 The show's premise was to give the audience a fictionalized view into the life of the star of a television variety show, much as "The Jack Benny Show" had purported to do two decades earlier on the same network.Unlike the Benny show, or Moore's sitcoms, but more like her earlier variety show the previous fall, "The Mary Tyler Moore Hour" would have trouble attracting a sizable audience.It ranked 54th out of 114 shows that season with an average 17.0/29 rating/share.