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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!

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...
Genre:Comedy
Network:CBS

Season 2 Ratings Summary

"The Bird and ...Um ...Bess" is the best rated episode of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" season 2. It scored 7.7/10 based on 204 votes. Directed by Jay Sandrich and written by Treva Silverman, it aired on 9/18/1971. This episode is rated 0.7 points higher than the second-best, "I Am Curious Cooper".

  • The Bird and ...Um ...Bess
    7.7/10204 votes

    #1 - The Bird and ...Um ...Bess

    Season 2 Episode 1 - Aired 9/18/1971

    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

  • I Am Curious Cooper
    7.0/10201 votes

    #2 - I Am Curious Cooper

    Season 2 Episode 2 - Aired 9/25/1971

    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

  • He's No Heavy . . . He's My Brother
    7.3/10198 votes

    #3 - He's No Heavy . . . He's My Brother

    Season 2 Episode 3 - Aired 10/2/1971

    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: N/A

  • Room 223
    7.6/10200 votes

    #4 - 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.

    Director: Jay Sandrich

    Writer: N/A

  • A Girl's Best Mother Is Not Her Friend
    8.0/10212 votes

    #5 - A Girl's Best Mother Is Not Her Friend

    Season 2 Episode 5 - Aired 10/16/1971

    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

  • Cover Boy
    7.9/10205 votes

    #6 - Cover Boy

    Season 2 Episode 6 - Aired 10/23/1971

    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

  • Didn't You Used to Be . . . Wait . . . Don't Tell Me
    7.4/10192 votes

    #7 - Didn't You Used to Be . . . Wait . . . Don't Tell Me

    Season 2 Episode 7 - Aired 10/30/1971

    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: N/A

  • Thoroughly Unmilitant Mary
    8.1/10201 votes

    #8 - 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.

    Director: Jay Sandrich

    Writer: N/A

  • And Now, Sitting in for Ted Baxter
    7.9/10189 votes

    #9 - And Now, Sitting in for Ted Baxter

    Season 2 Episode 9 - Aired 11/13/1971

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

    Director: Jay Sandrich

    Writer: N/A

  • Don't Break the Chain
    7.2/10190 votes

    #10 - 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.

    Director: Jerry Paris

    Writer: Lorenzo Music

  • The Six-and-a-Half-Year Itch
    7.6/10191 votes

    #11 - The Six-and-a-Half-Year Itch

    Season 2 Episode 11 - Aired 11/27/1971

    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

  • . . . Is a Friend in Need
    7.8/10183 votes

    #12 - . . . Is a Friend in Need

    Season 2 Episode 12 - Aired 12/4/1971

    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: N/A

  • The Square-Shaped Room
    7.7/10182 votes

    #13 - 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.

    Director: Jay Sandrich

    Writer: N/A

  • Ted Over Heels
    7.4/10177 votes

    #14 - Ted Over Heels

    Season 2 Episode 14 - Aired 12/18/1971

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

    Director: Peter Baldwin

    Writer: Lorenzo Music

  • The Five-Minute Dress
    7.2/10173 votes

    #15 - The Five-Minute Dress

    Season 2 Episode 15 - Aired 1/1/1972

    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: N/A

  • Feeb
    7.6/10186 votes

    #16 - Feeb

    Season 2 Episode 16 - Aired 1/8/1972

    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

  • The Slaughter Affair
    7.7/10173 votes

    #17 - The Slaughter Affair

    Season 2 Episode 17 - Aired 1/15/1972

    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: N/A

  • Baby Sit-Com
    7.8/10187 votes

    #18 - Baby Sit-Com

    Season 2 Episode 18 - Aired 1/22/1972

    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

  • More Than Neighbors
    7.7/10182 votes

    #19 - More Than Neighbors

    Season 2 Episode 19 - Aired 1/29/1972

    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: N/A

  • The Care and Feeding of Parents
    7.1/10174 votes

    #20 - The Care and Feeding of Parents

    Season 2 Episode 20 - Aired 2/5/1972

    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

  • Where There's Smoke, There's Rhoda
    8.1/10199 votes

    #21 - Where There's Smoke, There's Rhoda

    Season 2 Episode 21 - Aired 2/12/1972

    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: N/A

  • You Certainly Are a Big Boy
    7.4/10191 votes

    #22 - You Certainly Are a Big Boy

    Season 2 Episode 22 - Aired 2/19/1972

    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: N/A

  • Some of My Best Friends Are Rhoda
    8.1/10225 votes

    #23 - Some of My Best Friends Are Rhoda

    Season 2 Episode 23 - Aired 2/26/1972

    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: N/A

  • His Two Right Arms
    6.8/10195 votes

    #24 - His Two Right Arms

    Season 2 Episode 24 - Aired 3/4/1972

    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