I googled MTM looking for information on the house and saw a post that said MTM debuted on Tuesday night against Mod Squad. I just don't remember that at all. I only remember watching MTM on Saturday nights

In all the TV books I have - TMTMS debuted on September 19, 1970. That was a Saturday night. The show aired on Saturday nights on CBS for its entire 7-season run.

Yea MTM never aired on any other night. It along with AITF was the anchor of CBS' Saturday night lineup back then.

In all the TV books I have - TMTMS debuted on September 19, 1970. That was a Saturday night. The show aired on Saturday nights on CBS for its entire 7-season run.
I found the same information in all my books too!

it aired on saturday night at 9:30 eastern time right after "THE NEW DICK VAN DYKE SHOW" (CBS was hoping that a "Dick-Mary hour" would attract viewers)
And I read somewhere that; to this day; Mary credits that with getting her show off to a good start.

....this was CBS" prime-time schedule the evening Mary premiered on Saturday, September 19, 1970 [all times Eastern]:

7:30 MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE
8:30 MY THREE SONS
9:00 ARNIE (starring Herschel Bernardi)
9:30 THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW
10:00 MANNIX

The Dick Van Dyke/Mary Tyler Moore "coupling" happened in her second season {in the fall of '71}, when "ARNIE" moved to 10:30pm(et) on Mondays, after "MY THREE SONS".


See, the original plan was for Mary to appear on Tuesdays at 8pm(et). But Fred Silverman saw a "flaw" in some of the network's preliminary schedule that summer, deciding a back-to-back combination of "THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES" [7:30] and "GREEN ACRES" [8] was a better "fit", shifting Mary to Saturdays just six weeks before her premiere...

:tv:

Wasn't Herschel Bernardi the voice of Charlie the tuna from the Starkist commercials?

Wasn't Herschel Bernardi the voice of Charlie the tuna from the Starkist commercials?
That is correct Charles. And he also voiced the Ho Ho Ho's of the Jolly Green Giant.

That is correct Charles. And he also voiced the Ho Ho Ho's of the Jolly Green Giant.
he did the jolly green giant too? I never knew that!

I never realized The Mary Tyler Moore Show started while My Three Sons was still on the schedule.

he did the jolly green giant too? I never knew that!
Neither did I! You really do learn something new every day. :D

I remember watching an interview with Moore (many, many years ago), which she said it was her husband Grant Tinker who pushed for the Saturday night slot before the show debuted in 1970.

Tinker's "strategical thinking" back then was that single women who didn't have a date on Saturday night were probably "home watching TV" - and they would relate to single 'Mary and Rhoda' over the shows offered on the other two networks (yes, there was a time when there were only three networks, kids!). He believed these young women (sought after by advertisers) would tell their friends, and slowly build up a loyal audience who could relate to the main character.

Apparently, Tinker's strategy worked. From there, part of their subsequent renewals with CBS was that MTM would never move from Saturday nights - for the loyal single women in the audience.

^ Well, in 1970, my mom was a single woman who never missed an episode of TMTMS (plus Bob Newhart and Carol Burnett). When the show ended in 1977, Mom was still a loyal viewer - except by that point she was married (and still is! :D) I have no doubt that had I been her age and living in 1970, I would've been glued to my TV every Saturday night watching Mary. As it is, I can totally relate to many of Mary and Rhoda's experiences - some things don't change after 40 years!!! :cool: :D

I have read on some 1970 issues of Broadcasting Magazine at AmericanRadioHistory.com about The Mary Tyler Moore Show being slotted at Tuesdays at 8:00 PM.

That made me want to ask this question: How would The Mary Tyler Moore Show have fared in the Tuesday timeslot it was initially planned to be at? Would it still have been the success it became when it aired on Saturdays, or would it have ended up a one-season failure?

I also started this thread (http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=332080) some time ago about All in the Family initially being slotted on Mondays at 10:30 PM for the fall of 1971 and whether it would still have been a success had CBS stuck with its preliminary scheduling.

Considering that All in the Family did debut on Tuesdays at midseason, would all the success that CBS's Saturday lineup had during the early-to-mid-1970s have ended up on Tuesdays instead, provided that the Rural Purge would still happen at the end of the 1970-71 season, and CBS was willing to push The MTM Show and All in the Family to the top no matter what? And would audiences still have switched the channel from CBS to ABC for Marcus Welby M.D. at 10:00 PM?