Hi kids...my first thread so bear with me.
So I'm watching Seasons 1-4 again these days and enjoying all the episodes immensely. But there was one thing that jumped out at me and I wanted to ask the group.
In one of the episodes with Mary's parents, they're in her apartment, and Mary's mother says to Mary's father, "Don't forget to take your pill!"
Both Mary's father AND Mary say, "I won't!"

Since I was only 12 when the episode first ran, I didn't "get" the fact that Mary probably was talking about a birth control pill!

I'm curious...if I'm not mistaken about what the writers were getting at, did that cause controversy at the time? I would think it was just another example of how the show was so accurate and cutting edge, but, like I say, the line jumped out at me when I saw it again.

Any thoughts?

I wasn't even alive during the original run, so I can't tell you. But yes, that's what the line was referring to. I remember seeing on N@N and thinking she was referring to asprin or something. I was so naive. ;)

oh ok, thanks for the confirmation
it was a very funny situation, and while i know a lot of these episodes by heart, that one surprised me...it whizzed right over the head of a certain 12-year-old, but it was nice to see it again and get the humor this time
if anybody does remember whether that was fairly controversial at the time, i'd still be interested to know

Well, at least you know you weren't the only one whose head it went over. hehe. And I'm sure a lot of adults heard it, laughed and then said, "Wait a minute....." hehe.

I also was not alive when the episode ran the first time, but laughed when I heard it the first time in repeats (which was only about two years ago). I wondered if I was actually right to assume she was talking about the B.C. pill at first b/c they didn't usually make reference to that kind of thing on the show (especially in the earlier seasons). I read the book about the making of the show (I know I'm a geek lol) and they talked about this particular scene. Here's what they said about it:


"She [Treva Silverman] remembers episode 55, 'when Mary's parents are visiting. Her mother, as she leaves the apartment, calls to her husband, 'Be sure to take your pill.' In unison Mary and her father answer, 'I will'.
'That almost gets by and then people say, 'Did I just hear what I thought I heard?' And very casually we hear that Mary takes the pill. We've just exonerated all the women who ask, 'Oh suppose my mother finds out?' A show on CBS about people she loves and respects, here's a woman taking the pill. And that was influential in a very private way, I think.'"

The book also talks about other little moments that were influential/ground-breaking for their time - some of which I had completely missed.
Just thought I would share!

That's tremendous MaryFan, that's exactly the information I was looking for. Thanks for sharing!
I assume the book you were referencing was The Making of the Mary Tyler Moore Show one...I was gonna try to find it online somewhere and now I'm DEFINITELY going to.

It's also nice to know that many younger people who see the show really like and appreciate it!

No problem - glad to help! Yea the book is definitely worth buying in my opinion. I especially liked the part about the final episode :(

I was in 11th grade when MTM was on. I watched it every Saturday night that I could. I do remember that episode because I was kinda shocked . I just didn't want to think about Mary doing that.

Interesting.
I'm sure it bothered some people, but I bet the writers wanted to get it out there to show Mary was a typical woman in the 1970s, who had that choice to make.
It's not like she was sleeping around, though; in fact in hindsight it strikes me as a bit odd that she only occasionally had a steady...most shows might have yielded to the temptation to give her a regular love interest.

Interesting.
I'm sure it bothered some people, but I bet the writers wanted to get it out there to show Mary was a typical woman in the 1970s, who had that choice to make.
It's not like she was sleeping around, though; in fact in hindsight it strikes me as a bit odd that she only occasionally had a steady...most shows might have yielded to the temptation to give her a regular love interest.
Well said - I agree. Didn't they bring in Ted Bessell late in the series as her boyfriend? I know John Gabriel (Ryan's Hope) played one of Mary's suitors for awhile - he was also WJM's sportscaster, if I'm not mistaken.

True, they did give her a regular boyfriend later in the series.
But at the start I think the idea was to keep her independent...and taking the pill was certainly part of that for some women.

That kinda reminds me of something else, although it's not really connected. In one of the earlier episodes, Mary is wearing a short nightie...and when I say short, I mean eye-poppingly short.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a guy and I enjoyed seeing the famous MTM gams...but wow was it short!
Actually, now that I think about it, maybe that WAS connected...wearing that nightie she might have found herself in need of the pill!

I remember some late '70s book making the claim that Mary wasn't a virgin, and referencing that scene as proof. This show touched on lots of delicate topics, but almost always did so in a very subtle way. On the other end of the spectrum, at the time, there were very popular shows like ALL IN THE FAMILY and MAUDE that dealt with such subject matter in a very in-your-face kind of way. Maude's single daughter, for example, would come right out and talk about having had sex the night before. Had those shows not been on the air at the time, perhaps this remark in MTM might have been controversial. But given that they were, and that they made anything on MTM seem completely tame and wholesome by comparison, I don't think anybody would have batted an eye at Mary's remark.

Hi kids...my first thread so bear with me.
So I'm watching Seasons 1-4 again these days and enjoying all the episodes immensely. But there was one thing that jumped out at me and I wanted to ask the group.
In one of the episodes with Mary's parents, they're in her apartment, and Mary's mother says to Mary's father, "Don't forget to take your pill!"
Both Mary's father AND Mary say, "I won't!"

Since I was only 12 when the episode first ran, I didn't "get" the fact that Mary probably was talking about a birth control pill!

I'm curious...if I'm not mistaken about what the writers were getting at, did that cause controversy at the time? I would think it was just another example of how the show was so accurate and cutting edge, but, like I say, the line jumped out at me when I saw it again.

Any thoughts?

Hi kids...my first thread so bear with me.
So I'm watching Seasons 1-4 again these days and enjoying all the episodes immensely. But there was one thing that jumped out at me and I wanted to ask the group.
In one of the episodes with Mary's parents, they're in her apartment, and Mary's mother says to Mary's father, "Don't forget to take your pill!"
Both Mary's father AND Mary say, "I won't!"

Since I was only 12 when the episode first ran, I didn't "get" the fact that Mary probably was talking about a birth control pill!

I'm curious...if I'm not mistaken about what the writers were getting at, did that cause controversy at the time? I would think it was just another example of how the show was so accurate and cutting edge, but, like I say, the line jumped out at me when I saw it again.

Any thoughts?
I'm 12, going on 13, and it took me a minute, but I got it! At first I thought that I was mistaken because I didn't think that they would make a refrence in the show to that..at least I know I was right! I didn't get to see MTM when it was on re-runs. They took it off of N@N before I was old enough to watch it. :( I remember seeing my mom watching it, but she said that I was too young (I was like 3-but I loved MTM on the Dick Van Dyke Show (she was--and still is--my role model), so I wanted to watch it!) and I wouldn't understand it, so she told me to stick with The Dick Van Dyke Show until this past Christmas when my parents got it for me!
Now I just have all of the tapes!
There were other refrences to things like that in the show, weren't there...