Rhoda was an American sitcom that was a spinoff of the legendary series,
The Mary Tyler Moore Show. It ran on CBS from 1974 – 1978 for only five seasons before being canceled by the network due to horrifically bad ratings beginning from the third season and continuing in a downward trend.
The short lived series starred actress Valerie Harper, continuing her role as Rhoda Morgenstern from The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Rhoda Morgenstern was Mary Richards (Mary Tyler Moore) quick witted, self-deprecating, generally self-conscious, outgoing, Jewish neighbour. The role originated on The Mary Tyler Moore Show from the beginning of the shows run in 1970 until 1974, when Rhoda departs in the fourth season to move from Minneapolis to New York City.
The show centers around Harper as Rhoda when she has returned to her native New York City on a vacation. While there, she stays with her sister Brenda (Julie Kavner), an overall insecure bank teller who has numerous dating issues similar to those faced by Rhoda while in Minneapolis. Also while in New York, Rhoda meets Joe Gerard (David Groh), a handsome divorcé, father of a 10-year-old son and owner of a wrecking company. The two met though Brenda who babysits Joe’s son.
Following immediate chemistry, the two date for the whole duration of Rhoda’s vacation to New York. Following an argument about their feelings for one another, Joe asks Rhoda to stay in New York and Rhoda ultimately agrees. With her decision to stay in New York final, Rhoda initially moves in with her sister before they both decide that Brenda’s small apartment was not big enough for the two of them.
With this realization, Rhoda moves out of Brenda’s apartment and moves in with her parents Ida (Nancy Walker) and Martin (Harold Gould). Ida and Martin are the stereotypical Jewish parents. Ida is overbearing, overprotective and desperately wants to find her daughters good husbands. Martin is her mild-mannered husband.
Rhoda ends up staying with her parents in her childhood bedroom for a short time before falling in to a slump and her mother forcing her to move out on her own. It was in episode seven of season one when Joe asked Rhoda to move in with him. Rhoda agrees to move in with him after some thought. In the eighth episode called Rhoda’s Wedding, after Rhoda says that she will move in with him if she is married to him, there was a very highly rated one-hour episode dedicated to her wedding. The episode about the wedding was very successful, for a time holding the record for the highest rated television episode of the 70s. The episode featured characters from the parent series with Mary Richards (Mary Tyler Moore), Lou Grant (Edward Asner), and Murray Slaughter (Gavin MacLeod) being just a few characters to show up. It also featured shots of Harper as Rhoda running across the streets and sitting on a subway clad in wedding dress and vail to get to her wedding on time because former neighbour and nemesis, Phyllis (Cloris Leachman) forgot to pick her up for the occasion after not being invited to the wedding in the first place.
With Rhoda and Joe living the happy newly-wed life in seasons one and two, the show enjoyed major success on the charts. Season one ranked at number six on the charts and season two followed close behind, ranking at number seven. The show did so well in fact that the first episode was the first and only television series to earn a number one Nelson rating for the pilot. This record is still held to this day, more than 40 years later. However, seasons one and two would be the only ones to enjoy this kind of success.
After, in season three, Rhoda and Joe were shown to have extreme marital problems before separating. This happens in the first episode of season three and was met with very poor reception. The producers said that the split was for plot development, but this decision spelled the beginning of the end for the once popular show.
After the split, viewers left in droves, sending viewership and ratings plummeting. Throughout that season, the show focused on Rhoda and her new business. During this season, Nancy Walker and Harold Gould were not on the show because they were filming other projects. Both projects that they were apart of during this season failed. It was also during this season that there was an attempt at a resolution between Rhoda and Joe with counseling. However, even with counseling, the two were never able to make up. From then on, Joe is never seen or mentioned again. This season marked the beginning of a horrible downwards spiral, ratings falling from number seven to 32 on the charts.
In season four, Rhoda’s divorce is finalized and Rhoda moves from her window dressing business to a costume company with a boss that bears some personality traits from beloved character, Lou Grant. For this reason, the show had a slight uptick in viewership and ratings, rising from 32 to 25. However, it is safe to say that it never regained its popularity.
In season five, Rhoda’s character changed her appearance to better suit the style of the time. Ida and Martin began to have their own marital problems as well, resulting in an all out split between the two. By this time, the show had moved from its original Monday night time slot to a late Saturday night time slot with one other show. Both were expected to compete with NBC’s CHiPs. This was the last nail in the coffin for the series. Viewership and ratings fell even farther and was canceled by CBS midway through the fifth season.
The cancelation left four episodes unaired that were later run when the show went in to syndication. In the end, the show had fallen to a sad 95 on the charts out of 114 shows listed. While Rhoda had lots of negative reception in the end following what some could argue was a bad idea for the plot, Rhoda still holds records for the viewership and popularity it once had and still won some awards. Even with the tragic end, Rhoda still leaves a legacy in the world of television. All of these things are reminders of a once beloved show and a tragic fall from grace.
Valerie Harper is an American actress, born on 22nd August, 1939 in Suffern, New York. She has been working in entertainment since 1956 and is still working today. She is best known for her role of Rhoda Morgenstern in The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970 – 1977), starring alongside legendary actress Mary Tyler Moore. She is also known for playing the same role in a short lived spin off, Rhoda (1974 – 1978). Harper was also in some notable films such as Freebie and the Bean (1974), and Chapter Two (1979). Along with roles on screen, she has had notable roles on stage in shows like Looped, in which she played Talullah Bankhead. 
Harper’s work has gotten her awards such as an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (1971 – 1973) for The Mary Tyler Moore Show, a Golden Globe for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for Rhoda in 1975. She has also been nominated for 10 other awards including a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for Looped in 2010. As for Harper’s personal life, she is married to her second husband, Tony Cacciotti and has been since 1987. The two adopted a daughter. In 2009, Harper announced that she was diagnosed with lung cancer. In March 2013, it was announced that Harper had leptomeningeal carcinomatosis. That is a rare condition where cancer spreads to the membranes surrounding the brain. The doctors told her that the condition was not curable and gave her only three months to live. Despite a very grim prognosis, the doctors started her on chemotherapy. In 2014, Harper announced that she was responding well to treatment. After a brief hospitalization following Harper collapsing, she was treated at a Los Angeles hospital and was soon well enough to be in a short film. During 2013, Harper refused to let cancer keep her down and appeared on an episode of Hot in Cleveland and competed on the show, Dancing With The Stars in its 17th season. Sadly, she was eliminated on week four. For a long time, Harper beat the odds of her condition, even continuing ot work in film and television as recently as 2016. Sadly, on 30th August, 2019 Harper lost her long battle with cancer. She died in Los Angeles at the age of 80. Harper beat the grim prognosis of her condition, living well beyond three month life expectancy. While Harper is no longer with us, she left a big impression on the world that won't soon be forgotten. She will be remembered and loved for the joy she brought to people with the characters she played so well. One thing is for sure, Valerie Harper made her mark in the history books.
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