Former DC Comics artist Joe Giella took over the art in 1991 with Karen Moy writing the strip as of the death of John Saunders in 2003.

June Brigman and Roy Richardson, who had begun drawing the Sunday strips in May 2016, took over full-time artistic duties upon Giella's retirement.

Moy has sought to reverse that "glacial" pace[10] and to show Worth as not only a "figure of common sense and compassion" but also as "human" in her own flaws and experiencing "jealousy, self-doubt, fear, and anger".

The most popular early reoccurring characters were former showgirl Leona Stockpool (1939, 1942, 1948), spoiled actress Angel Varden (1941, 1942, 1949, 1969), and tough-talking show business writer, "Brick" Bricker (multiple stories between 1946 and 1953).

[7] When Saunders' son John fully took over the narrative, he had his largely nomadic heroine put down roots, becoming the in-house manager of the Charterstone Condominium Complex in 1979 in fictional Santa Royale, California.

There, Mary serves as an observer of and adviser to her fellow residents, tackling issues such as drug and alcohol abuse, infidelity and teen pregnancy.

Around the same time, the previous recurring characters were quietly dropped, including Mary's son and grandson, who were essentially retconned out of existence.

From 1979, the strip centered somewhat more on the title character than in previous years, along with a regular cast of her closest friends, most of whom were introduced to the strip after 1980: the genial but somewhat pompous Professor Ian Cameron and his insecure younger wife Toby (1980); buffoonish, romantically inept advice columnist Wilbur Weston and his college-student daughter Dawn (1993); and Dr. Jeff Cory, Mary's perennial beau, and his two physician adult children, Drew and Adrian Cory (1996).

When Karen Moy took over the strip in 2003, she provided an updated background for Mary, establishing that the character is a former teacher, used to live in New York, and is the widow of Wall Street tycoon Jack Worth.

[10] A subsequent plot development was the arrival of Ella Byrd, another elderly dispenser of advice, who not only aroused feelings of jealousy and inadequacy in Mary, but also, as a psychic, alerted her to Dr. Jeff being in danger.

Later story lines introduced an additional foil, the alcoholic hospital administrator Jill whose anti-marriage diatribes (caused by her being jilted at the altar by her fiancé) put her into Mary's orbit when she offers to help Jeff's daughter plan her wedding.

The title character was depicted as a nosy, interfering busybody, with a caricature of Allen Saunders portraying her put-upon, long-suffering son-in-law.

The Capp-Saunders "feud" fooled both editors and readers, generating plenty of free publicity for both strips—and Capp and Saunders had a good laugh when all was revealed.

In season two, episode six of the television series "Taxi", Louie accuses Alex of being "Mary Worth" when he becomes a referee to Tony and Bobby's love triangle.

An episode of The Simpsons, "Bart Sells His Soul", features Comic Book Guy displaying "a very rare Mary Worth in which she has advised a friend to commit suicide".

In another episode, "Lady Bouvier's Lover", he trades a Mary Worth telephone to Bart Simpson for an Itchy and Scratchy animation cel.