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
1977–78 United States network television schedule (weekday) ♦ABC had a 6PM (ET)/5PM (CT) feed for their newscast 1977–78 United States network television schedule (weekday) These are the daytime Monday–Friday schedules on all three networks for each calendar season Beginning in September 1977. All times are Eastern. Talk shows are highlighted in yellow, local programming is white, reruns of prime-time programming are orange, game shows are pink, soap operas are chartreuse, news programs are gold and all others are light blue. New series are highlighted in bold. NOTE: On November 7, 1977, CBS expanded "Guiding Light" from 30 minutes to 1 hour. Also, on December 2, 1977, Chico