Original Version: Mary Richards waltzes into a news studio and nabs a job as an associate producer of the six-o-clock news with no experience or references. She is in possession of a paper resume and an inordinate amount of spunk.
Reboot Version: Mary Richards applies for 67 social media specialist jobs online and is not contacted for an interview. She gets a job after six months through a friend of a friend who happens to know a news producer. She has no experience but the producer is impressed by her unwarranted confidence and connections.
Original Version: Mary Richards’ friend Phyllis offers her a spacious studio apartment that has a kitchen, walk-in closet, and enough room for a sofa bed, two tables, and some comfy chairs. Rent is $130 a month.
Reboot Version: After a harrowing two months of applying for apartments and providing credit checks, employment information, and the phone numbers of everyone she has ever known, Mary secures a 200-square-foot bachelor apartment with room for one double bed and exactly one-third of Mary’s dresses. Rent is $1500 a month.
Original Version: Mary arrives in Minneapolis after breaking up with her boyfriend, who has refused to marry her.
Reboot Version: This checks out, except that Mary’s ex preferred not to label things, and said from the beginning that he was only looking for something casual. Mary stopped seeing him after he suddenly ghosted her. Mary was concerned that something happened to him, but was reassured when he continued to post Snapchat stories featuring his meals and Skrillex shows he attended.
Original Version: Mary dates frequently, meeting men at work, at parties, and pretty much everywhere she goes. These dates consist of dinner and other activities such as dancing, going to movies and concerts, and attending the Teddy awards. The men always call.
Reboot Version: Mary meets men on Tinder who ask her to come to their homes after five minutes of texting. Men don’t approach her at work because they’re “confused by all this #METOO stuff and don’t know the rules anymore,” and if she meets a man at a party and doesn’t go home with him, he never texts. If she meets a man at a party and does go home with him, he also never texts.
Original Version: Mary and Rhoda maintain a close friendship and can often be found in Mary’s apartment talking or having dinner.
Reboot Version: Mary and Rhoda maintain a close friendship that is conducted almost entirely on Facebook Messenger. They sporadically make plans to meet up, but one of them usually cancels and the other is always secretly relieved.
Original Version: Mary often has trouble asserting herself in professional and personal situations. She struggles to be seen at work as an authority figure rather than Lou Grant’s flunky.
Reboot Version: Mary often gets in trouble for asserting herself in professional and personal situations. At work she is labeled “aggressive” and “abrasive” when she attempts to take charge, and she is chastised for not having “leadership potential” when she lets others take charge to keep the peace. Mary is assigned a female mentor who tweets a selfie of them together with the hashtag #GoSponsorHer, then stops responding to Mary’s emails.
Original Version: Lou Grant is an unrepentant sexist who pays Mary less than what her predecessor made and promotes male colleagues above her. Despite this, he has a heart of gold, proven when he throws random opportunities at Mary that are really just things he doesn’t feel like dealing with.
Reboot Version: Lou Grant vehemently denies his sexism as he does a bunch of other sexisms. After his wife leaves him he becomes interested in the work of Jordan Peterson and admits to himself that men’s rights activists make some pretty good points.
Original Version: Mary is on a tight budget, but she always makes it work in the end.
Reboot Version: Mary has crushing student loan debt to repay and puts most things on her credit card. She is careful with money but orders UberEats when she comes home from work hangry.
Original Version: Mary breaks new ground by being unapologetically single in her 30s. She has no plans to reproduce or marry and finds joy in her work and close friendships. Viewers find her attitude both refreshing and puzzling.
Reboot Version: Mary breaks new ground by being unapologetically single in her 30s. She has no plans to reproduce or marry and finds joy in her work and close friendships. Viewers find her attitude both refreshing and puzzling.