For Your Batty Consideration: Season 12, Episode 7: Rhoda

We went back to the MTMverse for our seventh episode this season, looking at Rhoda. In addition to a fun episode involving Rhoda and Joe's honeymoon cruise, up for discussion was the way the show handled their relationship, the changes the series went through over its run, and the highs and lows of a program that came out of the gate red hot.

Links:

Our podcast episode 

Show Notes and YT Playlist

Anonymous Batty insider says: "This one could go either way, but the guys really got into it on the series. Watch out for the guest stars in this one. Anytime you have Burt Mustin and Charles Lane in the same episode...Mike and Rick seemed to have more differences of opinion than usual when discussing Rhoda, and you wonder if that will manifest in the Battys. Valerie Harper and Julie Kavner stand out as obvious contenders here."

Tomorrow on Battle of the Network Shows...

 

Brooks on Books: "I, Rhoda" by Valerie Harper

Mike and I both mention this autobiography on the latest podcast episode. It does have info about the production of Rhoda, of course, but it has so much more. It's an easy read, conversational and accessible, and I mean that in a positive way. Valerie Harper comes across as an engaging storyteller in this simple but entertaining memoir.

I was interested to read about her early stage career. Her background as a dancer, her life in New York City, her appearing with Jackie Gleason and Lucille Ball--all of it's new to me. The sections on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rhoda offer some good stories, but you will need to supplement them with other books to get satisfaction if those are your primary interests.

One thing that left me wanting more: Her account of the whole mess with Valerie--where she was kicked off her own show, which NBC continued as The Hogan Family--feels incomplete somehow. Don't get me wrong; she won the court case, and I have no trouble accepting that she was ill treated by Lorimar. Yet she glosses over what led to the wrongful firing by Lorimar, the difficult contract negotiations. I understand why she focuses on what happened after that process--the dismissal and lawsuit--but there is likely a lot of interesting stuff she leaves out about the vision of the series, the creative differences, etc. I don't recall her ever mentioning in the book her holdout after season 1 of Rhoda, which is interesting to consider when looking at this situation.

Her TV movie work gets short shrift, too, but that's not surprising in what is a fairly sparse volume.

She takes a pretty classy route in this book, though, doling out sincere praise to family, co-workers, her ex-husband, and many others. Her account of her health issues is compelling and offers a little more introspection than some of the rest of her life story. Any fan of Valerie Harper will be relieved to discover spending time with her in book form is a pleasant experience. 

Show Notes and Video Playlist: Episode 12-7: Rhoda

*This week we look at Rhoda, which aired 1974-1978 (5 seasons) on CBS.

*Shout-out to these two books: I, Rhoda, Valerie Harper's autobiography; and Jennifer Keishin Armstrong's Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted; which looks at all the series in the Maryverse. I reviewed the latter here in 2018.

*"Rhoda's Wedding" premiered October 28. 1974 and is the eighth episode of the series. It drew an estimated audience of 52 million viewers (That's even more than the last Battys). Two days before, "The New Sue Ann" episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show led into Rhoda's wedding.

*Rhoda was a top 10 program on Monday nights in first couple seasons, and by the end was on Saturday nights and finished 95 with half as many viewers as in its first two years.

*As of this writing, the series is still not officially available on streaming.

*In 1976, the divorce rate in the USA was 5 per 1,000 people, an all-time high.

*The counseling episode I mention is Season 3's "Two Little Words: Marriage Counselor," guest-starring Rene Auberjonois.

*"The Honeymoon" first aired Monday, November 4, 1974 at 9:30 PM on CBS.

*Ray Buktenica is the actor who plays Benny on the series.

*Here is the Mike/Richard Masur action figure:

*Mell Lazarus' Momma ran in newspaper syndication from 1970-2016.

*Mike did the research on how many episodes of TV Burt Mustin and Charles Lane were in together:
https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?role=nm0485272,nm0615993

This sounds like the obvious highlight:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0591273/?ref_=sr_t_30

*Phyllis with Cloris Leachman ran 2 seasons on CBS, 1975-1977.

*Finally, here is our video playlist for this week, which includes the very episode we discuss (If you like that, there's more in the same place), plus commercials, promos, and more! See, not just hear, Lorenzo Music!

*And remember, you can always check out our official YouTube page for all of our past podcasts and episode-specific playlists for each one!

Tomorrow on Battle of the Network Shows...