Mary's Traveling Stained-Glass Window

[LittleRickyII]

You know that octogon-shaped stained-glass window just outside the doorway to Mary's first apartment? I'm noticing this week that window really got around. After Mary moved out of that apartment in "Mary Moves Out" (first aired 9/20/1975), that wasn't the end of that window. Earlier this week I was watching an episode of Rhoda, "Ida's Doctor" (first aired 9/22/1975) and there was a scene in a restaurant with that window clearly visible in the background. Now this morning, I was watching the Phyllis episode "The Wrong Box" (first aired 11/8/1976), and there is a scene in a mortuary where this window appears again. That episode will be rebroadcast later today (5:00) on American Life Network. If anyone happens to see this post who gets ALN, check out Phyllis this afternoon and you'll see what I mean.

[Madame X]

I don't get those shows on TV and it's been a long time since I've seen them (they were favorites), but I love when someone spots interesting items. You've sparked my curiosity! Obviously the window was a piece of set material stored in the MTM Enterprises warehouse!

[LittleRickyII]

Originally Posted by Madame X

I don't get those shows on TV and it's been a long time since I've seen them (they were favorites), but I love when someone spots interesting items. You've sparked my curiosity! Obviously the window was a piece of set material stored in the MTM Enterprises warehouse!

I guess they thought that window was too pretty not to keep using. In the Rhoda episode, it was sort of a dark, cozy restaurant with a bar, so the window fit in well in that ambiance. On Phyllis, it was in a mortuary, so the stained glass seemed very appropriate.

[PGood97041]

What an interesting spot by you, Little Ricky!
I think you missed your calling...you should be a detective!

[Miss Lisa]

I wish I was able to see those shows on tv. LOL, but now when I do get to see them I'll be looking for a bunch of things like that. If they went ahead and reused the window when ever they could, imagine what else they could have slipped in there.

[LittleRickyII]

Originally Posted by PGood97041

What an interesting spot by you, Little Ricky!
I think you missed your calling...you should be a detective!

Well thanks, but I'm not so sure I'm that clever. After all, that window is pretty unique, so it's hard not to notice when it shows up somewhere it's not supposed to be. And what a coincidence that it happens to appear in two reruns of Rhoda and Phyllis in the same week.

[LittleRickyII]

Originally Posted by Miss Lisa

I wish I was able to see those shows on tv. LOL, but now when I do get to see them I'll be looking for a bunch of things like that.

Well, the second season of Rhoda is about to be released on DVD, and the episode I was referring to that had the window is from the second season.

Originally Posted by Miss Lisa

If they went ahead and reused the window when ever they could, imagine what else they could have slipped in there.

Good point. I only caught the window being used because it's so noticeable. But there are so many other things -- desks, tables, vases, etc. -- that could easily have been reused.

[scotsguy]

The Rhoda one with the window in season2 is that when Ida is falling in love with her Doctor?
Now I do remember noticing that but forgot about it,until your posting.

[LittleRickyII]

Originally Posted by scotsguy

The Rhoda one with the window in season2 is that when Ida is falling in love with her Doctor?
Now I do remember noticing that but forgot about it,until your posting.

Yep, that's the one. The scene is in a restaurant. I believe the episode is called "Ida's Doctor." The window isn't as prominent as in the Phyllis episode, but it's there.

[scotsguy]

Yes thats the one,meant to say the late John Ritter,appeared in MTM Rhoda and Phyllis too.
He marries Ted and Georgette on MTM,plays an accordian player(not Nick Lobo but similar)on Rhoda season1,"Chest Pains"plays a handsome bank worker,who mucks Brenda around in season2,"Attack On Mr Right" and in "Phyllis",he is Phyllis' short lived supervisor, in: "The New Job".

[LittleRickyII]

Originally Posted by scotsguy

Yes thats the one,meant to say the late John Ritter,appeared in MTM Rhoda and Phyllis too.
He marries Ted and Georgette on MTM,plays an accordian player(not Nick Lobo but similar)on Rhoda season1,"Chest Pains"plays a handsome bank worker,who mucks Brenda around in season2,"Attack On Mr Right" and in "Phyllis",he is Phyllis' short lived supervisor, in: "The New Job".

John Ritter was all over the place back in those days before he landed on Three's Company. He had a recurring role for several years as a preacher on The Waltons.

[scotsguy]

Yes I saw him in "The Waltons".
"Three's Company" was based on the UK hit show "Man About The House",they showed some episodes of "Three's Company" in the UK,thought John Ritter was very talented.
Funnily enough "George and Mildred",the spinoff from MATH was an even bigger hit than the orginal show but I understand "The Ropers" spinoff,only lasted one season in the US.

[LittleRickyII]

Originally Posted by scotsguy

Yes I saw him in "The Waltons".
"Three's Company" was based on the UK hit show "Man About The House",they showed some episodes of "Three's Company" in the UK,thought John Ritter was very talented.
Funnily enough "George and Mildred",the spinoff from MATH was an even bigger hit than the orginal show but I understand "The Ropers" spinoff,only lasted one season in the US.

Lots of our biggest sitcom hits in the U.S. were based on UK series, but I've never heard of any UK sitcoms based on a U.S. sitcom. My favorite current sitcom is The Office, which of course is also is based on a UK show of the same name.

As I remember it, The Ropers had a trial run in the spring of 1979 (about 4 episodes) and did well enough to get picked up as a regular series the next season (1979-1980). During that first full season, it did not do well and was dropped. This was the first of many bad blood moments between a Three's Company actor and the producers. I believe it was Norman Fell who did not particularly want to do a spin-off because he already had a good gig going on Three's Company and wanted the assurance of steady work. But he was talked into it. And when The Ropers got dropped, much to Norman Fell's chagrin, he and Audra Lindley were not invited back to Three's Company. Further fallings out with the producers happened with the infamous firing of Suzanne Somers over her paycheck, then with Priscilla Barnes over what she considered bad treatment from the get-go, culminating with her and Joyce DeWitt being kept in the dark during the last season when the producers where secretly planning to drop them from the cast to give John Ritter his own show, Three's a Crowd. I guess Three's Company was the epitome of a disfunctional TV sitcom family, the polar opposite of the relationship among cast and producers of The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

[scotsguy]

Hi,
In the UK in the 90s,ITV did a UK version of "The Golden Girls",it had good actors in it like Sheila Hancock(wife of John Thaw)and Wendy Craig(Butterflies)but it was awful and bombed.(not all the episodes were shown)
There was a UK version of "Married With Children" with comedian Russ Abbott that bombed too.
Elaine Stritch did a UK version of "Maude",called "Nobody's Perfect",it was a flop.
The one success was a British version of "Whose The Boss?" renamed "The Upperhand",Avengers star,Honor Blackman played the Katherine Helmond part.

[ClassicTVGal]

Hey, great spotter!!

I love doing things like that myself.