Breakfast w/Greg: Mary Tyler Moore’s finally back on DVD; Barbra Streisand is number one on CD

Good morning … well almost afternoon.

It’s been such a busy week I don’t know if I’m coming or going but it’s all been a lot of fun. Maybe when I finally get some spare time I’ll go out and buy season five of The Mary Tyler Moore Show which is finally, finally, out on DVD this week. Season four came out three-and-a-half years ago!

When you think about a season without Rhoda (Valerie Harper) and Phyllis (Cloris Leachman) it seems like it might not measure up but it does. One of the biggest reasons: a brilliant Betty White as Sue Ann Nivens, the one of the most deliciously bitchy and horny characters in the history of television. Given how sweet Miss White was as Rose on The Golden Girls, you realize what a great actress she is when you see her in a role that could not be more opposite.

Then, of course, there’s the wonderful Mary Tyler Moore still at the center of things as Mary continues to grow professionally and personally right off the bat in the memorable Mary Goes to Jail episode. News producer Mary Richards, refusing to reveal a source, is sent to jail and let’s just say she doesn’t really fit in.

In this season, Mary is still surrounded by that gang of guys: Mr. Grant (Ed Asner), Murray (Gavin MacLeod) and Ted Baxter (Ted Knight) and the sweet and lovely Gorgette (Georgia Engel).

I can’t wait to have a weekend marathon. I’m so excited I might just toss my baseball cap in the air!

SHE’S STILL GOT IT: It’s a tremendous achievement to have the number one selling album in the US and Barbra Streisand has done it again with her latest CD Love is the Answer which sold 180,415 copies in its debut week and outsold new albums fr0m Madonna and Mariah Carey.

But here’s the even more amazing part: It comes FORTY-FIVE YEARS after her first number one album: 1964’s People. Needless to say, that’s a record and one I doubt will ever be broken by a living artist still putting out original music.

I’m just astonished at the longevity and even more astonished that I own every single album she’s released since the soundtrack to A Star is Born. In all, Barbra has 50 gold, 30 platinum and 13 multi-platinum albums and she is the nimber one album-selling female recording artist in history.

Congrats to the greatest star.