And that's what the audience was feeling too, as they watched the show and as they watch it now. And overriding all of that is the way it was written. It was written honestly. There was never any manufactured laugh. There was never compromising of character.

In May 2011 Moore underwent elective brain surgery to remove a benign meningioma. Moore has also been active in charity work and various political causes particularly around the issues of animal rights and Diabetes mellitus type 1. She also appeared in a number of films most notably 1980's Ordinary People in which Mary Tyler Moore played a role that was the polar opposite of the television characters Mary Tyler Moore had portrayed and for which Mary Tyler Moore was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress.