Saturday, October 31, 2009

mary

Over the last few months we've taken to watching The Mary Tyler Moore Show on Hulu.com. I vividly remember watching it during its original run (1970-77) but it must have been the later seasons when I was 10- or 11-years-old. Having moved from the Cities down to Omaha in the summer of 1972, my family has some midwestern connection to Mary and her crew. I don't know if this was a strictly midwestern ideal but I suspect most flyover state families felt a pretty strong connection. What's so great about the show is that every character is perfectly cast. I'd forgotten just how great Ted Knight/Baxter was while melding the huge ego of an anchorman with his employment at the fifth-rated local news station. Mary and Lou Grant have the perfect chemistry between not only employee and boss but the '70s relationship between men and women. And Mary...she's seems much hotter than when I was eyeing her, pre-puberty. Great TV. (In the season we're watching Georgette and Ted aren't married yet and Cloris Leachman and Betty White hasn't even shown up yet.) The final piece of this TV puzzle was the opening theme for the show. It apparently changed three times over the years - same song, different styles - and the episodes we're watching have the second version (third season) which I couldn't find on YouTube. Regardless, if you're old enough to remember the show, this will strike a chord:



I headed into D.C. this morning to gather some more hip cards to send to L. each week. There's a great place, Pulp, that stocks a huge selection of cards created by anyone other than Hallmark or the other junky companies. It's a pretty hip 14th St. NW storefront that both she and I enjoy. It's also right next store to a cool kitchen store; as if I need that.


I'm about halfway through my second viewing of Band of Brothers. The first time I watched was also on DVD while living in a tent in Qatar. I didn't know much about it at the time - living overseas and all - but ended up watching the entire set in a 24-hour period. This viewing only confirms my opinion that it may be the best TV ever made.

Another week on the horizon. I'll be working the Virginia elections all day Tuesday so it'll be a long one.

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