THE PLOT THUS FAR

Mary Richards moves to Minneapolis after a relationship goes bad. She finds work as an associate producer in a small television newsroom where the characters include Lou Grant, her gruff boss, Murray Slaughter the humorous writer, and Ted Baxter the Anchor Man who spends his time mispronouncing country names. Mary continues to hope for romance, but finds that her friends are more dependable.

WHAT WE THOUGHT

The joy of a good ensemble comedy is the fact that you do have good strong characters to build upon. Mary Richards (Mary Tyler Moore) is still living in her one room apartment next to neighbor Phyllis (Cloris Leachman, who only has four episodes this season). Her work life seems to overtake more of her personal life. For example, boss Lou Grant (Ed Asner) moves into Rhoda's old apartment at one point. Ted's (Ted Knight) girlfriend Georgette (Georgia Engel) stops by to visit on a more regular basis. Heck, even happy homemaker Sue Ann (Betty White) shows up quite a bit more. And good ole Murray (Gavin MacLeod) is by Mary's side every day at work.

As with the previous seasons, this show features some classic episodes. My favorite is "Not a Christmas Story," which finds the gang snowed in and mad at each other. Absolutely hilarious stuff. Lou turns into a softy after he throws Ted through a door. Murray struggles with his feelings about only having daughters. Mary gets a promotion to producer and tries to go it alone with the news. Sue Ann almost gets replaced by a much younger fan. Phyllis tries to find a job after a bad economy destroys the family budget. And in another favorite, Ted finally asks Georgette to marry him, in the middle of the 6 o'clock news.

Even when this show gets serious, like the season opener with finds Mary facing jail time for not revealing a source, it never forgets it is a comedy. There are plenty of laughs.

Of course, the writing and the acting are all top notch here. You couldn't ask for a better cast, and they truly bring these characters to life. Watching the series again, it is like watching an all star team working together. Mary Tyler Moore, Ted Knight, Gavin MacLeod, Ed Asner, Betty White and Cloris Leachman. Sitcom casts didn't get much better.

The DVD comes with no special features. But, you get the show presented in stunning A/V Quality. I'm so happy that FOX has stuck behind the series' continued season releases. Especially, when they unceremoniously dumped so much other TV on DVD product. It's like they think that no one cares about classic television anymore. Oh well, it's worth a rental.