What I remember most about this series is that MTM's voice-over narration was sometimes scathingly hilarious - the kind of surprising candor that makes you laugh so unexpectedly hard that it takes your breath away momentarily.(I remember making a mental note not to eat dinner while watching this show, because MTM made me laugh so hard at unexpected times during the narration!)The feeling I got was that the writers were striving very hard to make sure that the dialog was modern and adult, probably so they could in no way be accused of relying on MTM's earlier, more sentimental, good-girl image for conventional laughs. The network was incredibly stupid not to give this series more of a chance to catch on. Six episodes - sheesh! By the time you find it, it's already cancelled!! The clueless broadcast networks are doomed by their own impatience.

Running for just six thirty-minute episodes in late 1988, this is a unique Mary Tyler Moore offering. Following her short-lived "Mary" sitcom from the mid-'80s, Mary returned to CBS in '88 with "Annie McGuire." The show is a departure from the norm in that it really isn't a situation comedy, nor is it really a drama. The basic story concerns Mary's character "Annie McGuire," who recently re-married and commutes from NYC to Bayonne, New Jersey. She has a cranky very patriotic conservative father-in-law and a very liberal idealistic mother. These two characters drive a few of the show's plots.Recently reviewing the set of six shows, I found them to all be very heavily message or themed stories. One episode, for example, follows Mary's attempts to find employment for a person who attempts to mug her. The twist here is that the mugger is in a wheelchair and Mary's character is frustrated at the lack of opportunities for handicapped people. Get the picture? Most episodes play out like this and for those who loved "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and even the short-lived "Mary," this series was both different and a bit of a disappointment.