Proud Mary

One of the hottest tickets in town is Saturday’s Museum of Television & Radio’s tribute to “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The event sold out in a matter of hours.

For those who weren’t lucky enough to get tickets, repeats of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” air weekdays on KDOC.

Mary Tyler Moore had come to fame as Rob Petrie’s perky wife, Laura, on the 1960-66 CBS sitcom, “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” where she won two best actress Emmys.

After the series left the airwaves, she went to Broadway to star in an ill-fated musical version of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and appeared in a series of less than memorable films, including “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” “What’s So Bad About Feeling Good?” and “Change of Habit,” in which she played a nun who falls for Elvis Presley.

She returned to series television in the fall of 1970 as the star of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” The sitcom was created by James Brooks, who later wrote and directed the Oscar-winning “Terms of Endearment” and is executive producer of “The Simpsons,” and by Allan Burns, who also created “FM.”

The series, which became one of the best and most beloved series of the decade, was a trend-setting sitcom. Moore’s heroine, Mary Richards, was an independent, single career woman who was definitely thirtysomething. She was not a virgin. Though she wanted a husband and family, she was willing to wait until the right man came along.

The series opened with Mary moving to Minneapolis after breaking up with a long-time boyfriend. She rented a funky studio apartment and got a job as the assistant producer of a low-rated local news show on WJM-TV.

Just like “Dick Van Dyke,” the series boasted an amazing ensemble cast.

At WJM, veteran movie and TV tough guy Ed Asner played Mary’s intimidating but vulnerable boss, Lou Grant. Gavin MacLeod was the happily married head news writer, Murray Slaughter. Silver-haired Ted Knight excelled as dimwitted news anchor Ted Baxter. Georgia Engel joined the series in 1973 as Ted’s sweet but empty-headed girlfriend. The two married in 1975. Also joining the cast in 1973 was Betty White, shedding her sweetness and light image, as the man-crazy “The Happy Homemaker,” Sue Ann Nevins.

At home, Mary’s best friend was her upstairs neighbor, Rhoda Morgenstern (Valerie Harper), a slightly overweight window dresser who also was single and in her 30s. In 1974, Harper left “MTM” and got her own hit show, “Rhoda.” Mary’s other neighbor was her busybody landlady Phyllis Lindstrom (Cloris Leachman). Leachman left the series in 1975 to star in her own short-lived spinoff, “Phyllis.” In 1975, Mary moved to a new apartment in a high-rise building.

Besides Brooks and Burns, producers Stan Daniels and Ed Weinberger (“Taxi) were among the series writers. Guest stars over the years included Johnny Carson, Peter Strauss, a pre-”Happy Days” Henry Winkler, Lew Ayres, David Ogden Stiers, John Ritter and Eileen Heckhart.

“MTM” won 27 Emmy Awards, including three for outstanding comedy series.

“The Last Show” aired March 17, 1977. New management took over the station and, in a effort to bolster the sagging ratings, the entire staff was fired. Ironically, the only survivor was Ted Baxter.

“The Mary Tyler Moore Show” airs weekdays at 3:30 and 4 p.m. on KDOC.

“The Dick Van Dyke Show” airs weeknights at 9:30 and midnight and Saturdays and Sundays at midnight on Nickelodeon.

The Museum of TV & Radio presents tributes to “Seinfeld” (March 19) and “Civil Wars” (March 20) and will screen the 1964 telecast “Nat King Cole at the Hollywood Palace” (March 20) at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. For information call (213) 857-6110; for tickets call (213) 480-3232.