For years after, The Mary Tyler Moore Show became my “safe” show: not only was I suddenly in recovery from years of untreated OCD where Mary and her friends were some of the only people who didn’t trigger intrusive thoughts, I also applied her wisdom and philosophies to my own developing adulthood and became a firm believer that just about any problem could be solved by clearing your schedule and watching MTM in bed all day. (Well, at least problems from a past life. Similarly, I credit Rhoda for getting me through some of the worst months of 2020.) Despite the fact that The Mary Tyler Moore Show was groundbreaking television in countless ways, few good books dedicated to that fact exist. Multiple biographies have gone out of print, and it would appear that the current generation of young adults don’t model their adulthood off of Mary and Rhoda, as I did. Nonetheless, these five books are essential reading for any fan of Mary, her neighbors, and her cohorts at WJM News. To paraphrase Ms. Morgenstern: adult life, this is your last chance. Note: Since Mary Tyler Moore’s lifetime was not a particularly inclusive one for people of color (or women, for that matter), few of these titles were written by authors of color and may not represent the diverse literary atmosphere we strive for here at Book Riot.
