Bill Daly plays a clueless councilman who is scheduled to appear on Mary's public affairs show. While he is a big handsome guy, he knows nothing about his precinct or politics or much of anything. When asked about an ecology friendly way of getting rid of garbage he says that this ecology thing may be one of those things we'll regret later, like Vietnam. Because inner city kids have to use fire hydrants to keep cool in the summertime, the solution is to build more fire hydrants so the kids will have something to do. It was fun to see Isabel Sanford from "The Jeffersons" and, of course, Daly from "The Bob Newhart Show." I always thought the Howard Borden character was one of the best supporting roles of all time.
3 Reviews
Backdoor pilot
Rrrobert13 August 2019
Pretty obvious back door pilot for a series focused on the affable but simple-minded councilman played by Bill Daily, and his devoted staff who pitch in to nurse him though the day's challenge. This day's challenge is appearing on a talk show produced by Mary, where some of the questions might be 'hard'.
It seems this series would have had three black regulars, including Isabel Sanford as the straight-talking mother of one of the workers. There's also a recurring bit with a dim never-seen ex-Viking who calls asking for a job.
The episode isn't terrible but really isn't a conventional episode. All the Mary Tyler Moore show regulars get a few scenes (except Phyllis) and form the funnier parts of the episode. The councilman's staff are pleasant but all seem pleasantly too similar to one another too.
It seems this series would have had three black regulars, including Isabel Sanford as the straight-talking mother of one of the workers. There's also a recurring bit with a dim never-seen ex-Viking who calls asking for a job.
The episode isn't terrible but really isn't a conventional episode. All the Mary Tyler Moore show regulars get a few scenes (except Phyllis) and form the funnier parts of the episode. The councilman's staff are pleasant but all seem pleasantly too similar to one another too.
Seems like a cross over episode.
ram-307 August 2008
When I watched this episode, which was the season finale of "Mary Tyler Moore"'s second year, I thought that they were trying to pass it off as a spin off/crossover/pilot for a new series. First of all, the plot and majority of the dialogue focus on Bill Daily's simple minded councilman, his two loyal office workers and one of their mothers. Also, it was written by Jim Parker and Arnold Margolin (Stuart's brother). This was their only MTM script and seemed to be written as a springboard to a new series that never got off the ground. In a few years Bill Daily and Isabel Sanford achieved TV success with the help of NEWHART and ALL IN THE FAMILY/THE JEFFERSONS but Carole Androsky and Janet MacLachlin never did make their mark on TV (although both did appear with Isabel in some of her later series). Even a character we never see (Mack Truck Tarkis, the ex football pro who becomes the Councilman's chauffeur, seems like a regular sit com character. Now, of course, MTM had many great spin-offs (RHODA, PHYLLIS, LOU GRANT) but it would have been nice to see how this one would have managed. The storyline of a simple minded politician being helped along by loyal staff did of course resurface in American shows like BENSON and SPIN CITY and, sadly, in American real life politics as well.
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