Being Mary Tyler Moore: Crave has put out a new HBO documentary entitled Being Mary Tyler Moore. For those of us who grew up in the 1970s, it seems I was always aware of the show Mary Tyler Moore. In it, the single Mary is working for a newsroom in Minneapolis MN, as an associate producer. There is a memorable ensemble cast, with notable stars like Ed Asner, Betty White, Ted Knight, Valerie Harper and Cloris Leachman. Ed Asner plays Lou Grant. Valerie Harper plays Rhoda Morganstern. There were numerous spin offs from the original show which aired from 1970 to 1976. But this documentary is more than about this show.

Mary Tyler Moore of course was also the star of the show, The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961-1966). She was brought on as a newcomer because she had pluck and worked well with Dick. She had very good comedic timing in her previous TV work. She had been working steadily since finishing college. Born in 1936, she was 25yo when she landed the role on the very influential comedy show with Dick Van Dyke and blossomed from there.

This documentary was well done and shows the context in which made Mary a poster woman for her generation. Moving from the dutiful wife as Laura Petrie, she transitioned in the early 70s with the women’s lib movement in full swing with protests and Gloria Steinam in full force. Mary was the smart, single woman on her own in the big city without the need for a man. She dated. She worked. She had a male boss. Juggling it all. She showed all of America in her show that the balance was possible. Her personal life reflected her TV life, as she divorced her first husband, for whom she had a son, and then later married again. She was an Emmy award winning actress but also a mother and a wife. And what a full life that she led. She was nominated for an Oscar, in Ordinary People, directed by Robert Redford. She like everyone has had her challenges like losing her son long before any parent would ever want. She had divorces. She had health challenges. She died at the age of 80yo in 2017. But her impact on TV, and the body of work that she left behind made her a one of a kind.

Full Swing – a Netflix series: Talk about timing for a Netflix series. They’re first foray into the golf world just happened to be the year when there was a rival league to the PGA tour that came into existence. LIV is a rival league that was the brain child of ex-PGA player Greg Norman. He managed to get backers from controversial Saudi Arabia government. In turn, they set up a rival league and then threw around millions of dollars to star PGA players for them to switch allegiances. Some switched and others as we see, were in the middle of contemplating in doing so.

Early on players like Justin Thomas and Brooks Koepka are the focal point. You note that Koepka who had suffered from injuries and his game had tailed off (in his results). They both fly around in private jets and live in lavish properties that most ordinary watchers won’t even have a frame of reference on. All for being able to hit a little white ball better than anyone else in the world. It is a skill for which they are dearly compensated. It is difficult to have sympathy for a group of millionaires who fight over whether they should be accepting more millions from a dubious source. For me, I like the idea that the party which generates the revenue (the players), gets to keep more of the revenue. Why was it that this is the one major sport where the participants are only paid in the event IF they reach the final two days (make the cut). If they don’t, they get nothing; no flights paid for, no hotels, no health insurance, no guaranteed appearance money. Does that make sense when TV networks pay billions of dollars to the organizer of the touraments?

The more compelling story for me was with John Dahmen, who seemed to be quite accepting of the fact that he wasn’t in the upper echelons of the game. He never expected to win, especially in the majors, because he didn’t think that he was as good. Naturally on the way to the PGA tour and obtaining his card he would have won many tournaments. He is a winner. But this episode shows him as being willing to be 30th in the world. All of this background then leads to him being the third round leader at the 2022 US Open. Maybe he can be a top player. He finished 10th. What this series doesn’t show is the guy who struggles for his card, and lives out of his car driving from event to event. The LIV discussion is interesting to be sure. Phil Mickelson, Patrick Reed, Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter, Bryson Dechambeau, and then Cam Smith (Number 2 of the world) all got paid by LIV. If you are a golf fan, you get to see some behind-the-scenes views with some of the best players. You hear Rory McIlroy bad mouth Phil Mickelson. You hear Dustin Johnson feel strongly that his legacy isn’t in any way impaired because he was a Number 1 for a lot of weeks and has already won his majors. It is also interesting that post filming that in the past few weeks that Brooks Koepka has won the PGA Championship and then the PGA Tour and LIV have merged, a decision that was undertaken by PGA leadership without any discussion or direction from its loyal members. The plot thickens and Season 2 should be even more compelling as the fall out from all these things come to light from the players themselves.