I Heard The News Today

When I go to the gym in the morning, I always try to get there in time to watch Today Show while I do cardio.  This morning I was flipping channels so it could have been on one of the other morning shows that I heard that Valerie Harper has been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.

I remember Valerie's character as Rhoda on The Mary Tyler Moore Show.  Mary Richards and Rhoda Morgenstern lived in a big Victorian house in Minneapolis.  The house had been split into apartments and their landlord also lived in the house.  Her name was Phyllis Lindstrom.

The show was groundbreaking because it portrayed Mary as an independent women living on her own with a professional job.  Rhoda was the artsy upstairs neighbor who portrayed another aspect of the independent woman in the '70s.  Everybody loved Mary but I always liked Rhoda the best.

Rhoda and Phyllis both had spinoffs of the show and I watched both.  In addition to the opening for The Mary Tyler Moore Show, the openings for Rhoda and Phyllis are still some of my favorites.

After Rhoda, Valerie Harper went on to at least one other television show and also starred onstage. 

I'm very sad to learn that she is dealing with this illness and the outlook doesn't look good.  I did find Ed Asner's comments in Daily News uplifting and it reminded me of what his character Lou Grant told Mary Richards one day, "You've got spunk!"

Valerie Harper has spunk and I hope it helps her with this fight.