James L. Brooks Reveals What Surprised Him the Most About Working With Mary Tyler Moore

The Mary Tyler Moore Show co-creator, James L. Brooks, recently opened up about what surprised him the most about working with Mary Tyler Moore — and he made a confession about the one time she was upset with him.

On Sunday, May 31, Brooks received the Industry Icon Award at the Peabody Awards in Beverly Hills, California. The legendary TV producer, director, and writer spoke with People on the red carpet before heading into the event at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel.

Brooks, 86, who created The Mary Tyler Moore Show with Allan Burns, revealed one thing that caught him off guard about Moore, who died at 80 in 2017. “That she never pulled rank,” he shared. “Ever. Ever.” Instead, Moore always conducted herself as “a member of the cast.”

However, Brooks recounted one time when Moore was not happy with him — and it happened during the final episode, titled “The Last Show.” As the title suggests, everyone at the WJM-TV newsroom was fired (except Ted Baxter, played by Ted Knight) when new owners took over the station. The episode ended with each character in the newsroom saying goodbye, but they initially left out Moore’s big farewell.

“We did a whole bunch of things with people saying their goodbyes, and we forgot her,” Brooks admitted.

“I don’t know what happened to us. We were just working so hard.” Brooks explained, noting that it was “the only time she came to the office.” He added that figuring out the perfect goodbye for Moore was “a hard thing to come up with,” but that they “got it just right.”

During the big moment, Moore had a short monologuethat perfectly summed up the show.

“I just wanted you to know that sometimes I get concerned about being a career woman. I get to thinking that my job is too important to me. And I tell myself that the people I work with are just the people I work with, and not my family,” she said to her coworkers. “And last night, I thought: What is a family anyway? They’re just people who make you feel less alone and really loved. And that’s what you’ve done for me. Thank you for being my family.”

The Mary Tyler Moore Show aired for seven seasons from 1970 to 1977. In addition to Moore and Knight, the sitcom starred Ed Asner, Gavin MacLeod, Valerie Harper, Cloris Leachman, Georgia Engel, and Betty White.

The Mary Tyler Moore Show, streaming on Philo