Rhoda was an American
sitcom starring
Valerie Harper which aired a total of 109 half-hour episodes and one hour-long episode over five seasons from September 9, 1974 to December 9, 1978.
The show was a
spin-off of
The Mary Tyler Moore Show, in which Harper between the years 1970 and 1974 had played the role of
Rhoda Morgenstern, a spunky, weight-conscious, flamboyantly fashioned
Jewish neighbor and native New Yorker in the role of
Mary Richards' best friend.
After four seasons, Rhoda left
Minneapolis and returned to her original hometown of
New York City.
The series was the winner of two
Golden Globes and two
Emmy Awards.
Rhoda was filmed Friday evenings in front of a
live studio audience at
CBS Studio Center, Stage 14 in
Studio City, Los Angeles, California.
Cast
Animated spin-off and cast reunions
A special animated TV pilot titled
Carlton Your Doorman, a proposed spin-off of the Carlton, the doorman character (voiced by Lorenzo Music), was broadcast May 21, 1980 on
CBS. Although the episode won a
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program, it was never picked up by the network as a series.
Despite never having reunited in-character on a TV special or movie, some of the cast members of
Rhoda have gotten together over the years on the following daytime talk-shows:
- On November 21, 1984, Valerie Harper, Julie Kavner and Nancy Walker reunited to reminisce about the series on the syndicated Hour Magazine (with Gary Collins) in which they hosted a week-long series dedicated to TV reunion shows.
- In May 1996, Valerie Harper, David Groh and Harold Gould (with a voice-over cameo from Lorenzo Music as Carlton, the Doorman) reunited on Sally Jessy Raphael to talk about the show's best moments as reruns of Rhoda began airing on Nick at Nite. Author Julius C. Burnett (author of "Rhoda Revisited"; see below) also appeared briefly in the segment. Interesting episodic facts from Burnett's book were used during a voiceover at the beginning of each episode of Nick at Nite's reruns of the show.
