Phyllis, following Rhoda, the second spin-off of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Phyllis, who had been Mary Richards' landlady, leaves Minneapolis after the death of her husband, Lars, and heads for San Francisco to live with Lars' parents. Daughter Bess is in tow, as well as her odd ideas about parenting and life in general. In the first season she worked at a photography studio and learned to deal with the peculiarities of Lars' family, especially clashing with her step-grandmother, "Mother" Dexter. A precipitous ratings slide led to a retooling for the second season that saw Phyllis now working in the office of a city supervisor, but it did not save the show, and it was cancelled after just two years.moreless