In “Inside the Episode,” the writers and directors reflect on the making of their Emmy-winning episodes.
Is Hulu’s “The Bear” a comedy? Was HBO’s “Succession” a drama? Should they be judged equally?
If it were 1974, TV fans might have watched this grueling, spiteful duel unfold in real time.
For that year’s Primetime Emmy Awards, the Television Academy introduced “Super Emmy” categories. Intended to be a tongue-in-cheek battle of the genres, 14 already-announced Emmy winners (including actors, writers, and directors) competed for the “Super Emmy” during the telecast, facing off against their genre counterparts (best comedy director against best drama director, etc.). To accomplish this in a reasonable timeframe for a live production, the Academy revealed the traditional category winners in advance and then asked members to vote again for the “Super Emmy” winners, who would be announced at the ceremony.
Ironically, some of the “Super Emmys” biggest opponents were also its winners, including actor of the year Alan Alda (“M*A*S*H”) and actress of the year Mary Tyler Moore (“The Mary Tyler Moore Show”). Each used their acceptance speeches to ridicule the category.
The “Super Emmys” did not get a renewal for a second season.
“It was so stupid… it took all the magic out of it,” says writer Treva Silverman, whose script for “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” “outperformed” Joanna Lee’s script for “The Waltons” and earned her writer of the year honors.
This oddity should not detract from the work Silverman did on the episode, both in front of and behind the camera. The win in the main category made her the first woman to receive the Emmy for best comedy solo, without sharing a co-signer with a male co-star.
And its plot remains prophetic.
Titled “The Story of Lou and Edie,” the Season 4 episode centers on lovable curmudgeon Lou Grant (Ed Asner), whose wife leaves him in middle age to begin her own journey — a topic he reveals in the episode they discussed in couples therapy.
“He was a typical man of the 1950s, humiliated by having to express this and having it forced out of him, until… [the end of the episode when she leaves and] He says, 'I'm warning you… I'm going to take you back right away,' Silverman recalls of the couple's emotional final moments.
It was then, she said, that this withdrawn, traditional gender-role follower “entered the 1970s.”
In an interview with The Times that has been edited and condensed for clarity and space, Silverman explains how this historic episode unfolded.
Treva Silverman's win made her the first woman to receive the Emmy for comedy writing alone, without co-writing with a male partner.
(CBS / By Treva Silverman)
At that time, counselling and therapy were not talked about as much as they are now. How did you decide to pursue this topic?
This episode aired in 1973, eight months before the Roe v. Wade case occurred. [And] This was something that informed the entire women's movement.
I don't remember how [the idea for marriage therapy] But if that element wasn't there, it would have been difficult for him to talk about the fact that he and Edie were having problems. Plus, it added tension to the early scenes because he didn't want people to know.
Rewatching the episode, I noticed the beautiful direction by Jay Sandrich. When Ed Asner is [talking] To Maria and Murray [Gavin MacLeod] (about their marital problems at the beginning of the episode) and they both lean forward and [they’re] hoping something good comes out of it… [Jay] This is how he understands the human condition.
I also noticed that Lou said a lot. [to Mary]“I can't tell you this. I have to tell a man.” And that attitude is probably the reason why [his wife is] Leaving him. Roe v. Wade had passed and everyone was going to women's groups and he [still] I can't talk to Maria because Maria is a woman.
Edie (Priscilla Morrill) tells Lou that she's leaving him because he's 45 and she's been with him since she was 19. She doesn't know life without him. Was that experience based on someone you knew?
No. In fact, we had never met Edie in the entire series before this. This was the full introduction to her. I based it on a character that he would have been in love with and they would have had a good marriage by now.
It was “who would this person be?… How would he have chosen her and how would she have chosen him?” She was a child. [when they met] and it's fun and it takes over everything, which at that moment… [in our culture] It was a good thing.
Jim [Brooks, “MTM’s” co-creator] He had a very insightful idea about casting. One actress read absolutely beautifully, but she was very small. He said no because Ed would look intimidating next to her. When Priscilla came in, she was perfect. Strong-looking, not a little small.
Asner has a couple of great monologues in this episode. One is when Edie is getting ready to leave. She crushes an orange and starts ranting about fruit seeds…
I wanted him to get so ridiculous and off topic that you could only see his anger at something that made no sense. I wanted to give him a monologue where he didn't address what was going on.
There is some comic relief when news anchor Ted (Knight Ted), unaware that Lou and Edie are having problems, playfully flirts with her. said before That writing Ted was largely influenced by your mother's tendency to always say inappropriate things.
My mother was a good person, but her empathy never fully developed.
As a writer, I find it hard to write about someone I don't like. And I wanted to like Ted. And it occurred to me that my mother makes all this stuff up.
Suddenly, I had to undergo a hysterectomy. Before I told my mother, I told one of my sisters, who I knew could comfort me and to whom I could tell the truth about my feelings. So, a week later, I thought it was finally time to tell my mother.
I said, “Mom, I want you to know that I’m perfectly fine, that everything is fine and that I’m healthy, but I want to tell you that I had to have a hysterectomy.” And she said, “Well, did you get a second opinion?”
After my father died, my mother moved to Florida, like all good Jewish widows. After a couple of seasons there, I asked her what life was like and if she had any friends there. She said, “I have some wonderful friends. I don’t analyze them. They don’t analyze me.”
