In 1970, when Moore embodied the character of flighty, 30-year-old single TV news producer Mary Richards on The Mary Tyler Moore Show , there was no other such woman portrayed on television – at least not one who was leading her own show or not dismissed as slutty. The only forerunner was Marlo Thomas in That Girl , but her Ann Marie was a 20-something on her way to marriage, while Mary was running away from the institution.