1970 CBS "Mary Tyler Moore Show" preview

If you've seen the documentary on the Season One box set of MARY TYLER MOORE, then you have to also doubt the likes of James L. Brooks, Allan Burns (creators/writers), Ethel Winant (CBS Executive), and Grant Tinker (20th Century Fox, husband of star, and unofficial head of MTM Productions at the time), not to mention Ed Asner, producer of the documentary and co-star. These people all tell the story of the show being slotted in the Tuesday 8:30 slot, after HEE-HAW and opposite the hot show on ABC, THE MOD SQUAD.

Here's a frame from that doc showing that part of the schedule:



They tell the story that the network didn't like the creative team, they didn't like the early scripts, and they had no faith in the series at all. Mike Dann was the head of programming at the time, and he was ousted in favor of Fred Silverman, who immediately set upon changing some things around, including dumping most of CBS' rural shows in favor of younger, more urban fare. You can choose to believe them or not, but they seem pretty authoritative to me.

 

More evidence (Moore evidence?), this from the New York Times: C.B.S. SHUFFLES ITS FALL LINEUP