Release: January 17, 2006 (Fox Home Entertainment)
Color/1972-73
MSRP: $29.98
Number of Discs: 3
Number of Episodes: 24
Running Time: 624 Minutes
Total Run Time of Special Features: N/A
Languages: English
Subtitles: English, Spanish
Closed Captioned
Special Features: None.
Introduction:
Welcome back for a third season of love and laughter!
The Mary Tyler Moore Show’s second season is now on
DVD! Mary and the gang from WJM-TV return in another
award-winning season. No longer the new girl in town,
Mary has come to think of the newsroom staff as her
family (that must be some family reunion, eh?). Along
with the good times and close friendships come the
often trying and ultimately hilarious situations
every family faces. From Mary explaining the facts of
life to Phyllis’ daughter, to going on a blind date
(set up by Lou of all people!), to attending her
disastrous high school reunion, it’s clear why this TV
classic is one of the most beloved comedies of all
time.
For those of you unfamiliar with the show - and with
how often the show’s been reran over the years, that
hopefully isn’t very many, the show stars Mary Tyler
Moore (wow, The Mary Tyler Moore Show stars Mary Tyler
Moore (who would have guessed??) as Mary Richards, an
associate producer at WJM-TV in Minneapolis. A lot of
the show centers on the absolute nuthouse that IS the
WJM newsroom. Mary’s boss, Lou Grant (played by the
one and only Edward Asner), is a rather grumpy guy
but occasionally does soften a bit. Also at WJM is Ted
Baxter (Ted Knight), the self-absorbed and…well…dumb
senior news anchor at WJM. Also in the newsroom is
Murray Slaughter (Gavin MacLeod), a WJM news writer,
as well as Sue Ann Nivens (Betty White), the…uh…nuts
former host of The Happy Homemaker Show and current
WJM staffer. Away from the newsroom you’ll find Mary’s
best friend Rhoda (Valerie Harper), as well as Phyllis
(Cloris Leachman). I really don’t know how to describe
Rhoda - if you’ve never seen the show; Rhoda is a
character that you’ve just got to see to believe.
Phyllis is a mother living upstairs, who, aside from
not liking Rhoda that well, also tends to pop in
rather frequently.
Memorable Episodes / Notable Guest Stars:
Some episodes I think you’ll like assuming you can
get your copy to play (more on THAT later) include The
Good-Time News, the first episode of the season, in
which Mary is given the assignment of making the 6
o’clock news “more upbeat”, an assignment that Ted
isn’t exactly thrilled about. In the 3rd episode,
Who’s in Charge Here?, Lou is promoted to Program
Director, and has to decide who to give his old job
to…meanwhile, the news begins to fall apart without
his guiding hands there to choke everybody back under
control. In the sixth episode, Rhoda the Beautiful,
Rhoda loses 20 pounds, and ultimately ends up in a
beauty pageant…unfortunately, despite all this, she
seems to still be constantly putting herself down…why?
In the sixteenth episode, Rhoda Morganstern:
Minneapolis to New York, Rhoda plans to move to New
York. The conclusion of this is given away by the
fact that Rhoda didn’t start until a YEAR later
(*hint*Season 4*hint), but it’s still quite enjoyable
to watch. The rest of the episodes are all quite good
this was another good season on the show’s part
these were just a couple of highlights.
As far as guest stars go: If you’re a fan of Coach,
you pretty much know that a lot of the actors involved
with that show were either recurring cast, or special
guests, on THIS shows they’re almost to the point of
regular cast, and as most of the recurring characters
show up often, there’s no real reason to spotlight,
say, Georgia Engel as Georgette. With that being
said keep an eye out for both Jerry Van Dyke AND Craig
T. Nelson in Season 3. Jerry Van Dyke plays Wes in
“But Seriously, Folks”, while Craig shows up in Mary
Richards and the Incredible Plant Lady. WKRP in
Cincinnati fans: Gordon Jump appears in The Courtship
of Mary’s Father’s Daughter as Mr. Conrad. Bert
Convy, known to many as the host of TattleTales and
Super Password, appears in Have I Found a Guy for You.
Packaging:
The packaging, staying consistent with the last release, is a group of
slim cases (three). On the
front cover of each slim case is the same art as the
cover, a picture of Mary and, uh, her legs…FOX could
have chosen ANY cast-related picture to use, and they
picked THIS one. Wow. At least it should help with
blind buys. The reverse cover features a VERY shocked
Mary about to be kissed. The back cover of each of the
three slim cases is merely a listing of the episodes
on that disc. Episode info in the listings contains
episode title, original airdate, writer and director
credits, and show synopsis. I called the last
season’s disc art simple: This one has IT beat. All
three discs use the same M overlaying a solid color as
before: For season three, however, only two colors
are even used: Red, Dark Red. Discs 1 (Episodes
1-8) and 3 (Episodes 17-24 feature a red background
with dark red M, while Disc 2 (Episodes 9-16) has a
dark red background and red M.
Menu Design and Navigation:
The menus are nice, simple, and amazingly well-done.
The main menu for each disc features the show title at
top followed a strip of imagines from episodes from
the season. The discs use a different color for each
main menu, prompting the question if this was intended
for the set as well. The first disc uses an
orange/brown style. The second disc uses a pink menu
system, while the third disc uses purple. The images
have a greenish-bluish tint usually only seen on faded
copies of botched color copies from the time period,
so this is in fact an interesting treat on FOX’s part
the blur around the edges of the image hold true to
this too. Below this ELR-esque bar is the
selectable episode titles as well as: A PLAY ALL
FEATURE. I REPEAT. A PLAY ALL FEATURE. Also on
the menu is some “drawn” pink vines with red flowers
on the end. Episode selection menu features three
LARGE tinted images from the show in a large bar
across the center, with Play Episode, Scene Selection,
and Language Selection as options. Just to FURTHER
keep up appearances, the scene selection stills also
have the tinted look.
Video and Audio Quality:
Video is amazingly impressive. It’s a great thing
and a rare thing to see video quality this good on a
DVD release of a show from 30 years ago. The video
is simply flawless…not a flaw to be detected. Video
is sharp but not too sharp…colors are…perfect. The
video is amazing. The audio is good. Dolby 2.0.
No apparent hiss or audio garbage. Dialogue comes
across loud and clear, while the music is definitely
well-represented on the audio track, if you catch my
drift. Given that there IS Scene Selection;
obviously, chapter stops are placed at the end of each
scene.
Apparently there's an edit that I would have never noticed....in the episode "Mary Richards
and the Incredible Plant Lady," Ted is humming a song and mumbling some words: On the DVD set it's just humming. The words and tune were
overdubbed. In the original broadcast and syndication version, he was singing "Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better)," from "Annie Get
Your Gun."
Episode runtimes:
The Good-Time News: 25:34
What is Mary Richards Really Like: 25:30
Who’s In Charge Here?: 25:36
Enter Rhoda’s Parents: 25:35
It’s Whether You Win or Lose: 25:35
Rhoda the Beautiful: 25:36
Just Around the Corner: 25:36
But Seriously, Folks: 25:36
Farmer Ted and the News: 25:29
Have I Found a Guy for You: 25:34
You’ve Got a Friend: 25:35
It was Fascination, I Know: 25:34
Operation, Lou: 25:35
Rhoda Morganstern: Minneapolis to New York: 25:34
The Courtship of Mary’s Father’s Daughter: 25:35
Lou’s Place: 25:36
My Brother’s Keeper: 25:35
The Georgette Story: 25:36
Romeo and Mary: 25:30
What do you Say when the Boss Says I Love You?: 25:35
Murray Faces Life: 25:34
Remembrance of Things Past: 25:36
Put on a Happy Face: 25:27.
Mary Richards and the Incredible Plant Lady: 25:34
Special Features:
*crickets* -- What….happened…..here. Season 2 was
so well done in this department. Way to drop that ball
Fox.
Final Comments:
Things were going so well for this set until the last section above. Pretty much
all my complaints (aside from one not being mentioned since I'm unsure how widespread
it is) relate to the lack of special features...specifically...WHERE ARE THEY?? After
having a previously features-rich show, this set's just simply...barren.
Unless you ran into the Digital Rights Management issue I ran into, you should
enjoy the set. It's a great season of a great show. Honestly, I wouldn't start
with this set, due to the lack of features. But for those of you who want to
continue collecting the show, there's no reason not to.
