Mary Tyler Moore pivotal one-hour musical special called "Dick Van Dyke and the Other Woman", Moore and husband Grant Tinker successfully pitched a sitcom centered on Moore to CBS. "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" is a half-hour newsroom sitcom featuring Ed Asner as her gruff boss Lou Grant. Moore's show proved so popular that three other regular characters, Valerie Harper as Rhoda Morgenstern, Cloris Leachman as Phyllis Lindstrom and Ed Asner as Lou Grant were also spun off into their own series. The premise of the single working woman's life, alternating during the program between work and home, became a television staple. After
Rebecca Balding Rebecca Balding Rebecca Balding (born September 21, 1955) is an American actress who is probably best known for her appearances on "Soap" and "Charmed". Balding was born in Little Rock, Arkansas. She attended the University of Kansas. She had the role of Carol David, mother of Jodie Dallas' child, on "Soap", appearing in 19 episodes from 1978 through 1980. Balding played Corky Crandall in 1979 in the sitcom "Makin' It", as well as the original female reporter Carla Mardigian during the first three episodes of the inaugural 1977 season of the drama series "Lou Grant", starring Ed Asner, before that