Thirty year old Mary Richards has just moved to Minneapolis to start a new life. She broke off a long term relationship with her now ex-boyfriend Bill. They were in a pre-engagement period for two years while Bill was going through medical school, he promising to marry her once he started his own practice. But when that time came, he didn't want to rush into marriage. In Minneapolis, Mary has to deal both with finding a place to live and finding a job. With the former, her friend, Phyllis Lindstrom, has found an apartment for her in the small building in which she herself lives. Mary will have to battle another tenant, Rhoda Morgenstern, a brash Jewish New Yorker, for that unit. With the latter, Mary applies for a secretarial job at WJM-TV News. After a less than conventional interview with the news' producer, Lou Grant, Mary instead is offered a job as associate producer, which is lower paid than the secretarial job and not very well defined in terms of the responsibilities. Mary's ... Written by Huggo

Mary is starting to feel old when she learns at work that at age thirty she is no longer in the young adult demographic, and when a young twenty-something messenger calls her ma'am, the first time ever she's ever been referred to as such. Mary and Rhoda commiserate about being old and being single and what they should do to progress into married status. Rhoda suggests they each contact someone from their past with whom to connect or reconnect in a relationship-minded pursuit. Rhoda's unconventional choice, Armond Lynton, is a man she just met when she ran over him with her car. On Phyllis' recommendation, Mary's choice is Howard Arnell, a man she dated four years earlier, and who she hasn't thought about in years. Mary and Rhoda decide they will have an after dinner drinks party at Mary's place for the four of them. When Rhoda calls Armond, who accepts the invitation, she knows he won't be the future Mr. Rhoda Morgenstern because of some excess baggage he will be bringing to the ... Written by Huggo

After Lars is diagnosed with a suspected case of chicken pox, Phyllis asks Mary to look after her precocious daughter, Bess, until Lars' contagious phase is over. Mary doesn't think it's such a good idea since she doesn't think Bess likes her, but agrees anyway. Phyllis, who treats adolescent Bess like an independent adult, wants Mary to follow that same parenting style. But when Mary, who has always questioned whether she would make a good mother, treats Bess like a typical little girl, Bess drops all her precociousness and becomes a well behaved and lovable little girl. When it's time for Bess to go home, she refuses. Instead of feeling incensed, Phyllis continues with her same treatment of Bess, allowing her to make up her own mind and let her stay with Mary as long as she wants, much to Mary's dismay. Mary has to try and convince Phyllis that what Bess probably wants is some indication from her that she really wants Bess to come home and that she misses her daughter. Written by Huggo

After WJM-TV news does a story on them, Rhoda talks a reluctant Mary into joining her in joining the Better Luck Next Time Club - a club for divorced people - when they learn that the club offers its members cheap charter flights to Paris, where Mary has always wanted to go but hasn't because the flights have always been too expensive. Mary's plan is to go to the meeting, sign up and leave after finding out about the flights. But their time at the meeting doesn't go quite according to plan when the club leaders don't talk about the flights, and when an ardent admirer, Dr. Walter Udall, gets Mary voted Vice-President of the club. Feeling guilty, Mary has to decide whether to tell the truth about not being divorced (let alone not ever having been married) or continue with the facade to get the cheap trip. Written by Huggo

Frank Carelli, an old, casual acquaintance-in-passing of Lou's, stops by the newsroom to see him. Lou can barely remember him and brushes him off. Frank was once a second string pro football player, and not a very good second stringer at that. He has ulterior motives for visiting Lou as he's heard Lou is holding auditions for a new sportscaster. Frank wants the job to get out from selling insurance which is what he now does for a living and which he hates. Mary and Rhoda befriend Frank, who they learn, in part from listening to his audio-taped memoirs, is a sad sack of a man who doesn't know what he can do with his life. He wants the sportscasting job more because it is one of the few things he sees that an ex-pro athlete is supposed to do following the end of his athletic career. Mary and Rhoda, and even Murray, try to help Frank get the job, which they really know he is not well suited to. Mary and Rhoda also try to get him to focus on striving for what he really wants in life, and ... Written by Huggo

Mary finds a strange woman with a suitcase sitting outside her apartment door. She quickly learns that that woman is Rhoda's mother, Ida Morgenstern, who is visiting from the Bronx. She's at Mary's place since Rhoda isn't home, or so she believes. In actuality, Mary learns directly from Rhoda that she doesn't want to see her mother, with whom she has a love-hate relationship. As such, Mary puts Ida up for as long as she is staying in Minneapolis. Mary, who becomes Ida's surrogate daughter, soon understands the frustration that Rhoda feels in being Ida's daughter. Regardless, Mary tries to get Rhoda to at least see her mother and hopefully come to an understanding mother-daughter relationship with Ida before she heads back to New York. Written by Huggo

With less than an hour to air time, Ted calls in sick with the flu. Murray has to fill in as the substitute anchor until Ted recovers, but one of Ted's other jobs for this specific evening falls to Mary, who will be the stand-in double interviewer for their news magazine show Scrutiny, with the editors to splice in Ted as interviewer later. Mary first meets the evening's guest, best selling author Eric Matthews, when she arrives at the seated set. Following the interview, Mary has no hesitation in accepting a date with Eric since she finds him attractive, intelligent and funny. It isn't until they rise to leave the set that Mary starts to have some apprehension as Eric is a good four inches shorter than she is, more if she is wearing heels. After their date, Mary's belief about Eric's attractiveness, intelligence and humor is strengthened, but all she can think about is how short he is. Mary is able to place their relationship in proper context after he asks her to read his latest ... Written by Huggo

It's the night of Minneapolis' civic election. The station is providing election coverage until a winner is declared. Lou puts Mary in charge as floor director against her own wishes as she isn't a take charge person to who people will listen. Before coverage even starts, Mary has some problems due to the snowstorm which has hit Minneapolis. Key people, such as the political analyst, the tote board operator and some of the telephone operators, can't make it into the studio, meaning that Mary has to find some substitutes, such as Rhoda, to fill the positions. But the on-air coverage begins with a thud when the storm cuts off all communication to the station, including the teletype with the election results and the telephone lines. Due to commitments to sponsors, they can't preempt the scheduled coverage with other programming. As the storm rages on, as the communications lines continue not to work into the wee hours of the morning and as a quickly fading Ted, with no on-air support, ... Written by Huggo

Everyone in the newsroom's excited about the impending 2nd annual Television Editors Awards (aka the Teddys). Lou suggests to Mary she submit her own news magazine show for an award. Meanwhile, Rhoda has a new boyfriend, Bob, who she feels could 'be the one', but, Rhoda wants Mary's approval. Rhoda may regret asking for such, when Bob suggests they spend their time together as a 3-some. Mary fears Bob's falling for her instead, as does Rhoda. When Bob tells Rhoda where his true feelings lie, Mary and Rhoda have an interesting time at the Teddys. Written by Huggo

Mary, overworked, is regardless three weeks behind in her work. So Lou's news that there is a new news format which means more money but also more work doesn't exactly please her. Feeling frustrated, Mary speaks to Lou about the situation. Using the money that was supposed to go to existing staff, Lou allows Mary to hire an assistant. When Mary mentions the job in passing, Phyllis volunteers for the job. A reluctant Mary can't say no to her friend despite Mary knowing that Phyllis isn't right for the job. Intellectual and self-professed easy going Phyllis doesn't like being constrained in a 9 to 5 type job, and balks at the clerical work that Mary gives her. Instead, she goes for what she sees as the more glamorous position as Ted's pseudo adviser. A combination of Phyllis' advice to Ted and Mary still being swamped as she is also doing Phyllis' job makes Lou come to a quick conclusion about what needs to be done. Written by Huggo

Mary has just received notice that she is being audited by the IRS. She isn't overly worried as she keeps meticulous records and she reports all her income... well, almost. She is expecting a grizzled old man as her auditor, so she is surprised to see that her auditor, Robert C. Brand, is a youngish man. He ends up sending Mary mixed messages. On the one hand, he asks her about everything in her tax returns, including the smallest details, and he continually refers to her as Miss Richards (and she in turn continually refers to him as Mr. Brand). On the other hand, he asks her out several times and gives her gifts, both all in the name of business. So she isn't sure if their outings are really dates and if the gifts are meant to be romantic gestures. Only when what ends up being an extremely long audit is completed will Mary really know for sure. Her feelings about Mr. Brand in return may be tempered by the amount she may have to pay the IRS in back taxes. Written by Huggo

Phyllis asks an already exasperated Mary if she would ask Ted if he would speak at her women's club meeting this evening. Mary tells her she is reluctant to do so if only because Ted is not very good at public speaking. But Mary asks anyway, and Ted agrees. Mary figures that if Murray writes his speech, the evening should go smoothly. Lou isn't too sure, and would have preferred if she didn't ask Ted this favor, which he would not have allowed if he knew she was planning to ask. As Lou predicts, the evening is a disaster with Ted unable to speak to anything beyond what is written for him. The result is a shaken Ted is unable to cope with any kind of public speaking, including carrying out his job. Since he considers the problem Mary's fault, Lou orders her to bring back the old Ted. Mary believes she has the solution with the help of publicist Dave Curson and a group of yo-yo'ers. Written by Huggo

Allan Stevens, the new young cameraman at the newsroom, isn't as naive as he first appears. After Lou chastises him over the way he shot a field report, Mary, Murray and Ted, feeling sorry for him and feeling like he probably doesn't want to be alone, each individually invite him to hang out after work. But he only seems interested in Mary's invitation for dinner, which she soon finds out he interprets as a sexual come-on. After that incident, Mary doesn't want to have anything to do with him, which is made all the more difficult by an announcement and directive from Lou about Allan's work in the newsroom. Mary has to figure out a way to get Allan to stop his sexual advances toward her without involving Lou in the matter, he who is a little closer to the situation than she would like. Written by Huggo

Mary is planning on making the long drive back to her home town on Christmas Eve so that she can spend Christmas Day with her mother and father. She is thus dismayed to learn from Lou that she is scheduled to work on Christmas Day this year. In light of this information, she is determined to make Christmas Eve her special day, which she plans on spending with Rhoda. But even those plans hit a snag when she speaks to her co-worker, Fred, who is supposed to work the night shift alone on Christmas Eve and who hasn't spent Christmas with his family in years. Feeling sorry for him, Mary agrees to work his Christmas Eve shift for him. Can anything salvage this holiday season for Mary? Written by Huggo

Through work, Mary meets Paul Arnell, to who she is attracted. She hopes that he will ask her out, which he eventually does. Mary readily accepts. The only problem is that Paul is the brother of Howard Arnell, who Mary once dated and who she broke up with because he was much too clingy. Howard ends up not being a topic of conversation between the two until they stop by Paul's parent's house. Mary had met them once when she and Howard dated. It becomes quite evident to Mary what Mr. and Mrs. Arnell think about her, Paul and Howard, both individually and collectively which makes her date with Paul a little awkward. Written by Huggo

Bob Freelander with a rival Minneapolis television station offers Mary a job producing her own talk show. The job comes with her own office, more responsibility as producer, and more money, which is most important to Mary since she always seems to be strapped for cash on her WJM salary. It is an offer almost impossible to pass up, except that Mary loves her job and the people at WJM,... just if it wasn't for the money. Mary is dreading telling Lou, and when she does, he makes it as difficult for her to leave as possible, although he tried but was unable to provide Mary with any sort of raise to match her new salary. The office going away party Lou organizes for her makes it even more difficult for Mary to go, and more difficult for Lou and the gang to see Mary go. But unless something changes, will Mary have second thoughts and decide to stay? Written by Huggo

Network news reporter John Corcoran - an ex-WJM newsroom employee - is back in town and will be working in the newsroom on a story idea for however long he is in town. Lou admires John's work, which of late has been covering overseas issues in Russia and more recently Vietnam. Mary admits she is equally as enamored with the physical being of John she sees on television. When she meets him in person, she isn't disappointed. John, too, is taken with Mary. He is up front with her in that he is married but separated, so that there is no misunderstanding down the road in their personal relationship. Mary is eventually equally up front with him that his married status bothers her, so she politely declines his advances. As much as Mary tries to avoid John, John does whatever he can to be in Mary's company. Mary's only saving grace is that with the exception of Lou, no one in the newsroom knows what's gong on between the two of them... or do they? Written by Huggo

Mary arrives home to find that her apartment has been burglarized, with her television, stereo and all her clothes gone. The investigating police officers, Tully and Jackson, don't seem to see eye to eye on how to handle the investigation or the questioning. Officer Tully, who seems interested in Mary, is currently working toward becoming a detective. Just before they leave, Officer Tully makes Mary even more concerned about the same burglars coming back again. The day that Mary settles her insurance claim for a fraction of what she lost, she arrives home devastated to find that she has been burgled again, this time they taking everything except a lamp, her sofa and her beloved M. Mary doesn't know if she'll ever feel safe again as long as the burglars are out on the loose, but with a little help from Phyllis - very little help - Officers Tully and Jackson may actually be able to nab the burglars. Written by Huggo

A large package has arrived in the mail for Murray from a theater company. He expects it is the latest in a long line of rejection notices for his play, which is a comedy about life in a television newsroom and which took him three years to write. He is thus pleasantly surprised to find that it is an acceptance letter. His excitement is tempered when he finds out that it is from the Twin Cities Playhouse - a local company he didn't submit the play to - where Ted, who is the one that submitted it to them, is the resident leading man. Murray is even more horrified when he learns that Ted has invited a local theater critic to review the production, which Murray expects will be ruined solely because of Ted in the leading role. Mary, on the other hand, auditions for the production for the role of the perky and cute associate producer character named Mary, which she gets. After the opening night performance, will Murray, Ted or Mary have a new future in the theater? Murray's feelings about ... Written by Huggo

Mary is reluctant to tell anyone that she is going into the hospital to remove a tonsil, which has regrown after being removed when she was a child, if only because it is, as she describes it, such a teensy-weensy issue that usually only affect little children. Her insurance only covers a semi-private room, but she welcomes having a roommate for the company and support. She may change her mind when she meets her roommate, Loretta Kuhne, who describes herself as the antithesis of Miss Congeniality. Regardless, Mary can't help but try to get involved with Loretta's seemingly troubled life, which not only includes the two reasons for her hospitalization - a broken leg and a inflamed ulcer - but also a strained marriage. Will Loretta eventually let her in? Written by Huggo

Following the wedding of his third and last daughter, Lou basks in the aftermath and the fact that he and his wife, Edie, will be alone in the house for the first time in decades. Also now that the rush in his life is over, Mary decides to invite the Grants to her place for dinner for the first time. Mary soon realizes that after the second invitation and the second we can't make it that Lou is making excuses not to have dinner with her. Mary becomes more dejected when she learns that the Grants have had dinner before at the Slaughters and at Ted's place. Edie, who had a slightly different reaction to their last child leaving the house than Lou, tells Mary why they can't make it for dinner. This news ultimately leads to a guys' night out bonding session with Mary just one of the guys, but one who feels the need to provide the much underrepresented women's perspective. Written by Huggo

Mary doesn't initially recognize her, but Twinks McFarland, WJM's new receptionist, is someone who Mary went to summer camp with twenty years ago. Twinks is a warm and friendly person, overly so. Twinks wants to be everyone's best friend, which begins to annoy everyone, especially friend phobic Lou, but she wants to be Mary's best friend more so than anyone. Mary, who was initially happy to get reacquainted with Twinks, now wants to shut her out of her life. But on what may be the most important day in her life, Twinks guilts not only Mary but all of Mary's friends into being her friends. When things change in Twinks' life, Mary has to decide if she will act out of character and truly express what she feels about being Twinks' friend. Written by Huggo

After Rhoda's car breaks down, stranded Mary and Rhoda are picked up by a good Samaritan, Chuck Pelligrini. Chuck eventually asks Rhoda out. Mary becomes concerned about Rhoda and Chuck's resulting relationship since Rhoda has not been totally up front with him about her life (stating that Mary's apartment is hers), but worse that Chuck seems to be spending a lot of money on their dates without disclosing what he does for a living if anything to earn such money. Mary is reluctant to say anything to Rhoda for fear that Rhoda will think that it's just sour grapes that Chuck didn't ask her out instead. Mary learns that Rhoda is equally as concerned about Chuck's evasiveness about what he does for a living. Their minds race to things like that he's with the mob. When Chuck eventually tells Rhoda about his professional life and professional future, it's even worse than she imagined. Rhoda has to decide if there is any future being Mrs. Pelligrini with what she sees as the sacrifices she ... Written by Huggo

No one but Ted seems concerned that Mr. Phelps, the station's new manager, seems to be on a firing spree based on show's ratings. But when Ted, Mary, Murray and Gordy are called into Mr. Phelps' office, they know that someone from their team is going to be fired and that person is the one person not invited to the meeting: Lou. The four have troubles even looking Lou in the eyes until he receives the news, which ultimately comes from Mary. However Lou is relieved that it is him as he figures it is easiest for him out of everyone in the newsroom to get another news job since he's had so many offers in the past. But those offers seem now to have dried up. After Mary, Murray, Ted and Gordy have a brainstorming session, they decide that Mary should speak to the station's owner, Wild Jack Monroe, on Lou's behalf since he was the one who originally hired Lou after a joint drunken spree. Mary is a little apprehensive about speaking to Monroe, an ex-movie cowboy and still real life cowboy, ... Written by Huggo