Hazel: 1961-1966

Hazel Burke is a competent, take-charge, live-in maid in the home of corporate lawyer George Baxter, known as "Mr. B." to Hazel, his interior decorator wife Dorothy, whom Hazel calls "Missy", their schoolboy son Harold, known to Hazel as "Sport", and the family dog Smiley. The series humorously dramatizes Hazel's life with the Baxter's and her friendships with others in the neighborhood. Many episodes focus on the perennial contest of wills between Hazel and her boss over issues around the house; "Mr. B." usually concedes defeat and grants Hazel's wishes when she tortures him by serving meager portions of her mouth-watering desserts. The first season was in black and white; the rest were in color.

The show usually takes place in the Baxter's nice home; it occasionally travels to the outside neighborhood. Most of the scenes are in the home's living room, kitchen, office, and other rooms.

Hazel is, of course, the main character of the show. She is a plump, jolly woman with short, brown, curly hair. She takes charge and always gets her way. She gets involved and is a caring woman.

George Baxter is pretty much a heartless man. He wants things to go his way, and is very concerned about money. He is a middle-class man who always dresses in business attire. He always tries to do the best for his family, but sometimes he has the wrong idea of what is best. He has dark hair and is on the heavy side.

Dorothy Baxter is a middle-class woman with short blonde hair, who is always made up and looking nice. She cares for the family and always tries to please her husband. She is also a good friend to Hazel.

Harold Baxter is a polite, young boy who loves to spend time with Hazel. He plays with her, cooks with her, makes crafts with her, and does pretty much everything with her. He does not get into much trouble; he always listens to what the adults tell him to do. He is a skinny boy with blonde hair like his mother.

Below are four classic scenes which portray the characters as described above:

In this episode, Harold helps Hazel in the kitchen; he is her "right-hand man". Hazel is very dedicated to the Baxter family and cares very much about them. She did not even get to see her own family on Thanksgiving because she's helping out the Baxters. Of course she is upset about this, but she does not really show it. On the other hand, she is also happy to be with the Baxters for Thanksgiving.

In this episode, Hazel gets a telegram saying that she is the maid of the month. Mr. and Mrs. Baxter are shocked; Harold, however, is not surprised because he knows how amazing Hazel is. We see how negative George can be when he calls the magazine company to make sure they did not make a mistake. It turns out that they only chose Hazel as a favor to Mr. Griffin, who is a man that Hazel helps.

The scene in this Christmas episode portray Harold's obedience and respect to his parents and Hazel. He helps Hazel in the kitchen (making cookies and crafts) and listens to his mom when she told him to go to bed. Also, we see that Hazel and Dorothy have a friendship (because they plan to make George a sweater). Dorothy is the traditional old-fashioned wife who is repectful towards her husband and lets him make the final decisions. She really tries hard to please him. George can be, as seen in this episode, kind of bossy and spiritless.

This video (click here) shows Hazel as her demanding self. She does whatever it takes to get what she wants.

The Lucy Show: 1962-1968

After the death of her husband, Lucy Carmichael and her friend, the recently divorced Vivian Bagley, move into a house together with their children. The series follows the adventures of the widow Lucy as she grapples with the comic complications of life on her own, and with her job working as the personal secretary to the banker Mr. Mooney. The first season was in black and white; the rest were in color.

The series takes place in California. Most of the scenes take place in the office Lucy works in, her house, and the community.

Lucy works and communicates with the boss. Lucy wears nice business clothes to work. She always has her opinions on things and she makes them known. She is a middle-aged woman with bright orange hair. She always has her quirky comments on everything and adds humor to the show with her ditzyness.

Mr. Mooney, Lucy's boss, is another main character. Lucy and Mr. Mooney work together and communicate very often. Sometimes Mr. Mooney can be bossy, but Lucy, being as straightfoward as she is, sets him right. He always manages to admit his wrongdoings and apologize. He is a pretty sensitive man. He is a plump, short man with dark hair.

Mary Jane Lewis is one of Lucy's best friends. She is witty and nosy, just like Lucy. She also comes up with devious plans and funny comments. She is a thin lady with short, blonde hair.

Vivaian Bagley is a glamorous characer. The character of Vivian Bagley was the first divorcee ever on a weekly American television series. She is Lucy's giggly, good friend. She has short, dark blonde hair.

In this Christmas episode, we learn very much about Mr. Mooney's personality. Mr. Mooney is a conservative banker. He is also caring (he got everyone Christmas presents, including Lucy), but sometimes, he can be quick-tempered.


The devious side of Mary Jane Lewis is shown in this episode. She pushes Lucy to open the envelope until finally Lucy gives in. Also, we see the caring side of Mr. Mooney when the women discuss how he got his wife a present.



From this episode, we see how Mr. Mooney can lose his temper when he yells at his wife and storms out of the room when Lucy tries to help Eddie. Also, we see how caring Lucy can be when she goes to extremes to make Eddie's dreams come true.



This episode shows how great of friends Lucy and Vivian are. They are so joyful to see each other after a year of separation. This episode shows how "giggly" the two girls are together, like teenage girls, when Lucy is supposed to be working with Mr. Mooney, but they can't help but talk and laugh with each other.

That Girl: 1966-1971

Ann Marie, an aspiring (but only sporadically employed) actress, who moves from her hometown of Brewster, New York to make it big in NYC. Ann has to take a number of offbeat "temp" jobs to support herself in between her various auditions and bit parts, though she nontheless is able to afford a spacious Manhattan apartment as well as an extensive wardrobe of mod fashions. That Girl is the first sitcom to focus on a single woman who is not a domestic or living at home. Some consdier this show the forerunner of the highly successful Mary Tyler Moore Show and Murphy Brown, and an early indication of the changing roles of American women in Feminist-era America. All the seasons are in color.

The series takes place in upscale New York City. The scenes mainly take place in her apartment, on the stage, and her dressing room. They also take place around the city.

Ann is an extremely upbeat and inspired woman. She learns to juggle a job and a relationship at the same time. She is also a very young woman, but has a high profile job (in comparison to Hazel, who is older and a maid). When she gets this job, she is extremely excited and yet nervous at first. She is a thin, young woman with dark hair flipped up at the ends and with bangs.

Donald Hollinger is Ann's boyfriend. He really cares about Ann and is so happy for her when she gets this acting position. He supports her 100% and always knows how to comfort her. He is a tall man with light brown hair.

Lou Marie is Ann's concerned f

ather. He truly cares about Ann going out into the world and trying to get this job. He still worries even after she gets hired. After her first day at work, he comes over to her apartment to make sure his daughter is safe.

As for the YouTube videos, there are absolutely none. We loo

ked everywhere, and information on this show is extremely limited. We did, however, get the series from the school library.

The Mary Tyler Moore Show: 1970-1977

All the seasons were in color. Mary Richards is a single woman who, at age 30, moves to Minneapolis after breaking off an engagement with her boyfriend of two years. She applies for a secretarial job at TV station WJM-TV, only to find it has already been filled. To her surprise, she is offered the position of associate producer for the station's Six O'Clock News. The show portrays the growing freedom for women to shape their own lives, accompanied by a new sense of limits. In the show, Mary Richards is treated as a secretary because being treated as equals did not come to women immediately; it was a gradual process. There was still pressure for them to be married by the time they turned 30. This groundbreaking sitcom makes the “Career Woman” label acceptable. The show’s theme song was “I’m Gonna Make it After All”.

The series takes place in the city of Minneapolis. The scenes usually take place in the TV station or anywhere in the city.

Mary Richards is a well-integrated, genuinely nice, non-narcissistic character who is stuck with a less than ideal life, for a new, less optimistic, age. The character of Mary Richards was closely tied to the growing women's movement sweeping the country. For millions of women, Mary Richards made it acceptable to be 30 and single, to be career-minded, to relate honestly to friends and co-workers, and to not be dependent on a spouse for happiness. By design or by accident, this character created by Mary Tyler Moore became a heroine for young women who were carving out their independence in the real world.

Ted Baxter, is the vain, pompous, dim-witted news anchor. It is a miracle that he has not been fired, as there has rarely, if ever, been a night where he has broadcast the news without making one, or several, mistakes. His main stumbling blocks are mispronouncing words and reading large words. He also tends to let personal situations get in the way of his job. Despite these downfalls, he is very vain and self-centered and considers himself to be the best newscaster ever. He believes that he is very important – on one occasion he sent a Christmas card to the president and was upset when he didn't receive one back. He also considers himself to be quite a "ladies man", although quite the opposite is true. The role was written with actor Jack Cassidy in mind, but Cassidy did not feel the part was right for him and turned it down. Cassidy later appeared as a guest star in a 1971 episode as Ted's highly competitive and equally egocentric brother, Hal.

Lou Grant is Mary's tough, work-oriented boss whose soft-hearted nature comes through even though he strongly tries to suppress it. He treats Mary like a daughter and always looks out for her. As producer of the news, he is responsible for the news ratings, which makes him despise Ted's mistakes and often criticize him, although it appears that he has a soft spot for Ted too. Following the end of the series, Asner continued to play the same character in the long-running dramatic series Lou Grant. This is one of the few times in TV history that a situation comedy spun off a dramatic series. In 2005, Asner reprised his character, though never identified as Lou Grant, in commercials for Minneapolis–St. Paul ABC affiliate KSTP's Eyewitness News.

Murray Slaughter, the head copy writer, who saves his quips for Ted Baxter's mangling of his news reports, and Sue Ann Nivens' aggressive, man-hungry attitude. He also has a soft spot for Mary and the two are good friends, able to share their feelings and discuss things with each other. Murray enjoys his work most when he gets to write a big story or when he is able to tease Ted about Ted's many mistakes and his pompous attitude.

What groups and events are not part of the narrative?

The Civil Rights Movement was a major world event occurring while the 'working women' TV sitcoms were on air. Interestingly enough, however, is the fact that not a single black person appeared on any of the four TV shows we covered. In addition to the Civil Rights Movement, three major wars (the Cold, Korean, and Vietnam) were a huge hot spot in daily life. Yet, if one was unaware of the events in the United States of America during the years from the fifties to the seventies, then he or she would have no insight to the life changing moments in the nation's history. The sitcoms of the working women focus specifically on woman's right to work and make a difference in the world; no regard was paid to politics.

How is the outside world portrayed in these series?

After viewing the different decades of working women sitcoms, we found the following to directly correlate between the outside world and said TV shows;

-the quality of jobs increased through time.

-women became more acceptable in the workplace (such as offices, etc.).

-women became more motivated to go out and get jobs.

-women who got jobs were not looked down upon, but accepted.

-women learned to balance a job and a family/relationship.

-women learned to take charge and that they too had the right to make decisions.

-men began to listen to and respect women instead of ignoring their requests.

What are the inherent conflicts in the subgenre of working women? Do they change over time? If so, how ? If not, why not?

Women particularly benefited from this period of economic growth. Since the majority of job growth was in the service sector, women found employment in urban offices and shops. Women, who composed only 25 percent of the workforce during World War II, accounted for more than 50 percent of the labor pool by the 1990s. As women took on additional responsibility in the workplace, they struggled to balance their careers with their traditional roles as wives and mothers. Conflict over the changing role of women in American society gave rise to a new feminist movement, which began in the 1960s. By women obtaining consistent paying jobs, the idea of equality for women in the workplace was enforced. The only highlighted conflict that came into play in the series were women trying to obtain independence from men and making it known that they too can be successful in the business world. Working women at the beginning were often mocked and looked down upon until people finally began to realize women too can hold their own in society.





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