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From: retrorebirth
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  • Wonderful intro to a great show. By the way Angelo, it's not the center of New York, but Minneapolis, mostly Nicolette Square where she tosses her cap!

  • I love this theme song.

  • This premiered when I was in the 7th grade. I remember being angry because this show replaced the cancelled "Petticoat Junction" at 9:30 on Saturday night. But one look at this new series and I realized how great television could be. In fact it changed my whole view of what TV could do and be. Long live TMTMS!

  • Mary was a 1970 Mustang coupe kind of gal. Wimbledon White with Med. Blue standard interior. We can assume the car has a C-4 automatic but the engine is either the 302 2v v8 or the 250 straight six.

    Great choice for the young independent woman.

  • Wow, was trying to remember the name of the actress in question, and I found by chance in a recent report, and played here on youtube, and I found this opening, she captivated me in my childhood, my life is a beautiful open this program, it in the center of NY, wonderful memories! Sorry for my English!

  • I would have loved to plug her, she is so hot.

  • This show was way before my time but I seriously love this song!

  • The arrangement on this song is awsome! Just listen to the whole thing through three or four (hundred) times ... JUST FOR THE BRASS (and saxophone) arrangement!

    Awesome!

  • Perception is a bizarre thing. To me this seems like ages ago. A vast expanse of time. However in the real sceme of things a few decades is not even a blip. Life is weird.

  • This is what TV was like back then not a bunch of sexual perversion we have today, back then plain and simple no swearing no glamorizing homosexuality, just simple one liners that was idealistically done with one thing on mind and that was to produce a good TV show.

  • @thundermaster41 Are you unable to perceive that perhaps there is a middle ground between glamorizing a subject & pretending it doesn't exist at all? Shows like Family Guy & American Dad are utterly disgusting with sexual jokes every 30 seconds. Created by heterosexuals & paid for by heterosexual advertising dollars. So who's the real threat to families? Why doesn't the evangelical right boycott the advertisers on these shows. Busy boycotting Disney for offering health care to human beings! Ugh!

  • @chkjns They do,they have, but no one listens besides I have a right too my thoughts to just like you! So don't be so surprised when some one has a comment that you don't agree with ya. I get them all the time,that is called free speech.you have it I, have it we all have freedom of speech religion,and the right to live in a thought too share. I do get tired of the same old thing,your last statement puts you on the defensive mold,why? "Disney for offering health care to human beings! Ugh!"

  • Thumbs up for the people over 40 who misses this era?

  • @LACraig621 I'm not over 40,but I miss this era of good shows!!!

    

  • @LACraig621  anybody who misses the seventies should be hospitalized

  • @atfatw This all coming frome someone who probably still stays with their parents.

  • @LACraig621 your name suits you! you skeezy skaggy mutant you probably a tranny too! hahahaha

  • Add WKRP

    

  • lol....at first I thought that was a bong at :15

  • She is very sexy.... $ 1,000,000 smile.

  • thanks , you get a big thumbs up from me.i am almost 51.

  • When you think about it, in a way, Mary Tyler Moore, was kind of sexy back in the day.

  • @faceman68 What do you mean "in a way?" MTM was, is and will always be sexy. This is one bad ass, sexy woman!

  • @grancazzino I think that she is sexy, even though, she was a little skinny for my taste. Just my opinion.

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  • Watching this short Mary Tyler Moore clip drives home the sobering fact that life doesn't change much. And it really hasn't changed much at all since 1970, no matter how much anyone would love to think it has because of technology or world politics/social change. People work, love, die...repeat.

  • @gothatway09 No, I have to disagree....the Internet changed everything. For the worse. Love isn't what it used to be. People get on Facebook, and invent 900 imaginary 'friends'.  Then, they IM some jerk they don't even know. This becomes more important than having a REAL relationship. The Internet has made it very difficult to have honest quality relationships. 100 years from now, the history books will acknowledge it.

  • @g9yx1s Well said.

  • I was not quite 4 years old when this show debuted in Sept 1970, but I do have memories of it being on CBS, long before it was showed in reruns. Now sadly it's not shown on reruns even anymore. Where did it go? Even Gilligan's Island seems lost anymore :( SKIPPER!!!!! OH MISTER GRANT!!!!!!

  • Mary Tyler Moore's sexy ass...

  • this is the best opening theme of the series. i don't know why they changed it for subsequent seasons :/

  • @HepburnFlicks

    Agreed. The first season opening was by far the best.

  • How come there are NO GOOD theme songs now....These shows are so memorable not only for the great acting, actors, storylines but for such WONDERFUL theme songs!

  • @MissMinnieMousegirl Society changed things, at least that's what I think. I could be wrong but every law enforcement agency I talk to says Each decade is worse then the last, Hollywood views American attention span is shorter now, according to U.S.A. Today, Time magazine states "we are a generation lost"I will say this I do miss the old themes of older TV shows, I miss the dialog of old TV shows, seems too me were bombarded will TRUTV shows like TWISTED,WICKED ATTRACTION, 48hrs hard evidence,

  • @MissMinnieMousegirl i agree.

  • @MissMinnieMousegirl They may not write actual "songs" anymore, but there are a lot really great musical intros. HBO for example, has fantastic, epic intros!

  • @ 0:41 so beautiful with the sun behind her

  • Hearing this theme song for the first time, it kind of seems like this show is a spin-off from The Dick Van Dyke Show about the adventures of Laura after she divorced Rob. I know that didn't happen but it kind of seems like it.

  • @Brdj010 Never thought about that but I guess that could be a possibility. Interesting comment!

  • @Brdj010 concerning your comment that mtm seems like a spinoff of the dick van dyke show, here's something relevant from wikipedia: "Moore's character was initially intended to be a divorcée, but as divorce was still controversial at the time, and the network was afraid viewers might think that Mary had divorced Rob Petrie, Laura's husband on The Dick Van Dyke Show, the premise was changed to that of a single woman with a recently broken engagement."

  • @wallofvideo I don't trust anything from Lie-kipedia, but that sounds about right.

  • The beginning and ending of this clip (not the actual theme song parts) are much louder than the rest and are painful to listen to at a standard volume. Ouch!

  • she was so hot when she was younger...

  • Is that Mustang Mary is driving?

  • @skateboardgumby it is. its a 1970 model

  • As young as I am I see how revolutionary this show was considering there were no women like this on tv during that time period that portrayed the single woman on tv until Mary Tyler Moore show (also Diahann Carrolls shortlived show a few years earlier).

  • There was a lot of garbage in daily reality then, as well, except that Mary's soft-focus beauty and her clean and comfortable environment was a welcome diversion that many loved to immerse themselves in on a weekly basis. Mary was pretty and sweet, and men wanted to date her while women wanted to be her friend. One of the best feel-good shows. Comfortable, familiar, with a gentle, underlying good humor that was eagerly anticipated. Far better TV than most shows today.

  • I love the MTM show. I rarely watch tv of today, I'm more of a retro tv watcher. The shows of yesterday are more enjoyable than the reality crap that is on today. MTM show is my top 10 favorite shows of all time.

  • forgot to add that MTM show is easily in top ten tv shows of all time. today's kids don't know what they are missing with garbage reality shows. this was quality, adult, fun programming.

  • Fun, sophisticated, yet earthy trail blazer of a show---did it all--tackled controversial stuff without losing sight that that stuff could be funny too! Brilliant cast led by Ms. Moore. I love how she throws her hat up in the air--sort of "look at me now, I'm terrific"! Everytime they show mary's house in Minn. I want hot chocolate with brandy, sugar cookies and put on a thick terry cloth robe. Brrr--stay in inside with the laughter. I want the 70's back. Thanks Mary!!

  • @windstorm1000 Love your comment!

  • I love the fact that she has long hair and is driving a mustang -- here's to Mary

  • My two cents worth: Yes, I cannot stand the reality tv shows because they are just so formulaic it's absurd. The producers use the same approx as making a commercial: let's have just the right mix of people to attract a certain demographic. The only requirement for females or males is to be "cute" and say "cute" things...just look at Mary Tyler Moore. Along with being beautiful, she's is an excellent actress and a comedy genius. Other than perhaps Jenna Elfman, who's currently out there?

  • @buck62sugar I agree. But for the life of me, I simply do not understand the intrigue with Jenna Elfman. This woman's popularity remains a mystery to me.

  • Another reason is that the Good and the best shows that aired a while back are no longer on tv and or airing, if you want to see the best in tv once again like it was before, buy and get DVDS and VHS Tapes of shows that used to show and air on tv is the only way nowadays to really enjoy watching tv again instead of what is on regular cable as of today is the way i'm doing it and my video library is growing really big and have just about almost anything and shows that are worth watching.

  • If you'll pardon the pun, this was back when less was "Moore". We didn't have 5,000 channels available, and so much watered-down comedy is on anymore. There's mostly "reality" shows, or cop shows which only serve to depress us even more. Back in 1970 we had only 3 major networks, and you really had to have quality to make it. Even shows like MTM & MASH were not too popular at first, but they hung in there and were given half a chance at least. One of the greatest TV theme songs ever...

  • the problem with todays tv is the darn technology. the cameras are crystal clear so you don't get the old feel to shows anymore, the godamn commercials are enough to make you commit suicide, and then when the show comes back on, it sucks because shows aren't written with the talent and care they used to be.

  • one of the best shows ever made

  • after all these years I still love watching the re-runs of this show

  • @4september1947 I discovered it about a year ago, and fell inlove with it. Although I don't burst out with laughter, it's a warm show with characters and stories you can relate to. It's main sense of humor isn't sex jokes, and it's one of those shows I can watch again and again

  • @LuigiDude1808 -: the theme song reminded me of Prospect Park Brooklyn o'h so many, many, many years ago-: but then life goes on - Peace

  • Check out my rendition of the 1967 Lassie theme!

  • I think the last take captures all freedom, hope, dreams and illusion of youth in the whole tv history.

  • I read somewhere that the old lady at the end of the opening did eventually get to meet Mary Tyler Moore.

  • IF FORD WERE SMART, THEY'D GET MARY TO DO FORD MUSTANG COMMERCIALS. THAT OPENING SCENE IS FANTASTIC!

  • Forty years ago this Fall.

  • I didn't care for this show, i was 11, 12 then, my mother watch it, did MTM ever have a boyfriend on the show? seems to me she was always single. Making it on her own i guess. Thanks retrorebirth.

  • One can see there are three biddies in the background who notice Mary's exuberance - but due to the timing of the freeze-frame, only the one gained TV immortality....

  • I like how the 3 old women at 0:53 are looking at her throwing her hat into the air like "What in the world is that woman doing?" I bet they are all dead by now.

  • @corydwalker That's a good line up. So why isn't NAN programming these shows? Are we 70's kids dying off and they're doing the demographic thing? Don't laugh--its happening. But newer generations need to appreciate these classics.

  • If only Nick at Nite started airing classics again such as:

    The Mary Tyler Moore Show

    The Dick Van Dyke Show

    I Love Lucy

    The Lucy Show

    Bewitched

    I Dream of Jeannie

    Get Smart

    and other shows from it's classic 1990s lineup

    While pushing the shows it has now to TVLand.

  • I love shows Love shows like this!!

    M

  • I sure wish this was back on Tv again. ALN had it on for a few years but I never saw the later sesons. My favorite one was Chuckles Bites The Dust.

  • I love the Simpsons rip-off of this when Homer throws the bowling ball in the air LOL XD

  • @furb393 i know, classic! or on family guy when mary is on there, she throws her hat up in the air, and it just gets stuck like that, and everyone stares at her like she's crazy.

  • Mary was just great! She's still hot, too!

  • Aren't the people in her memories at the beginning college faculty & fellow graduates? Didn't she co-edit her college newspaper or something? MTM was obviously supposed to be no more than about 24 when the show opened.

    BTW, "...I hate SPUNK!"

  • Sometimes it's easy to forget just how beautiful Mary Tyler Moore was in her heyday. Love this original theme with the Sonny Curtis vocal. Thanks for this post.

  • @wood4mydarling The frame of her at 0:41 has stuck with me to this day. I always had a major crush on MTM & so did most of my friends. It's sad how she's suffered from diabetes.

  • this is great! such terrific quality! always makes me feel happy when i hear this theme song. I am gay but i still have always had a crush on mary. she was really pretty, too, when she had the long, dark hair. thank you so much for this!

  • Sonny Curtis wrote & sang the theme song.

    Since the MTM Show's music was scored by the great Pat Williams, I presume that he also wrote the arrangement for Curtis' theme, which was released as a 45 on the Ovation label in 1970.

    They don't make TV show theme songs like this anymore! :((

  • I don't know who wrote the song, but B.J. Thomas is the singer.

  • @gmcbc46

    After thinking about it, B.J. Thomas is actually a rather good guess. There is a resemblance between him and Curtis which I never noticed before. ;-)

  • sonny curtis is the singer, not BJ Thomas.

  • I stand corrected. Thanks for the information.

  • @palmz4u Sonny also wrote "I Fought the Law" which he recorded the original version of but was more famous after it was covered by the Bobby Fuller Four. Now it's a classic--just like this theme and this show.

  • who wrote and sang this theme?

  • It was a good show...and the music was good too.

  • The beginning reminds me of the song, "I Say a Little Prayer for You" by Aretha Franklin.

  • Damn...my feminine side is coming out...I love this too!

  • I'm not sure liking this makes you feminine, but......whatever-LOL.

  • OMG I love this

  • seeing this again made me cry, i was 8 when this came out, so many memories of those times thanx

  • Many years ago on Nick at night they had a MARYTHON...48 hours of MARY..It was great!

  • @rodcogroup ...Now nick at night is a joke...they Play the same shows over and over,Threes company..Roseanne..It makes me puke

  • the great Mary Tyler Moore..........timeless

  • font used was peignot which the abc movie of the week used

  • It was also used at the end of the movie "Love Story".

  • This one of the very best sitcoms of the

    70's. Mary was pretty & I liked her a lot. The 70's had the best shows. I was 6 when the show started & was one of my all time favorites through it's 7 years. I was always there every Saturday night at 9 pm to watch it. I wish they still showed it. I recommend buying the DVD series.

  • The cast made this show. MTM let them all shine and share the spotlight. Very talented character actors on this show, who in some cases had their own spin offs.

  • Shows like this, the Odd Couple & All in the Family prove that a comedy series doesn't need overt sex and profanity to be very funny. Not that these things bother me per se, but they really have nothing to do w/ gr8 comedy. And to prove it, these shows R still around almost 40 years later. Which goes to prove that you don't always need cheap sensationalism to sell a product.

  • If "Friends" was toilet paper, it still wouldn't be worthy of wiping MTM's butt.

  • I wouldn't go that far. I like "Friends". It's cleverly written and its better than most of the other TV show from the '90s and '00s. But it's not as good as MTM and the other shows I mentioned.

  • Friends sucks

  • @lickdeznuts Ahem - MTM doesn't do those things

  • I maintain that this version of the theme is way underrated. The instrumentals had more punch than the later versions, though we all remember the lyrics of those later ones better.

  • It's strange to see it after such a very long time.

    They always talked about it as the 'next step' for women centric sit-coms. That kind of analysis was 20 years ago. As with everything else in you view with long retrospect, it's pretty much the same as That Girl et al.

  • this is so nice!

    i love it!

  • Y esta se llamo en España "La Chica de la Tele" y se emitio a primero de los 70 y tuvo tambien mucho exito.

  • she's a real cuttie

  • This opening credit gave such character to Minneapolis. And everytime watch this I have to think of the modern day Mary Richards- CNN's Robin Meade...

  • She was truly at her peak here. One of the all-time great TV series.

  • She ruled didn't she. I was in love with MTM right from the Dick Van Dyke show in the sixties. This is one of the funniest comedy series of all time. And such a brilliant ensemble cast. Lou Grant, Gavin McLeod, Cloris Leachman, Valerie Harper, - this truly was the original super series. It hurts to watch her on television now, I really don't think she is enjoying it much any more.

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  • Clarky2323 and Tmartinus, you are both absolutely right. TV back in our time WAS just that - a temporary escape from our realities and we got a few laughs with it along the way. Well said!

  • I had that exact same mustang circa 1994

  • I cant believe it.She left ROB!!!!!......lol

  • At least The Mary Tyler Moore DVDs seem to be complete and don't have lots of edits like the Rhoda DVD set.

  • the great Mary Tyler Moore

  • @csebrigh I agree with you that is what I feel

  • mps/st paul WOOOOO!!! you're gonna make it after all....

  • Wow I remember this show in 1974 Growing up in Fairbanks , Ak.. : Mary Tyler Moore Show : / Spin offs - Laverne & Sherly / Bob Newhart Show / Three's Company......... Go Vikings ..... ..... G'day from Australia

  • Awesome Show She's Great in it a special vibe bout her, loved her when she appeared in that 70's show too lol

  • If you think that Mary Tyler Moore was cute in this show, you should see how she looked on "The Dick VanDyke Show." Baby, had back!!!

  • really good show here

  • I grew up watching her show! Timeless classic. Love the theme song too!

  • Yes, I was only around 8 yrs old when this show came out and I always watched it and still remember every episode. The writers were just better then I think, they didn't have to get a laugh a minute, but made the show entertaining and memorable at the same time and you left feeling good at the end. Something has changed now, can't quite pinpoint it but it was different then and the shows from that period are still fun to watch.

  • I think that the difference, and the problem, with television today is that television is no longer a relaxing diversion from the grind of life, but an enforcer of the headaches we go through daily in order to survive. Television was an escape if only for a few hours a night. Today, television is a constant reminder that the world is hard, life is not fair, and the good guys seldom win.

  • Also, the shows back then usually sent a message along with the laughs, when the episode was over there was something you could think about either morally or have solutions to daily issues. Today's television sucks, this is why I refuse to spend money on cable. I feel sorry for you young people, your generation will grow up brain dead....

  • @clarky2323 Yeah, reality TV--lucky us.

  • @clarky2323 Yeah, and I think that the reason is that people are running out of ideas. I don't think there has been a true "classic" sitcom since maybe this one (I don't count shows like Frasier as "classics")

  • @clarky2323 you r right on soooo many levels!!!!

  • @clarky2323 I agree. I hate reality TV. There's little imagination in TV shows (or music, for that matter) anymore. Even TV show theme songs (like this one) were worth tuning in for back then. They don't write 'em like that anymore. And, Mary Tyler Moore... driving a white mustang... and her little knit cap was the epitome of the all-American dream girl.

  • @clarky2323 spot on

  • @clarky2323 I agree. When I watch modern shows I feel worse than I already did especially when I have had a bad day. These shows make you laugh and feel good. We live in gray world, and it is sad that we have to look to the past to enjoy color.

  • @clarky2323 I miss the days when the only "Reality TV" was a news broadcast

  • @clarky2323 That is precisely why I am on YouTube looking up the old classics, rather than watching the TV of today. Life itself is a headache. I certainly don't need to sit in front of an electronic box to get more headaches.

  • OMG...you hit the nail on the head!!! so true...

  • @clarky2323 that, and the fact that now the only jokes have to do with sex or drugs

  • @clarky2323 Wow great comment man..! True!

  • @clarky2323 very well said.

  • I'm only 19 yrs old, and as I watch the opening of this innocent/clean vid (also w/ good music).. I feel I was born too late and in the wrong time period because it's hard to appreciate today's television..

  • I couldnt agree with you more. TV today is full of death murder and profanities

  • And it was genuinely funny.

  • What a cute and innocent show...and awesome theme! It's a shame how depraved TV is now...not to mention our society!

  • "Love Is All Around" one of the greatest TV themes ever, great lyrics by Sonny Curtis

  • The typeface used was Peignot. Also used on The ABC Movie Of The Week.

  • man.....! i'am getting old

  • i always loved mary tyler moore!

  • If Mary herself is watching this youtube clip she's thinkin' "Was I that perky?'

  • I like how the first season was "How Will you make it on your own",then it was more confident,"Who can turn th eworld on with her smile?">Great show.

  • Not to mention the final lyric was changed from "you might just make it after all" to "you're gonna make it after all"

  • Love the orchestration. I think my garage band will cover this song. Maybe swing it a bit more or punk it out?

  • i didnt know mary tyler moore was so cute.

  • What a great opening! In just one minute, you learn a lot about the character, personality, and aspirations of the protagonist.

  • Lighten up all you PC thumbs down givers, that was a FUNNY comment!

  • On second thought, when I was a kid, I always thought this was Laura Petrie, and she had divorced Rob (who retained custody of Ritchie) and she was starting all over again in Minnesota! Is that warped or what?

  • Actually, that's not at all warped. The original concept of the show was that Mary was going to be recently divorced, but CBS feared that the audience would take it as Laura being divorced from Rob! So they changed it to a broken engagement instead.

  • I loved the Mary Tyler Moore Show when I was a kid. I am a big supporter of finding the cure for Diabetes.

    I have a lot to say about this for the television and movie and even the music industry.

    Google Jeff Fisher American Patriot loves Jane Bowell and God Forever

  • Wait! BEFORE she went to Minnesota, she worked with those people in the opening where they are saying goodbye to her...was that in New York? Who were THOSE people? What was her job? I wanna know! They might have proven to be MORE interesting than the later cast! :(

  • You know, I'm really not sure myself but I always got the impression that she was a small town girl moving to the big city, which, depending on where you come from is all a matter of perspective.

    Good question though...

  • @godadameve - she had to either be coming from Canada or Duluth, because that's the only way the signage makes sense. St Paul is to the east and Minneapolis is to the west, so you have to be coming from the north to go left to St Paul and right to Minneapolis. So most likely she was driving down the recently completed I 35 from the north.

  • Ah...So...Ryoushii...

    Ancient midwest Wisdom...?

    :)

  • Hard to believe the executives at CBS were dubious of the concept of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. The Mary Tyler Moore Show turned out to be a phenomenal success! A ground breaking series which many regard as one of the all time greatest situation comedies in television history. The show's timeless essence made it loved by many generations.

  • My all time fav show. Still watch these on DVD and never get sick of it. In fact on my cell phone, I have this theme as my main ringer lol.

  • Man, that's trippy for someone from Minnesota, I35-W empty of traffic, the Foshay Tower is still the tallest building in Mpls(the IDS tower doesn't show up til after the 5th season), Nicollet Ave isn't a ped and bus way yet, Donaldson's still exists (they always had the best Christmas displays, even better than Dayton's - also gone) Lake of the Isles. Weird.

  • Whenever I feel homesick for MPLS all I do is watch this show and I'm right back home! I lived in the neighborhood of Lake of the Isles that her apartment supposedly was. I'd see the building they used all the time...

  • too bad we got to get old

  • Here's a bit of trivia: Hazel Frederick is the woman who is seen 'scowling' at MTM when she tosses her hat in the air. In later interviews, she says she was just worried MTM would get hit by a car since she was actually out in the middle of the street when they shot that scene. The producers didn't catch Hazel's expression until back in Hollywood, and they decided to just keep it in.

  • Thanks for pointing that out. I've spent my life with that sour puss filed in the back of my head. I always thought she was irritated by Mary, jealous of her footloose-and-fancy free attitude or whatever. Yeah, it's a curiously glum counterpoint to the hat-throwing moment of triumph.

  • I went to a Ford dealer to get my car service and I found in the sevice bay a 1970 Ford Mustang coupe white with a tan interior. Car looks like the "Mary Tyler Moore" opening credits. BTW it was a plain jane variety mustang

  • the great Mary Tyler Moore........timeless....

  • Mary will always be beautiful.