The
Mary Tyler Moore Show – The Complete Fourth Season
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: D Episodes: B
Continuing our look at The Mary Tyler Moore Show in
its even-numbered seasons, the show continued to grow tighter, but this may
have cut into some of the comic possibilities by The Complete Fourth Season. Unlike the second season set, Fox has
decided to not offer any extras with the 24 episodes from the 1973 – 1974
seasons.
I will leave my superlatives about the series restricted
to the last review, but say they apply to this season for the most part is very
valid. The big difference by this time
was the addition of Ted Baxter’s love interest Georgette, played by the great
Georgia Engel. Maybe the sweetest
“airhead” character in TV history, with Engel always being omitted (even on
this box!) as a regular cast member.
That was wrong and she has yet to get her due, especially here, as she
added dimension to the show and stayed until the end. Highlights include stories about Sue Ann (Betty White) running
around with Phyllis’ (Cloris Leachman) husband Lars, a show with Henry Winkler
as Mary deals with a congresswoman, Ted (Ted Knight) meeting Walter Cronkite
and several about either personal relationships working or breaking up, plus a
few about WJM employees potentially moving on to bigger TV outfits. There may be more of the latter than there
should have been, but the show’s top-rate writing, acting and comedy saw it
through.
The full frame 1.33 X 1 image was shot on film and is
still colorful, but not as much as the second season ser. Despite some detail limits, the video black,
depth in many shots and range of solid colors can still be stunning. Cinematographer Pat Uhl created one of the
all-time great classic TV show looks and deserves more credit for it. This time, the opening credits look a few
generations down and even like analog transfers! The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is fuller and richer than expected, music,
dialogue and all like before, but the lack of extras makes no sense.
- Nicholas Sheffo
