Mary Richards & Rhoda Morgenstern had a wonderful chemistry together. I was curious how you feel they stack up with the likes of Lucy & Ethel, Oscar & Felix, Ralph Kramden & Ed Norton etc...

Mary and Rhoda definitely had one of the greatest friendships in TV history - especially since they were so different. :cool: :D

Mary & Rhoda are definitely one of my favorites, right up there with Lucy & Ethel. :D

Mary & Rhoda are definitely one of my favorites, right up there with Lucy & Ethel. :D

Totally agree I love it in Rhoda when Mary makes a surprise vist and Rhoda ends up telling Joe she'd rather spend the weekend with Mary,rather than him!

All those combinations are outstanding.

I think the one thing that separates and elevates the friendship of Mary and Rhoda, like many things with The Mary Tyler Moore Show, is that it was so based in reality.

I mean, Lucy and Ethel, Lucy was the wack job and Ethel the follower, and while it was hilarious at times, their shenanigans did stretch belief once in a while (nothing wrong with that on TV, though).
Ralph and Ed were probably as close as you're going to get with the "guy" version of friendship. And again, while always funny, Ed constantly doing something to get under the combustible Ralph's skin was somewhat predictable.
Felix and Oscar...another classic combo. They were so different personally that that's what made their pairing so delightful. I'm glad they brought them together, but in real life that would have lasted about five seconds.

Mary and Rhoda were great because you looked at their relationship and said, "Yeah, that's the way it is with me and MY best friend"...Fun, digs at each other, always there for each other, but able to talk about serious stuff, too, and once in a while getting really ticked off...but always making it right in the end. Real life!

And that's not to underestimate the comedy, either. I mean Rhoda's one-liners were fantastic, and Mary could more than hold her own with Rhoda and in fact had a great wit as she went through her life's situations with the whole gang.

I vote Mary and Rhoda, but all the other ones are right up there, too.