MovieChat Forums > Mary Tyler Moore (1970) Discussion > Most Tedious, Unfunny Episode

Most Tedious, Unfunny Episode

posted 5 years ago by [email protected] (6247)
2 replies | jump to latest

Fans often say that the first season had some bad episodes. But for a truly bad, tedious episode nothing beats the second season "Don't Break the Chain".

A very dull and silly episode where Mary receives a chain letter from Lou Grant. First of all, he seems like the LAST person who would be into chain letters. I got a few of them when I was a teen-ager, but from other teen-agers. Lou was a practical, no nonsense type of guy. It's ludicrous to think he'd be sending them.

And it involved the usual scheme of sending a dollar to the person at the top of the list. Lou was practically salivating when he got his first buck in the mail. Big deal. He got back his original dollar. So silly.

The second act was even worse. Mary sends a letter to Armand Linton and he shows up in person to ask her out. Armand was in a first season episode when Mary and Rhoda decided to invite some men to a get together. Rhoda invites Armand, not knowing that he was married, and he shows up with his wife.

Now he's separated but still can't stop talking about his wife Nancy. The actor was handsome but his performance as Armand was one of the dullest and most wooden I've ever seen.

Mary gets a visit from another guy she sent a letter to. It was a man who sold encyclopedias. Now he shows up with a line of cookware. He proceeds to set up the cookware to do a demonstration. Mary and Armand were on their way out the door to go to dinner. So tell the guy to get lost! But no, they just kept hinting around.

Here Mary is at her wimpy worst. She was so timid and mealymouthed in some early episodes that I wanted to scream.

I tried watching this episode last night, but then I turned it off. Hard to believe that Mary Tyler Moore was okay with this episode. If I was her I would've lit the script on fire and thrown it at the writers.

[–] Who (5146) 5 years ago

There were some clunkers but this show is one of the best sitcoms ever made. The characters, the actors, the chemistry between the cast members, the writing. I think one of the most interesting aspects was Mary’s character arc, where a meek, fresh faced office assisant with 1950s values grows into a confident assertive news producer. The womens lib movement was going on when this show was on, and Mary’s stories reflect those societal shifts.

[–] [email protected] (6247) 5 years ago

By all means, it was one of the best sitcoms of all time. I'm still watching after all these years and the comedy is funny as ever.

One thing is how the show managed to survive losing two great characters, Rhoda and Phyllis. Also Mary Tyler Moore seemed to not have a big star ego and many shows featured other cast members prominently. Sometimes Mary was only a featured player on her own show.

And Mary did grow. At first the writers made her too passive and meek. And her plaintive, "Oh Mister Graaaant!" just seemed a substitute for Laura Petrie's tearful, " Oh! Rob!!" But thankfully Mary Richards outgrew it.

The chain letter episode just seemed really dumb and unfunny to me. I mean, what is funny about a chain letter anyway? They're annoying. Anyway, it would've been more believable if she got a letter from one of Murray's daughters and he begged her not to break the chain. But Mr. Grant sending them ? Just too unbelievable.