The Greatest TV Pilots Of All Time

The Mary Tyler Moore Show

This classic sitcom has one of the most finely crafted pilots in television history. The first episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, “Love is All Around,” depicts Mary Richards finding an apartment and securing her job at the WJM-TV newsroom after being dumped by a fiancé she supported through medical school.

In an interview with the Archive of American Television, Mary Tyler Moore talked about the development of the show. CBS was so captivated by Moore’s performance on The Dick Van Dyke Show, they decided to focus on her more: “CBS noted how successful it was and how comfortable I seemed being in the spotlight and they asked me if I wanted to do my own show – a situation comedy.” Moore went on to explain that the idea of a woman finding joy in her own career was “progressive,” but CBS wasn’t keen on the idea that she would be a divorcée. “As soon as CBS heard that they hit the ceiling. They said, ‘You can’t have Mary divorced from somebody – even if she has a different last name! They’re going to think she divorced Dick Van Dyke!”