A-Z GUIDE TO MOVIES AND TV SHOWS PARODIED BY MAD, CRACKED, CRAZY, ETC. UP TO 1996. THEY HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS. SPOILERS AND OTHER NON-SEQUITURS, TOO. SOMETIMES THESE THINGS HAVE WORDS OR SITUATIONS WE DON'T USE ANYMORE. YOU KNOW, 'CAUSE THEY'RE OLD.
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Spun off from The Mary Tyler-Moore Show, Rhoda Morgenstern (Valerie Harper) was Mary's upstairs neighbor. This series had her returning to her Jewish roots in New York and married to Joe Gerard (David Groh). Her sister Brenda (Julie Kavner) filled the void of the “man crazy” archetype.
Carlton (Lorenzo Music) was the doorman of the building. Rhoda's mother Ida (Nancy Walker) was another frequent cast member.
Nancy Walker was better known as the spokesperson for Bounty paper towels.
Rhoda's father Martin (Harold Gould) was billed as a regular, though rarely used. Nancy Walker also had a role on McMillan and Wife.
Joe ran a wrecking company.
From TV Disclaimers We'd Like to See in MAD #180, January 1976, by Lou Silverstone and Jack Davis. The mother shown at the end is Israeli prime minister Golda Meir.
From TV Spinoffs Yet to Come in MAD #206, April 1979, by Tom Koch and Harry North, Esq.
There actually was a spinoff. Rather, a special. Lorenzo Music, a writer and creator of Rhoda (and later the voice of Garfield) reprised the character that you previously never saw.
RHODENT
Crazy #12, August 1975
w: Steve Skeates & Mary Skrenes
a: Vance Rodewalt
From The Final Segments of Popular TV Series in Crazy #47, February 1979, by Paul Laikin and John Reiner
RHODANT
Sick #105, August 1975
w: Len Herman
a: Jerry Grandenetti
ROADER
Sick #119, February 1978
w: George Kashdan
a: Jack Sparling
Mary Tyler-Moore's other neighbor (who also later had her own TV show) was Phyllis (Cloris Leachman). The cast of The Mary Tyler-Moore Show is at Rhoda's wedding.
In the later seasons after Rhoda and Joe divorced, they added neighbor Gary Levy (Ron Silver). Nancy Walker left to do a show called Blansky's Beauties.
In the Crazy parody, at the top of page 5, the hitman is Valerie Harper's real-life husband at the time, Richard Schaal, as the story itself notes.
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