Oprah visits with the cast of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show"

Oprah Winfrey seems to be phoning it in on a lot of days on her talk show in my opinion, lacking the spark she has had in many past years. But there are some days when she really is on fire. Last week it was a show with Cher and Tina Turner and this week, it was an amazing "Mary Tyler Moore Show" cast reunion that took place on replicas of the classic sitcom's sets. The show, which ended its stellar seven-year run in 1977, meant so much to Oprah as a young woman that the first time she met Mary, she burst into tears of joy. This time, Mary presented Oprah with an "O" to hang on the wall just like Mary's "M," signed by the entire cast.
I love this show, have seen every episode many times, own the DVDs etc. The writing was first-rate and the cast was one of the best ever assembled. Mary herself is a seven-time Emmy winner (four of the Emmys were for her portrayal of Mary Richards);Valerie Harper won four Emmys for playing Rhoda, including one for her spinoff series; Ed Asner is a seven-time Emmy winner including five for playing Lou Grant (two were for his spinoff series); Betty White won two Emmys for her role as sex-crazed Sue Ann Nivens (five wins overall)' while Cloris Leachman has won more Emmys (nine) than any individual performer in history - two of those wins were for her role as Phyllis Lindstrom.
All of these Emmy winners were present on the Oprah show as well as Gavin MacLeod and Georgia Engel. Ted Knight, who played news anchor Ted Baxter, died in 1986.

Although Phyllis was Rhoda's archenemy on the show, viewers might be surprised to know is that Cloris and Valerie were actually good friends offset. "I have a one-woman show, and I talk about her all the time and how she called me her girlfriend, and she was always wonderful to me and it changed me," Cloris said.

Cloris, always outrageous, told a story of a friendly bet with Ed Asner. If he would lose 30 pounds, she would sleep with him. "That's why it never happened. ... He lost 29...and he went right back up!" she jokes. "We looked in each other's eyes, and we were terrified. I don't know who was more frightened."

Here are a few classic clips from the show's later seasons starting with highlights of Leachman as nosy landlady Phyllis followed by the classic: "Chuckles Bites the Dust"