at a Chicago tabloid. The show lasted only one season.
- Despite efforts to improve ratings by retooling the cast and focusing more on workplace comedy, the series struggled and was canceled after thirteen episodes in April 1986.
- Mary is now largely forgotten and unavailable on any streaming platforms, but clips can still be found on YouTube.
By the mid-’80s, Mary Tyler Moore was one of the biggest stars around. She had wrapped her iconic run on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, tried two short-lived variety programs, returned to the stage, and even delivered an acclaimed dramatic performance in 1980’s Ordinary People. But on December 11, 1985, she once again turned up on weekly television with a new sitcom, Mary. It promised a return to the workplace comedy she did so well; this time around, instead of being a TV producer, Moore played a writer who’s down on her luck, and takes a job at a tabloid, but in many other ways, including the crew of funky coworkers, it harkened back to her greatest hit.
Expectations were high, but the show lasted just one season before disappearing into the vaults. The show didn’t necessarily have any obvious flaws, but never hit in the ratings, and was cancelled after 13 episodes.
What was Mary Tyler Moore’s 1985 sitcom about?
Mary followed Moore as Mary Brenner, a forty-something divorcée starting over at a second-rate Chicago tabloid called the Chicago Eagle. Once a respected fashion writer at the now-defunct Women’s Digest, she now has to write a consumer-advocacy column called “Helpline,” chasing down scam artists and challenging careless companies. Her boss, Frank DeMarco, played by James Farentino, wanted splashy headlines and wasn’t shy about flirting with her. The newsroom itself was filled with colorful personalities, including Katey Sagal (in one of her first roles) as chain-smoking columnist Jo Tucker, and John Astin‘s dismissive theater critic, Ed LaSalle.
Why did Mary get cancelled?
Everett Collection
The series aired on CBS on Wednesday nights at 8pm, paired with Foley Square, which premiered the same night. Both struggled from the start, and even after a short hiatus and a move to Tuesdays at 9pm, their ratings never recovered.
By March, producers retooled the show, writing out some characters and shifting the focus to Mary’s work life rather than her personal life. A few critics praised the refinements, but others saw the show as too similar to Moore’s earlier work. On April 8, 1986, after thirteen episodes, CBS canceled Mary along with Foley Square, bringing Moore’s brief return to sitcoms to an end. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be streaming anywhere for those who want to revisit the show but you can find clips on YouTube.
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