I have screened Robert Redford's film "Ordinary People" for about 20 years for my Principles of Counseling course. In recent years I have had to explain to my class of undergraduate psychology and social work majors just who Mary Tyler Moore is and was (I guess the MTM show is no longer in heavy rotation on Nick at Nite), relevant to my purpose because part of the impact of her wonderful and chilling performance in that film at the time was the stark contrast with her perky personas on the DVD and MTM shows.
During many long and often insightful post-film discussions I have had with students (obviously, the insight most often comes from the students), I have had a chance to do a pretty close reading of almost every shot in that film. One sequence that often comes up for discussion is when Moore's Beth Jarrett is christmas shopping at a local mall, and is riding up an escalator after a chirpy, superficial encounter with a friend, and then is caught lost in thought staring at a store mannequin, looking for a moment like a mannequin herself. All of that to say that I happened to notice quite by accident that the MTM show is on a local Bay Area station a couple of days ago, and I recorded an episode just for old time's sake (I have not seen an episode of that show in a very long time). I forgot I had done this, and then saw it on my DVR this morning, and started to watch it (episode 8 from season 5). By this time in the series the opening sequence has been changed to the more mature Mary (maybe the original only ran the first season - though it is the one I most remember) - but what caught my attention was a shot I had long forgotten about: Mary Richards riding up an escalator with a thoughtful look on her face. She is not the bitchy, self-absorbed ice queen eaten alive by tragedy and grief that she would become in Ordinary 5 or 6 years later, but the shot is similar enough that it made me wonder if Redford had intentionally played on it in putting his film together to underline even more that contrast with perky Mary. Does anyone know the history of the MTM openings? When was that escalator shot included, and did it stay in through the end of the run? I guess I can go to youtube or something and look for openings from each season to check for myself, which I may do after I get back from a New Year's trip to spend the day with my sister. -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
