does anyone remember this special from 1969? it is said to have resurrected MTM's career and led to her own series. Does anyone remember what it was about? Did they play Rob and Laura Petrie? I wish TV LAND would broadcast this special and other specials from the "old days".

I don't recall if I watched it, and if I did I don't remember it. ;)

But the book that I have says that it was a variety-show special. So they would have been doing skits and song & dance numbers. Two of the writers (Bill Persky and Sam Denoff) from DVD wrote the script, so it is possible that they had a skit with "Rob" and "Laura." But, my book doesn't say one way or the other.

Originally posted by buddy love
does anyone remember this special from 1969? it is said to have resurrected MTM's career and led to her own series. Does anyone remember what it was about? Did they play Rob and Laura Petrie? I wish TV LAND would broadcast this special and other specials from the "old days".

I've seen it. (No, I wasn't born in 1969!! ;)) but a friend got it on tape and let me borrow it. Yes, I do remember there being a skit based on Rob and Laura. And they showed outtakes from TDVDS, as well as other song and dance numbers. I can easily see why that led to her getting "The Mary Tyler Moore Show".

Kristen

Originally posted by Kristen


I've seen it. (No, I wasn't born in 1969!! ;)) but a friend got it on tape and let me borrow it. Yes, I do remember there being a skit based on Rob and Laura. And they showed outtakes from TDVDS, as well as other song and dance numbers. I can easily see why that led to her getting "The Mary Tyler Moore Show".

Kristen

Hey kristen please get me a copy of that special. I will pay for the tape along with shipping and handling. I vaguely remembered that special. I was eight when that first came on. I would appreciate it.

My email address is: michaelstewart@attbi.com

Thanks

Originally posted by mstewart


Hey kristen please get me a copy of that special. I will pay for the tape along with shipping and handling. I vaguely remembered that special. I was eight when that first came on. I would appreciate it.

My email address is: michaelstewart@attbi.com

Thanks

I'd help you out if I could but I don't have it. I just borrowed the tape. Sorry! :(

Kristen

I know the special well (i had a little part in it). It's wonderful. This special was what got me going on the whole DVD on DVD idea to begin with.

The special, sponsored by Monsanto, aired once, on CBS April 13, 1969. It was written by my dad and Bill Persky.

Dick and Mary did many sketches and musical numbers, and there was one big out-take from the episode where Rob gets a shot at an acting job. We see what was never aired - Rob breaking into tears because they didn't think he was good enough! it's very funny and you can see Mary barely able to keep from laughing.

We want to include a DVD of this special in the Ottoman Collection, since it's never been re-aired. The problem has always been that the show used many popular songs, like "Do You Love Me?" from Fiddler On The Roof. The cost of paying the royalties to the original composers and musicians would have made a DVD of this special by itself not profitable.

So if we get a huge response on the Ottoman Collection we'll be able to afford to pay the royalties to the composers and include the special.

I'd really love to see it done - it was a great special and by the way, CBS liked it so much, they decided to give MTM her own show; The Mary Tyler Moore Show!

Thanks for your input. Sam Denoff has written, produced, and acted in many wonderful productions. Is it true that he wrote the song "Bupkiss" for the DVD show? I also enjoyed a show called "Lotsa Luck" from the 70's with Dom Deluise and the wonderful Kathleen Freeman which your dad wrote. My very best to him and Thank him for us for all the wonderful memories.

In addition to Lotsa Luck, which I remember watching when I was young, I also liked the brief 1975 Persky/Denoff collaborations Big Eddie, starring Sheldon Leonard, and The Montefuscos, which lasted just a few weeks. I was happy to find that the theme songs from both shows are on Sitcoms Online. I remembered the theme to The Montefuscos after all these years, as well as the theme to Lotsa Luck, which I think was based on a Britcom called On the Buses.

While visiting the museum of Television and Radio in NYC this summer, I was able to view this secial.
The remise of they whole museum is that you go through a catalog of shows they have and you get 2 hours to view what ever you want.
I don't remember seeing an actual scene of them as Rob and Laura, but that may have been cut. It's worth a view if you get a chance to get to New York.

For what it's worth (admitedly not much), I remember this quite well. I have an audio cassette copy of it. For some strange reason, I used to record TV shows on my little cassette player when I was a kid and this was one of them I taped. CBS first aired it in 1969. But three years later, they went on a rerun kick to fill the summer schedule. Among other things, they re-aired "The Governor and JJ" which starred Julie Sommers (right behind Mary as the most gorgeous woman to appear in a TV sitcom) and Dan Daley. And, they re-aired "Dick Van Dyke and the Other Woman" in the summer of 1972. That's when I recorded it. Of course, this was long before there were VCRs and the like, so all I had was my little audio cassette. I remember one hilarious skit, in which Dick woke up in the morning, turned on the radio and started getting dressed for work. And each news story he heard caused him to change his attire for the day. It would be nice if TV Land or someone re-aired it, but, of course, it would be butchered in the editing room as the regular show is.

I remember it, but just vagely. I just remember this one scene where Dick was in the set of the Petrie living room, then he said something about going to work, and said "Acctualy, with the way the sets were constructed, it wasn't very much of a walk" and walk on to the set of their office.
I also remember another scene where him & Mary did a song called "Life is like a situation comedy". Maybe it was a sketch where they played Rob & Laura Petrie.
I also remember seeing the outtakes from "The Dick Van Dyke show". I remember laughing at them, because I had just "rediscovered" that show on one of our local stations, and I hadn't seen a lot of the episodes in years.
I also wish TV LAND would show it.