The world lost a total TV legend on Wednesday. The OG sitcom queen Mary Tyler Moore died at age 80.
If you’re like, wait, who is Mary Tyler Moore, then you seriously need to educate yourself in betch history. Moore shot to stardom as a TV wife on The Dick Van Dyke Show. Let’s be real, Dick Van Dyke was kind of a hottie way back when, so props to her for landing a hot TV husband.
It wasn’t until she took the role as Mary Richards in The Mary Tyler Moore Show that she became a betch icon. For those of you who think “classic television” means the era of Boy Meets World, here’s a lesson for you. Mary, who played Mary (power move), basically led the way for women to have real jobs and not be stuck at home taking care of a shitty husband and kids.
At a point in history when college was basically designed for women to get MRS degrees, Mary played a breakthrough character who not only went to college, but had a career and lived alone in a big city (Minneapolis). She was the Carrie Bradshaw before Carrie Bradshaw. Though, I causally think Mary had better style.
Instead of just pining over dudes episode after episode, Mary had a real life with concerns about her job as a TV news producer and real friendships with other women. She discussed birth control, equal pay, and sexual independence before it was cool. I mean, this shit is still considered progressive now, in 2017, so imagine how groundbreaking it was back in 1970. Mary basically paved the way for all of us betches to have jobs we sometimes really like, not have babies if we don’t want them, and date because it’s fun and not because we need a husband to support us.
Plus, if you’ve ever spun around and thrown your hat in the air because you saw it on TV one time, it’s because you saw Mary Tyler Moore do it in the opening credits to the show. Absolutely iconic. Like really, if you need a new show to watch I’m pretty sure the whole series is on Hulu.
It wasn’t just the character that made her a kween. Mary was an actress, sure, but she led the way for many women on TV and also inspired some other major icons. Oprah legit freaked out when Mary surprised her with a visit to The Oprah Winfrey Show, and no betch can freak out like the big O. Oprah is so many people’s hero, and MTM was Oprah’s hero. That’s just levels of awesomeness right there, people.
She was also into charity. Like, this woman is and was a saint for sure. Mary was chairwoman of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International and often spoke about her own struggles with Type I Diabetes. She was a vegetarian and fought for animal rights. Plus, she established a fund for an arts scholarship.
Rest in peace, Queen Mary. Our TVs will never be the same.
