Why was Rhoda's wedding so popular? - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

mets82 · 07-12-2013, 08:41 PM

Forgive me for being dense, I'm just starting to watch the show on ME-TV. I look up "Rhoda" on Wikipedia, so take it for what its worth, but it seemed like when Rhoda got married it drew huge ratings. I think it said it outdrew Monday Night Football. I might be wrong about that but the wedding drew huge ratings. My question is why? What made Rhoda so appealing? I mean I like her and all but what was it that made the wedding and Rhoda's ride to the wedding so popular?

MRPITT · 07-13-2013, 12:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mets82

Forgive me for being dense, I'm just starting to watch the show on ME-TV. I look up "Rhoda" on Wikipedia, so take it for what its worth, but it seemed like when Rhoda got married it drew huge ratings. I think it said it outdrew Monday Night Football. I might be wrong about that but the wedding drew huge ratings. My question is why? What made Rhoda so appealing? I mean I like her and all but what was it that made the wedding and Rhoda's ride to the wedding so popular?

Well the show in general did really well in the ratings in fact most weeks they were close to beating Monday Night Football, so it wasn't a huge surprise that the 1 hour wedding which included Mary, Lou Grant, Murray, Georgette and Phyllis episode had huge ratings.

Marvo301 · 07-13-2013, 02:12 PM

I'm surethe high ratings for Rhoda's wedding were in large part due to fans of The Mary Tyler Moore Show who had followed the struggles ofRhoda's love life for several seasons on that show and wanted to witness her finally getting married. Having several TMTMS cast members guest starring on the ep was also a factor.

ajgenard · 07-14-2013, 05:49 AM

When you look at the circumstances, it's easy to see why Rhoda's wedding drew such gigantic audiences.

The Mary Tyler Moore Show was coming off it's highest rated seasons when they decided to spin off Rhoda (it was #7 for the 1972-73 season and #9 for 1973-74). There was never a time when more of the viewing audience was familiar with the character of Rhoda. The timing was absolutely perfect and the show was a humongous hit from the get-go. Almost no time was wasted with the wedding episode airing only 8 weeks into the show, still riding the big wave of being the hottest new show on TV. I wasn't alive then, but I've read it was heavily promoted through various mediums - I'd imagine probably something akin to the promotional campaigns we've seen more recently for series finales like Friends or Lost. On top of all this TMTMS had a tie-in episode 2 days before that featured wedding preparations. So there was not one, but two ratings juggernauts fueling this fire.

It's kind of sad how Rhoda's legacy was diminished by a steep ratings decline it took after the 2nd season. Even if the later seasons are absolute garbage (haven't viewed them yet), I think the show deserves more credit for some monumental ratings accomplishments. Instead it's largely forgotten today. What a shame.

TVFactFan · 07-14-2013, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mets82

Forgive me for being dense, I'm just starting to watch the show on ME-TV. I look up "Rhoda" on Wikipedia, so take it for what its worth, but it seemed like when Rhoda got married it drew huge ratings. I think it said it outdrew Monday Night Football. I might be wrong about that but the wedding drew huge ratings. My question is why? What made Rhoda so appealing? I mean I like her and all but what was it that made the wedding and Rhoda's ride to the wedding so popular?

The wedding was even mentioned on Monday Night football

biffbronson · 07-15-2013, 10:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ajgenard

It's kind of sad how Rhoda's legacy was diminished by a steep ratings decline it took after the 2nd season. Even if the later seasons are absolute garbage (haven't viewed them yet), I think the show deserves more credit for some monumental ratings accomplishments. Instead it's largely forgotten today. What a shame.

It's important to remember that ratings don't tell the whole story -- the '70s were pretty competitive years in primetime. Back then, I continued watching Mary Tyler Moore right to the end, but had dropped Rhoda fairly early on.

Why? Probably because I considered Rhoda to be a show for women & girls, unlike MTM which had such a compelling cast that included the strong male characters of Lou Grant, Ted Baxter, and Murray Slaughter. Years later I did enjoy seeing Phyllis in syndication -- shows like Phyllis and Rhoda began appealing to me as I matured.

The thing I'm noticing right now with Rhoda is that superior acting & directing can compensate for just good to ho-hum scripts. That's why I won't lose interest too easily...!

07-12-2013, 08:41 PM	#1
mets82 Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Mar 14, 2011 Location: Connecticut Posts: 5,058	Why was Rhoda's wedding so popular? Forgive me for being dense, I'm just starting to watch the show on ME-TV. I look up "Rhoda" on Wikipedia, so take it for what its worth, but it seemed like when Rhoda got married it drew huge ratings. I think it said it outdrew Monday Night Football. I might be wrong about that but the wedding drew huge ratings. My question is why? What made Rhoda so appealing? I mean I like her and all but what was it that made the wedding and Rhoda's ride to the wedding so popular?
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07-13-2013, 02:12 PM	#3
Marvo301 I'm NOT a Blockhead! Forum Celebrity Join Date: May 17, 2002 Location: The Great White North Posts: 21,456	I'm surethe high ratings for Rhoda's wedding were in large part due to fans of The Mary Tyler Moore Show who had followed the struggles ofRhoda's love life for several seasons on that show and wanted to witness her finally getting married. Having several TMTMS cast members guest starring on the ep was also a factor.
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07-14-2013, 05:49 AM	#4
ajgenard Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Jul 09, 2011 Location: PA Posts: 369	When you look at the circumstances, it's easy to see why Rhoda's wedding drew such gigantic audiences. The Mary Tyler Moore Show was coming off it's highest rated seasons when they decided to spin off Rhoda (it was #7 for the 1972-73 season and #9 for 1973-74). There was never a time when more of the viewing audience was familiar with the character of Rhoda. The timing was absolutely perfect and the show was a humongous hit from the get-go. Almost no time was wasted with the wedding episode airing only 8 weeks into the show, still riding the big wave of being the hottest new show on TV. I wasn't alive then, but I've read it was heavily promoted through various mediums - I'd imagine probably something akin to the promotional campaigns we've seen more recently for series finales like Friends or Lost. On top of all this TMTMS had a tie-in episode 2 days before that featured wedding preparations. So there was not one, but two ratings juggernauts fueling this fire. It's kind of sad how Rhoda's legacy was diminished by a steep ratings decline it took after the 2nd season. Even if the later seasons are absolute garbage (haven't viewed them yet), I think the show deserves more credit for some monumental ratings accomplishments. Instead it's largely forgotten today. What a shame.