Rhoda Morgenstern Rhoda Morgenstern Rhoda Faye Morgenstern, portrayed by Valerie Harper, is a fictional character on the television sitcom "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and subsequent spin-off, "Rhoda". The original opening of the series "Rhoda" establishes that Rhoda Faye Morgenstern was born in the Bronx, New York, in December 1941. She is the daughter of Ida and Martin Morgenstern (Nancy Walker and Harold Gould), and grew up in New York before moving to Minneapolis, Minnesota sometime in the late 1960s. On "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" Rhoda had a sister named Debbie (Liberty Williams), seen in one episode, and a briefly-mentioned brother
Teen sitcom format to "The Wonder Years", which ended before "Boy Meets World" debuted in 1993, both of which focused on a boy dealing with the challenges that come with growing into adolescence) and "Family Matters" (which originated as a family sitcom spun off from the family-friendly though adult-centered "Perfect Strangers", but soon shifted more of its focus towards its teenage characters due to the popularity of the character of nerdy high school (and later, college) student Steve Urkel). Over time, the Big Three television networks (ABC, CBS and NBC) began shifting away from family-oriented comedies toward comedy series focused on adults