I was watching over some of my MTM episodes, and noticed that there's a big difference between the episodes with Rhoda and Phyllis, and the ones without them. Without them, the show was kind of dry and not as funny. I thought that some of the thing that made the show funny had disappeared. I even think that Phyllis filled in Rhoda's place well when she left the year before Phyllis did. Does anyone agree with me?

------------------
Andrew Carden

Yes, most definitely. I saw an episode on Mon. where the rest of the cast had such small roles as if they were makng guest appearances. I think it was called Mary Richards Falls in Love. It wasn't the same after Rhoda and Phyllis left.

I loved the last 2 seasons and thought they were some of the best. But then again I always like the last seasons of shows.

I agree completely that the show lost something when Rhoda, and then later, Phyllis left. The whole thing that got me into this show, even when I was a kid watching it, was the the great friendship between Mary and Rhoda. The first episode is the best because you see these two are so contrary, so dissimilar that they could never get along. Mary and Phyllis seem at least a bit more aligned in background and such, and you'd think Rhoda would be the third wheel. But when Rhoda says she's having a hard time hating Mary, and that they'll both have to work on it, to me, that was the best set-up of a friendship! Turns out Mary and Rhoda become the best of buddies while Phyllis becomes somewhat of the proverbial third wheel. That is not a slight of the importance of Phyllis, because while Mary and Rhoda are great contrasts, Rhoda and Phyllis are even greater contrasts, and that's one more element that made for some of the biggest laughs on the show. (The whole Mary/Rhoda friendship rang even more true for me when I ended up in a friendship where the both of us were way too different to be pals, yet it's the best friendship I've ever had!)
The MTM show just did everything right: you had the comradery of the newsroom ( Mary and Murray, like brother and sister, Lou and Mary) and you had the friendships at home. All of it was handled so well that all of the intersecting relationships were fully developed and unique, but never crowded the others or left some friendships coming off as two-dimentional. I do believe the show was still good after Rhoda and Phyllis left, but there was never anything that could replace the chemistry of "The Three Ladies of MTM."