The Lars Affair
Episode: 4x01 | Airdate: Sep 15, 1973
Phyllis finds out that Lars has been having an affair with Sue Ann Nivens, the star of WJM-TV's The Happy Homemaker show.
Episode: 4x01 | Airdate: Sep 15, 1973
Phyllis finds out that Lars has been having an affair with Sue Ann Nivens, the star of WJM-TV's The Happy Homemaker show.
Episode: 4x02 | Airdate: Sep 22, 1973
Mary's boyfriend is younger than she is and she and Rhoda discover there is a generation gap when they go and visit his friends at a party.
Episode: 4x03 | Airdate: Sep 29, 1973
Rhoda and Mary fly to New York for Rhoda's younger sister's wedding. Rhoda's mother downplays the whole thing fearing that Rhoda is envious.
Episode: 4x04 | Airdate: Oct 6, 1973
On the advice of their marriage counselor, Lou's wife, Edie, decides to move out. Lou is heartbroken by the prospect.
Episode: 4x05 | Airdate: Oct 13, 1973
In this episode Dick Gautier guest stars briefly as Ed Cavenaugh, a sleazy sportscaster. Have a look at his website at Dick Gautier.com. Gordon Jump, later of MTM Enterprises' "WKRP" is seen for a few minutes playing one of the sportscaster applicants. When Ted asks Mary to order tweezers and other assorted supplies for his personal use, she gets more than a little flustered and asks Lou to give her something challenging to do. At the drop of a hat, he assigns her the task of hiring a new sportscaster...and firing the old one. In order to let Ed Cavenaugh down easy, she invites him to lunch and he tries to mesmerize her with his suavity with the opposite sex. Then Mary learns a lesson: don't fire the current sportscaster until you've hired another one. After days of screening applicants, listening to demo tapes and perusing their eight-by-ten glossies, she decides on Andy Rivers. On the night of Andy's first broadcast, Mary once again gets a case of the blues when all Andy has to say on the air are three football scores. Her melancholy lapses once more when Andy invites her to dinner. "Careful!", Ted warns him..."that's how she fired the last guy." Check out Ted's fantastic conquistador boots gimmick, which seems to be good for livening up one or two scenes! Classic Lou/Mary talk, wherein he tells her that we live on a planet the size of a pin, and are specks of dust waiting to be blown away. This average episode of MTMS was far better than most shows' best episodes.
Episode: 4x06 | Airdate: Oct 20, 1973
Ted meets his father, who deserted him as a baby.
Episode: 4x07 | Airdate: Oct 27, 1973
Mary's former boyfriend, Wes Callison, gets a job in the newsroom but his affection for Mary gets in the way of his work.
Episode: 4x08 | Airdate: Nov 3, 1973
Lou gives Mary the task of finding him a date for an awards' ceremony. A name mix-up means that Lou winds up taking out an 80-year-old woman.
Episode: 4x09 | Airdate: Nov 10, 1973
Rhoda begins dating the boss of Hemple's and falls deeply in love with him. She wants to tell him how she feels, but Mary warns her to take things slowly.
Episode: 4x10 | Airdate: Nov 17, 1973
Mary invites Congresswoman Geddes to a fancy dinner at her home, trying hard to ensure that everything is perfect.
Episode: 4x11 | Airdate: Nov 24, 1973
Lou is still heartbroken over Edie's departure and asks Mary to help them get back together.
Episode: 4x12 | Airdate: Dec 1, 1973
Phyllis persuades Ted to stand for local government. Ted agrees and goes so far as to quit his job at WJM-TV.
Episode: 4x13 | Airdate: Dec 8, 1973
Murray's daughter, Bonnie, is looking for a job and Mary is persuaded into giving her one but Bonnie is not as efficient as everyone had hoped.
Episode: 4x14 | Airdate: Dec 15, 1973
Georgette finds Ted making out with a woman in his dressing room. She then decides to enter a nunnery, but the head nun talks her out of it.
Episode: 4x15 | Airdate: Dec 22, 1973
Lou is closing in on fifty and today is his birthday. Mary can't stand the thought of the now-separated Lou celebrating his birthday all alone, so she arranges a surprise party for him. That evening, she invites Lou over for a drink and the doorbell rings just as he tells her how much he appreciated her not throwing an office party for him that afternoon.
Episode: 4x16 | Airdate: Jan 5, 1974
Mary begins dating the anchorman from Minneapolis's top news show and becomes ashamed of WJM-TV's smaller news operation.
Episode: 4x17 | Airdate: Jan 12, 1974
Phyllis, who has gotten her real estate license, persuades Lou to sell his house. However, Lou hasn't really made up his mind whether he wants to move.
Episode: 4x18 | Airdate: Jan 19, 1974
Mary and Rhoda are given permission to develop a new show for WJM but their dreams begin to fade when they find out that the hosts will be Ted and Sue Ann, who both begin to interfere with their plans.
Episode: 4x19 | Airdate: Jan 26, 1974
Rhoda tells the secret of Mary's that she never graduated from college, as she claimed on her job application, and their friendship is suddenly put at risk.
Episode: 4x20 | Airdate: Feb 2, 1974
To relieve her boredom, Mary jokingly writes a humorous obituary of one of the people in the WJM-TV file. Coincidentally, the same person dies the following day and the obituary is read on the air. Lou has no choice but to suspend Mary, but she threatens to quit in response.
Episode: 4x21 | Airdate: Feb 9, 1974
After a heavy self-promotion campaign, Ted wins his first Teddy Award. When Walter Cronkite comes to the newsroom, Ted assumes that he will be hired by the networks.
Episode: 4x22 | Airdate: Feb 16, 1974
Lou and Rhoda find they have a lot in common and begin seeing each other on a casual basis but everyone assumes that the romance is serious.
Episode: 4x23 | Airdate: Feb 23, 1974
Ted joins Mary at a night-school class in creative writing, and winds up plagiarizing her assignment.
Episode: 4x24 | Airdate: Mar 2, 1974
Mary goes to a singles bar to research a documentary, but on the night the crew arrives for filming, the same people who were willing to tell Mary everything don't want to be seen on camera.