"The Mary Tyler Moore Show", Season 1 on DVD
Product Information: Four-disc DVD set with high-quality packaging. Twentieth Century Fox Home Video, 2002.
Discs 1 thru 3: Episodes 1.1 thru 1.24. Commentary for episodes "Love is All Around", "Support Your Local Mother", "1040 or Fight" (featuring Allan Burns, Edward Asner, David Davis, Paul Sand)
Disc 4: Extensive new 90-minute documentary featuring Mary Tyler Moore, Valerie Harper, Gavin MacLeod, Edward Asner, Stan Daniels, James L. Brooks, Allan Burns, Ethel Winant, Treva Silverman, Jay Sandrich, Grant Tinker, Reza S. Badiyi, David Lloyd, David Davis; trivia quiz, gallery of stills.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 30, 2002
The first season of episodes of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" on DVD, with a few bonus easter eggs, proves to be one of the better TV series coverages on DVD. At long last, many TV series' previously available only in bits and pieces on VHS tapes are coming into their own on the new and far superior format. In the early 90's, MTM Home Video released a set of six or so tapes each containing several episodes of such series' as "The Mary Tyler Moore Show", "Rhoda", "Phyllis", "The White Shadow", "Hill Street Blues", and others they produced. However, these are now out of print.
Released by Twentieth Century Fox, this four-disc set is sure to please the ardent fan of Mary Tyler Moore's seventies sitcom. Included are the first twenty-four episodes of the series, which boasted a number of good episodes but none of the comedically-polished gems of the later seasons. In the first year, we met Mary Richards and got to know her senses and sensibilities, which would expand, mature, and take on new meaning over the next seven years. The characters of Lou Grant and Ted Baxter would become less broad as the writers molded them as such. Three of the twenty-four installments have added commentary. The pilot episode, "Love is All Around" features insightful over narration by Allan Burns, Edward Asner, and David Davis. "Support Your Local Mother" is narrated by Burns and Davis (this episode won Burns and co-creator James L. Brooks an Emmy). "1040 or Fight" is narrated by Davis and Paul Sand (later of Brooks' and Burns' short-lived series "Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers"). The viewer has the option of listening to the episodes with or without the added narration.
The highlight of the set is an extensive eleven-segment documentary that runs approximately 100 minutes. Included are interviews with a number of people seen briefly in programs done previously by TV Land and others, plus a couple never-before interviewed folks. One unexpected guest is Reza Badiyi, who directed the opening title sequence used for the first year of the show. This is, of course, the compilation of clips of Mary driving down the freeway in her white two-door sedan, walking in the snow-covered park wearing her fur coat, running across the intersection, and throwing her beret into the air. Badiyi also directed the highly impressive titles on "Hawaii Five-O", which consist of many quick cuts between glimpses of Hawaiian life. His task on the MTM Show titles was a little easier although his work was no less ingenious.
A significant amount of the material and interviews with the cast and such honchos as Grant Tinker, former CBS casting coordinator Ethel Winant, and writer David Lloyd seen in earlier specials is greatly expanded upon here. Organized and directed by Matthew Asner, Danny Gould, and Edward Asner, the documentary covers the early development of the show and how each person was involved with it. The sentiments and familiarities such as Chuckles the Clown, which cater to the masses, were wisely left out. Georgia Engel was the only surviving cast member not interviewed.
Not so palatable are a ten-question quiz of extremely easy trivia questions with each question hosted by a different person, and a section of script pages and a few photos belonging to the cast. A bonafide trivia battery with the traditional easy-moderate-difficult format would have been welcome, although similar quizzes can be found on WWW.MTMSHOW.COM, a large fansite for the series. Some behind-the-scenes production photographs would have been welcome.
Also included are promos for the series premiere, plus highly-abbreviated clips taken from the 1971 Emmy awards. The comedy Emmys that year were hosted by Jack Benny and Lucille Ball – Edward Asner and Valerie Harper brought home trophies.
Fans await the release of Season Two episodes, which may be held up for awhile or indefinitely because the currently available set is reportedly not selling well.
Four stars out of a possible five. Recommended.
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