User Reviews

Spun off from The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Rhoda got off to a great start thanks to an outstanding cast led by Valerie Harper, Julie Kavner (before she became better known as the voice of Marge Simpson), Nancy Walker, who played the quintessential Jewish mother, Harold Gould and David Groh. The first season was known for IMHO one of the best sitcom episodes of all-time, "Rhoda's Wedding." My favorite scene was where Phyllis forgot to pick up Rhoda to take her to her parents and Rhoda ran down the streets in her wedding dress.

After a season of a married Rhoda, it seemed the producers were getting tired of the show so they had Rhoda and Joe separate and later divorce. At that time Anne Meara and Ron Silver were added to the show and Walker later left for her own show but came back when it was canceled.

Unfortunately, the quality of episodes began to decline and even Rhoda's new job at a costume company couldn't up the ratings, resulting in its cancellation at mid-season.

One thing that stood out through out the show's up and down run was the voice of Lorenzo Music (billed as L. Music) as Carlton, the Doorman. The producers tried out several people for the role but none of them worked out so Music filled in and he played it so well that he stayed on for the entire run. A pilot for an animated spin off didn't sell.

Where Mary Tyler Moore explored and independent woman, this spin off went into the Independent woman being romanced, married and divorced in a short time. This was Rhoda, the artist who got something created from her success with her girlfriend.

The show explores her relationship with her younger sister and her husband. At times it is very funny. Carlton the doorman is a classic comedic character. He has more punch lines than most and his timing is spot on.

Rhoda does not have as much sex appeal which makes this series a more down to earth type of show. This is one of the rare times where the show is selling normal relationships without someone being considered a sacred idol.

In the early 1970's women were still really getting started on their equal rights they are still fighting for. Rhoda represents those values well.

It strikes me that the launch that set up Rhoda's move back to New York was rushed. In that eight episodes we see what a series may take eight seasons to do. This would have worked as a movie of the week better.

The idea that Rhoda had to meet a man to leave Minneapolis and Mary is pretty outdated now but even in the seventies it seemed obvious.

The set up though created another problem in that the show didn't know what to do after putting all their creativity into Rhoda's big move . I watched it back then and liked it but it's lost some of it's luster despite a wonderful cast.

I think I would have preferred Rhoda ( and Phyllis) stay in Minneapolis . MTM lost something without them.

"Rhoda" was a spin off of the highly popular "The Mary Tyler Moore Show". After 4 years as Mary Richard's wise cracking neighbour,Valerie Harper took her Rhoda Morgenstern back to New York,for a holiday visiting younger overweight sister Brenda(Julie Kavner)and her parents Martin(Harould Gould)and Ida (Nancy Walker) and decided to stay after meeting Joe(David Groh) The first two seasons crackled as Rhoda got engaged,then married to Joe,resulting in the highly rated wedding episode(with a lot of guest appearances from TMTMS cast)when Phyllis(Chloris Leachman)forgets to pick up Rhoda and she takes the subway,to her wedding! Valerie excelled in her quick one liners and Brenda took on Harper's old role on TMTMS as the overweight,insecure unlucky in love "single gel" but like Rhoda over the seasons Brenda lost the weight too. The unseen but heard doorman on the intercom,Calton(voiced by writer and co-creator of "Rhoda",Lorenzo Music)was always amusing as he was constantly drunk and on a different planet,you began to realise why he was so odd when we met his mother in season2,a great guest star turn by Ruth Gordon. Having decided a married Rhoda was getting maybe too dull,the writers made the bold move of splitting Joe and Rhoda up(for good as it turned out)and it was unusual for a sitcom then,to show the pain of the separation,all credit to Valerie Harper for a heartfelt performance. So in season 3,Rhoda went back on the singles scene and met Sally(Anna Meara) a character created to fill the void left by Nancy Walker who left to try her own series but Miss Walker returned in seasons 4 and 5. At the start of season 4,Rhoda was divorced but then she took a job in a custom hire place,causing the Rhoda character to loss a lot of her independence and giving Rhoda a "Lou Grant" style boss,this seemed wrong to me. Valerie Harper,Julie Kavner and Nancy Walker were still giving great comedic performances but the scripts didn't seem to match the earlier seasons,one highlight was "Blind Date" when Rhoda felt guilty about not wanting to see a blind date again as he was bald,small and unattractive(David Landsberg)only for him to verbally attack her on their second date saying she was "old" and her face "looked like a fist". So sadly the series fizzled out rather than going out on a high like TMTMS and the recent "Mary and Rhoda" film,I found a disappointment,I do hope this classic 70s show comes out on DVD very soon!

As a young girl, I loved The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and Rhoda was my favorite character. I loved that she got her own show and her character was so developed on Rhoda. And the supporting cast is outstanding! Who doesn't love Nancy Walker and Harold Gould as Ida and Martin (Rho's Ma and Pop)? Julie Kavner is perfection as Brenda (who deserved her own spinoff in my humble opinion, and also deserved her wedding to Benny to be shown). David Groh was an early crush of mine as the rough-around-the-edges but kind-hearted (at least in the beginning) Joe. To be fair, the whirlwind romance of Rhoda and Joe, which culminates in a wedding less than halfway through the first season, could have been played out slower. I get that couples were not yet living together on tv in 1974, but the courtship could have gone on a bit longer, and the two could have married in the second or third season. This would have eliminated the problems that the writers faced when they were running out of "married couple" storylines for Rho and Joe.

It also would have been better for David Groh, who left after the chance to star in another show. It didn't help that his character was turning into a such an angry person, constantly finding fault with Rhoda. The plot device of Rhoda's separation from Joe and their eventual divorce did work in her favor, although I wish that she would have continued working with Myrna at Windows By Rhoda. I love the episodes with the fabulous Barbara Sharma! Rhoda really came into her own as an independent divorcee rather than an insecure wife waiting for the other shoe to drop and her husband to split. The additions of Ron Silver as Gary Levy, Anne Meara as Sally Gallagher, and Ray Buktenica as Benny Goodwin were comic gold and made up for the loss of Joe and Myrna. My one issue I have with this otherwise fantastic show is Rhoda working in the costume shop. It went downhill after that, which is a shame-because we never get to see Brenda have her happily ever after with sweet Benny. Overall, Rhoda is one of the funniest, most endearing sitcoms out there, and it really does get better with age.

Who doesn't love Rhoda? The show's opening credits say it all. We see Rhoda as she goes about her daily activities in busy Manhattan. Having her photo taken in front of Central Park's Alice in Wonderland statue. Riding a helicopter past the Statue of Liberty to meet her sister, Julie Kavner, for lunch in front of the Seagrams Building (where Marlo Thomas hurried to make an appointment in the opener to That Girl). Painfully bruising her hip on a subway turnstile, and then just missing the train. Crossing Park Avenue traffic and arraying expensive fabrics on a dry, yet filthy, fountain base. Shopping for produce on the Lower East Side. Admiring flowers in a small garden with her sister, Julie Kavner. Fetching coffee and pastries as part of her job. Lunching alone at an outdoor cafe. Struggling to push a garment cart, then having an imaginary conversation with a mannequin in a shop window. Arriving home with her sister, Julie Kavner, to her apartment at 332 E. 84th Street, a co-op which allows rentals. Bicycling on a bridge in Central Park, where the camera pulls back to reveal that Rhoda is just one Rhoda amidst hundreds of thousands of Rhodas in the enormous city.

I wish Rhoda was still with us. As of this writing, Julie Kavner is still with us.