MovieChat Forums > Mary Tyler Moore (1970) Discussion > Why did the show overplay Mary's attract...

Why did the show overplay Mary's attractiveness?

posted 9 years ago by slackline70
34 replies | jump to latest

I'm not saying Mary Tyler Moore was a hag. Just that she wasn't anywhere near as attractive as the show made her out to be.

I mean, she was just a decent-looking, good-hearted, slightly older woman. And the show never made her out to be anything different.

Except when it came to the legions of men who just couldn't keep their hands off of her. Pretty much every other episode was about a suitor who - welcome or not - was obsessed with Mary. Sometimes it was a married man, sometimes it was a best friend's husband, sometimes it was a kid, sometimes it was an old man, sometimes it was a co-worker, and sometimes it was a complete stranger. But the one thing that was always the same was that the suitor acted like he had never before seen a women as stunningly beautiful as Mary.

And when the storylines weren't shoving the pretense of Mary's attractiveness down your throat, the other characters - male and female alike - were saying outright what a knock-out she was.

Personally, I always thought Mary was pretty much exactly along the lines of Rhoda. A nice person who was pleasing enough to look at - but certainly not a knockout. And the show never made Rhoda out to be anything else.

The show sold Rhoda just fine as a good-hearted woman who was likable and believable without being a sex-symbol - enough to give her her own show.

So why did they feel it so necessary to fire-hose us each week that Mary was such a knockout?

Did MTM have that written into her contract?

[–] anbmom 8 years ago

This happens so often with television shows, especially when the "star" is the executive producer. Look at SJP on Sex and the City. Can anyone actually believe that Carrie is the most attractive of the four women? What a joke!

[–] bobbooker 8 years ago

Attractiveness is a moving target. I was a young man during the show's first run. I thought Mary was cute, but she was an "older woman" to me. Wasn't attracted to the other ladies on the show, either. 45 years later: saw a scene with Phyllis in tight blue jeans and sweater, and thought she looked hot.

[–] virnman-549-227337 8 years ago

Jerry Seinfeld dated one very attractive gal after another on Seinfeld. How would you rate Jerry's looks?

[–] anzsubz 8 years ago

Mary was always very put together and that helped her image too. Like "That Girl" Mary was always squawking about a budget but had a closet full of clothes.

There was that one episode for instance where she looked great in a black dress worn for a dinner date when she went to a convention in California.

They dressed Rhoda with fewer accessories and baggy clothes for a while there to emphasize the "loser" persona required by the character---at least for the first couple of seasons.

[–] liscarkat (19385) 5 years ago

"slightly older woman"

Older than what? Thirty? That's quite young.

She was much more attractive on "The Dick Van Dyke Show", not because she was a few years younger, but because she was several pounds heavier.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

You are entitled to an opinion. Sex appeal has been around forever. But it all boils down to one thing - Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. You didn't find her a sex symbol. Many young men (including myself) did. Many young men found MTM very attractive back in the day, especially as Laura Petrie.

[–] [email protected] (6224) 5 years ago

To be fair, there were a few men who weren't attracted to Mary at all. They told her she wasn't their "type".

In an early episode John Schuck plays a former football player who wants the sportscaster's job at the station. He hangs around Mary so much and is so friendly, she mistakes his friendship for romantic overtures. He basically tells that she's not his type. I think he told Mary that she was too skinny for him or something like that.

In another episode, Mary asks Mr. Grant to fix her up with his friend Mike who was played my Michael Constantine. They've had pleasant phone conversations but when they finally meet and go out, the chemistry just wasn't there. He also tells her, "You're not my type."

Mary goes out with a friend of Phyllis's. She and Mike ( a different Mike) played by John Saxon, attend the ballet and concerts as platonic friends because, as she puts it, "Lars is a pinhead."

Mike, played by John Saxon, goes out with Mary a few times. Mary is curious as to why he never makes a pass. Turns out that he wasn't over his old girlfriend and at the end of the episode, he tells Mary that they got back together again.

So, the show didn't make Mary out to be totally irresistible

[–] MonStar (13534) 5 years ago

When the MTM show was on the air, Mary Tyler Moore's picture was regularly and constantly on the cover of many women's magazines. Her agent or whoever was handing her public relations knew what they were doing.

People who smoke look 10 years older than their actual age. If MTM also had an alcohol problem, that would only make it worse. So whoever handled her makeup and lighting knew what they were doing too.

I never thought she was all that attractive. I think her greatest acting performance was in Ordinary People, playing against type.

[–] Who (5146) 4 years ago

She was what they called “girl next door” attractive. She was a perky type of young woman who looked like she led a charmed life - doctor’s daughter, A+ student, head cheerleader, prom queen, nice hair, nice skin, cute figure. Rhoda saw it in her. The type of girl in high school that snarky gals like Rhoda mocked and envied. She was not sexy or gorgeous, but she was friendly, smiley, polite and approachable.

The funniest episide was when she had a bad hair day, then a cold, then her false eyelash fell off, and her dress was awful. It ends with her winning a Teddy award and her having to go on stage looking like hell.