Rhoda: Season One
by Tony Mordente
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Julie Kavner, Nancy Walker, Valerie HarperDirector: Tony Mordente
Brand: Uni
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 630 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2009-04-21
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Shout Factory
Movie Reviews of Rhoda: Season One
Movie Review: You, too, are going to make it after all!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Rhoda, TV's favorite, funny second banana is FINALLY returning in a complete first-season DVD boxed set!
Shout!Factory is issuing the four-disc boxed set to honor the show's 35th Anniversary. (Obviously, this is a pre-order review, so the actual discs could not be examined.)
The series, starring Valerie Harper in the title role, ironically became an iconic sitcom itself after spinning off from THE iconic sitcom of the era: The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Rhoda was a ratings success, even beating its parent show, and was also the winner of two Golden Globes and two Emmy Awards during its run.
Rhoda premiered in 1974 on CBS and ran for five years. Harper portrays her character, Rhoda Morgenstern, as larger than life - a big mouth, big hearted woman from the Bronx with self-esteem and weight issues. Her best friend was the prim and proper, responsible Mary Richards (played to absolute perfection by Ms. Moore), the two meeting because they both lived in the same apartment building in Minneapolis. The juxtaposition between the flamboyantly dressed, non-conformist Rhoda and the fashionable and traditional Mary was a consistent source of humor.
(Note: the following contains specific plot details.)
In this series, Rhoda, who has beaten her weight issues, takes her trademark head scarves and returns home to visit. Once there, she meets Joe Gerard (played by David Groh) and a romance begins. Rhoda decides to stay in New York, initially moving in with her younger sister, Brenda (played by Julie `Marge Simpson' Kavner), who is struggling with the same issues that had plagued her older sister.
Their parents, Ida and Martin Morgenstern (played by the brilliant Nancy Walker and Harold Gould) are arche-typically Jewish, having aired prior to political correct ideas. So, Ida is overbearing, overprotective, loving and desperate to make sure Rhoda finds a good husband. Martin is henpecked, dutiful, and mild-mannered.
In a move that was quite controversial for its time, Joe and Rhoda decide to live together, but do so only briefly. Whether from pressure from viewers or not, Rhoda quickly realizes she wants to be married, and they wed.
Just eight weeks into the series, on Oct. 28, 1974, Rhoda and Joe were married in a special hour-long episode. Widely publicized, the episode became one of the highest-rated TV shows during the decade. All of the main characters from The Mary Tyler Moore Show were on hand for the nuptials. Ted Knight, who played the bombastic anchor man Ted Baxter, was not in attendance.
In addition to Mary Richards, look for curmudgeon Lou Grant, played by Ed Asner, writer Murray Slaughter, played by Gavin `Love Boat' MacLeod, sometime friend Phyllis Lindstrom, played by the brilliant Cloris `Dancing With the Stars' Leachman, and gentle Georgette Franklin, played by Georgia Engle.
In the closing credits of the first season, Rhoda was depicted walking across a New York street. She stops and tries to imitate Mary Tyler Moore's trademark hat toss, but instead the cap slips from Rhoda's hand.
Comic and producer Lorenzo Music, portrayed Carlton the Doorman. Carlton was often drunk, and always unseen. He spoke to Rhoda, et al via the apartment intercom. (Music was also the voice of the TV Garfield.) Becoming well-known for never being seen on Rhoda, gave Music the idea of never being photographed directly in public or on film. If filmed, there would always be something blocking his face, or he'd only be depicted in silhouette.
The opening explanied: "Rhoda Morgenstern was born in the Bronx in December 1941. She's always felt responsible for World War II. She had a bad puberty. It lasted 17 years. She's a college graduate, she went to art school. Her entrance exam was on a book of matches. She decided to move out of the house at the age of 24. Her mother still refers to this as the time she ran away from home. Eventually, she ran to Minneapolis where it's colder, and she figured she'd keep better. Now she's back in Manhattan. New York, this is your last chance."
This boxed set includes all 25 episodes of Season One: Joe; You Can Go Home Again; I'll Be Loving You, Sometimes; Parent's Day; The Lady in Red; Pop Goes the Question; The Shower; Rhoda's Wedding Part I; Rhoda's Wedding Part II; The Honeymoon; 9-E is Available; I'm a Little Late, Folks; Anything Wrong?; 'S Wonderful; Good-Bye Charlie; Guess What I Got You for the Holidays?; Whattaya Think it's There For?; Not Made for Each Other; Strained Interlude; Everything I Have is Yours, Almost; Chest Pains; Windows by Rhoda; A Nice Warm Rut; Ida, the Elf; and Along Comes Mary.
Summary of Rhoda: Season One
Studio: Uni Dist Corp (music) Release Date: 04/21/2009It?s easy to see why Rhoda fans are ecstatic that the series has finally appeared on DVD (with all 24 first-season episodes on four discs), a mere 35 years after its broadcast debut. Shows like this are the comedy equivalent of comfort food: uncomplicated, reliable, not very spicy but tasty and filling. Sitcom meatloaf, you might say. Spun off from Mary Tyler Moore by co-creators James L. Brooks (whose formidable resume as a writer, director, and producer also includes The Simpsons, Taxi, and movies like Broadcast News and As Good As It Gets) and Allan Burns, the show finds Valerie Harper?s Rhoda Morgenstern returning to her native New York after a decade in Minneapolis. What begins as a short visit turns into a full-blown homecoming when she meets and immediately falls for the manly-but-sensitive Joe Gerard (David Groh); Rhoda at first lives with dowdy, amusingly neurotic sister Brenda (Julie Kavner, later to achieve considerable fame and fortune as the voice of Marge Simpson), but we?re barely a third of the way into the season when she and Joe decide to tie the knot.
Debuting in 1974 (it ran for five years), Rhoda is an interesting reflection of its times. Harper?s character is a feminist ("Thank you, Ms. Magazine," she says when Brenda congratulates her for taking the initiative with Joe), but still old-fashioned enough to balk at moving in with a man before they?re married. Sexual revolution notwithstanding, references to sex are chaste and fleeting. And in this pre-PC era, the show is unabashedly, old-school ethnic, with its broad Bronx accents and Rhoda?s stereotypically hovering, meddling, hard-to-please Jewish mother (hilariously portrayed by Nancy Walker). But if it seems a little out of date, Rhoda makes up for that simply by being funny and likable; the hour-long "Rhoda?s Wedding," one of the highest-rated TV episodes of its time, is a riot, featuring Harper?s former Mary Tyler Moore mates (Moore, Ed Asner, Gavin MacLeod, Georgia Engel, and the inspired Cloris Leachman) having an absolute field day. And let?s not forget show producer Lorenzo Music as the drunken Carlton the Doorman, never seen but often heard via intercom. The sole bonus item is a paltry reminiscence with Brooks and Burns but none of the actors. --Sam Graham
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