The WORST episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Every episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst 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 - Lou's Army Reunion
Season 7 - Episode 15 - Aired 1/15/1977
Lou desperately wants to find a way to return a favor to an army buddy but is distraught when he asks Lou to fix him up on a date with Mary.
#2 - One Boyfriend Too Many
Season 6 - Episode 14 - Aired 12/13/1975
Mary's old flame Dan Whitfield, who once proposed to her, returns to Minneapolis and she's forced to choose between him and her current boyfriend.
#3 - Romeo and Mary
Season 3 - Episode 19 - Aired 1/27/1973
Rhoda introduces Mary to a very irritating Warren Sturges, who tries everything including a giant billboard across the road from the WJM-TV offices to get her to accept his marriage proposal.
#4 - Sue Ann Falls in Love
Season 6 - Episode 23 - Aired 2/28/1976
Sue Ann has fallen in love, but her new boyfriend is less scrupulous than he first seems.
#5 - The Courtship of Mary's Father's Daughter
Season 3 - Episode 15 - Aired 12/23/1972
Mary runs into her former boyfriend Dan Whitfield in an elevator by chance. Subsequently, Dan realizes he still has feelings for Mary, breaks off his engagement, and begins dating her again.
#6 - The Ted and Georgette Show
Season 7 - Episode 16 - Aired 1/22/1977
Ted and Georgette successfully audition for their own variety show, which becomes a big hit, but Georgette eventually finds that she would prefer being a wife and mother.
#7 - The Happy Homemaker Takes Lou Home
Season 6 - Episode 13 - Aired 12/6/1975
Sue Ann gets Mary to ask Lou out on a date on her behalf. Lou accepts, not realizing who Mary's 'friend' is.
#8 - The Critic
Season 7 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/8/1977
A pompous but renowned critic is hired to provoke controversy on The Six O'Clock News, but the newsroom thinks he has gone too far when he begins attacking Minneapolis and its residents.
#9 - Cottage for Sale
Season 4 - Episode 17 - Aired 1/12/1974
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.
#10 - Who's in Charge Here?
Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/30/1972
Lou is promoted to the position of program director but has to decide to whom his old job should go. Meanwhile, The Six O'clock News begins falling apart without him.
#11 - My Son, the Genius
Season 7 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/6/1976
Ted and Georgette are initially disturbed to find that their son, David, is not doing well at school, but a psychiatrist's test shows that he is a genius. Unfortunately, David lets this go to his head and takes advantage of Ted.
#12 - Have I Found a Guy for You
Season 3 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/18/1972
Two of Mary's friends separate and Mary accepts a date from the husband.
#13 - Mary's Aunt Returns
Season 6 - Episode 21 - Aired 2/7/1976
Mary's Aunt Flo and Lou both prepare competing ideas for a TV documentary.
#14 - Don't Break the Chain
Season 2 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/20/1971
Mary gets a chain letter from Lou, and she is persuaded to send it on. To her surprise, one of the recipients comes for a visit, giving Mary a less than pleasant time dealing with him.
#15 - Almost a Nun's Story
Season 4 - Episode 14 - Aired 12/15/1973
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.
#16 - Mary's Aunt
Season 6 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/18/1975
Mary's high-flying journalist aunt comes for a visit, and Lou finds that he has a rival in her.
#17 - The Shame of the Cities
Season 5 - Episode 19 - Aired 1/25/1975
Lou wants to research his own news story now that Mary's producer and decides to launch a major investigation on a city councilor only to discover that he is completely honest.
#18 - We Want Baxter
Season 4 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/1/1973
Phyllis persuades Ted to stand for local government. Ted agrees and goes so far as to quit his job at WJM-TV.
#19 - Lou Douses an Old Flame
Season 6 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/15/1975
Lou meets up with a woman who had sent him a 'Dear John' letter during World War II but is disappointed to learn her motives for doing so.
#20 - One Producer Too Many
Season 7 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/30/1976
Lou promotes Murray to co-producer against Mary's wishes to prevent him from accepting a producer's job at a rival television station.
#21 - Murray In Love
Season 6 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/4/1975
Murray realizes that he's always been in love with Mary and wants desperately to tell her.
#22 - Lou's First Date
Season 4 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/3/1973
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.
#23 - Marriage Minneapolis Style
Season 5 - Episode 20 - Aired 2/1/1975
Ted pops the question to Georgette at Murray's 20th wedding anniversary party and then gets cold feet.
#24 - Mary Gets a Lawyer
Season 7 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/13/1976
Mary faces a contempt charge for not revealing her news source. Lou recommends a lawyer friend who takes a romantic interest in Mary.
#25 - I Gave at the Office
Season 4 - Episode 13 - Aired 12/8/1973
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.