The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Scandal are both television shows that have independent and professional women as their main characters. The Mary Tyler Moore show was revolutionary in its inclusion of a career focused and single woman while Scandal is also revolutionary for its featuring of an African-American professional woman as its main character. Both of these television shows left a mark on history for their inclusion of controversial topics into the series. Even though The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Scandal premiered over thirty years apart from one another, they have many similarities in their treatment of gender, sexual orientation and ethnicity.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show premiered in 1970 on CBS and completed with its final episode …show more content…
In one episode of The Mary Tyler Moore show, “My Brother’s Keeper.” Rhoda tells Phyllis that her brother, Ben, is gay. Especially for this time, saying the word gay on television was revolutionary and unheard of. When Rhoda says that Ben is gay the episode is filled with the audience's laughter. They were not laughing at Ben being gay, though, instead, they were laughing at Phyllis’s expense. This episode is one of many that made The Mary Tyler Moore show so unprecedented to shows before it. The series wanted to be unconventional and forward thinking and it was successful in this. Furthermore, Scandal has also dealt with gay rights during its series. One of the main characters, Cyrus Beene, is married to James Novak. Cyrus is the White House's Chief of staff while James is the White House's Press Secretary. Both characters have high-ranking roles in the political world and are openly gay and content with their marriage to one another. They adopt a child and the show dedicates a lot of time to their struggles with this such as Cyrus hate for kids but he ends up agreeing to the adoption to make James happy. James end up being killed off but the show continues to shed light on Cyrus’s romantic life. He soon begins a relationship with a male prostitute, Michael, who he ends up marrying. In one scene in the episode “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang”, Cyrus asks James to dance after they had been …show more content…
In The Mary Tyler Moore Show, the weatherman, Gordy, at the television station was played by an African American actor. In this interview of John Amos (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLG8L0yr0aM) who played Gordy, he discussed how the show's creators never felt the need to include race jokes, which other shows at the time would do. Although the show did not deal that much with race, having an African American as a prominent character on the show was modern for the time. In addition, Scandal deals with race frequently throughout the series. Olivia Pope is played by African American actress Kerry Washington and her race are of no importance in the show. This is revolutionary because of the diverse cast whose character is not defined by their ethnicity or race. One episode, “The Lawn Chair,” directly deals with race as it was inspired by the Ferguson riots, an innocent African American boy is shot and killed by a policeman (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKjG4bHatuQ). This episode deals with race, prejudice and bigotry. Scandal is also innovative with its dealing of race because of the relationship between President Fitz and Olivia Pope. President Fitz, a white middle aged man, and Olivia have a deep and intimate relationship that is never disrupted by their
The Mary Tyler Moore Show premiered in 1970 on CBS and completed with its final episode …show more content…
In one episode of The Mary Tyler Moore show, “My Brother’s Keeper.” Rhoda tells Phyllis that her brother, Ben, is gay. Especially for this time, saying the word gay on television was revolutionary and unheard of. When Rhoda says that Ben is gay the episode is filled with the audience's laughter. They were not laughing at Ben being gay, though, instead, they were laughing at Phyllis’s expense. This episode is one of many that made The Mary Tyler Moore show so unprecedented to shows before it. The series wanted to be unconventional and forward thinking and it was successful in this. Furthermore, Scandal has also dealt with gay rights during its series. One of the main characters, Cyrus Beene, is married to James Novak. Cyrus is the White House's Chief of staff while James is the White House's Press Secretary. Both characters have high-ranking roles in the political world and are openly gay and content with their marriage to one another. They adopt a child and the show dedicates a lot of time to their struggles with this such as Cyrus hate for kids but he ends up agreeing to the adoption to make James happy. James end up being killed off but the show continues to shed light on Cyrus’s romantic life. He soon begins a relationship with a male prostitute, Michael, who he ends up marrying. In one scene in the episode “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang”, Cyrus asks James to dance after they had been …show more content…
In The Mary Tyler Moore Show, the weatherman, Gordy, at the television station was played by an African American actor. In this interview of John Amos (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLG8L0yr0aM) who played Gordy, he discussed how the show's creators never felt the need to include race jokes, which other shows at the time would do. Although the show did not deal that much with race, having an African American as a prominent character on the show was modern for the time. In addition, Scandal deals with race frequently throughout the series. Olivia Pope is played by African American actress Kerry Washington and her race are of no importance in the show. This is revolutionary because of the diverse cast whose character is not defined by their ethnicity or race. One episode, “The Lawn Chair,” directly deals with race as it was inspired by the Ferguson riots, an innocent African American boy is shot and killed by a policeman (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKjG4bHatuQ). This episode deals with race, prejudice and bigotry. Scandal is also innovative with its dealing of race because of the relationship between President Fitz and Olivia Pope. President Fitz, a white middle aged man, and Olivia have a deep and intimate relationship that is never disrupted by their