Being Mary Tyler Moore

James Adolphus's 2023 documentary covers Mary Tyler Moore's career across six decades. She began as a dancer, became known in the sixties as a wife in a comedy series, and in the seventies played a single working woman in the show that carried her name. At the centre is what that show meant. A woman who had not married and had chosen her career being the central character on television was unusual for the period, and it permanently changed how women were represented there. Adolphus uses no narration; the telling runs on Moore's own interviews, family recordings and the voices of colleagues. Losses in her private life and her alcohol dependence are given with the same plainness. Who it's for: those interested in television history and artist biography. Who it's not for: viewers expecting a critical view; the documentary stays close to the legacy and does not enter contested ground.