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
1978–79 United States network television schedule The "NBC Novels for Television" segment "The Innocent and the Damned" was a rerun of the 1977 television miniseries "Aspen". Note: "Coasttocoast" was supposed to air Thursdays 10:00-11:00PM, but NBC's new boss Fred Silverman canceled the show. 1978–79 United States network television schedule This was the television schedule on all three commercial television networks in the United States for the fall season beginning in September 1978. All times are Eastern and Pacific. New fall series are highlighted in bold. Series ending their original runs are in "italics". Each of the 30 highest-rated shows is listed with its rank and rating