The Mary Tyler Moore Show backdrop
The Mary Tyler Moore Show poster
Comedy

The Best Episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show

Every episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show!

The Best Episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show

30-year-old single Mary Richards moves to Minneapolis to start a new life after a romantic break-up. There she reacquaints with Phyllis who rents her a...

Seasons7

  1. Background image for The Last Show
    9.4/10(391 votes)

    #1 - The Last Show

    S7:E24

    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.

    0 Comments
    View all
  2. Background image for Chuckles Bites the Dust
    9.3/10(560 votes)

    #2 - Chuckles Bites the Dust

    S6:E7

    Chuckles the Clown is crushed to death by a rogue elephant in a parade, which leaves all the newsroom staff in hysterics except Mary.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Joan Darling
  3. Background image for The Lars Affair
    8.9/10(350 votes)

    #3 - The Lars Affair

    S4:E1

    Phyllis finds out that Lars has been having an affair with Sue Ann Nivens, the star of WJM-TV's The Happy Homemaker show.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Jay Sandrich
    Writer:Unknown
  4. Background image for The Dinner Party
    8.9/10(299 votes)

    #4 - The Dinner Party

    S4:E10

    Mary invites Congresswoman Geddes to a fancy dinner at her home, trying hard to ensure that everything is perfect.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Jay Sandrich
    Writer:Unknown
  5. Background image for Will Mary Richards Go to Jail?
    8.8/10(234 votes)

    #5 - Will Mary Richards Go to Jail?

    S5:E1

    Mary refuses to reveal a news source for a story she produced and has to spend a night in jail.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Jay Sandrich
    Writer:Unknown
  6. Background image for Better Late . . . That's a Pun . . . Than Never
    8.7/10(208 votes)

    #6 - Better Late . . . That's a Pun . . . Than Never

    S4:E20

    To relieve her boredom, Mary jokingly writes a humorous obituary of one of the people in the WJM-TV file. Coincidentally, the same person dies the following day and the obituary is read on the air. Lou has no choice but to suspend Mary, but she threatens to quit in response.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Unknown
  7. Trending NowTRENDING NOW

    The 20 WORST Episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show

    READ
  8. Background image for A New Sue Ann
    8.7/10(229 votes)

    #7 - A New Sue Ann

    S5:E7

    A young fan, Gloria, persuades Sue Ann to hire her for The Happy Homemaker. Sue Ann is less than pleased when Gloria plays up to the station manager and gets a larger role on the show at the expense of her own.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Jay Sandrich
  9. Background image for Ted Baxter's Famous Broadcasters' School
    8.7/10(225 votes)

    #8 - Ted Baxter's Famous Broadcasters' School

    S5:E23

    A con-man tricks Ted into setting up a broadcasters' academy. When he finds out he's been had, he asks Lou, Mary and Murray to be the faculty and give the semester's opening lectures.

    0 Comments
    View all
  10. Background image for Once I Had a Secret Love
    8.6/10(195 votes)

    #9 - Once I Had a Secret Love

    S6:E18

    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.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Jay Sandrich
    Writer:Unknown
  11. Background image for Mary Midwife
    8.6/10(211 votes)

    #10 - Mary Midwife

    S7:E1

    Georgette gives birth at Mary's dinner party. With the hospital and doctor too far away, Lou and Mary help deliver the baby.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Jay Sandrich
  12. Background image for Sue Ann's Sister
    8.5/10(218 votes)

    #11 - Sue Ann's Sister

    S7:E3

    Sue Ann becomes deeply depressed when her sister arrives and gets an offer to do a competing homemaker show in Minneapolis.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Jay Sandrich
  13. Background image for Lou's First Date
    8.4/10(226 votes)

    #12 - Lou's First Date

    S4:E8

    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.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Jay Sandrich
    Writer:Unknown
  14. Background image for Ted Baxter Meets Walter Cronkite
    8.4/10(197 votes)

    #13 - Ted Baxter Meets Walter Cronkite

    S4:E21

    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.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Jay Sandrich
    Writer:Unknown
  15. Background image for Ted's Wedding
    8.4/10(191 votes)

    #14 - Ted's Wedding

    S6:E9

    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,

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Jay Sandrich
  16. Background image for Mary's Insomnia
    8.4/10(178 votes)

    #15 - Mary's Insomnia

    S7:E11

    Mary is having trouble sleeping and resorts to pills, which has Lou concerned that she's become addicted to them.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:James Burrows
  17. Background image for Sue Ann Gets the Ax
    8.4/10(184 votes)

    #16 - Sue Ann Gets the Ax

    S7:E17

    Sue Ann's Happy Homemaker show is canceled but she is determined to stay at WJM and asks Mary to give her a job in the newsroom.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Jay Sandrich
    Writer:Unknown
  18. Background image for Two Wrongs Don't Make a Writer
    8.3/10(198 votes)

    #17 - Two Wrongs Don't Make a Writer

    S4:E23

    Ted joins Mary at a night-school class in creative writing, and winds up plagiarizing her assignment.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Nancy Walker
  19. Background image for Not a Christmas Story
    8.3/10(227 votes)

    #18 - Not a Christmas Story

    S5:E9

    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.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  20. Background image for Sue Ann Falls in Love
    8.3/10(162 votes)

    #19 - Sue Ann Falls in Love

    S6:E23

    Sue Ann has fallen in love, but her new boyfriend is less scrupulous than he first seems.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  21. Background image for The Critic
    8.3/10(198 votes)

    #20 - The Critic

    S7:E14

    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.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Unknown
  22. Background image for Happy Birthday, Lou!
    8.2/10(186 votes)

    #21 - Happy Birthday, Lou!

    S4:E15

    Lou is closing in on fifty and today is his birthday. Mary can't stand the thought of the now-separated Lou celebrating his birthday all alone, so she arranges a surprise party for him. That evening, she invites Lou over for a drink and the doorbell rings just as he tells her how much he appreciated her not throwing an office party for him that afternoon. Gordy is at the door with an envelope...full of hats. Others are out in the hallway, too. Lou is furious and tries to get out using the back door...but there is no back door. Mary asks Lou's permission to invite Murray in. He enters, miffed at Lou's actions. Next Rhoda, and finally Ted, get to come in. Lou admits that he hates displays of affection...then reluctantly agrees to let the remainder of the guests in. While they all file in, he files out and down to MacKluskey's bar where....they throw a surprise party for him. Later he returns to Mary's place to apologize...evidently the guests opened his gifts (at Ted's urging) and they a

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:George Tyne
  23. Background image for You Try To Be a Nice Guy
    8.2/10(192 votes)

    #22 - You Try To Be a Nice Guy

    S5:E21

    Mary agrees to help a troubled crime prone girl go straight and find a job.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Jay Sandrich
    Writer:Unknown
  24. Background image for Murray Can't Lose
    8.2/10(165 votes)

    #23 - Murray Can't Lose

    S7:E10

    Lou learns from a source on the Teddy Award's panel that Murray will finally win an award for his news writing.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Jay Sandrich
  25. Background image for Murray Ghosts for Ted
    8.2/10(171 votes)

    #24 - Murray Ghosts for Ted

    S7:E20

    Ted offers Murray $200 to write an article on his behalf. The article becomes a success, but Ted refuses to share the credit with Murray.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Jay Sandrich
  26. Background image for Thoroughly Unmilitant Mary
    8.1/10(212 votes)

    #25 - Thoroughly Unmilitant Mary

    S2:E8

    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.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Jay Sandrich
    Writer:Unknown

Best Episodes Summary

"The Last Show" is the best rated episode of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show". It scored 9.4/10 based on 391 votes. Directed by Jay Sandrich and written by James L. Brooks, Allan Burns, David Lloyd, Stan Daniels, Ed. Weinberger, Bob Ellison, it aired on 3/19/1977. This episode scored 0.1 points higher than the second highest rated, "Chuckles Bites the Dust".