The origin of sophisticated humor on television
When Mary Tyler Moore decide to return to sitcoms, she came loaded with new ideas and a new style of television sitcom, a move away from gags and the humor found in misunderstood situations, and broad humor that would appeal to the lowest common denominator, she wanted a show where the comedy came from the human condition. The foibles of modern life, especially told from the female perspective. The comedy that comes from slapstick and sight gags and just plain silliness is a cheap humor, but the sophisticated comedy found on the MTMS was more profound, and deeper, it dealt with human emotions and relationships.
Mary was different than any other women who had appeared on television before, she was the first attractive young women who wasn't defined by her male partner. Its as if Mary was watching an episode of bewitched, a sitcom about a powerful witch who so totally subservient to her husband that she might as well be his footstill, its as if Mary said, " you see that, we are going to be the complete opposite if that, we are going to create a real human being, that the audience can relate to.Mary became the first empowered women in the history of prime-time.
One can only imagine the difference that Mary and Rhoda made in the life of a generation of young american girls and women. The fact that this show was meant to be groundbreaking, insured that the characters would be more fleshed out than the normal sitcom character, what did we really know about Lucy Ricardo or Alice Kramden other than they were good wives who kept their husbands in check. Mary slowly revealed every facet about her character Mary Richards, Lucy and Alice never evolved past the first episode but Mary was constantly evolving.
At the Heart of the show was the fact that Mary was a stone cold fox, the type of women who is Queen Bee to which ever hive she settles in. All the men in the news room of course were in love with Mary, and the fact that she was un-attached was novelty that made her accessible and a model of fantasy for every male watching. the WJM newsroom before Mary's arrival was a whole different place than it was after Mary arrived.
The characters of the MTMS were more refined than anything you would find on All in the Family or any other working class show, they lived a more refined life, in may ways a phony unbelievable life, but that fitted the sophisticated nature of the show, you could always expect every character on MTMS to do the right thing and behave accordingly, they were prim and proper in uniquely american way.
Like the Dick Van Dyke show The show was equally split between workplace and home environment, except the people at work were more real- so were the people at home.
TMTM show was the first show that dealt with human feelings and the awkwardness of human embarrassment, life was minefield of events, of social gatherings that could blow up at a moments notice, this was shown in the awkwardness of all of Mary's' First dates or unwanted suiters, there is an emotional deepness to TMTM that wasn't in television before. Before the MTMS sitcom characters were rubbery , Insults would either bounce off them or be absorbed to no lasting effect but on the MTMS insults stuck. and they stuck for good
There never had been a character like Rhoda Morgenstern before, such a delicate character, a living , walking bag of hurt , in her first incarnation Rhoda was a chubby, wisecracker, laughing on the outside crying on the inside, the perfect friend for Mary, her Ethel to Mary's Lucy, but like all the characters on the show she evolved, she became the ugly duckling who truly becomes the beautiful swan, this was handled in one of the best episodes of the series, when Mary makes her downtrodden friend realize how beautiful she really is.
Adding to the shows sophistication was the evolution of the characters, Lou got a divorce and at mid-life re-entered the dating arena, mostly to disastrous results, Rhoda got married, Phylis lost her husband and had to learn to life life on her own, something Mary was doing just fine with, Ted got married and adopted a child and so-had to grow up, As for MARY, the girl that could turn the world on with a smile, Mary became more serious and less prone to little girl emotions, of all the characters she probably grew the most, and decided to take on life on her own terms, would she ever get married and have children, no way to know, Mary might just do all that, or she might not, what she did show everybody is that a women is a person first and foremost and as so can do anything she wants to do with her own life.