It's been over 40 years since we said farewell to the iconic show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
The groundbreaking 1970s sitcom was a show of firsts. It brought feminism to the small screen and was one of the first shows to have the cast break character.
For more shocking facts, come peek behind the curtain with these behind-the-scenes secrets.
H/T: Definition.org, Mental Floss
After her debut to film bombed, Moore reunited with her old co-star in the 1969 CBS variety special Dick Van Dyke and the Other Woman.
Since the show was such a success, CBS offered Moore 24 episodes of her own show on their network.
In case you're saying, "Hazel, who?" she was an unintentional extra who was filmed while Moore did her famous hat toss for the opening credits of the show.
In case you didn't know, Jen's dad is actor John Aniston. He's most known for playing Victor Kiriakis on Days of Our Lives. Before this, he received two callbacks for the role of the handsome anchorman.
Since the actor had just played an egotistical character on He & She, he turned down the role for fear of being typecast. But when the show became super popular, he changed his mind and appeared as Ted's brother, Hal, in the episode “Cover Boy.”
MTM was the production company founded by Moore and her then-husband, Grant Tinker. Since the name was similar to MGM, which featured a lion roaring, a clever idea was struck.
Someone suggested that they have an orange kitten meowing in the clip.
The kitty was named Mimsie. She made many appearances in production tags of various MTM shows. She was eventually adopted by a crew member.
Since producers envisioned Moore's neighbor being frumpy and unattractive, Valerie's good looks went against this.
But instead of finding another actress, the producers took the character of Rhoda in a whole different direction as a character who didn't know how attractive she was.
After losing his hair at 18, the actor felt restricted in the roles he could play.
While Tinker asked MacLeod to audition for Lou Grant, he asked afterward if he could read for the role of Mary’s co-worker, Murray Slaughter. He thought he could play a friendly character better than the gruff Lou.
The producers originally wanted someone very handsome for the role of the anchorman.
But that all changed when producer Dave Davis was blown away by Knight's charm in a local production of the Broadway comedy, You Know I Can’t Hear You When the Water’s Running.
Despite Knight being a far cry from a hunk like the producers envisioned, he impressed everyone with his humor.
Valerie left the show to start her own series as Rhoda.
The men weren't happy because they disliked the actress or her character; they were happy because they got more screen time with fewer female characters.
The actor eventually got fed up playing the "dumb" character. During Season Three, he walked into co-creator Allan Burns’ office and started crying.
“I can’t play Ted Baxter anymore," he cried. "Everybody thinks I’m stupid and I’m not. I’m intelligent and well-read, but everyone treats me like I’m a schmuck.”
It's a good thing he did since his character underwent a lot of character development. His character eventually got married and there were occasional episodes that showed Baxter in a smarter light.
She played Sherry two times on the show: first, as a hooker, and then as a criminal under parole who decided to try her hand at fashion design. She ended up making a green dress that shows a lot of skin.
Tragically she had filmed only three episodes when she and a male friend were shot by two men in Venice, California.
It was the wrong episode to laugh at: the story centered around the death of WJM children’s show host Chuckles the Clown.
She was supposed to remain mournful while the newsroom made jokes about his demise from an elephant.
In her autobiography, she wrote that the insides of her cheeks were almost raw from biting them so hard to keep from laughing.
She got the last laugh in the end, though, as she won an Emmy for the beloved episode!
Although the show never dipped in popularity, Moore decided when it was time for the show to end.
The final episode had the characters fired from the newsroom and saying tearful goodbyes to each other. Then, they all broke character and Moore introduced each cast member for a curtain call.
