Three Laughs and a Funeral
With Grant Tinker’s passing, there are many milestone moments in the MTM archive that helped transform television into what it is today. Tinker’s productions, including The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show, WKRP in Cincinnati, and St. Elsewhere, in many ways set the standard for characters that are fully drawn, often flawed but always full of heart. One of our favorite MTM moments was from the 1975 Mary Tyler Moore Show episode, “Chuckles Bites the Dust." Chuckles, the WJM on-air children’s show star and clown character had been killed by a rogue elephant in a circus parade. Mary, grief-stricken by the news, had been scolding the WJM staff for making repeated clown jokes about the tragedy. Except that all, memorably, changes at Chuckles’ funeral. The scene remains fresh, very funny, and shows what can happen when the best of comedy and drama are shaken together. —Eric Gould.