I imagine there are few among us who haven't daydreamed about a particular career and thought, "I would LOVE that job."
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| [1] Photo attribution |
Over the years, I've thought I'd enjoy a number of other careers, including audio book reader, library page and bookseller. But the one job that I surely would have pursued if I'd had the wherewithal is comedy writer for a sitcom.
Recently, I read a book called Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted: And All the Brilliant Minds Who Made The Mary Tyler Moore Show a Classic. It showcased the breakthrough nature of the show, and in particular its female writers.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show (MTM) launch in 1971. It almost didn't get off the ground because TV executives were concerned about a show that starred an unmarried woman at age 30 whose focus was her career, not nabbing a husband and settling down and starting a family. The original premise had Mary Richards, the main character, as a divorcee. The producers were told Americans weren't sympathetic to divorce and pushed hard to change Mary's status to single, having recently broken up after a long-term relationship.
Keep in mind, up to this time, lead female protagonists in sitcoms included a witch, a genie and Lucy, the lovable goofball whose antics defined slapstick. Yes, I Love Lucy was groundbreaking in some ways – featuring a pregnant Lucy, the first time any woman was actually shown on TV with a bun in the oven. But Lucy was still beholden to Ricky, always trying to please and being chastised by him just before the credits rolled, sending that message that the husband knew best.
It's hard to believe now that when the Mary Tyler Moore Show was being created, the idea of hiring women comedy writers was radical. Male TV executives couldn't believe that women could write comedy.
Treva Silverman proved them all wrong.
Before Treva, there had only been a handful of women writers. After Treva, there would be plenty more.
It was Carol Burnett, who saw Treva at a comedy club in New York and gave Treva her first break in TV, writing for a show called The Entertainers. Being the only woman writer, it took awhile before Treva became "one of the boys." Once she was accepted, the door creaked open and other women were allowed in.
Before signing onto the MTM Show, Treva's writing credits included episodes of The Monkees, Room 222, That Girl, and, regrettably perhaps, Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp.
But it was The MTM show where Treva was able to shine, picking up two Emmy Awards during her stint there. Having women writers on the show meant that issues were addressed from a woman's perspective. Many of the stories for the show came from Treva's and the other women writers' personal experiences. The characters on MTM were full dimensional, the issues often complex and the friendships binding.
Alas, while The MTM Show was groundbreaking, it gave way to a string of insipid television that did nothing for the image of women as relatable, fully-formed people. It was all about mindless, escapist entertainment – a la Three's Company, Charlie's Angels and The Brady Bunch.
Eventually, this would change, divorce would lose its stigma, the Pill would become an acceptable topic for discussion and married couples would sleep in the same bed.
But it's Treva Silverman's career that I would love to have had.
You know, that's me. Always living vicariously through others...
P.S. Other fun facts about Treva:
- She was a musical prodigy who started her career as a singing pianist in bars.
- She always wanted to be part of the Algonquin Round Table.
- Treva saved the movie Romancing the Stone by suggesting Kathleen Turner talk baby talk to her kitty at the beginning of the film. (Audiences who'd seen previews of the movie hated Turner's character for being too hard. This one scene changed the tone Turner's character and rescued the film.)
- She was a big fan of 1930s screwball comedies, which inspired her writing.
[1] Photo attribution: By Greg Gjerdingen from Willmar, USA - Mary Tyler Moore Statue, Downtown Minneapolis, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=69245269
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