Mary asks Lou out for a date after Georgette suggests it.Mary asks Lou out for a date after Georgette suggests it.Mary asks Lou out for a date after Georgette suggests it.
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe only possible personal relationship Mary would ever have with one of her co-workers. During initial planning of the series, Mary was supposed to have possibly had a relationship with Ted Baxter; this was prior to Ted Knight's hiring. This idea was quickly nixed, and the impetus for this episode was not that a relationship between Mary and Lou would ever have come to (long term) fruition, but as a 'what if', similar to Mary's Three Husbands (1977), which had preceded this.
- SoundtracksLove Is All Around
Written and Performed by Sonny Curtis
Featured review
Final dating episode
After another disastrous date Mary takes Georgette's advice and asks Lou on a date. Afterall Lou has all the qualities Mary seeks.
The story is not very plausible and doesn't really work. You can really see the series has exhausted its situations as the comedy bits they try (Murray would LOVE to date Mary for instance) have all been done before - sometimes in multiple episodes.
The dating episodes were always my least favourite. Some dates end in disaster which is fine. However, some episodes end on a happy note with the promise the romance will continue, yet rarely is the guy ever seen or mentioned again. This happened as early as season one's '1040 or Fight'. Once you spot this routine, it makes it hard to get invested in the next guy: you figure he'll never be mentioned again.
There were a few exceptions, but when they tried to explore an enduring romance or a returning beau, the continuity was usually quite clunky. Dan (Michael Tolan) was Mary's boyfriend in three episodes. His first episode in season two ended on a happy note but he was then forgotten. Mary soon got lovey-dovey with a visiting old flame in 'Baby Sit-Com'. Presumably he permanently left town for his next music gig. Mary then moved on to date Matt (Bradford Dillman) in 'You Certainly Are a Big Boy'. Matt nervously proposed, but Mary gently suggested they simply continue dating. Matt was never mentioned again.
Dan returned for one episode in season three. He and Mary had apparently drifted apart and Dan got engaged. He quickly breaks his engagement and starts dating Mary again, but she rejects his offer of marriage. Soon afterwards, in 'A Remembrance of Things Past', we learn Mary's one true love, the guy that REALLY broke her heart, was the never before mentioned Tom Vernon (Joseph Campanella). Forget Dan, Mary is tempted by Tom again. Now, this is a different guy from Bill, the fiancé of two years that she broke with in 'Love is All Around' at the start of the series. But by the next episode 'Put on a Happy Face', Tom Vernon is forgotten. Here Mary is on the phone to Dan, who we learn has to go out of town.
Early in season four Mary hired new sportscaster Andy Rivers (John Gabriel) and immediately starts dating him (dating her subordinate at work?) Andy, who was nice but dull, is briefly glimpsed in five episodes in seasons four and five. Andy is often seen to be dating Mary, though between these dates she saw other guys. In early season five Mary dates a gorgeous ski instructor in 'Not Just Another Pretty Face', and a sportscaster from a rival station in 'WJM Tries Harder'. Mary then has a romance with Mike (John Saxon) in 'Menage-a-Phyllis'. Mike goes back to his ex-wife at the end of the episode.
Last and worst was Joe Warner (Ted Bessell) in season six. They have a serious romance in 'Mary Richards Falls in Love' but he never says 'I love you'. We later learn Joe is still seeing other women aside from Mary, but she apparently agrees to continue dating him. Joe was a pretty unappealing character, yet they soon brought him back for 'One Boyfriend Too Many'. Now Joe is Mary's true love and devoted beau, who gets jealous when Dan returns. It is explained Dan had left town and broke Mary's heart (ignoring the reality that she had rejected his offer of marriage). Mary ditches Dan and at the end of the episode melts in the arms of her true love Joe. Like what happened with Dan, there's one reference in a later episode to Joe briefly going out of town, after which he is never mentioned again.
To be fair there are boyfriends where it is pretty clear that romance ended pretty quickly, like episodes 'WJM Tries Harder', 'Anyone Who Hates Kids and Dogs' (things blow up when Mary suggests she doesn't like the guy's son), 'But Seriously, Folks' (her beau played by Jerry van Dyke comes off as a bit of a loser so it is not hard to believe the romance quickly died).
But back to this episode. The romance fizzles. Just like with Lou's date with Rhoda, they decide they are friends not lovers. But they still go their separate ways right after...
The story is not very plausible and doesn't really work. You can really see the series has exhausted its situations as the comedy bits they try (Murray would LOVE to date Mary for instance) have all been done before - sometimes in multiple episodes.
The dating episodes were always my least favourite. Some dates end in disaster which is fine. However, some episodes end on a happy note with the promise the romance will continue, yet rarely is the guy ever seen or mentioned again. This happened as early as season one's '1040 or Fight'. Once you spot this routine, it makes it hard to get invested in the next guy: you figure he'll never be mentioned again.
There were a few exceptions, but when they tried to explore an enduring romance or a returning beau, the continuity was usually quite clunky. Dan (Michael Tolan) was Mary's boyfriend in three episodes. His first episode in season two ended on a happy note but he was then forgotten. Mary soon got lovey-dovey with a visiting old flame in 'Baby Sit-Com'. Presumably he permanently left town for his next music gig. Mary then moved on to date Matt (Bradford Dillman) in 'You Certainly Are a Big Boy'. Matt nervously proposed, but Mary gently suggested they simply continue dating. Matt was never mentioned again.
Dan returned for one episode in season three. He and Mary had apparently drifted apart and Dan got engaged. He quickly breaks his engagement and starts dating Mary again, but she rejects his offer of marriage. Soon afterwards, in 'A Remembrance of Things Past', we learn Mary's one true love, the guy that REALLY broke her heart, was the never before mentioned Tom Vernon (Joseph Campanella). Forget Dan, Mary is tempted by Tom again. Now, this is a different guy from Bill, the fiancé of two years that she broke with in 'Love is All Around' at the start of the series. But by the next episode 'Put on a Happy Face', Tom Vernon is forgotten. Here Mary is on the phone to Dan, who we learn has to go out of town.
Early in season four Mary hired new sportscaster Andy Rivers (John Gabriel) and immediately starts dating him (dating her subordinate at work?) Andy, who was nice but dull, is briefly glimpsed in five episodes in seasons four and five. Andy is often seen to be dating Mary, though between these dates she saw other guys. In early season five Mary dates a gorgeous ski instructor in 'Not Just Another Pretty Face', and a sportscaster from a rival station in 'WJM Tries Harder'. Mary then has a romance with Mike (John Saxon) in 'Menage-a-Phyllis'. Mike goes back to his ex-wife at the end of the episode.
Last and worst was Joe Warner (Ted Bessell) in season six. They have a serious romance in 'Mary Richards Falls in Love' but he never says 'I love you'. We later learn Joe is still seeing other women aside from Mary, but she apparently agrees to continue dating him. Joe was a pretty unappealing character, yet they soon brought him back for 'One Boyfriend Too Many'. Now Joe is Mary's true love and devoted beau, who gets jealous when Dan returns. It is explained Dan had left town and broke Mary's heart (ignoring the reality that she had rejected his offer of marriage). Mary ditches Dan and at the end of the episode melts in the arms of her true love Joe. Like what happened with Dan, there's one reference in a later episode to Joe briefly going out of town, after which he is never mentioned again.
To be fair there are boyfriends where it is pretty clear that romance ended pretty quickly, like episodes 'WJM Tries Harder', 'Anyone Who Hates Kids and Dogs' (things blow up when Mary suggests she doesn't like the guy's son), 'But Seriously, Folks' (her beau played by Jerry van Dyke comes off as a bit of a loser so it is not hard to believe the romance quickly died).
But back to this episode. The romance fizzles. Just like with Lou's date with Rhoda, they decide they are friends not lovers. But they still go their separate ways right after...
helpful•94
- Rrrobert
- Apr 15, 2020
Details
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content