Which classic character of Mary Tyler Moore do you prefer: Laura Petrie on The Dick Van Dyke Show or Mary Richards on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and why?

I can't vote because I love both of the characters.

She was better as Laura Petrie.
She was still great the first
two seasons on her own show.
After that, she was still enjoyable
and likeable but she wasn't the same.
She became aware of how likeable
she was to everyone and she started to play to it. It's like, I think, Pauline Kael wrote about Dick Van
Dyke once when she thought he was overdoing something, "he shouldn't
try to be charming, he is charming."
I think Mary's been doing that for a long time. I still love seeing her,
always hope she's great, but she either tries too hard or is too aware that's she's charming. But I do still like her. Really.

Samme, I wholeheartedly agree with you.
I'm a little old fashioned, but how can there be any comparison to MTM's Laura Petrie character? MTM once said herself that, "Laura was just out there in New Rochelle, doing her thing." And what was Laura's "thing"? She didn't want to dance, although she could, and very well. She didn't want a writer's career, although she tried her hand at it. She didn't want to compete with and beat Rob at anything, although she occassionally did. Laura focused her energy on making sure that their home was comfortable and happy for Rob and Richie.
Mary Richards was different. She was a career woman who'd never found the right guy to settle down with, but you knew that she knew she could have almost any guy she wanted. She was no vixen, to be sure, but she was well aware of her curb appeal. You get the impression that when she was ready, she knew she'd have her pick.
On the other hand, Laura Petrie would've been genuinely surprised and flattered to know that millions of men found her so attractive and desireable. Oh she may have denied it at first, if Rob brought it up one morning at breakfast. But eventually she would've given in, agreed reluctantly, and told him she didn't understant why. Then she would have sent him off to work with a kiss, and started defrosting a roast for dinner. No comparison

I liked both. Sorry but you can't really compare the two. Each one was fun. I wish they'd air the shows again.

Hi all,
I think they were a lot more alike than people realize. Both were great characters -- sweet, funny, cheery, perky, well-behaved, loveable, hugable.

I'm not sure what kind of wife Mary Richards would have made. She most likely would have learned to be a good cook, although she wouldn't have prepared all the meat dishes that Laura did. She was a working girl, not a housewife. And so, something tells that if Mary cooked, she probably would have expected her husband to do the dishes . . . and rightly so. If she dusted, she probably would have expected her husband to vacuum . . . and rightly so, etc., etc. She couldn't throw a decent party to save her life, but then again, Laura Petrie's concept of entertaining guests in her home probably wouldn't have worked in the 1970s, either.

I think that Laura Petrie probably *could* have produced a TV news show if she wanted to, but most likely would have been afraid to try. Who knows, however, what effect having a friend like Rhoda may have had on Laura? It just may have made her stronger and given her the necessary confidence . . . if more confidence was necessary, that is. As she showed that time when she filled in for Sally in Rob's office, Laura may have been shy about it at first, but ultimately she had no problem showing the boys what she could do and contributing ideas.


I chose Laura over Mary, based primarily on sex appeal.

Laura certainly could have produced a news show. Ya know, strangely enough,
I think Laura was more of an adult character than Mary Richards. Is the really any doubt if something happened to Rob, Laura would've done whatever was
necessary to pull things together and raise Ritchie? She was a woman, where as
Mary Richards was more like an girl trying to adjust. And yet I do think the first two seasons Mary was essentially
the same character as Laura in just a different setting and to me that was a continuation of MTM's great acting on the DVDS. At first, Mary Richards wanted to get married and have a family but then
later became a symbol of not having to get married. I'd rather see flesh and
blood feelings than someone acting as a
symbol should act. All Mary ended up with
was a job, and she lost that. And they tried to make it out as a triumph and she'd had a family all along in her friends. I don't think she ended up with
anything. The earlier Mary Richards said
it better, people say they'll get together and they never do. Laura would've known that too. (And Laura was the sexiest character ever on TV, although I'd rate Mary Richards as a close number two.)

Samme,
I've often wondered through the years why Laura Petrie seemed so much older and more mature than Mary Richards. I think part of it is because we saw Laura taking care of a house, a husband and a little boy. And, we've been socially conditioned to think of wives and mothers as older. Plus, when the Dick Van Dyke Show was on the air, I was at an age when someone who was 23 was "old." Silly as it may sound, add to that the fact that Laura was in black and white -- a lady with a classic hourglass figure who looked and dressed like the president's wife . . . wearing clothes that by the '70s were out of style. Add in Mary's dramatic weight loss between the two series, which made her look like a "skinny kid" at the start of her own show, and there you have one complete illusion.

But, now that I'm older than both Laura and Mary were, I can see through that illusion. Laura seems like a kid to me now. Mary was an older single gal who despite losing her job in the end really did "make it, after all."

Has to be Laura. She was my first crush as a kid. With those skin-tight stretch pants and incredible looks she exuded suburban sex pot from every pore. I wanted her- big time. Mary on the other hand was a completely different person. I've often discussed with friends how the two characters seem like they were played by two different actresses. I wasn't atrracted to Mary Richards (maybe because she looked like my sister). Laura looked like the secret rendezvous of my dreams. Still does.

I said Laura because I never really got into the Mary Tyler Moore show and would pass up the Mary Tyler Moore show for the Dick Van Dyke Show anytime.

Originally posted by LucyFan
Which classic character of Mary Tyler Moore do you prefer: Laura Petrie on The Dick Van Dyke Show or Mary Richards on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and why?

I don't think you're going to get unbiased results from posting this question on a DICK VAN DYKE SHOW message board.

JaneTVFan,
Why not?

Originally posted by Artfiore1
JaneTVFan,
Why not?

I think because most DVD show fans are going to pick Laura over Mary. But the same poll was taken on the MTMS board too so those fans have say too.

Kristen

Hi again all,
I found this excellent quote in the Classic Sitcoms "Dick Van Dyke Show" episode guide:


" . . . it's doubtful that Mary Richards would ever have considered trying to make it on her own if the seeds of her independence hadn't been planted so many years earlier by a headstrong young housewife in Capri pants."

:) I think that they are both great characters.