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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

Lou realizes that he has feelings for Mary's Aunt Flo, a journalist with a similar pride and passion in the news profession.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

Lou finally loses his temper with Ted when he endorses a political candidate on The Six O'clock News and throws him through the office doors. Lou feels guilty, and Ted takes advantage of him.

A snowstorm leaves Mary producing her first program, broadcasting the results of the local elections. The show has to remain on until a winner is declared and no word is received at the newsroom.

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.

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.

On the advice of their marriage counselor, Lou's wife, Edie, decides to move out. Lou is heartbroken by the prospect.

Mary gets a tempting offer from a rival television station, but becomes reluctant to leave when her WJM-TV colleagues throw a farewell party for her.

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

Mary becomes concerned when her father, newly retired, appears to have no friends or hobbies in Minneapolis, and tries to take on the role herself.

Mary has another disastrous date and worries she'll never meet the right man, until Georgette points out that every quality she seeks can be found in Lou Grant.

Ted and Georgette decide to adopt a son after Ted is informed he cannot have children.

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.

When Lou's trip to Las Vegas is cancelled, Mary organizes a poker game at the office where Murray loses a substantial amount to Ted.

Murray, who has three daughters, wants a son, but his wife Marie doesn't want to have another child. The couple decide to adopt instead.

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!

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

When Lou is fired, Mary goes to confront the station owner, Wild Jack Munroe.

Rhoda decides to move back to New York but Mary is taking the whole thing with a grain of salt.

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"".

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

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.

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

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

Lou begins seeing a cocktail lounge singer but becomes uncomfortable about her past.

Mary begins dating the anchorman from Minneapolis's top news show and becomes ashamed of WJM-TV's smaller news operation.

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

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.

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

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

Mary learns that an old friend seeking re-election to Congress had financial help from the mob. Lou threatens to use the story on the air.

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.

When Phyllis's husband Lars takes ill, she asks Mary to babysit Bess for a few days. Bess decides she wants to stay permanently with Mary, to Phyllis's dismay.

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

Murray meets an attractive woman at one of Mary's parties and considers having an affair. On the pretext of buying her old piano, he goes to see her.

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

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.

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.

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.

Lou wants to return a favor to an old Army buddy, but balks when he asks for a date with Mary.

Lou promotes Murray to co-producer against Mary's wishes to prevent him from accepting a producer's job at a rival television station.

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.

Mary has planned a fancy party at her apartment, with a mystery guest of honor, but the power in the building goes before he arrives.

Murray realizes that he's always been in love with Mary and wants desperately to tell her.

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

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.

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.

Mary researches a documentary with the help of a priest. He eventually decides to leave the Church, and Mary thinks that he has fallen in love with her.

A football player turned insurance salesman applies for a job as a sportscaster and attaches himself to Mary. Mary and Rhoda discover that he hasn't had much success at anything and encourage him to pursue his dreams.

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.

Phyllis persuades Ted to stand for local government. Ted agrees and goes so far as to quit his job at WJM-TV.

Two of Mary's friends separate and Mary accepts a date from the husband.

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.

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.

Mary is interviewed by a newspaper columnist and ends up telling a little too much.

Murray, Ted and Lou fantasize about being married to Mary.

Mary dates a man with whom she has nothing in common and becomes concerned that their relationship is superficial.

When Ted's formula for betting on football games works, Lou goes into partnership with him. He winds up betting all of the season's winnings on the Super Bowl without telling Ted.

Ted suffers a heart attack on the air and for the next few days becomes conscious of how precious life is.

Mary faces a contempt charge for not revealing her news source. Lou recommends a lawyer friend who takes a romantic interest in Mary.

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.

Mary is convinced she has really fallen in love, but her boyfriend seems reluctant in saying those three magic words, 'I love you'.

Lou almost ruins one of Mary's parties when his old girlfriend, Charlene Maguire, arrives with a date. He tries to make her jealous by taking out one of Mary's neighbors.

Mary decides to take a creative writing course, and is less than delighted with the criticism Lou levels at her efforts.

Bess's 15-year-old boyfriend falls in love with Mary and begins to surprise her with visits to her apartment and her work.

Mary and Sue Ann go to a convention in Chicago and Mary finds out that Sue Ann leads a lonely life.

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.

Mary is worried that her parents, who have moved to the Twin Cities to be close to her, may pry into her life too much.

Mary hires a new sportscaster who refuses to cover any sports but swimming and is faced with the prospect of firing her.

Ted is overjoyed when he gets a tax refund and splurges out on everyone at the newsroom, but is later shocked when the IRS informs him that he will be audited.

Ida Morgenstern, Rhoda's mother, mistakenly believes that her husband is seeing other women, so Rhoda and Mary try to clear things up between them.

Mary begins seeing Paul Arnell, the brother of her former boyfriend Howard Arnell, and is shocked to discover that the brothers' parents still believe that she and Howard are an item.

Murray becomes depressed when he realizes that the years are passing him by, after he learns that a contemporary has won a Pulitzer Prize.

Mary begins dating the writer of the Chuckles the Clown show, whose real ambition is to become a stand-up comedian.

Lou wins the Albert Mason Award, which he had once said was for broadcasting veterans who couldn't chew their own food.

Mary's high-flying journalist aunt comes for a visit, and Lou finds that he has a rival in her.

Sue Ann gets Mary to ask Lou out on a date on her behalf. Lou accepts, not realizing who Mary's 'friend' is.

Ted and Georgette face marital problems, but Ted refuses to see a counselor unless Lou goes with him.

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.

Mary's Aunt Flo and Lou both prepare competing ideas for a TV documentary.

Ted is shocked when he finds out his mother does not intend to marry her boyfriend, but will live with him.

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.

Rhoda begins dating the boss of Hemple's and falls deeply in love with him. She wants to tell him how she feels, but Mary warns her to take things slowly.

Mary joins a Big Sisters scheme and tries to bring a teenage shoplifter to the side of good. Sue Ann, pursuing an award, decides to "adopt" a little sister as well but finds herself getting influenced.

Mary's former boyfriend, Wes Callison, gets a job in the newsroom but his affection for Mary gets in the way of his work.

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