Mary is hosting a large party at her apartment. One of her guests, Sue Ann Nivens, who hosts the Happy Homemaker Show at the station, is offered a ride home by an unlikely source: Lars, Phyllis' husband. A few hours later, Lars telephones with a story about why he has yet to return home, a story that is obviously a lie to Mary and Rhoda, but to which Phyllis is seemingly oblivious as to the implication of something going on between Lars and Sue Ann. Every indication is that Lars and Sue Ann are having an affair, which is confirmed by a series of Lars/Sue Ann sightings. Phyllis is still oblivious to the affair until a clueless source spills the beans directly in front of her. To save her marriage, Phyllis' initial reaction is to become more like a real happy homemaker. But she decides to take more direct action, with support from Mary. Written by Huggo

Impulsively, Mary starts dating a man named Stephen Linder, who she met at the market. Despite the two having a good time together doing impulsive things like making angels in the snow, Stephen is, according to Rhoda, not quite Mary's type - he's a little short... in the age department. The idea that Stephen is a few years younger doesn't bother Mary, until she confirms that he is exactly eight years younger than she is. In anticipation of meeting Stephen's friends at a party at his place, Mary tries to compensate for their age difference. With Rhoda along at the party for moral support, Mary comes to a realization about whether dating this mid-twentysomething has a long term future. Written by Huggo

Rhoda invites Mary to accompany her for an exciting weekend in New York City to attend the wedding of Rhoda's younger sister, Debbie Morgenstern. The weekend doesn't end up being quite what Mary expected when she agreed to go. Instead of staying at a hotel, Mary is invited to stay with Rhoda's parents. And as the impartial third party, Mary ends up being the mediator between Rhoda and Ida in what is the major issue of the weekend. As Debbie is her younger daughter, Ida believes that Rhoda is unhappy being the proverbial old maid. So Ida does whatever she can to ruin Debbie's wedding to make Rhoda happy. Rhoda, in turn, is happy for her sister and does whatever she can to leave before the wedding so that Ida won't ruin Debbie's wedding. The cycle between mother and oldest daughter goes full circle when Ida believes Rhoda's want to leave is because of her unhappiness in Debbie getting married first, which strengthens Ida's resolve to ruin Debbie's wedding. A thirty year old letter may ... Written by Huggo

Lou is three and half hours late coming back from lunch, in the process missing an appointment. He implies that he didn't actually eat, but makes up an excuse regarding his whereabouts and the reason for being so late. He finally confides in Mary and Murray that because things have been bad between himself and Edie, they have been going to see a marriage counselor. Lou doesn't like the outcome of the process: the counselor is suggesting a trial separation. As such, Edie is planning on moving out of the house. Leading up to her leaving, the gang at the office don't know what to say to Lou. Before she leaves, Lou tries to understand why she feels the need to leave. Written by Huggo

After Mary complains to Lou that she doesn't have enough responsibility to match her associate producer job title, Lou willingly gives Mary more responsibility. Her first two tasks are to hire a new sportscaster, and fire the existing sportscaster, a Lothario of a man named Ed Cavanaugh. Mary doesn't relish having to do the firing, even if Ed gives her good reason. And despite knowing little to nothing about sports, Mary places much effort into the hiring. Every male she knows wanting the job and pressure from Lou to hire his candidate of choice (although he states that she is free to do what she feels best) doesn't make her job any easier. Mary ends up hiring who she truly believes is the best applicant for the job, but after all is said and done, the end result isn't quite what she was hoping. Written by Huggo

At the newsroom, Mary takes three telephone messages from a man stating that he's Ted's father, who wants to see Ted while he's visiting from Gary, Indiana. It surprises Mary since Ted's never mentioned his father before. Ted doesn't take the news well, since he hasn't ever really seen the man since his father ran off when Ted was two. Ted doesn't want to see his father for a variety of reasons - primarily fear and anger - and does whatever he needs to hide out from him. But they do meet. In Ted's mind, the unknown was better than the man he meets. The worst part in Ted's mind is that the reason his father came to see Ted was to ask to borrow $2,000. Before his father leaves Minneapolis, Ted has to decide if blood truly is thicker than water. Written by Huggo

Mary's former boyfriend and Chuckles the Clown's ex-writer Wes Callison stops by the newsroom. After quitting the writing job for Chuckles and trying to find himself, he returns applying for a recently vacated writing job in the newsroom. Although Mary and Wes' relationship was never serious - at least on Mary's side - Mary feels she has to put in a good word for Wes (despite not thinking deep in her heart that he's right for the job) since she feels guilty about the wayward way of Wes' life. She secretly fears that Wes still has feelings for her, which she knows she will never return in kind. It ends up being worse as Wes begins to smother her, she who doesn't have the heart to tell him so. She feels he's only doing it because of lack of confidence in himself, and as a result this need to feel miserable. Despite doing a good job at work, Wes also faces other issues with Chuckles, who, in turn, is smothering Wes with informal request after informal request to help him write his show. Written by Huggo

As usual, Lou orders two tickets to the Broadcasters Man of the Year awards banquet, but unlike previous years, he has no wife to accompany him, which makes Mary and Murray curious as to who his date - the first since his separation - will be. Lou has no date, with the order of two tickets being force of habit. So he decides to ask Edie - who has reverted to using her maiden name of McKenzie - which results in the awkward situation of her having to tell him that she's already got a date for the banquet. Lou figures two can play that game. So he makes Mary find a date for him. The person she finds is Martha Dudley, a friend of Rhoda's who she's never met. Mrs. Dudley doesn't end up being quite what Mary and/or Lou expect, which will make for an interesting evening, not only on the date itself, but how it will appear to Edie. Written by Huggo

After meeting him at the store and after a slow and uncertain start, Rhoda starts dating Doug Hemple, the son of the store owner. Rhoda was initially insecure about their relationship because she considers him better than her, and she has never really been happy in any of her previous relationships as she has dated primarily guys who Mary classifies as feebs. But after a week, Rhoda, who seems truly happy about the relationship, is talking marriage. Mary cautions her to take it slowly. But Rhoda can't help but being totally open about her feelings, hoping that Doug feels the same way. Meanwhile, a documentary that Mary produced and Murray wrote is getting rave reviews, even from the television critic. The one person who doesn't like it is Ted, only since he wasn't asked to narrate it. The documentary's subject, however, takes a liking to Ted. Written by Huggo

Congresswoman Margaret Geddes just appeared on a show that Mary produced. In general niceties over the telephone, Mary invites the Congresswoman to her place for dinner the next time she is ever in town. What Mary is unaware of when she extends the invitation is that the Congresswoman will be in town tomorrow. Mary is concerned not only about the short time frame to get a dinner party arranged, but also about the confirmation that she gets from Rhoda, and later from others, that her parties are generally disasters. With advice from Rhoda, Mary decides to hold a small, elegant dinner party for six, the number of people she can fit at her dining room table. On Murray's advice, Mary decides to ask Sue Ann for advice on the food. The first problem arises even before the party with the invitation list, some who invite themselves and some who are hurt not to be invited despite the aforementioned previous disasters at Mary's parties. When the party starts, there are potential problems on the... Written by Huggo

Ever since Lou and Edie's break up, Mary's been helping Lou with many of his domestic duties. She doesn't really even mind him showing up every night for dinner, unannounced, but, thinks he's taking her willingness too far, when he asks her to spy on Edie and report back to him. Written by Huggo

Phyllis, Chair of the Concerned Democrats of Minneapolis, is in charge of choosing a prominent citizen to endorse for the city council primary. Her choice?: Ted. Despite Mary being blunt about Ted not being the brightest light, Phyllis feels she can be the brains behind the man, who has a good chance of winning solely because of his high profile. Despite being a Republican, Ted agrees, which means, according to Lou and FCC regulations, Ted has to resign as anchor, which he does. Lou, however, leaves his job open for him if and when he loses. By election day, it looks like Ted may have a chance of winning since many voters believe his bumbling answers are actually Ted being witty. Will Ted and Phyllis' optimism sweep them into victory? Written by Huggo

After a casual and informal conversation between Lou, Mary and Murray about needing someone to do menial tasks around the office such as making coffee, Mary has no problem making the unilateral decision to hire Bonnie Slaughter, Murray's fifteen year old daughter, as the office's Girl Friday, especially after Murray says that Bonnie is looking for her first ever job. This decision causes many problems in the office. First, Lou, without even seeing Bonnie's work, wants Mary to fire her as he knows he can't be his curse spewing self around a teen-aged girl, especially the daughter of a friend. Second, Murray can't help but do whatever he can to make Bonnie's life as easy as possible, even at the expense of his own work. And third, Bonnie's small and not so small gaffes cause some issues in other areas of the newsroom, even with the on-air newscast. Despite Mary's support for Bonnie, will she ultimately cave in and fire Bonnie, and if so how will that affect Murray's working relationship... Written by Huggo

A heartbroken Georgette catches Ted making out with another woman in his dressing room. Georgette initially believes the lie Ted tells her about the supposedly innocent reason why they were in the position they were in, but once Georgette figures out it's a lie, she decides to leave Ted. She has to figure out how to get what little self-esteem she had back. She initially believes she needs to explore the wild side of life, which she's never done. But when she decides that being wild is not in her basic nature, she decides to go totally in the opposite direction: she's going to become a nun. With Mary and Rhoda's help and the advice of a Catholic nun, Georgette comes to some conclusions about her future. Meanwhile, Ted too is heartbroken over his and Georgette's split. He has to figure out how to get her back, or how to move on with life without her. Written by Huggo

Lou receives what look like greeting cards in the mail at the office. Mary suspects and does confirm that it's his birthday. She also figures that he may be feeling a little depressed on this day since it will be his first birthday since he and Edie separated. As such, she decides to throw him a last minute surprise party at her place. The plan is to invite him over for a quick drink that evening, with all the guests to show up after his arrival. A few snags occur in pulling off the party. First, Sue Ann hijacks the party planning and implementation, with nobody's input meeting her exacting standards. Second, Lou arrives a little earlier than expected, which means that Mary has to keep him there a little longer than expected. And third, Lou drops a bit of news before everyone's arrival which may make Mary want to hide all the guests when they arrive. Regardless of everything happening around him, Lou ends up handling the evening in his own way. Written by Huggo

Mary has just started dating Ross Nelson, the successful anchor of Channel 8 news, the number one news program in Minneapolis. They met at an awards dinner. Mary is happy about dating Ross until she visits the Channel 8 newsroom, which has ten times the staff, ten times the equipment, and as a result has ten times the sophistication as WJM. That visit shows Mary that WJM is the little station that couldn't. So, for the first time in her life, Mary feels embarrassed by her job when Ross later comes to visit her at WJM. As a result, Lou, in speaking to the station management, receives a modest increase in budget to compete better with their competitors, namely Channel 8. They collectively hope that with or without that increased budget that they can scoop Channel 8 just once in their lives. Written by Huggo

An excited Phyllis has just received her real estate license. As she is advised by the profession, and as most people starting in their own business do, Phyllis turns to her friends and acquaintances as her first points of contact. To her, the obvious person is newly separated Lou, who probably no longer needs to live in such a big house by himself. Despite Mary not wanting Phyllis to pounce on all her work colleagues, Phyllis approaches Lou, who, after an initial hesitation, agrees to have Phyllis sell his house. Beyond the lookie loos such as Ted (who had never been in Lou's house), Phyllis does manage to find some serious buyers, who offer Lou's asking price. After he agrees to the sale, Lou begins to have second thoughts. Mary acts as his voice of reason on the issue. Meanwhile, Mary has been receiving obscene telephone calls. And the newsroom is one of several offices in the building that is burglarized. Written by Huggo

Mary is anxious for Lou to attend this week's production managers' meeting if only because her idea of a Sunday afternoon talk show is being presented, the show which she would produce if approved. Despite the meeting being canceled, an excited Mary learns that a pilot show has been green-lighted. When Mary tells Rhoda, Rhoda reminds Mary that the concept was actually her idea. A slightly apologetic Mary offers Rhoda, in return, co-producer responsibility for the show, which Rhoda accepts. The next step is to get Lou's approval, which he ultimately does give, along with some bad news: since they are under contract, the station manager wants Ted and Sue Ann to be hosts. Mary and Rhoda run into roadblocks in dealing with divas Ted and Sue Ann, who want to do things their way. Ted and Sue Ann take offense particularly to Rhoda's straightforward manner of denigrating their ideas. If the show is going to get off the ground, Mary has to use some tactics learned from Lou and Murray to try ... Written by Huggo

Rhoda comes by the newsroom to pick Mary up so that they can drive home together. In general chit-chat in the newsroom, Rhoda mentions the fact that Mary lied about being a college graduate on her application for her newsroom job. Although no one, including Lou, cares as it does not affect her ability to do her job, Mary is upset that Rhoda would even mention it. Rhoda doesn't understand why her stating that fact is such a big deal, while Mary can't believe how insensitive she believes Rhoda is being about the subject. This disagreement places a wedge in their friendship, the first really big wedge ever in the three years they've been best friends. Mary, who needs reassurance that she is not being overly sensitive, is miserable regardless. Rhoda too is miserable. While their mutual friends, such as Georgette, try to do whatever they can to bring the two best friends back together, either Mary or Rhoda will have to make the first move to repair their friendship, which may not be easy ... Written by Huggo

Even with Rhoda's help, Mary has to stay up until the wee hours of the morning working on the obituary file. The file contains information for Ted to read on the air if a celebrity passes away. Overtired and feeling a little punchy, Mary and Rhoda end up writing a few gag obituaries. Unfortunately for Mary and the subject of one of those said obituaries - a man named Wee Willy Williams, the oldest man in Minneapolis - he dies. Needing the obituary, Ted grabs it from Mary's desk and reads it on the air. Lou has no choice but to reprimand Mary for what happened. He was close to firing her, but instead gives her a two week unpaid suspension. On Murray's urging, Mary speaks to Lou about the reprimand, feeling that the suspension is treating her like a little kid. As such, Mary vows not to return to work if the suspension holds. This act may be the end of Mary's stint at WJM, a stint that both she and Lou have cherished because of her. Written by Huggo

After six consecutive losses, Ted is certain he's going to win the Teddy Award this year as best newscaster. His plan to win is to overexpose himself - which includes hiring Rhoda to come up with a marketing campaign - with all the extra public appearances making him look like a humanitarian, however inappropriate or insincere his sentiments are. Everyone is therefore looking forward to seeing Ted lose even more this year. Miraculously, Ted wins. He wants to capture everything about the historic night to be able to remember it forever. However, by the next day, Ted wonders why his world is no different than it was before he won the award. But a visitor to the newsroom, who is not there specifically to see Ted, may make him believe that today is just the start of the next phase of his rising broadcast career. Written by Huggo

Lou asks a reluctant Mary to find him a date for a work function. Since she doesn't know of anyone, she agrees to be his date despite the possible office gossip. But when Lou comes to pick up Mary, she can't go since she's feeling ill. Rhoda agrees to fill in for Mary, which doesn't sit well with Lou who thinks that weird Rhoda may not fit in with the corporate crowd. But after all is said and done, he admits he had a really good time with her, so much so he wants to ask her out again. She accepts. That second date leads to a third and more. Although both Lou and Rhoda see what they're doing as just having a few laughs together, they become known as an item. All the talk about them being an item makes Lou wonder if everyone knows something that he himself doesn't yet know about his relationship with Rhoda. Meanwhile, Ted starts coloring his hair, but believes the change is so gradual that no one will notice, which is the opposite of reality. Written by Huggo

Ted believes that the act of writing is beneath him, until he learns that some of the big ones, such as Walter Cronkite, sometimes write their own copy. When Ted's attempt to emulate a big one has a less than positive response, Ted decides that he will sit in on a creative writing class. Unfortunately for Mary, the class that he chooses is the one she is taking. Ted thinks that he can breeze through the class on the strength of his news background, but finds that his first assignment is more difficult to write than he imagined. A day before the assignment is due and is to be read in front of the class, Ted has not even started and asks Mary to write his paper for him, which she refuses to do. But Ted will do anything to make himself look good in front of the class, even at the expense of a friend. Written by Huggo

Since it's been a while since they've done one, Lou wants to do a location feature. After brainstorming with Mary, Murray and Ted, Lou decides on Murray's idea of life at a popular single's bar called Valentino's. Lou's plan is to send Mary and Murray to the bar to do some undercover reconnaissance at Valentino's for a week before sending in a live television crew to give the piece an off the cuff feel. Since Marie feels uncomfortable about Murray frequenting such a bar, even for work, Lou reluctantly agrees to let Mary do the recon visits on her own... sort of. But after those visits, meeting the regular patrons, hearing their stories and experiencing how a single person acts and is acted upon at the bar, Mary and company still don't have a fresh angle for the piece. They decide to let the regular patrons tell their own stories on the air, just hoping that they will have something insightful to say. By the end, they solely hope the regular patrons have anything to say. Written by Huggo