I see her last ep was that season was Lou's second date and then was not seen the rest of the season and she would start her own show that fall. Could this be the weirdest spinoff of all time?

I see her last ep was that season was Lou's second date and then was not seen the rest of the season and she would start her own show that fall. Could this be the weirdest spinoff of all time?

In hindsight, I have to agree.

However, I suppose the 'reasoning' was that they wanted to give Miss Harper time away from MTM so she could focus as much of her energies helping to put together a show with her iconic character as the centerpiece AND they also wanted the MTM audience to get used to not having Rhoda around as much so they could give the newer characters of Sue Ann and Georgette a chance to shine.

Yeah, while they were good, they weren't as funny or as endearing as Rhoda had been and it seemed a bit sad that Mary no longer had an actual bestie around. I mean, Sue Ann almost always viewed Mary as competition and only rarely considered Mary someone to actually be more the minimally civil to while Georgette was nowhere close to being as intellectually astute as Rhoda had been but also she stuck with Ted whom Mary only grudgingly tolerated mostly for her job's sake!

In hindsight, I have to agree.

However, I suppose the 'reasoning' was that they wanted to give Miss Harper time away from MTM so she could focus as much of her energies helping to put together a show with her iconic character as the centerpiece AND they also wanted the MTM audience to get used to not having Rhoda around as much so they could give the newer characters of Sue Ann and Georgette a chance to shine.

Yeah, while they were good, they weren't as funny or as endearing as Rhoda had been and it seemed a bit sad that Mary no longer had an actual bestie around. I mean, Sue Ann almost always viewed Mary as competition and only rarely considered Mary someone to actually be more the minimally civil to while Georgette was nowhere close to being as intellectually astute as Rhoda had been but also she stuck with Ted whom Mary only grudgingly tolerated mostly for her job's sake!


yeah that was odd. Character who was major for 4 seasons and just vanished like she never existed.

I see her last ep was that season was Lou's second date and then was not seen the rest of the season and she would start her own show that fall. Could this be the weirdest spinoff of all time?

I don't see anything weird at all, actually the spinning off of the show was handled very well. The Rhoda character was a breakout character from a successful long running series, the show needed no introduction, no build up the audience was already engaged with Rhoda. On top of that you make it sound like the character disappeared early in the season with no explanation. The episode you referenced was episode 22 of season 4, there were only 2 more episodes left in the season. MTM decided to tell the Rhoda story on Rhoda. It helped introduce the new characters and made a nice build up to the hour long wedding episode. Remember in those days the seasons ended much earlier than they do now, the final new season 4 episode was aired March 2nd 1974, more than 6 months before the new season started. If Rhoda had been a midseason replacement a crossover episode to get the ball rolling would have made sense, but in this case, I don't think so.

To add a footnote, Cloris Leachman's final appearance as Phyllis in The Mary Tyler Moore Show was episode 18 of season 5, you could argue that series was going to need more support from the mother show, especially given the fact that Phyllis was really a recurring character not a series regular.

I don't see anything weird at all, actually the spinning off of the show was handled very well. The Rhoda the character was a breakout character from a successful long running series, the show needed no introduction, no build up the audience was already engaged with Rhoda. On top of that you make it sound like the character disappeared early in the season with no explanation. The episode you referenced was episode 22 of season 4, there were only 2 more episodes left in the season. MTM decided to tell the Rhoda story on Rhoda. It helped introduce the new characters and made a nice build up to the hour long wedding episode. Remember in those days the seasons ended much earlier than they do now, the final new season 4 episode was aired March 2nd 1974, more than 6 months before the new season started. If Rhoda had been a midseason replacement a crossover episode to get the ball rolling would have made sense, but in this case, I don't think so.

To add a footnote, Cloris Leachman's final appearance as Phyllis in The Mary Tyler Moore Show was episode 18 of season 5, you could argue that series was going to need more support from the mother show, especially given the fact that Phyllis was really a recurring character not a series regular.


To new fans of the show they would wonder where the hell is rhoda lol

Most of my memories of TMTMS are from the seasons after Valerie left, so for me it wasn't a case of missing the character's presence there. Watching the early seasons later, in syndication, I realized how important the character had been.

The odd thing was I considered Rhoda to be a show for girls -- but I guess because of the strong presences of Lou, Ted, and Murray on TMTMS, I didn't think of Mary's show that way.

Most of my memories of TMTMS are from the seasons after Valerie left, so for me it wasn't a case of missing the character's presence there. Watching the early seasons later, in syndication, I realized how important the character had been.

The odd thing was I considered Rhoda to be a show for girls -- but I guess because of the strong presences of Lou, Ted, and Murray on TMTMS, I didn't think of Mary's show that way.

Yeah I can see that since the only man seen on the show was Joe unlike MTM

Yeah I can see that since the only man seen on the show was Joe unlike MTM

No, there was also Ida's husband Martin and, in the last couple of years, Gary Levy and Benny Goodwin. Yet, only Joe came close not to being totally overwhelmed by the ladies while these three were wiped out by them!

Regardless, IMO, the best place to see Rhoda was on MTM!

I see her last ep was that season was Lou's second date and then was not seen the rest of the season and she would start her own show that fall. Could this be the weirdest spinoff of all time?

One of the two episodes broadcast after "Lou's Second Date" has a lower production number and may have been written and/or filmed before that episode. Besides, they had already filmed a "Rhoda Moves to New York"-type episode earlier that season ("Rhoda's Sister Gets Married") and it would have been ridiculous to film another in the same season.

One of the two episodes broadcast after "Lou's Second Date" has a lower production number and may have been written and/or filmed before that episode. Besides, they had already filmed a "Rhoda Moves to New York"-type episode earlier that season ("Rhoda's Sister Gets Married") and it would have been ridiculous to film another in the same season.

I dont think phyllis had a set up episode either