Jay Sandrich's television comedies give actors time to listen, react and make one another funny. We rate that patient handling of an ensemble highly, particularly in The Mary Tyler Moore Show, even when the broader writing shows its age.
Fi1m perspective
A remark lands in The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970), and there is time to register what it has done to the listener. That pause is where Jay Sandrich's skill becomes apparent. We laughed at the listeners as much as the speakers, because there is room for a reaction to develop without stopping the conversation. Even a broad exchange need not become a queue of performers waiting to speak. Mary Tyler Moore's patience is funny, and the direction gives it room without turning every encounter into an occasion.
His early directing and producing work included Get Smart (1965), before the sustained ensemble work of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. He directed its pilot and 119 episodes, enough to help make that conversational rhythm a continuing habit. Soap (1977) and The Cosby Show (1984) also gave him ensembles to work with over dozens of episodes. His sole feature, Seems Like Old Times (1980), was a Neil Simon comedy. He preferred the pace of multi-camera television and the presence of an audience.
Sandrich shaped scripts with writers in rehearsal, looking for small bits of stage business that suited the actors. His preference was to make a scene work before deciding how to shoot it. That helps explain the ease of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, where the direction keeps the exchanges clear without hurrying past the responses. At 25 minutes an episode, the programme has little time to waste, but treating the listener as part of the joke makes those pauses earn their place. Joan Darling was among the other directors responsible, and the programme's writing and ensemble deserve their share of the credit.
There are limits to what this kind of direction can repair. Some of the broader jokes in The Mary Tyler Moore Show show their age, and Sandrich's tact does not make them any fresher. Yet the clarity of the exchanges means the programme still offers the pleasure of spending time with people who listen to one another. Start there, and pay as much attention to the person who has not spoken as to the one who has.
Biography
Jay Sandrich (1932–2021) was an American television director who worked primarily on sitcoms. Born in Los Angeles, he was the son of film director Mark Sandrich and graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles. He began his career in the 1950s as a second assistant director on I Love Lucy and later worked on series including The Dick Van Dyke Show and Get Smart.
Sandrich directed 119 episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970–1977), including the pilot and the series finale. He also directed 100 episodes of The Cosby Show (1984–1992), including its first two seasons and the finale, as well as episodes of Soap (1977–1980) and pilots for WKRP in Cincinnati, The Golden Girls and others. His sole feature film was Seems Like Old Times (1980). He won five Primetime Emmy Awards for directing and was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 2020.
