I’m old enough to have watched The Mary Tyler Moore Show in real-time, not syndication.  For seven years of Saturday nights, from childhood to my early teens, I lay on my stomach on our den carpet (yep, shag), mesmerized by the woman played by Mary Tyler Moore. Not only could Mary Richards “turn the world on with her smile,” but she also had a career that looked like fun, a big girl apartment with a wood-burning fireplace, a sporty white mustang, and a hilarious, pull-no-punches best friend, Rhoda.  Plus, Rhoda lived upstairs, just like Lucy’s Ethel.

Now, years later, I am channeling Mary Richards...