The MTM show was extremely different, both from the earlier "That Girl", in which Marlo Thomas was just kooky & adorable, and its own spinoff "Rhoda", in which the title character was constantly searching for Mr. Right.
As this article http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=marytylermo points out, Mary Richards was not only unattached, having departed from the man she was living with, but she wasn't at all concerned in the show about finding "the right one", but dated freely & spent the night with some of her dates -- these were all completely new developments. And far from being dependent on Mr. Grant's advice, did seek it but also freely contradicted or disputed him -- and he often yielded. There was no diminishment to "sidekick" status in the least.
By contrast, Buffy IS always concerned with her relationships, with her loveability. And Buffy doesn't gain power over and against Giles -- Giles is first removed by the Council as her Watcher, and replaced with Wesley, and Buffy colludes with Giles, relying on him even more, and Giles has no status at all till Buffy asks him, at the start of S5, to be her Watcher AGAIN, to help her train & discover more about herself. And when she returns from death, she begs him not to abandon her; and then, as her life and those of her friends spiral out of control in his absence, it requires his return in order to undo the dark magic which has taken hold of Willow. The only struggle against him occurs in S7, and then it's only because she's finding a different anchoring that she does so.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2010-06-02 02:54 am (UTC)As this article http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=marytylermo points out, Mary Richards was not only unattached, having departed from the man she was living with, but she wasn't at all concerned in the show about finding "the right one", but dated freely & spent the night with some of her dates -- these were all completely new developments. And far from being dependent on Mr. Grant's advice, did seek it but also freely contradicted or disputed him -- and he often yielded. There was no diminishment to "sidekick" status in the least.
By contrast, Buffy IS always concerned with her relationships, with her loveability. And Buffy doesn't gain power over and against Giles -- Giles is first removed by the Council as her Watcher, and replaced with Wesley, and Buffy colludes with Giles, relying on him even more, and Giles has no status at all till Buffy asks him, at the start of S5, to be her Watcher AGAIN, to help her train & discover more about herself. And when she returns from death, she begs him not to abandon her; and then, as her life and those of her friends spiral out of control in his absence, it requires his return in order to undo the dark magic which has taken hold of Willow. The only struggle against him occurs in S7, and then it's only because she's finding a different anchoring that she does so.