Come on, sing along with me:
"Who can turn the world on with her smile?
Who can take a nothing day, and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile?"
For viewers of a certain age, it's 1970 all over again and the world is full of hope.
"Love is all around, no need to waste it
You can have a town, why don't you take it
You're gonna make it after all."
Yes, it's the theme song for The Mary Tyler Moore Show (originally simply Mary Tyler Moore) and came with opening credits that became one of the most iconic visuals in the history of television.
Go ahead, you have my permission to stroll out in the middle of the street and toss your tam into the air. Watch out for traffic -- Moore shot the scene at a pedestrian mall.
How iconic was that opening? The slow-motion scene of an ebullient Mary Richards twirling and tossing her tam is so ingrained in our collective memories that TV Land had an 8-foot statue of the moment commissioned.
You can visit it outside Macy's at the corner of South Seventh Street and the Nicollet Pedestrian Mall in Minneapolis -- near the very spot where the scene was filmed. Moore unveiled the statue in 2002 as a crowd of 3,000 cheered.
Nostalgic viewers can relive (and new viewers can enjoy) that moment when PBS airs Mary Tyler Moore: A Celebration. The intimate, hour-long tribute airs at 7 p.m. Tuesday on AETN.
Moore is 78 these days and still has what Lou Grant (her boss at the show's fictional TV station, played by Ed Asner) would call "spunk." We'll overlook what Lou actually said in the very first episode, Sept. 19, 1970: "You know what, you've got spunk ... (pause) I hate spunk."
The special features interviews with a Hollywood who's who of Moore's co-stars, along with dozens of classic clips, including many from her big break (at age 23) on The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961-1966) and one of the most memorable episodes in the history of television.
Yes, Chuckles the Clown is still dead. I defy you not to laugh as you watch, "A little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down your pants."
Mary Richards' stifled laughter, then sobbing reaction at Chuckle's memorial service exemplifies what America found so beloved about her. She was eminently relatable.
"It was second nature to me," Moore says, "so I didn't feel that separate from the character I was playing. I'm an actress who can perform comedy well, but I am not a comedian. They are two very different things."
Those adding their voices to the tribute include Van Dyke, Carl Reiner (who hired her for The Dick Van Dyke Show), Betty White, Valerie Harper, Asner, Cloris Leachman, Gavin MacLeod and John Amos.
Oprah Winfrey also reveals how much the show and Moore meant to her.
"I think Mary Tyler Moore has had more influence on my career than any other single person or force," Winfrey says. She then reminisces about the time Moore surprised her during a taping of The Oprah Winfrey Show, causing her to "ugly cry" for the first time on TV.
In a PBS news release, Donald Thoms, vice president of programming, explains, "Mary Tyler Moore was both inspirational and aspirational for many women who came of age in the 1970s. Her demeanor, style and beauty, along with her fierce loyalty to friends, was evidenced throughout her long and successful career, and radiated both on screen and off.
"This salute to Ms. Moore is a tribute to her successful career and her place in American entertainment."
The Mary Tyler Moore Show, created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns, ran from 1970 to 1977, established the careers of a number of actors and gave us three spin-offs -- Rhoda (1974--78) with Harper; Phyllis (1975--77) with Leachman; and the hour drama Lou Grant (1977--82) with Asner.
The series was nominated for 67 Emmys and won 29, setting a record that wasn't broken until Frasier earned its 30th in 2002.
Many believe The Mary Tyler Moore Show struck such a chord because it came along at a critical time during societal changes in America.
Mary Richards, after all, was a newly single woman of 30 who took a leap of faith and moved to the big city after being dumped by her longtime boyfriend. Without prior experience and armed only with optimism, she wrangled the job of associate producer of the local TV station's Six O'Clock News.
The special covers Moore's tumultuous childhood ("I wasn't a very happy little girl"), early dreams of becoming a dancer and being discovered by Danny Thomas. Moore also relates how an appearance on a 1969 Van Dyke variety special led CBS to create a series just for her.
That groundbreaking sitcom became something that's increasingly rare -- a TV show that changes our lives for the better and continues to entertain us in syndication.
Style on 10/11/2015