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The Best Episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show Season 2

Every episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show Season 2 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show Season 2!

Binge this in 10h 0m•Peaking at 8.2/10

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 room, and meets her upstairs neighbor and new best friend

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    The Mary Tyler Moore Show Season 2 Episode 8 - Thoroughly Unmilitant Mary
    8.2/10(235 votes)

    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.

    Director:Jay Sandrich
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. The Mary Tyler Moore Show Season 2 Episode 5 - A Girl's Best Mother Is Not Her Friend
    8.1/10(244 votes)

    S2:E5

    When Ida, Rhoda's mother, visits, she sees how well Phyllis and Bess get on, and how closely Mary appears to her mother when they chat on the telephone, that she tries to be Rhoda's ""friend"".

    Director:Jay Sandrich
    Writer:Lorenzo Music

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  3. The Mary Tyler Moore Show Season 2 Episode 21 - Where There's Smoke, There's Rhoda
    8.1/10(225 votes)

    S2:E21

    When Rhoda's apartment is destroyed by fire, she moves in with Mary. The two find that while they are best friends, they make awful roommates.

    Director:Peter Baldwin
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. The Mary Tyler Moore Show Season 2 Episode 23 - Some of My Best Friends Are Rhoda
    8.1/10(257 votes)

    S2:E23

    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.

    Director:Peter Baldwin
    Writer:Steven Pritzker

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  5. The Mary Tyler Moore Show Season 2 Episode 9 - And Now, Sitting in for Ted Baxter
    8.0/10(218 votes)

    S2:E9

    Ted is forced to take a vacation and the anchorman hired to sit in for him becomes a huge success.

    Director:Jay Sandrich
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. The Mary Tyler Moore Show Season 2 Episode 6 - Cover Boy
    7.9/10(236 votes)

    S2:E6

    Jack Cassidy guest stars as professional model Hal Baxter, who comes to visit his brother Ted at WJM-TV. Immediately, the two engage in a heated battle of sibling rivalry about EVERYTHING -- salaries, cars, & even women. In an effort to size up his brother, Ted claims that Mary is his girlfriend. Ted & Hal decide to go on a double-date with Mary & Rhoda. At the restaurant, Ted doesn't know any etiquitte, and it shows. Back at Mary's apartment, Ted & Hal arm wrestle before Hal decides to go with Rhoda up to her apartment to look thru magazines for his picture. Ted stays with Mary to make Hal think that he spends more time with his girl than he does.

    Director:Jay Sandrich
    Writer:Treva Silverman

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  7. The Mary Tyler Moore Show Season 2 Episode 18 - Baby Sit-Com
    7.9/10(218 votes)

    S2:E18

    Mary agrees to babysit Bess for the weekend, but then a former boyfriend, in town for a few days, asks her out. When she can't find a babysitter for Bess on such short notice, she ends up asking Lou.

    Director:Jay Sandrich
    Writer:Treva Silverman

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  8. The Mary Tyler Moore Show Season 2 Episode 12 - . . . Is a Friend in Need
    7.8/10(217 votes)

    S2:E12

    Rhoda loses her job as a window-dresser and isn't in a hurry to find something new. When there is a job opening at WJM-TV, Mary lies to Rhoda and tells her the job has been filled, to Lou's surprise.

    Director:Jay Sandrich
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. The Mary Tyler Moore Show Season 2 Episode 19 - More Than Neighbors
    7.8/10(209 votes)

    S2:E19

    After being persuaded by Phyllis, Ted moves into a vacant apartment below Mary's but Mary and Rhoda are not thrilled by the prospect.

    Director:Jay Sandrich
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. The Mary Tyler Moore Show Season 2 Episode 1 - The Bird and ...Um ...Bess
    7.7/10(235 votes)

    S2:E1

    In the second-season premiere, after Mary Richards produces a ""What's Your Sexual IQ?"" documentary for the Six O'Clock News, Rhoda confesses to failing and Phyllis says that young Bess watched it. Phyllis calls on Mary to teach Bess the facts of life, but it turns out that Bess already had learned it from her friends. Meanwhile, the WJM-TV newsroom is shelled with phone calls responding to the documentary. According to Mary, more people are appalled by it than anything else.

    Director:Jay Sandrich
    Writer:Treva Silverman

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  11. The Mary Tyler Moore Show Season 2 Episode 4 - Room 223
    7.7/10(232 votes)

    S2:E4

    Mary and Rhoda enroll in a night school course in journalism and Mary begins dating the lecturer.

    Director:Jay Sandrich
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. The Mary Tyler Moore Show Season 2 Episode 13 - The Square-Shaped Room
    7.7/10(210 votes)

    S2:E13

    When Edie is out of town, Lou hires Rhoda to redecorate his living room. However, Rhoda's tastes are too modern.

    Director:Jay Sandrich
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. The Mary Tyler Moore Show Season 2 Episode 17 - The Slaughter Affair
    7.7/10(199 votes)

    S2:E17

    Murray takes on a night job as a cab driver in order to save up and buy his wife Marie a new car for their 10th wedding anniversary. However, Marie becomes suspicious about Murray's absences and fears that Murray is having an affair with Mary Richards.

    Director:Peter Baldwin
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. The Mary Tyler Moore Show Season 2 Episode 11 - The Six-and-a-Half-Year Itch
    7.6/10(221 votes)

    S2:E11

    Mary, Rhoda and Lou go to a John Wayne movie, where they spot Lou's son-in-law with an unknown woman.

    Director:Jay Sandrich
    Writer:Treva Silverman

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  15. The Mary Tyler Moore Show Season 2 Episode 16 - Feeb
    7.6/10(215 votes)

    S2:E16

    An incompetent waitress is fired after Mary complains about her poor service and Mary feels obliged to hire her when she applies for an assistant's job at WJM-TV.

    Director:Peter Baldwin
    Writer:Dick Clair

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  16. The Mary Tyler Moore Show Season 2 Episode 7 - Didn't You Used to Be . . . Wait . . . Don't Tell Me
    7.5/10(220 votes)

    S2:E7

    Mary attends her high school reunion and meets up with her former boyfriend Howard Arnell, who continues to have feelings for Mary. Meanwhile, Rhoda tags along believing that people will ""remember"" her although she didn't attend Roseburg High.

    Director:Jay Sandrich
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. The Mary Tyler Moore Show Season 2 Episode 14 - Ted Over Heels
    7.5/10(206 votes)

    S2:E14

    After Ted appears on the Chuckles the Clown Show, he falls in love with Chuckles' daughter.

    Director:Peter Baldwin
    Writer:Lorenzo Music

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  18. The Mary Tyler Moore Show Season 2 Episode 3 - He's No Heavy . . . He's My Brother
    7.4/10(224 votes)

    S2:E3

    Mary and Rhoda take an unplanned vacation to Mexico but have to do a strange favor for a Mexican restaurant owner for reservations.

    Director:Jerry Paris
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. The Mary Tyler Moore Show Season 2 Episode 22 - You Certainly Are a Big Boy
    7.4/10(217 votes)

    S2:E22

    Mary begins dating an architect and is astonished to learn that his son is only six years younger than she is.

    Director:Jay Sandrich
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. The Mary Tyler Moore Show Season 2 Episode 10 - Don't Break the Chain
    7.2/10(220 votes)

    S2:E10

    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.

    Director:Jerry Paris
    Writer:Lorenzo Music

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  21. The Mary Tyler Moore Show Season 2 Episode 15 - The Five-Minute Dress
    7.2/10(201 votes)

    S2:E15

    After volunteering some of her spare time for a worthy cause, Mary begins dating the Governor's aide. Unfortunately, the aide's duties cause him to break every date.

    Director:Jay Sandrich
    Writer:Unknown

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  22. The Mary Tyler Moore Show Season 2 Episode 2 - I Am Curious Cooper
    7.1/10(230 votes)

    S2:E2

    Mary is intrigued by the voice of Lou Grant's friend, Mike Cooper, and asks to be set up with him. Lou breaks his policy of not matchmaking friends and colleagues.

    Director:Jay Sandrich
    Writer:Lorenzo Music

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  23. The Mary Tyler Moore Show Season 2 Episode 20 - The Care and Feeding of Parents
    7.1/10(196 votes)

    S2:E20

    Bess gets top marks for a report she wrote for school, and Phyllis pressures her to write a book based on it, calling on Mary for help.

    Director:Jay Sandrich
    Writer:Dick Clair

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  24. The Mary Tyler Moore Show Season 2 Episode 24 - His Two Right Arms
    6.9/10(223 votes)

    S2:E24

    Mary gets city councilman Pete Peterson to appear on Face the People and discovers that he is completely incompetent. She and his aides try to bring him up to speed on current events so he can make a good impression on the show.

    Director:Jay Sandrich
    Writer:Arnold Margolin

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Season 2 Ratings Summary

"Thoroughly Unmilitant Mary" is the best rated episode of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" season 2. It scored 8.2/10 based on 235 votes. Directed by Jay Sandrich and written by Unknown, it aired on 11/6/1971. This episode is rated 0.1 points higher than the second-best, "A Girl's Best Mother Is Not Her Friend".