Everything goes right for Rhoda and everything goes wrong for Mary on a disastrous day when she is due to go to the Teddies.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

Lou goes to hospital to have a piece of World War II shrapnel removed and, surprisingly, he and Ted become best friends.

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.

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.

The classic series begins its classic 7-year run in Mary's apartment. Mary Richards, a 30-year-old single woman, has left her long-time boyfriend, Bill, to be with her old friend, Phyllis Lindstrom, in Minneapolis. (Mary originally lived in Roseburg, MN.) Why did Mary leave Bill? After promising to her that he would marry her right after his internship at the hospital, he said, ""Why rush into things???"" Meanwhile, she's already having troubles with her new apartment--a bitter upstairs neightbor, Rhoda Morgenstern, insists that she owns Mary's apartment!

After losing 20 pounds, Rhoda enters a beauty contest at work, but continues to put herself down.

Ted refuses to sign his contract renewal until Lou agrees to let him pursue other ventures, a decision he soon regrets when Ted begins appearing in commercials.

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.

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

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

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.

Mary is given the task of making The Six O'clock News more upbeat, and her plans are on target to succeed until they're frustrated by Ted.

Mary and Rhoda try to encourage Georgette to take a stand for herself after seeing how Ted takes advantage of her.

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.

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

Mary begins seeing an author who appeared as a guest on WJM-TV's Scrutiny, and becomes extremely self-conscious after discovering he is several inches shorter than her.

Feeling sympathetic for a co-worker who hasn't spent Christmas with his family for years, Mary is forced to stay alone at WJM-TV on Christmas Eve.

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.

Through a minor car accident, Mary befriends a young woman, Joanne. Rhoda becomes jealous when Mary spends more time with Joanne but Mary quickly ends the new friendship when she discovers Joanne is anti-Semitic and disapproves of Rhoda.