If for no other reason, the sixth season of The Mary Tyler Moore would be memorable for the Emmy-winning episode "Chuckles Bites the Dust," which has been listed in innumerable media publications as one of the funniest sitcom episodes of all time. Just in case you need remembering, this is the half hour in which Chuckles the Clown, resident kiddie host at Minneapolis station WJM-TV is killed in a freak accident during a circus parade -- seems he was dressed as a giant peanut, and a rogue elephant tried to "shell" him. As ...
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If for no other reason, the sixth season of The Mary Tyler Moore would be memorable for the Emmy-winning episode "Chuckles Bites the Dust," which has been listed in innumerable media publications as one of the funniest sitcom episodes of all time. Just in case you need remembering, this is the half hour in which Chuckles the Clown, resident kiddie host at Minneapolis station WJM-TV is killed in a freak accident during a circus parade -- seems he was dressed as a giant peanut, and a rogue elephant tried to "shell" him. As her co-workers Lou Grant (Edward Asner), Murray Slaughter (Gavin MacLeod), and Ted Baxter (Ted Knight) compensate for their loss by making hilarious bad-taste jokes about Chuckles' demise, the outraged Mary Richards (Mary Tyler Moore) insists that they behave themselves and treat the occasion with the dignity and sobriety it deserves -- only to dissolve in laughter herself during the minister's eulogy at Chuckles' funeral ("A little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down your pants"). Not that this was the only season-six highlight. The opening episode, "Edie Gets Married," finds Lou Grant trying to bear up as a guest at his ex-wife's wedding; "Mary Moves Out" introduces Mary's new high-rise apartment, a move dictated by the departure of her former landlady Phyllis Lindstrom (Cloris Leachman had, of course, left the series to star in her own spin-off, Phyllis); "Murray in Love" poses a crisis of conscience for the very married Murray when it dawns upon him that he's fallen in love with Mary; "Mary's Aunt" introduces Eileen Heckart in the role of wordly journalist Flo Meredith, who finds an apt sparring partner in the form of the envious Lou; "Ted's Wedding," in which Ted finally ties the knot with his long-suffering fiancée, Georgette (Georgia Engel), with a pre-Three's Company John Ritter as the minister who performs the ceremony (in tennis clothes!); "The Happy Homemaker Takes Lou Home," wherein we finally see the erotically furnished "bachelorette apartment" of TV household-hint hostess Sue Ann Nivens (Betty White); "The Seminar," featuring an unforgettable cameo appearance by then-first lady Betty Ford; and "Ted and the Kid," distinguished by the first appearance of Robbie Rist as Ted and Georgette's adopted son, David. Also, Ted Bessel appears in a handful of episodes as Joe Warner, whom the series' producers were obviously hoping to develop as Mary's permanent boyfriend. Although it had dipped to number 19 in the ratings, The Mary Tyler Moore Show remained an audience favorite during its sixth season, and also won its second Outstanding Comedy Series Emmy award in the bargain. Hal Erickson, Rovi
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