The Mary Tyler Moore Show: The Complete Third Season -- A Personal Review (1 Viewer)

[Rob W]

Absolutely wonderful posts Mike - among the best and most perfectly expressed I have ever seen on this forum. All of it has the ring of truth based on what knowledge I have of the industry.

Like you, I would not let the minor music alteration prevent my purchase of MTM. The real value of the show is in the performances and some of the best scripts in the history of the medium - and those are blessedly complete.

 

[DavidBC]

so.....

Season 4?

 

[ElijahS]

Assuming it releases, I'm predicting July.

 

[David Von Pein]

I was just watching a mini-marathon of several back-to-back MTM Season #3 episodes, and never fail to be amazed at how well this show holds up over time. Every single ep. is utterly perfect (both script-wise and PQ-wise on these DVDs...gorgeous color and video quality).

Just a few sample episodes from S.3 reveal the exquisite storylines, characters, relationships, and friendships that I'm literally envious of with each viewing -- "You've Got A Friend" and "The Courtship Of Mary's Father's Daughter" (both co-starring the great Bill Quinn as Mary's dad) are two such examples. Beautiful shows. Wonderfully written and brilliantly acted, with just the right dose of sentiment mixed in with the humor. Like when Mary's dad bandages the wrong finger after Mary cuts herself in "You've Got A Friend". One of the best scenes ever done in the whole series.

And "Rhoda Morgenstern: Minneapolis To New York" is another winner from Disc #2, exemplifying what the word "friendship" really means.

I want to watch them all again -- and will....very soon, thanks to this excellent DVD set from Fox Home Entertainment.

To tell the truth, I wish I'd kept my big fat mouth shut about that one damn, insignificant Ted Baxter/music edit -- because by opening my yap about it, it's caused somebody who does like the MTM show to keep from buying it when he otherwise would have (even though he says he could live without it).

And I kind of feel bad about that -- because after having just now sat through those three incredibly-good episodes I raved about above, it would truly be a damn shame if even a casual fan of TMTMS would have to miss out on these perfectly-fine-tuned episodes just because Ted was mumbling instead of singing an Irving Berling tune in the office in one scene.

In short, these shows are too darn good to miss because of something so incredibly trivial and minor in nature.*

* = IMO, of course. And, to be perfectly honest and open, I'll put it as Rhoda Morgenstern might put it in her brusk, hold-nothing-back New York way -- "Anybody not buying this DVD set because of a little tiny edit has got to be crazy, Mare! Crazy! And, as I said before, Mare, I'm not gonna eat that candy! I'm just going to apply it DIRECTLY to my hips!"

 

[Steve...O]

David, I'm late in chiming in here, but thank you for your personal review. I received this as a birthday present and am looking forward to watching it.

This is a great show and I hope that those who are unfamiliar with it take a chance and rent (and subsequently buy) one of the sets. They won't regret it.

Steve

 

[David Lambert]

So, David VP, did you watch last night's episode of That '70s Show? Nice little bit at the end there with Mary and Gavin!

"I love boats!"

 

[David Von Pein]

No, David L., I didn't see that. Darn-it.

And, by-the-by, David L., are you working hard on getting Paramount to release "The Fugitive (1963): The Complete First Season" on DVD at some point in time before we all have long, white beards and are bangin' on the floor with our canes for our dinners?

I have faith in you in this Fuge regard, my TVShowsOnDVD.com friend. I have faith.

 

[Mike Williams]

(Homer Simpson) "Mmmmmm . . . chocolate covered frog . . . ."

 

[ElijahS]

I finished the set last night, and I feel confident in saying that, as strong as the first two seasons are, the third season is significantly better.

Also, with the last episode (and this just might be my mind playing tricks with me), one of the cameras appears to be slightly blurry in multiple scenes. It's not terrible by any stretch of the imagination, but there were certain shots that appeared to be less than crystal clear (which the vast majority of the MTM prints seem to be).

 

[David Lambert]

Are you kidding? Martin Blythe's replacement is pretty useless. It's not like we can talk her into anything. And don't bother with online petitions; she doesn't seem to know that the Internet exists. :frowning:

 

[Steve...O]

This really is distressing news. Over on the Film & Documentary forum there's been a lot of discussion about how Paramount has seemingly abandoned catalog releases. Let's hope that the TV division doesn't befall the same fate. For awhile there Paramount looked like they were going to be the Warners of TV on DVD.

 

[David Lambert]

I'm sure it's for the same reason: Martin's gone and this lady sucks.

 

[David Von Pein]

David L.:

Yes....I actually was kidding.