The Mary Tyler Moore Show

Interesting facts

• Mary Richards was originally planned to be divorced, but because divorce was still a hot subject in 1970, they settled for a broken engagement instead. Also, the network was afraid people would think that Mary had divorced Rob Petrie, her character's husband on The Dick Van Dyke Show, losing the audience's sympathy.
• During the first season Mary Tyler Moore wore a wig. In an effort to visually differentiate the character from "Laura Petrie" (Moore's hairstyle was essentially the same as when "The Dick Van Dyke Show" had left the air four years before) producers put the actress in a long "flip" wig.
• For the first few seasons in the series, Mary, Rhoda, and Phyllis lived in apartments at 119 N. Weatherly in Minneapolis. That address is entirely fictional, although the exterior of a real house in Minneapolis (in the Kenwood neighborhood, on Kenwood Parkway) was filmed to provide a setting. Once fans of the series discovered the place, it became a popular tourist destination. However, the real owners at the time did not enjoy the attention. A sign saying "Impeach Nixon" was in a window for a time, discouraging many from taking more pictures. When producers returned to Minneapolis in 1974 to film additional exterior shots of the house, the owners refused to remove the sign. This was allegedly the motivation behind Mary Richards' move to the high rise, at the start of the 1975 season. Other Minneapolis sites were also featured on the show (especially in the opening credits), but the show's cast very rarely spent time in the actual city.
• Following the conclusion of the series, Edward Asner continued to play Lou Grant in a long-running dramatic series of the same name. This is one of the only times in TV history that a situation comedy spun off a dramatic series.
• In 2002, cable TV network TV Land dedicated and erected a statue to the television character Mary Tyler Moore made famous near the corner of 7th Street and Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis. It was supposedly placed on the site of the famous tam o'shanter cap toss that Mary does in the opening credits. Although many in the press were skeptical of TV Land's offer at first— some claiming it was a marketing strategy by TV Land, one Macalester professor stating that it was "like honoring a unicorn" http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/200103/30_helmsm_statue/— crowds of onlookers at the unveiling revealed hushed excitement rather than animosity. Most Minneapolis residents were apathetic, while others were glad that a television and cultural icon that helped make Minneapolis famous in the eyes of TV viewers was being honored. It has become something of a tourist attraction for fans of the show, who can sometimes be seen throwing hats in front of it to recreate the famous opening.
• In 2004, the decidedly non-fictional Twin Cities television station KSTP-TV began airing commercials featuring Ed Asner as a gruff newsman. Meant to evoke the persona of Lou Grant, the commercials feature Asner speaking to members of the station's staff. They are intended to promote the channel's news department, which has seen poor ratings in recent years. The character is never named in the ads for legal reasons.
• The woman standing behind Mary Tyler Moore as she throws her hat at the end of the show's opening credits was Hazel Frederick, a lifelong Minnesota resident who happened to be out shopping on the day when Moore and producers were shooting the scenes for the opening sequence. She died in 1999 at the age of 91. Moore and Frederick met in 1996 at a book signing at the Mall of America, and Moore introduced her to the crowd as "my costar". http://www.startribune.com/stories/1699/2869467.html Also, the Dayton's building in the background is now called Marshall Field's, and has changed considerably in appearance.