A few weeks ago I watched the new documentary on Mary Tyler Moore, Being Mary Tyler Moore, which is running on HBO and MAX.

If you have followed her career and watched her on TV from her time on The Dick Van Dyke Show, there is probably not a lot that you will learn from this documentary. But if you think Mary Richards is Mary Tyler Moore, then you will learn a lot.

Despite being a role model on how to be an independent woman to many women of my generation, Moore was actually dependent on men and others her entire life. Professional feminists saw her show as anti-feminist but I remember when so many of us in college used Mary Richards’ life as a boilerplate on how to be a strong independent woman.

Either way it is worth watching and I enjoyed it.