Many well-known publications panned the pilot of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" when it aired. A reviewer for Time magazine wrote that Mary's "bosses, a drunken clown of a news director and a narcissistic nincompoop of an anchorman, do an injustice to even the worst of local TV news." The New York Times called the show "preposterous," while TV Guide said Rhoda, played by Valerie Harper, was a "man-crazy klutz."

Ed Asner, Mary Tyler Moore, and Ted Knight