Who can forget the delightful picture of a happy Mary Richards tossing her tam into the air each week on The Mary Tyler Moore Show? And after hearing the lively theme song  “Love Is All Around,” who can stop humming it?

In 1970, Grant Tinker was responsible for putting his former wife in the title role of the widely successful sitcom. The series had a seven-year run, and created several spin-offs such as Rhoda, Phyllis, Lou Grant and the TV movie Mary and Rhoda. The show became extremely popular among the young women of the 1970s, because of the woman’s liberation undertones and the complexity of the characters.

Mary Tyler Moore as Mary Richards,  inadvertently became the associate producer of the news at the TV station, WJM-TV, after her wedding was called off and she fled to Minneapolis.

The show was relationship oriented, even though Mary was frustrated in the romance department.

Mary and the grumpy news editor, Lou Grant (Ed Asner), formed a  father and daughter bond, and Mary played off the antics of the airhead news anchor Ted Baxtor (Ted Knight). Betty White portrayed the hilarious, snarky, man-eating Happy Homemaker star, before there ever was a Food Network. Then there was the total opposite, Murray Slaughter (Gavin McLeod), a copy writer, who was as boring as they come. He was a loyal friend to Mary, so it was easy to forgive him for his blandness.

When Mary was home from work, hilarity continued with  her quirky best- friend Rhoda (Valerie Harper) and bizarre self-absorbed landlady Phyllis (Cloris Leachman).

Not only did the sitcom elevate the working woman, but it delved into the vulnerability of divorce, when Lou Grant left his wife. Although Mary never found a husband, she didn’t wilt because of that fact, and showed fellow females that it was alright to be single and happy at the same time.

The series won Emmy Awards in seven years of its run, beginning in 1971, for an amazing total of 29, along with three Golden Globe Awards.

The Mary Tyler Moore Show was truly a comedic masterpiece that didn’t need the sex and agenda-driven drivel that is television comedy today. Networks please take note.

Five seasons of the comedy have been released on DVD and Hulu hosts full episodes of the popular show.