Did MTM Copy Doris Day?

[JaneTVFan]

I just got the first season (1968-69) "Doris Day Show" DVD last week and have watched about a dozen episodes, plus some of the bonus features, which include the opening credits for the second season (which will be released in October on DVD). A couple of things have struck me. One of the episodes I have seen so far was written by James L. Brooks, creator of the "Mary Tyler Moore Show." The first season of this show takes place on a ranch where the widow Doris Martin is raising her two sons along with her father (Denver Pyle), but in the second season Doris becomes a career woman and gets a job in San Francisco for a magazine where she is eventually promoted to reporter. Her boss is Maclean Stevenson (of M*A*S*H fame) and Rose Marie works in the office there (another interesting MTM connection). With this second season premise, which began in 1969 (a year before the MTM show), I can't help but wonder if James L. Brooks had this show in mind when he conceived the MTM Show. He MUST have. And then seeing those 1969 Doris Day Show opening credits, one cannot help but notice the striking similarity to the MTM opening. It starts out with Doris driving a red convertible from the country into to San Francisco, ready to take on life in this new city (like Mary Richards driving into Minneapolis in the opening of that show). Then we shots of Doris taking in the city of San Francisco -- at the wharf, jumping off a trolley, etc. (just as we see Mary Richards in various scenes in Minneapolis -- at work, in the park, etc.). The opening ends with Doris running across a busy street holding her hat on her head so it doesn't blow off. You almost expect to see her grab that hat and throw it up into the air. While MTM had its catchy theme song, "The Doris Day Show" had Doris singing her famous hit Que Sera, Sera.

I find these parallels quite interesting. Not to mention that both Mary and Doris were also America's sweethearts at that time. "The Doris Day Show" hit its peak in 1969-70 at 10th place in the ratings, and slightly bested MTM the next year, MTM's first (DD was 20th and MTM was 22nd). In 1971, in a major format change, Doris's two sons and most of the rest of the cast were written off the show, allowing the show to explore the Doris's glamorous life in San Francisco and traveling the world as a very fashionable magazine writer with an incredible wardrobe.

[ontheroof]

I agree that the credit sequence for season 2 of TDDS does seem a bit similar to TMTMS (and also a bit similar to Phyllis -- and that show's credits were also filmed in San Francisco).

But even moreso than the James L. Brooks connection, the real link between the two shows is a man named Reza Badiya. As well as directing a number of third-season episodes of The Doris Day Show, he was the man responsible for creating the opening credits of The Mary Tyler Moore Show!

Now, it seems that the first episode Mr. Badiya directed for TDDS aired on October 12, 1970 -- a few weeks after the premiere of TMTMS. The San Francisco credit sequence from TDDS would have been filmed a year earlier, in summer 1969, and it doesn't seem that Mr. Badiya was associated with TDDS at that time. Still, it is interesting that around the same time he began directing TDDS, he was creating the credits for TMTMS, which I think were filmed in late spring 1970. Even if he hadn't started directing for TDDS yet, he surely would have known about the job, and would had to have watched some episodes by then -- episodes that would have included the opening credits. Coincidence?

I can't seem to find out who directed the credit sequences from TDDS. Season 1 looks to be, at least, photographed by the same guy who was the DP for the series (well, same shot-through-a-mattress close-ups on Doris, anyway). The season 2 credits seem to be less gauzy. Anyone have any info on who filmed any of these credits?

Posted this on TMTMS board as well, but it's maybe more directly related to TDDS...

[JaneTVFan]

I agree that the credit sequence for season 2 of TDDS does seem a bit similar to TMTMS (and also a bit similar to Phyllis -- and that show's credits were also filmed in San Francisco).

That Phyllis opening seems to me to be a takeoff on Mame. Remember those lyrics: "You coax the blues right out of the horn, Mame,
You charm the husk right off of the corn, Mame," etc., etc. In the Phyllis opening, the lyrics seem to be going in the same direction, as if they're gloryfying Phyllis -- "Who makes the fog surrounding the Golden Gate simply disappear? Phyllis. Phyllis." etc., etc. -- until we get to the last line: "Phyllis! Phyllis! Phyllis! It sure isn't you!" LOL! Poor Phyllis.

But even moreso than the James L. Brooks connection, the real link between the two shows is a man named Reza Badiya. As well as directing a number of third-season episodes of The Doris Day Show, he was the man responsible for creating the opening credits of The Mary Tyler Moore Show!

Very interesting information. How did you find this out? Is he listed in the MTM credits as the creator of the opening?

I can't seem to find out who directed the credit sequences from TDDS. Season 1 looks to be, at least, photographed by the same guy who was the DP for the series (well, same shot-through-a-mattress close-ups on Doris, anyway). The season 2 credits seem to be less gauzy. Anyone have any info on who filmed any of these credits?

I would like to know as well. I think both of these openings are beautiful. The music, the photography, the images are all so brilliantly and beautifully put together. It's been over 30 years since I saw the credits for the later seasons, but I'm sure they're just as wonderful. The one thing that sticks out in my mind about the credits from the later seasons is a glamorous Doris coming down a spiraling staircase in her apartment in a flowing evening gown. At that time I had never seen a spiraling staircase so that fascinated me.

[TV Knowledge Fan]

Obviously, Doris saw what Mary was doing on HER show, and decided to jettison on-screen "family" in the fall of 1971, and 'tweak' her show's format once more--this time, as the same kind of "working woman" Mary Richards had successfully become...only with a fancier apartment and wardrobe. Perhaps there was some influence in the show's "new" opening and closing titles, as well....they ARE more dazzling than the first three seasons!

[NOVARick]

Obviously, Doris saw what Mary was doing on HER show, and decided to jettison on-screen "family" in the fall of 1971, and 'tweak' her show's format once more--this time, as the same kind of "working woman" Mary Richards had successfully become...only with a fancier apartment and wardrobe. Perhaps there was some influence in the show's "new" opening and closing titles, as well....they ARE more dazzling than the first three seasons!

I don't think it's so obvious that Doris's show was trying to mimic Mary's. I know people frequently say that, but I've never heard of anyone associated with "The Doris Day Show" saying they were taking a cue from the MTM Show. You have to keep in mind that "The Doris Day Show" was originally conceived without even Doris Day's knowledge. It was only after her husband died that she learned she had been signed to do this show, even though she loathed the idea of doing television. Many details of the show had also been planned out behind her back, including the format depicting a widow raising her two sons at her father's ranch. By the time she realized what was happening, it was too late to change anything before the series launched. But Doris hated this format and that's why she kept changing it year after year. By the third season when Doris was living in San Francisco with her two sons, "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" was just getting started. And that season, Doris's show slightly edged MTM in the ratings (Doris was in 20th place and Mary was in 22nd), so it would seem a bit strange for Doris to pattern her show after another one that was not quite as popular as her own. And the idea of a single career woman was NOT invented by the MTM Show. In fact, if you know anything about Doris Day's film career, in a number of her films -- including two of her most popular with Rock Hudson from the late 50's and early 60's, "Pillow Talk" and "Lover Come Back" -- she played, guess what? a single career woman. So it can just as easily be assumed that Doris was striving to get her television on track with her earlier motion picture image. Or for that matter, perhaps "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" itself was trying to pattern Mary Richards after the characters Doris Day had portrayed in the movies. Clearly the MTM Show was the far better television series, at least as it developed later on (I hated the early MTM shows but love it from the third season on), but that's not my point. It's just that people have written that Doris was trying to turn her show into a copycat version of MTM and I don't think there's any real evidence that that was necessarily what she had in mind or that it influenced her in any way.