Look Ma, No Wrapping

The Mary Tyler Moore Show: The Complete First Season

"This is my favorite line in the history of the show!" shushes MTM co-creator Allan Burns in the commentary track to the hallmark series' first episode/pilot: "We never got better than this -- which frustrates me." That said line is Lou Grant's initial assessment of Mary Richards ("You've got spunk ... I hate spunk!") bears little surprise. Burns' being proved right by these first 24 episodes amounts to something of a revelation, however; from 1970-77, when the Emmy-gobbling sitcom was laying the foundation for Nickelodeon, it didn't get better. Of course, it never lost one quavering note of Mary's charm either. This 4-DVD set, featuring a meaty, 85-minute documentary, demonstrates this laugh after laugh in front of a live studio audience. "We got lucky," humbles Burns in the doc. "Like [partner James L. Brooks] said, we were pretty naive, and a lot of good things happened along the way." Like television history, for starters.