Everything Old is Old Again

Regular visitors here know fully well that I am a huge fan of the "Mary Tyler Moore Show."  I went as far as starting a book on the program.  We don't need to rehash this.

Naturally, the recent MTM reunion on "Hot in Cleveland" was going to be a hot commodity on my plasma TV.  The episode was filmed last April 5 right on the heels of Valerie Harper's very public announcement that she had terminal brain cancer.  I am guessing that the Cleveland folks rushed this together quickly in order to capture all the MTM gals one last time.  When I heard they weren't going to run it until September, I figured we'd see the airing with one of those title cards at the end.  "In Loving Memory."

Well, not so, Harper has come close to an amazing remission and is back to work.  She's even one of this upcoming season's contestants on "Dancing with the Stars."  If that doesn't kill Rhoda, nothing can.  Good for her!

But, meanwhile back at the TV Land ranch, I watched this episode with some trepidation.  I have long since given up on "Hot in Cleveland."  When it premiered, it was incredibly retro and a breath of fresh television air.  Once it got popular, the program suddenly morphed into a show you could easily find on any other network.  Dull, unclever, and a preponderance of sex gags.  Overnight, it became "Three and a Half Women."  If I tuned in, it was simply to stare longingly at Valerie Bertinelli for a minute or two.

Watching the MTM reunion, I realized that I have missed nothing as far as the Cleveland ladies are concerned.  They're all treating each other like punching bags as they meander from one bad date to another.  I see that Georgia Engel has popped up as Betty White's buddy and she's still playing the same character she did as Ted Baxter's girlfriend years ago.  I note that Betty is now wearing glasses in most scenes, which says to me that she might be resorting to cue cards.  Heck, if I'm 92 on a sitcom, I would, too.

But it was the MTM grand dames I was really there to see.  The writers devised a clever plot of Betty and Georgia reuniting their old ladies bowling team, which was a big unbeatable champion years ago when they used to play...wink wink...every Saturday night.  So in comes Valerie Harper, who looks healthy but sounds a lot like Brenda Vaccaro these days.  Cloris Leachman is spotted at another table and is reunited with the wrong ladies.  A wonderfully, spacey performance quite reminiscent of her glory days as Phyllis.  

Of course, the Mary character appears to be not coming.  But, lo and behold, she's seated at a back table.  Surprise.  Betty notes "look's like she made it after all."  My guess is that the entire episode was devised just to use that one line.

The ladies banter and argue.  Georgia is ditzy.  Betty is ribald.  Cloris is nuts.  Valerie is reliably witty.  And Mary, sadly looking very frail from her recent illnesses, valiantly keeps up as only as Mary can.  There were laughs.  There was tenderness.  There was nostalgia.  It was spaghetti and meat balls being warmed up as leftovers and everybody knows it tastes as good as the first day.

Meanwhile, the writers crammed a lot of plot into 22 minutes as the Cleveland ladies had to be serviced as well.  At the end, the entire cast combined for a few moments of dialogue and then the camera panned up to a window where a small kitten was seated.

Yes, folks, meow.

We have such a fascination with shows of this ilk.  Looking back at what was.  Seeing what those folks look like now.  Admittedly, this was all cooked up because of Valerie Harper's illness.  But, we look to remember what was.  And I thought that, in today's media society, the "Mary Tyler Moore Show" might not even get on the air.  Whole chunks of an audience base are ignored because TV programmers focus on getting the younger demographic.  And, PS, those folks aren't watching the tube anyway.  And if they are, the attention span is thirteen seconds and no more.

At its inception, "Hot in Cleveland" had the right idea.  An old formula updated.  Even they have gotten lost at the fair.  But, they bring back those MTM ladies for one more bow and you're reminded how good television used to be.

And how old we and they have all gotten.

I asked my good friend Djinn from the Bronx, the co-author of the planned MTM book, if she had watched the MTM reunion.  She had not.

"I prefer to remember them as they were."

Yes, that, too.

Dinner last night:  Leftover ravioli.