Television series

The Mary Tyler Moore Show

Name: The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1970
Cast: Mary Tyler Moore, Gavin MacLeod, Edward Asner, Ted Knight, Valerie Harper

Before it was a classic, it was a small miracle: a network sitcom about a single, thirty-something woman who wasn't waiting for marriage to start her life. Mary Richards navigates a Minneapolis newsroom with warmth, wit, and genuine backbone, surrounded by one of television's great ensembles. It's gentle, character-driven comedy — funny in a way that trusts silence and glances as much as punchlines. For anyone who thinks 'old sitcom' means creaky, this one still walks with a spring in its step.

TVMaze rating

7.9

If you liked this

Cheers1982

The same DNA — a workplace that becomes a family, patient character work, jokes that land because you love the people telling them, not despite it.

But Eleven seasons is a big ask, and the Sam-and-Diane will-they-won't-they can feel dated in its gender politics.

Taxi1978

Another MTM-adjacent ensemble comedy about people stuck together at work, with the same knack for finding tenderness inside the jokes.

But Louie De Palma's abrasiveness and some era-specific attitudes toward women haven't aged as gracefully as Mary's newsroom.

The Bob Newhart Show1972

Made by the same studio in the same years, with the same low-key, adult, character-first comedy — Newhart's deadpan is a perfect companion to Mary's warmth.

But Quieter and more static than Mary's show; if you want plot momentum, this will feel slight.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

His Girl Friday1940

It's the same engine — a capable professional woman navigating a newsroom dominated by men — built thirty years earlier, in a completely different comic register: fast, cynical, and unapologetically screwball rather than warm.

A rapid-fire screwball classic about a whip-smart, ambitious newspaperwoman holding her own in a room full of men — decades before Mary walked into WJM.

But Black-and-white, stagey by modern standards, and the dialogue comes so fast some viewers need subtitles just to keep up.

30 Rock2006

A modern, manic descendant — still a woman trying to run a TV production behind the scenes, still an office full of oddballs, just turned up to eleven.

But The joke-per-second density and absurdist streak are a world away from Mary's gentler, more grounded rhythms.

Frasier1993

Same literate, character-driven comedy tradition — smart, warm, verbally nimble, with actors who can turn a raised eyebrow into a punchline.

But More upscale and wordy; if what you loved was Mary's everywoman quality, Frasier's poshness might grate.

Parks and Recreation2009

An ensemble workplace comedy built on optimism and genuine affection between coworkers, carried by a female lead who's ambitious without being cynical.

But The mockumentary format and broader character comedy are a different comic register than Mary's naturalism.

Murphy Brown1988

Practically Mary's professional granddaughter — a woman thriving in TV news, sharper-tongued and more overtly political, but built on the same foundation.

But Leans harder into topical satire and current-events jokes that can feel dated decades later.

The Office2005

If you loved the workplace-as-family feeling, this scratches the same itch with a different camera style and a more awkward, cringe-forward sense of humor.

But The mockumentary format and secondhand-embarrassment comedy are tonally quite far from Mary's warmth.

The Golden Girls1985

Another show about independent women refusing to disappear after a certain age, with the same instinct for finding big laughs inside real vulnerability.

But Multi-camera, live-audience style is broader and louder than Mary's more understated comic rhythms.

Broadcast News1987

Same newsroom setting and same central question — can a woman have the career and the love life — but reframed as bittersweet film drama instead of weekly comfort comedy.

A sharper, more melancholy cousin: a driven TV news producer torn between ambition and romance, in a newsroom just as vividly drawn as WJM's.

But It trades sitcom comfort for genuine heartbreak and career anxiety — funnier in theory than in the moment it hits you.

9to5: The Story of a Movement2020

It's the factual backbone to Mary's fictional independence — the actual labor movement of women fighting for respect and pay in offices just like WJM-TV, told without a laugh track.

A documentary about the real working women who organized against exactly the office indignities Mary faced with a shrug and a smile — the history behind the joke.

But It's nonfiction and occasionally dry where Mary's show is buoyant; this is homework, in the best sense, not entertainment.