| Sue Ann Nivens | |
|---|---|
 Sue Ann on the air as "The Happy Homemaker" | |
| First appearance | "The Lars Affair" September 15, 1973 |
| Last appearance | "The Last Show" March 19, 1977 |
| Created by | James L. Brooks and Allan Burns |
| Portrayed by | Betty White |
| In-universe information | |
| Gender | Female |
| Occupation | "The Happy Homemaker" presenter |
| Family | Lila Nivens (sister) |
Sue Ann Nivens is a fictional character portrayed by Betty White on situation comedy The Mary Tyler Moore Show .
The role of Sue Ann Nivens was not specifically written for White, but script #73 of the series ("The Lars Affair", aired September 15, 1973) [1] called for an "icky sweet Betty White type". The casting director decided to approach the star herself who, with husband Allen Ludden, was already good friends with Mary Tyler Moore and her then husband, MTM producer Grant Tinker. Producers were aware of Moore and White's friendship and were hesitant to audition White for the role, afraid of the awkwardness that might ensue if White wasn’t right for the part. [2]
White played up Sue Ann Nivens' cheerful, home-and-hearth loving persona — a sharp contrast to the character's backbiting, sexually voracious true nature. [3] Her first appearance in episode one of season four [4] was intended to be a one-time guest role, but series creator James L. Brooks gave White a friendly post-show warning: "Don't make too many plans." [5]
Sue Ann Nivens is the relentlessly perky star of The Happy Homemaker on fictional station WJM-TV in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The program delivers cooking and decorating advice to housewives, often on ludicrous theme shows such as "A Salute to Fruit" and "What's All This Fuss About Famine?". She is a perfectionist, remarking in a season four episode titled "The Dinner Party" that she'd rather flush her Veal Prince Orloff down a toilet than serve it reheated. Sue Ann is full of helpful hints for all occasions and always ready to make lemons into lemonade; for instance, she suggests buying colorful, happy goldfish as companions for the infirm and then, when the goldfish die, using them as houseplant fertilizer.
Although Sue Ann Nivens presents an image of sweetness and perfection onscreen, she is actually sardonic, man-obsessed, and very competitive.
Sue Ann Nivens first appears on Mary Tyler Moore as a guest at one of Mary Richards' famously disastrous parties. At the end of the night, Lars, the oft-mentioned but never-seen husband of Mary's friend/landlady, Phyllis Lindstrom, gives Sue Ann a ride home. Phyllis subsequently realizes Lars and Sue Ann are having an affair when he repeatedly comes home with clothes cleaner than when he left. Phyllis threatens to "rip Sue Ann's face off" and Mary is forced to mediate between the two to end the affair.
Eventually, Sue Ann and Mary become friendly but Sue Ann remains prickly, frequently insulting Mary's clothes, décor, sex life, etc. and often using variations of "dear, sweet, naïve Mary" to refer to her. Along with Georgette Franklin (Georgia Engel), girlfriend and eventual wife of Ted Baxter (Ted Knight), Sue Ann helps fill the void left by the departure of both Phyllis (Cloris Leachman) and Mary's best friend, Rhoda Morgenstern (Valerie Harper), for their own spin-off series. Nonetheless, Sue Ann's relationship with Mary can be competitive since Mary, who's younger and more attractive, easily draws male attention.
In the series' final season, Sue Ann's Happy Homemaker show is canceled because of low ratings. Still under contract to WJM, she'll only continue to get paid if she works at the station. After being assigned a series of menial positions (recording station break announcements; appearing as a foil for a contentious pair of kids' show puppets), Lou coerces Mary into hiring Sue Ann as a production assistant on the Six O'Clock News.
In Mary Tyler Moore's final episode, Sue Ann is fired, along with almost everyone in the WJM newsroom. She immediately bounces back, however, finding work as a traveling companion and "sort of a practical nurse" to a wealthy, elderly gentleman.
Reflecting on the role, White said, "Of course, I loved Sue Ann. She was so rotten. You can’t get much more rotten than the neighborhood nymphomaniac." [6] The role earned White two Emmy Awards as Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (1975 and 1976), with a further nomination following in the show's final season, 1977. [7] Asked about her favorites among her many awards to date, she cites the honors received for The Mary Tyler Moore Show. [8] White gives a great deal of credit for the role's success to the scripts, speaking of being "blessed with the kind of writing on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and [the later series] The Golden Girls ". [9]
On The Golden Girls, debuting eight years later, White was cast as man-hungry Blanche Devereaux, with Rue McClanahan, the befuddled Vivian Harmon on Maude, cast as naïve Rose Nylund. The two actresses realized how similar their new roles were to their previous ones and, at the suggestion of veteran comedy director Jay Sandrich, approached the producers about switching roles. (White quotes Sandrich as saying, "If Betty plays another man-hungry neighborhood you-know-what, they're going to equate it with Sue Ann and think it's just a continuation of that.") [10] The producers agreed, and the show went on to great success. [11] White stated in January 2017 that she greatly enjoyed playing the character of Rose, as opposed to Blanche. [12]
Mary Tyler Moore was an American actress, producer, and social advocate. She is best known for her roles on The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961–1966) and especially The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970–1977), which "helped define a new vision of American womanhood" and "appealed to an audience facing the new trials of modern-day existence". Moore won seven Primetime Emmy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Ordinary People. Moore had major supporting roles in the musical film Thoroughly Modern Millie and the dark comedy film Flirting with Disaster. Moore also received praise for her performance in the television film Heartsounds. Moore was an advocate for animal rights, vegetarianism and diabetes awareness and research.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show is an American television sitcom created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns and starring actress Mary Tyler Moore. The show originally aired on CBS from September 19, 1970, to March 19, 1977. Moore portrayed Mary Richards, an unmarried, independent woman focused on her career as associate producer of a news show at the fictional local station WJM in Minneapolis. Ed Asner co-starred as Mary's boss Lou Grant, alongside Gavin MacLeod, Ted Knight, Georgia Engel, Betty White, Valerie Harper as friend and neighbor Rhoda Morgenstern, and Cloris Leachman as friend and landlady Phyllis Lindstrom.
Lou Grant is a fictional character played by Ed Asner in two television series produced by MTM Enterprises for CBS. The first was The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970–1977), a half-hour light-hearted situation comedy in which the character was the news director at fictional television station WJM-TV in Minneapolis. A spinoff series, entitled Lou Grant (1977–1982), was an hour-long serious dramatic series that frequently engaged in social commentary, featuring the same character as city editor of the fictional Los Angeles Tribune. Although spin-offs are common on American television, Lou Grant remains one of a very few characters played by the same actor to have a leading role on both a popular comedy and a popular dramatic series.
Rhoda is an American sitcom television series created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns starring Valerie Harper that originally aired on CBS for five seasons from September 9, 1974, to May 18, 1979. It was the first spin-off of The Mary Tyler Moore Show in which Harper reprised her role as Rhoda Morgenstern, a spunky and flamboyantly fashioned young woman seen as unconventional by the standards of her Jewish family from New York City. The series was originally distributed by Viacom Enterprises.
Betty Marion Ludden was an American actress and comedian. A pioneer of early television with a career spanning almost seven decades, she was noted for her vast number of television appearances acting in sitcoms, sketch comedy, and game shows. She produced and starred in the series Life with Elizabeth (1953–1955), thus becoming the first woman to produce a sitcom.
Phyllis is an American sitcom television series that aired on CBS from September 8, 1975, to March 13, 1977. Created mainly by Ed. Weinberger and Stan Daniels, it was the second spinoff of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Mary Tyler Moore Show producer James L. Brooks was also involved with the show as a creative consultant. The show starred Cloris Leachman as Phyllis Lindstrom, who had been Mary Richards' friend, neighbor, and landlady on The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
Lou Grant is an American drama television series starring Ed Asner in the title role as a newspaper editor that aired on CBS from September 20, 1977, to September 13, 1982. The third spin-off of the American sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Lou Grant was created by James L. Brooks, Allan Burns, and Gene Reynolds.
Rose Nylund is a fictional character from the sitcom television series The Golden Girls and its spin-off, The Golden Palace. She was portrayed by Betty White for 8 years, totaling 204 episodes.
Linda Kelsey is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Billie Newman on the CBS drama television series Lou Grant (1977–1982), which earned her three Golden Globe Award nominations and five Primetime Emmy Award nominations.
Jay Henry Sandrich was an American television director who primarily worked on sitcoms. In 2020, he was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame.
Mary Richards, portrayed by Mary Tyler Moore, is the lead character of the television sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
Phyllis Lindstrom is a fictional character portrayed by Cloris Leachman on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its spin-off series Phyllis.
Mary and Rhoda is a 2000 American made-for-television comedy-drama film starring Mary Tyler Moore and Valerie Harper reprising their roles as Mary Richards and Rhoda Morgenstern from the 1970–1977 sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
"Chuckles Bites the Dust" is an episode of the television situation comedy The Mary Tyler Moore Show which first aired on October 25, 1975. The episode's plot centers on the WJM-TV staff's reaction to the absurd death of Chuckles the Clown, an often-mentioned but seldom-seen character who starred in an eponymously titled children's show at the station. Most of the WJM-TV staff cannot help making jokes about the strange death of a strange person except for Mary, who repeatedly scolds her co-workers for disrespecting the deceased. However, during Chuckles' funeral service, Mary begins to giggle uncontrollably, much to her embarrassment. The celebrant assures her that laughing is the proper response to the life of a clown.
"The Last Show" is the 168th episode and series finale of the television sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and it was written by Allan Burns, James L. Brooks, Ed Weinberger, Stan Daniels, David Lloyd, and Bob Ellison. Internationally, it was first aired in Canada on CBC Television, March 18, 1977 at 8 p.m. In the U.S., it was one day later on Saturday, March 19, on CBS.
The first season of The Mary Tyler Moore Show aired on CBS from September 19, 1970, to March 6, 1971. It consisted of 24 half-hour episodes. The first season aired on CBS on Saturday nights at 9:30 p.m.
The first season of the American television comedy series The Golden Girls originally aired on NBC in the United States between September 14, 1985, and May 10, 1986. Created by television writer Susan Harris, the series was produced by Witt/Thomas/Harris Productions and ABC Studios It starred Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan, Betty White, and Estelle Getty as the main characters Dorothy Zbornak, Blanche Devereaux, Rose Nylund, and Sophia Petrillo. The series revolves around the lives of four older women living together in a house in Miami.