Gavin MacLeod first auditioned for the part of Lou Grant. Edward Asner gave a terrible reading at his first audition and insisted on a second chance. Jack Cassidy was considered for the role of Ted Baxter. Cassidy later guest-starred as Ted's brother.

When casting the part of Sue Ann Nivens, producers were stumped for an actress to take the role. They wanted "someone like Betty White." Eventually, someone asked, "Why not cast Betty White?"

Moore wore a wig for the first season of the show, to make her appear less like Laura Petrie (her character on "The Dick Van Dyke Show"). When it was discarded, the change in her hairstyle (including her much lighter hair color) was never commented on in the show itself.



The shot in the opening credits where Mary throws her hat into the air was filmed at the corner of Seventh Street and Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis. In May 2002, TV Land erected a statue of her at that spot.

The show's memorable theme song was written and sung by Sonny Curtis, who also wrote the Everly Brothers' "Walk Right Back" and the Bobby Fuller Four's "I Fought the Law" (later covered by the Clash).

http://www.newsday.com/services/newspaper/printedition/sunday/fanfare/ny-fftake5818717aug31,0,3726241.story

Thanks for the cool trivia!

Andrea

I only recently found out about that Mary's season 1 hair was a wig, which is too bad because it's my favorite Mary look. I think she looked great with long hair. I never really cared for her shorter curly hair style that she wore in seasons 6 and 7. I think it made her look older.

I only recently found out about that Mary's season 1 hair was a wig, which is too bad because it's my favorite Mary look. I think she looked great with long hair. I never really cared for her shorter curly hair style that she wore in seasons 6 and 7. I think it made her look older.

I totally agree with you.

Yeah I really hated that puffy style. I liked her hair short when she fliped it out (Laura Petrie style) or had it like straight and curled under.

Knew about everything except the wig. I had no idea it was a wig-LOL. Too bad, because I loved her hair in the first season. I really didn't like the shorter look - it made her look 15 years older. It seemed like in season one, Mary looked younger and more attractive than Rhoda, but by seasons 3 and 4 it was the other way around.

I always knew that it was a wig, because I read MTM's auto-bio before I started watching the show. The intro didn't make sense, and neither did the chapters on the show, but after I had watched it, and went back and re-read the book, and I love the beginning, but I had always remembered that the 1st season was a wig.

I only recently found out about that Mary's season 1 hair was a wig, which is too bad because it's my favorite Mary look. I think she looked great with long hair. I never really cared for her shorter curly hair style that she wore in seasons 6 and 7. I think it made her look older.
:yeahthat I loved that long hair! I, too, only found out recently it was a wig. :lol:

Came across a piece of TMTMS trivia I'd never read so thought I'd post it.
I found it on the International Movie Database MTMS page...somebody was wondering how the ungrammatical "Bess, you is my daughter now" became the name of that episode.
Someone named "JHHPRO" explained:
"It's a play on words. There is a musical called "Porgy and Bess" that contains a song called "Bess, you is my woman now". The play is about two black characters in the rural south and the word IS was used instead of ARE as a slang. The MTM show writers titled the episode as an inside joke in a time when the general viewer never knew the name of an episode."

PGood,
I had no idea about the reason for that title. It makes sense!
Thanks.

Mary Richards wore a wig in her first season, and Carol Brady wore a wig in the first season of the Brady Bunch!

Mary Richards wore a wig in her first season, and Carol Brady wore a wig in the first season of the Brady Bunch!
Yeah, Florence called that wig the "bubble 'do". :lol: