Mary (1978 TV series) Mary (1978 TV series) Mary is an American comedy-variety show hosted by and starring Mary Tyler Moore that aired Sundays at 8:00 pm (EST) on CBS from September 24 to October 8, 1978, with a total of three episodes produced over one season. "Mary" was the attempt by Mary Tyler Moore to return to network television after the triumph of her sitcom ("The Mary Tyler Moore Show") from 1970 to 1977. Her sitcom having not been renewed at her producers' request (they didn't want it to get "stale"), she had taken a year off before returning to television to conquer
James L. Brooks the short-lived series "Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers" in 1974. He and Burns moved on to "Rhoda", a spin-off of "Mary Tyler Moore", taking Valerie Harper's character Rhoda Morgenstern into her own show. It was well received, lasting four years and earning Brooks several Emmys. The duo's next project came in 1977 in the shape of "Lou Grant", a second "Mary Tyler Moore" spin-off, which they created along with Tinker. Unlike its source however, the series was a drama starring Edward Asner as Grant. James Brown of the Museum of Broadcast Communications said it "explore[d] a knotty issue facing