The BEST episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Every episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show!
The Mary Tyler Moore Show was one of the most literate, realistic, and enduring situation comedies of the 1970s. Mary Richards was the idealized single career woman. She had come to Minneapolis after breaking up with a man she had been dating for four years. Ambitious, and looking for new friends, she moved into an older apartment building and went to work as an assistant producer of the local news show on television station WJM-TV. In her early 30s, Mary symbolized the independent woman of the 1970s.
#1 - Chuckles Bites the Dust
Season 6 - Episode 7 - Aired 10/25/1975
Chuckles the Clown is crushed to death by a rogue elephant in a parade, which leaves all the newsroom staff in hysterics except Mary.
#2 - The Snow Must Go On
Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/7/1970
A snowstorm leaves Mary producing her first program, broadcasting the results of the local elections. The show has to remain on until a winner is declared and no word is received at the newsroom.
#3 - Ted Baxter Meets Walter Cronkite
Season 4 - Episode 21 - Aired 2/9/1974
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.
#4 - Lou's Second Date
Season 4 - Episode 22 - Aired 2/16/1974
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.
#5 - Operation: Lou
Season 3 - Episode 13 - Aired 12/9/1972
Lou goes to hospital to have a piece of World War II shrapnel removed and, surprisingly, he and Ted become best friends.
#6 - Thoroughly Unmilitant Mary
Season 2 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/6/1971
The writing and technical unions go on strike, leaving only Lou, Mary, and Ted in the newsroom. WJM-TV makes Lou be second cameraman on "The Chuckles the Clown Show". Because an upset Murray is on strike, Mary has to write the news stories. They are terrible, and when Lou criticizes them, she starts crying. Things take a turn for the worse: Ted's union strikes, and Lou has to fill in as anchorman! On his first brodcast, he has "clammy hands", and he bombs. At a local bar, Murray, Gordy, & Mary share a laugh over this. After drinking before his 2nd brodcast, he is "as cool as a cucumber"--that is, until he falls asleep at breaktime. Herb fills in for Lou for the rest of the brodcast. The next day, the unions come to an agreement, and everything goes back to normal. Rhoda Morgenstern & Phyllis Lindstrom do not appear in this episode.
#7 - Once I Had a Secret Love
Season 6 - Episode 18 - Aired 1/17/1976
Lou has spent the night with Sue Ann, and confides in Mary. Their friendship is almost ruined when Mary is unable to keep the secret.
#8 - What Do You Want to Do When You Produce?
Season 6 - Episode 15 - Aired 12/20/1975
Initially delighted at the chance of producing the Happy Homemaker show, Murray quickly becomes miserable when he realizes the menial tasks he has to do for Sue Ann.
#9 - My Brother's Keeper
Season 3 - Episode 17 - Aired 1/13/1973
Phyllis wants to set up her visiting brother with Mary, but instead he hits it off with Rhoda and begins spending time with her to Phyllis's disapproval.
#10 - Ted's Wedding
Season 6 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/8/1975
Out of pity for Ted, Mary invites him & Georgette over for brunch. While he as an onion ring in his mouth, he proposes to Georgette...again. When, for the first time, Georgette says no, she & Ted have a talk and decide they want to get married now. They invite all their friends: Lou, Murray (with mud on his sweatshirt from his son's football game), and Sue Ann (who, in a spectacularily comedic enterance, brings a veil, flowers, and rice, among several other things). Ted's mom can't make it (she's washing her hair), but the incompetent minister comes straight from his tennis match. Best man Lou helps Ted calm his wedding day jitters. When the minister asks Ted if he takes Georgette to be his lawfully wedded wife, he pauses for a moment. Finally, with a smile on his face, he says, "I do." When they are pronounced husband & wife, Sue Ann sings the wedding march...very poorly, of course. Once the wedding ends and Lou, Murray, & Sue Ann leave, Ted asks, as if nothing had happened,
#11 - What is Mary Richards Really Like?
Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/23/1972
Mary is interviewed by a newspaper columnist and ends up telling a little too much.
#12 - You Try To Be a Nice Guy
Season 5 - Episode 21 - Aired 2/8/1975
Mary agrees to help a troubled crime prone girl go straight and find a job.
#13 - Enter Rhoda's Parents
Season 3 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/7/1972
Ida Morgenstern, Rhoda's mother, mistakenly believes that her husband is seeing other women, so Rhoda and Mary try to clear things up between them.
#14 - Put On a Happy Face
Season 3 - Episode 23 - Aired 2/24/1973
Everything goes right for Rhoda and everything goes wrong for Mary on a disastrous day when she is due to go to the Teddies.
#15 - Lou and That Woman
Season 5 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/5/1974
Lou begins seeing a cocktail lounge singer but becomes uncomfortable about her past.
#16 - A Reliable Source
Season 6 - Episode 22 - Aired 2/21/1976
Mary learns that an old friend seeking re-election to Congress had financial help from the mob. Lou threatens to use the story on the air.
#17 - The Last Show
Season 7 - Episode 24 - Aired 3/19/1977
WJM-TV has some personnel changes in the executive department (again), and everyone except Ted Baxter is fired. The new station manager wants to see the WJM News the highest-ranked in Minneapolis, and for some reason feels that Ted can help him make it happen. (Seems a little odd, eh?) The gang says goodbye to each other in the form of a long, hard cry. Mary thanks them all for being her surrogate family, and Lou finally sentimentally says, "I cherish you people." They bravely march out the office doors singing, "It's a long, long way to Tipperary." At the last moment, Mary leans back through through the WJM-TV doors and turns out the light. So long, WJM-TV.
#18 - The Lou and Edie Story
Season 4 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/6/1973
On the advice of their marriage counselor, Lou's wife, Edie, decides to move out. Lou is heartbroken by the prospect.
#19 - Murray Can't Lose
Season 7 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/27/1976
Lou learns from a source on the Teddy Award's panel that Murray will finally win an award for his news writing.
#20 - Party is Such Sweet Sorrow
Season 1 - Episode 16 - Aired 1/9/1971
Mary gets a tempting offer from a rival television station, but becomes reluctant to leave when her WJM-TV colleagues throw a farewell party for her.
#21 - Happy Birthday, Lou!
Season 4 - Episode 15 - Aired 12/22/1973
Mary plans a surprise party for Mr. Grant's birthday, only to find out too late that he hates birthday parties.
#22 - Mary Richards: Producer
Season 5 - Episode 16 - Aired 1/4/1975
Mary doesn't feel she deserves the title of producer and asks Lou that she be given the chance to produce The Six O'clock News alone.
#23 - Not a Christmas Story
Season 5 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/9/1974
The entire newsroom staff is arguing with each other, and when they are trapped at the office due to bad weather, Sue Ann decides to serve her Christmas dinner early.
#24 - The Square-Shaped Room
Season 2 - Episode 13 - Aired 12/11/1971
When Edie is out of town, Lou hires Rhoda to redecorate his living room. However, Rhoda's tastes are too modern.
#25 - Room 223
Season 2 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/9/1971
Mary and Rhoda enroll in a night school course in journalism and Mary begins dating the lecturer.