Mary produces a non-controversial documentary on the controversial titled subject, the Sexual IQ. The documentary not only has the newsroom flooded with telephone calls, but it brings about a conundrum with Phyllis. She believes it's time to talk to Bess, who is now in the eighth grade, about sex, but she doesn't herself want to do it. Since Mary produced a documentary on the subject, Phyllis asks Mary if she'll tell Bess about the birds and the bees. Although she feels Phyllis is shirking her parental responsibility, Mary agrees. Mary initially thinks the talk should be relatively straightforward and painless for her, but she gets more and more anxious the bigger and bigger a deal Phyllis makes of it. When Mary finally has her scheduled appointment to talk to Bess, Bess may surprise her with her own question. Written by Huggo

Although she has never met him, Mary is attracted to Lou's friend, Mike Cooper, based on the several telephone conversations she's had with him. Apparently, Mike feels the same way about Mary. Before Mary is about to ask Lou to set the two of them up, Lou, who considers Mike, a high powered lawyer, to be the most eligible bachelor in Minneapolis, tells her he has a rule about not setting up his friends. After thinking about it, Lou changes his mind as he believes Mike and Mary are right for each other. On Mike and Mary's first date in which Lou acts as chaperon, Lou does whatever he can to ensure that Mike and Mary hit it off. After several dates, Mary comes to the conclusion that as nice a man as Mike is, there is no romantic spark between the two of them, their awkwardness with each other manifesting itself in always talking about how great a guy Lou is. Although somewhat hurt that Mike also feels the same about her, Mary is relieved that she need not hurt Mike in turning him down. ... Written by Huggo

It's nearing the end of November in wintery Minneapolis. A new management directive at the station means that Mary has to take her annual vacation within the next three weeks or forfeit the vacation time altogether. Based on her own recent vacation, Jackie, the newsroom's dark room girl, convinces Mary that she can take a nice and inexpensive beach vacation in Puerto Lorenzo, Mexico. Mary, in turn, talks Rhoda into accompanying her on this vacation. Their plans go awry when the inexpensively priced resort where Jackie stayed is fully booked. Overhearing their problems, Gustavo, the owner/waiter/chef at the newly opened local Mexican restaurant, informs them that he can make arrangements for them at a better and equally inexpensive place in his hometown of San Leon, which is just down the coast from Puerto Lorenzo. Mary is skeptical since they don't know Gustavo, but they decide to trust Gustavo to come through for them. They begin to regret it when, as a favor in return, Gustavo asks ... Written by Huggo

After she is the cause of a writing gaffe at the newsroom, Mary, on Phyllis' advice, decides to take an introductory television journalism course. Rhoda decides to join Mary in the class. Mary ends up being the only student there who is taking the class to enhance her already established television journalism career. When Dan Whitfield, the teacher, asks Mary to stay after class, she believes he is going to chastise her for dominating the class discussion with her rather benign anecdotes of life at WJM. Instead, he, attracted to her, asks her out, which she accepts. He even accepts her offer to have a slightly reluctant Lou give a talk to the class. Will Mary and Dan's new dating status affect the way he treats her in class? And will Mary wish his professional treatment of her was different? Written by Huggo

Ida Morgenstern, Rhoda's mother, comes to Minneapolis for a visit, specifically because she thinks she's found the perfect man... for Mary. Rhoda is slightly irked that Ida has gone to mothering Mary when she, in Rhoda's words, hasn't finished mothering Rhoda. But when Ida sees the friendly relationship Phyllis has with Bess and hears about the friendly relationship Mary has with her mother, Ida decides her and Rhoda's relationship would be better served if she was Rhoda's best friend. Armed with Phyllis' parenting books, Ida does try to become Rhoda's friend, in some respects the way Phyllis is with Bess, an adolescent. But Ida and Rhoda also come to the realization that being friends means talking about Rhoda's dates in a frank manner. Ultimately, will over thirty years of being Rhoda's overprotective mother change just because she wants it to? And what will Rhoda have to say in the matter? Written by Huggo

Ted receives a visit from his younger brother, Hal Baxter, the two who have not seen each other in five years. Hal, an actor and ad model, is in town for a modeling job. On first glance, Mary can see that Hal is, in her words, an even more Ted than Ted, the two who are always trying to do and be one better than the other. Hal even corrects people when they refer to him as Ted's brother: in his mind, Ted is his brother. And good looking Hal knows he's good looking, and lets the world also know as much. Because she sees their ultra-competitive nature, Mary reluctantly agrees to pretend to be Ted's longtime girlfriend on a double date with Hal. Since Hal was going to ask Mary, Mary, on Ted's further pleading, asks, as Ted refers to her, her Israeli friend (Rhoda) to be Hal's date. As the oneupsmanship between Ted and Hal takes its toll on especially Mary during the course of the date, Mary tries to convince Ted to be the bigger brother and stop all the game playing. Will Ted listen to ... Written by Huggo

Mary receives the latest edition of the Viking Voice, the alumni magazine of her alma mater, Leif Erickson High, which is located in the upstate Minnesota town of Roseburg. The magazine, edited by Estelle Proust née Kamser who always had it in for Mary (especially since Mary was named Viking Queen of their class of '59 over Estelle), features an article on Mary's still single status, with Estelle further speculating that perhaps Mary should get back together with her old boyfriend, Howard Arnell, who Mary could no longer date since he was so needy. But Mary also learns that Leif Erickson High is holding a 50th anniversary reunion of the school, which Mary would like to attend (as would non-alumnus Rhoda who wants to see if there are any eligible divorced men also in attendance). Mary has to figure out a way to get Lou to give her a day off so that she can attend the reunion, how to handle an obviously still competitive Estelle who will definitely be there, and what to do if class of '... Written by Huggo

It looks as if the newswriter's union may go on strike, which worries all those in the newsroom on both sides of the management/union divide. Those in the union, despite wanting what they consider fair, are afraid of the temporary loss in pay. And management will have to take over the newswriting duties while the strike is happening. Lou reminds Mary that she is on management's side and will have to cross the picket line if a strike does occur. Their fears are realized when the union does go out on strike, the union members who include Murray and Gordy the weatherman, who writes his own copy. But things get even worse for the management side when other unions - including Ted's union - refuse to cross the picket line in support of their union brothers and sisters. That leaves Lou and Mary as the WJM news team, they who even have to do extra duty on other WJM shows, such as Chuckle the Clown's. Although feeling ill prepared to do so, Mary is given the task of writing the copy. But even ... Written by Huggo

Mary learns that the station is in violation of Ted's contract since he has not taken a vacation in the four years he's worked there. Mary later learns that it really is Ted who is the one who evades even mention of taking a vacation, he who will use whatever sly trick available to his disposal in not taking one. In speaking directly to Ted, Mary can tell that Ted is afraid that whoever his replacement will be will take over his job permanently. Mary forces him to take a vacation, which Ted reluctantly decides to take in Acapulco. Ted's worst nightmare comes true when he sees that his replacement, Rod Porter, is a good looking, eloquent man, who really is aiming his sights on a full time anchor job. Rod ends up being a great addition to the team, as the newscast quickly catapults to number 2 in the ratings which buoys Lou. Mary feels guilty for making Ted take his vacation as although she realizes that Ted is not the most proficient anchor and is the primary reason for the newscast's ... Written by Huggo

Mary receives a chain letter in the mail. She, not believing in the whole concept behind chain letters, has no problem breaking the chain until she learns the letter is from Mr. Grant. Despite hearing Lou's less than convincing explanation for sending the letter, Mary has a difficult time refusing his argument not to break the chain. Mary tries to find twenty people she doesn't mind burdening with the letter. Two of those people, who she really doesn't know, provide personal and somewhat unusual responses to her letter, which probably makes her wish she had broken the chain instead. Written by Huggo

With Edie away visiting her sister, Lou is looking for someone to hang out with for the evening. To get out of hanging out with Ted, Lou agrees to a dinner and movie with Mary and Rhoda, who were going out anyway. At the movie theater, they run into Lou's favorite son-in-law, Bill Phelps, on a date with a woman named Patti Woods, who doesn't happen to be Lou's daughter and Bill's wife, Sarah. Beyond taking out his frustration and anger on the staff at the newsroom, Lou doesn't know what to do about the situation except avoid Bill and Sarah until he does. Bill ultimately stops by the newsroom to have a chat with Lou. Their discussion brings the situation into a clearer light and a better understanding between father-in-law and son-in-law. Written by Huggo

Rhoda is currently unemployed, she being not too clear to Mary and Phyllis whether she quit (she stating differences in opinion with her boss as the reason for quitting) or was fired from her window dressing job at Bloomfield's department store. Regardless, she is in a bit of a funk being unemployed and worries about having no income coming in. But in especially Phyllis' perspective, Rhoda doesn't seem to be working too hard at finding another job, even an unskilled labor job that would at least pay the bills. Rhoda instead seems content to collect unemployment insurance, sit on Mary's couch and watch television all day long. So when Mary and eventually Rhoda learn that there is an associate art director job open at the station, Mary isn't sure why she lies to Rhoda in telling her that the job is already filled, but she does know that she feels guilty about lying to her best friend, one in need of what that job may have provided both monetarily and in self esteem in being employed ... Written by Huggo

Lou and Edie have a fight over redecorating certain rooms in the house, leading to Edie doing what she always does whenever they have a fight: go to a fat farm to lose some weight. While Edie's away, Lou decides at least to paint the bathroom, which leads to him further deciding to surprise Edie by redecorating the living room. He plans to do the redecoration with the help of an old buddy, the army's decorator, as he doesn't want to spend any money on a real decorator. Mary vows to help Lou find a real decorator who will do it inexpensively (but not cheaply), despite not knowing anyone personally. After thinking about it, Mary decides it would be a perfect job for Rhoda. Rhoda is excited about the prospect as if this job works out, it could lead to another more lucrative career. Rhoda even suggests that Lou pay her whatever he thinks she's worth after he sees the finished room. But Lou is the type of client who can't express what he wants or what Edie would like, but he will not ... Written by Huggo

Ever since his appearance on Chuckles the Clown's television show, Ted has been acting even more strangely and mysteriously than ever. He is stealing the roses Mary always keeps on her desk (about which she knows), he's wearing a fake mustache until a real one grows in, and he's never hanging around the newsroom anymore. The latter two issues are wreaking havoc on Lou's blood pressure. Rhoda thinks she knows the reason for Ted's change in behavior: he's in love. Mary and Murray learn that that is the case when Betty Bowerchuck, Chuckles' assistant and daughter, confirms that she and Ted have been dating since his appearance on the show. But Ted seems to be hiding the fact of the relationship from everyone. When Betty comes crying to Mary about the relationship, Mary invites both Betty and Ted to her apartment for dinner so that she can help Betty by understanding Ted's apprehension about dating her. Written by Huggo

When she sees how community minded most of her friends are - including Lou, Murray, Ted and Phyllis - Mary feels guilty about how she is spending her free time and wants to get involved in some sort of community group. On Phyllis' recommendation, Mary decides to go to a Women for Better Government group meeting. She chose this group specifically because she doesn't want her new community mindedness to be turned into a quest for finding a man. Despite that, Mary convinces Rhoda to tag along. Mary's no-man plans are inadvertently thwarted when the one and only man at the meeting, the governor's assistant, is attracted to Mary, he who wields his political influence to track her down. Mary is excited about the prospect of dating him. But time after time, he calls at the last minute to postpone their date as some work issue has arisen. As Mary quite often has rearranged her own schedule to accommodate his, she wonders if they will ever have a date at all. Written by Huggo

Mary, Lou and Murray take Ted out for lunch to celebrate his birthday. That lunch ends up being one of the worst dining experiences solely because their incompetent waitress doesn't really seem to know or care that she's incompetent. Mary reluctantly complains to the restaurant maître d', who implies that the waitress will get fired. That waitress, whose name is Randy, ends up being one of the applicants for the secretarial job in the newsroom, that job which is supposed to take much of the clerical burden off Mary's shoulders. Randy doesn't recognize Mary or the others, and besides Mary, the other three don't recognize Randy as their horrible waitress. Feeling guilty about getting Randy fired especially as she learns that Randy has a young daughter to support, Mary, who Lou has let make the final decision on who to hire, hires Randy despite she not being qualified and there being other qualified applicants. Randy ends up being as incompetent and uncaring in this job as she was as a ... Written by Huggo

A major on-air gaffe, which is assumed to be Ted's fault and which in Lou's mind is grounds for firing, ends up being because of a typo by Murray. Beyond this mistake, Mary has noticed that Murray has not been doing his job well the last few weeks and seems always to be tired. Murray confesses to her that his fatigue is due to him moonlighting as a writing teacher in night school to earn enough money for a down payment for a new car for Marie as a tenth wedding anniversary present. Mary catches Murray in a lie about the job when Rhoda, who ends up being a customer of his, sees his real second job as a cabbie. What's worse is that Marie also catches him in this lie, she believing that his nights away from home are because he's having an affair... with Mary. Mary, in part to clear her good name, tries to figure out how she can help Murray both with his situation at the newsroom and at home with Marie. Written by Huggo

Mary gladly agrees to sit with twelve year old Bess for the weekend while Phyllis and Lars are away. After agreeing to do this for the Lindstroms, Mary learns that her old boyfriend, Anton 'Sandy' Styrokowski, a renowned concert pianist, is in town only for the weekend for a concert. After Phyllis has already left, Mary receives an invitation from Sandy to go out with him that evening. Bess urges Mary to go, and for Mary either to find another person to sit with her for those few hours or leave her on her own. Mary agrees to get a sitter for the few hours she'll be out that evening. But finding a professional sitter for a Saturday night on the day of is a seemingly impossible task, and all Mary's personal friends, such as Rhoda, can't do it. Once Mary does find a sitter through Murray, Mary feels that she can't leave Bess with who does show up. Mary calls in her last resort, who agrees but who may not be the most obvious choice as a sitter, especially of a twelve year old girl who ... Written by Huggo

Mary learns directly from her downstairs neighbor Barbara that she is moving, which means Barbara's spacious one-bedroom apartment will be available for rent. Mary would love to move into it, but can't afford the rent, which is almost double her current rent. Mary and Rhoda briefly flirt with the idea of living there together, but decide that that would probably not be the best idea. But that idea is more palatable than who eventually shows interest in renting the apartment: Ted. Both Mary and Rhoda are heartbroken about the possibility of Ted moving in, Mary who even contemplates moving herself just to get away from Ted. After Mary is in near tears about the situation, Lou decides it's time for him to intervene, he who figures he knows what buttons to push so that Ted will decide not to take the apartment. Through the process, Mary and Rhoda learn who Ellen P. Management, their unresponsive building manager, is. Written by Huggo

Just because Mary's office is located in the same building as Snyder Publishing which publishes Teen Topics magazine, overbearing Phyllis asks Mary to use whatever influence she has to get Bess' two paragraph composition titled The Care and Feeding of Parents published in the magazine. Although she states she has no influence whatsoever since she knows no one who works at Snyder Publishing, Mary agrees as she does like Bess' article (as a school composition) and she's just too nice to say no. Mary does use Ted and Lou as conduits into the publishing house to little avail. But based on a conversation Mary has with Lou, Phyllis gets it into her head that Mary wants her and Bess to expand the composition into a full fledged book, that idea which was the furthest thought from Mary's mind. Phyllis continually bothers Mary with thoughts about the book, which makes Mary crazy and Rhoda believe that Mary has to stand up to Phyllis. It also becomes clear that one half of the writing team is ... Written by Huggo

An electrical fire in Rhoda's apartment results in all Rhoda's possessions being destroyed and her being homeless until Phyllis can makes the necessary repairs and renovations. Mary offers to put Rhoda up in her place until Rhoda's apartment is ready and lets Rhoda borrow any of her clothes. Rhoda reluctantly agrees as she is aware that being roommates can ruin good friendships. Mary and Rhoda, despite being best friends, end up having two totally different living styles which affects Mary's life in general. Mary quietly fumes about having to put up with what she sees as Rhoda's living quirks, which is made all the more worse as Phyllis doesn't seem to be moving too quickly on fixing Rhoda's apartment. Will Mary say anything to her best friend, especially in Rhoda's time of need? Written by Huggo

After he comes by her apartment, he who is interested in the historic value of the building (albeit not a very good history), Mary starts dating renowned local architect Matt Bryan. The fact that he is about fifteen years older than she is doesn't bother her, even after all those in the newsroom continually remind her of it. The fact that he has a son, who she pictures is about nine years old (especially after she sees a photograph of him), doesn't bother her. But when she meets his son, Matt Bryan Jr., who ends up now being a grown man of age twenty-four which is only a few years younger than her, she begins to be bothered by dating Matt Bryan Sr. What bothers her more is that Matt Sr. doesn't seem to want to talk to her, he always taking her to places where they can't talk. When Matt Jr. takes Mary out on date, she learns the reason why Matt Sr. is acting the way he is and has to decide what to do about it. Written by Huggo

Mary surprisingly befriends Joanne Forbes, the woman who rear ended Mary's car. Joanne would rather reimburse Mary for the repairs directly rather than for Joanne to go through her insurance, to which Mary agrees. Joanne and Mary have a good time together, but most of that time out of coincidence and circumstance just happens to be time that Mary would have spent with Rhoda. An angry Rhoda feels that she is playing second fiddle to Mary's new friend. Beyond Joanne's constant statements of wanting Mary to remind her to pay her for the repairs without ever seeming to bring out her checkbook, Mary, wanting Rhoda and Joanne to get to know each other as friends, learns some information about Joanne that may make her have to choose between the two. Written by Huggo

Mary only has two days to find a guest for the station's political talk show Face the People, where audience members ask questions of a political figure. Mary thinks she's lucked out when she gets an unsolicited telephone call from the office of newly elected councilor, the charismatic looking Pete Peterson, who wants to appear on the show. Meeting with Peterson, Mary learns that it was one of his enthusiastic staff members, Jennifer Riley, who telephoned without Peterson knowing anything about it. Peterson's other staff members, Chris Wilson and Walter Ellis, don't think it's such a good idea, as does Mary, who sees a person who was not elected for his political acumen as he, although well intentioned, isn't able to convey a cohesive thought once he opens his mouth. The naive Peterson wants to appear on the show, but Mary talks him out of it. Despite being able to find another high profile guest, Mary has to schedule Peterson on the show airing in two days as a favor to the station... Written by Huggo