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Tensions mount and morale drops when a young consultant, hired by Lou Grant to boost the ratings, begins usurping Mary’s responsibilities and ordering changes in Ted’s on-the-air delivery and Murray’s copy.

Mary Richards agrees to baby-sit with Bess Lindstrom for a weekend but gets a phone call from a former boyfriend who says he’ll be in town for only one night. Mary calls several agencies, but no sitter is available. Rhoda Morgenstern can’t help because she already has a date. Mary finally calls her television newsroom boss, Lou Grant, to ask if he knows of anyone and, to her surprise, he volunteers for the job because his television set is broken and he wants to watch a big fight. Lou, however, finds that baby-sitting is a little more complicated than he first thought.

When the husband of Mary Richards’ next door neighbor Phyllis comes down with the chicken pox, Phyllis besieges Mary to allow their daughter Bess to stay with her until her father recovers. Several problems arise later to complicate matters between Mary and Bess when it turns out that Phyllis has always raised Bess according to the latest “How To Raise Your Child” psychology book, and Bess has been accustomed to an unlimited amount of freedom and self-expression. The child, however, soon admits that she would prefer a parent who exercises authority. Mary and little Bess become close friends, and when it is learned that her father does not have chicken pox, Bess does not want to return home.

Mary is nominated for an award for a show she produced, but from there on her luck seems to snowball downhill from bad to worse. She starts making mistakes at work, spills coffee on a new sweater, slips and sprains her ankle, has her best dress ruined by the cleaners and ends up attending the awards dinner with Ted Baxter after her date cancels out. She is announced the winner as producer of the best public affairs program, and with embarrassed apologies accepts the award limping on one foot, wearing a borrowed ill-fitting dress, sporting an unkempt hairdo, a false eyelash ornamenting her cheek and tears welling in her eyes.

When Ted Baxter learns that Mary is attending a night-school class in creative writing, he enrolls in the same course and insists on being introduced to the class.

Mary Richards’ friend, Rhoda, talks her into joining the “Better Luck Next Time” club so they will qualify for a group airline rate for a trip to Paris. The club appears to consist of divorced people ranging from squares to would-be swingers. One of the founders, a dentist named Dr. Udall, is taken by Mary’s beautiful teeth and before she can stop him engineers her election as club vice president. The following day Mary decides she must confess to Dr. Udall that she is not a divorcee and resign as vice president. The dentist is mortified, but tells her he will take care of the situation. At the next meeting, Mary follows the dentist’s instructions and informs the group she is reconciling with her husband. When this does not quite work, she decides to tell them the truth – and is amazed by their reaction.

Lou suffers an acute case of jealousy when an ex-girlfriend, whom he is still very fond of, arrives at Mary’s party with a male companion. Not about to take a back seat, Lou plots a counter-attack.

Mary’s new romance with a tall, dark and very handsome man seems to be progressing quite well until her friends convince her that she’s attracted to him only because he’s so attractive.