Operation: Lou

Lou Grant is bypassed by the television station manager, who assigned Mary Richards the task of giving the "Six O'Clock News" a new look. Lou has his doubts about the wisdom of changing the show's format, but Mary plunges ahead with bold plans for giving the show a lighter, more informal look. Her fatal mistake is her decision that the show should have two anchormen, which infuriates Ted Baxter, who is reluctant to share the spotlight with Mary's choice for the job – Gordy Howard, the weatherman.

A local newspaper columnist, who Lou is convinced loves to destroy people’s reputations, interviews Mary about being the only woman in the newsroom at WJM.

Lou’s promotion to program manager leaves Murray in charge of the newsroom, a task which (it is quickly apparent!) he is totally unqualified to handle.

Mrs. Morgenstern, Rhoda's mother, pays another visit to Minneapolis, and this time, brings her husband along. After a few days, Mrs. Morgenstern tells Rhoda and Mary that her marriage is on the rocks. Convinced that her husband is seeing another woman, Mrs. Morgenstern moves in with Rhoda and Mary. The girls, however, are certain it's all a misunderstanding and are determined to get the couple back together again.

A snowstorm keeps Lou Grant from joining some gambling pals in Las Vegas, so he insists Mary set up a poker game at the station, even if the only round table in the building is on the set of a kiddie program. Mary hurriedly rounds up Gordy, the weatherman, Ted Baxter and Pat, the bartender, but for some strange reason has a hard time getting Murray Slaughter to join the group. When Mary finds out why, she's in big trouble with Murray's wife.

Rhoda has lost twenty pounds and looks great, but inside she still feels fat. Mary is determined to help Rhoda realize how attractive she has become. Just when it looks like Rhoda is losing the game psychologically, her ego gets a tremendous boost when she is picked as a candidate for beauty queen of Hempel's Department store.

Dotty and her recently retired husband, Dr. Walt Richards, move to a home in town to be near their only daughter. Mary is delighted to see her parents, but when they find a place to live right around the corner, and start planning her evenings and weekends, Mary calls on Rhoda for advice on how to turn off over-solicitous parents.

When writer Wes Callison quits his job at the station writing for Chuckles the Clown, Mary tries to help him develop a five minute humorous spot on the news show, but it fails. Wes decides to try out a comedy routine at a small nightclub and invites Mary, Lou, Murray, Ted and Rhoda. Mary and her friends do the best they can in the audience, but Wes is a flop and decides to return to writing for Chuckles.

Ted Baxter tricks Lou Grant into giving him an exclusive contract as newscaster, and suddenly starts appearing in commercials on several local stations. Lou calls a halt to Ted's extracurricular activities, however, when he does a commercial on his own news show. Lou gives Ted a choice: give up doing commercials in exchange for a small salary increase, or take a punch in the nose. Ted takes the salary increase.

Mary's favorite couple, both long-time friends, are splitting up, and it looks as if Mary is going to be the other woman in a love triangle. When Jack Foster asks Mary to go out to dinner with him after his separation, Mary thinks he just wants a friend to talk with, but soon discovers he wants to be much more than friends.

Mary Richards' parents are having a difficult time adjusting to their new home in the city. Mary's father misses his old chums and Mary tries to help him make new friends. Mary takes her father to lunch with Lou Grant, but the two have nothing in common. Mary decides she will invite her father to have dinner with her so they can talk it over. A family crisis arises, however, when Mary has to tell her mother that the dinner invitation doesn't include her.

When young Bess Lindstrom's boyfriend meets Mary Richards, he falls madly in love with her, and the generation gap has never before seemed so wide. Young William Campbell, plays hooky from school to visit Mary in the newsroom, using the excuse that he has been assigned to do a story for his school newspaper. It isn't until much later that Mary realizes his friendly manner is based on something more like a severe teen-age crush than just friendship and, by this time, Bess has begun to think of Mary as the "other woman."

Lou checks into a hospital for minor surgery and puts Mary in charge of the newsroom while he's gone. While trying to do a good job in Lou's absence, Mary overdoes it a bit in correcting Murray's copy, which puts a strain on their relationship. And Ted is driving Lou up the wall with his daily visits to the hospital.

Rhoda comes back from a vacation in New York to announce that she has accepted a job in New York and plans to leave within the week. At first, Mary doesn't take Rhoda's plans seriously. When Rhoda quits her job, starts packing and shows her apartment to prospective renters, Mary realizes she has only a few days to talk Rhoda out of moving. Finally accepting the inevitable, Mary plans a surprise farewell party for Rhoda.

Mary meets an old boyfriend in a crowded elevator as he's taking his new fiancée to get a marriage license. This unexpectedly sets off a chain of events which puts Mary in the role of the "other woman." Dan Whitefield, professor of television journalism at the university, insists Mary come to the engagement party he and his fiancée are giving - which brings out some qualities in his would-be bride he never dreamed existed.

When Lou buys a popular neighborhood bar and begins to lose customers, he decides it is because he does not have the proper personality for a boniface. His forced efforts to become a jovial extrovert lead to disaster – and the sale of the bar.

Phyllis Lindstrom has decided she wants her brother to marry Mary. Mary is giving a party, which suits Phyllis' plan perfectly, since she intends for her brother, Ben, to fall in love with Mary. But Ben ruins the plan by going for Rhoda instead.

Ted Baxter's romance with Georgette, the ding-a-ling blonde he met at Mary's party, seems to be getting serious. Mary feels partly responsible, since she brought the couple together. She and Rhoda think Ted is taking Georgette too much for granted. They take Georgette to dinner for a heart-to-heart talk, and afterwards, Ted finds himself confronted by a "liberated" girlfriend.

Rhoda's boyfriend arranges a date for Mary with Warren Sturges, who begins a whirlwind campaign to win Mary's hand in marriage. Mary tries to avoid Warren, but he pops up everywhere she goes, even renting a giant billboard across from her office to proclaim his love. Warren disappears for a few days, but appears again at a restaurant where Mary and her date are dining. Mary promptly starts to tell Warren off, and when a cake arrives with "Will you marry me?" written on it, she spoils it by writing "No" in the icing with her finger. Mary's date abandons her when Warren introduces his new girlfriend, the one for whom the cake was actually intended.

Lou Grant is in big trouble. Not only is his new boss at the television station a woman, but she thinks she's in love with him. The new program director Barbara Coleman's frequent meetings with Lou lead to a bad case of attraction on her part. Lou talks to Mary, and Mary talks to Barbara about how much Lou is in love with his wife, but nothing seems to ward off a showdown which could cost Lou his job or his marriage.

Murray Slaughter becomes depressed when he learns a former writing classmate has won a Pulitzer Prize in journalism while Murray is still writing one-syllable words for Ted Baxter to mispronounce. Mary Richards and Lou Grant try to talk Murray out of his depression, but he seems determined to either quit or get Lou to fire him. Then Ted Baxter pitches in and takes Murray out on one of Ted's typical "bachelor nights on the town."

Problems develop when one of Mary Richards' ex-boyfriends returns to town. Mary discovers the flames of an old love can be difficult to extinguish, and she finds herself getting romantically involved again – against her better judgment. Tom Vernon is the charming but irresponsible man who broke Mary's heart before and threatens to do it again unless her friends can rally around to save her from herself.

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.

Rhoda Morgenstern's green thumb and her incredible ability to restore all her friends' dying plants back to life convince her that she should get out of the fashion window and into the house-plant scene. Mary helps back Rhoda's new venture with money she was saving for a new car. It looks like a good investment because Rhoda's business flourishes; but Rhoda is so busy she forgets to repay the loan for a while, putting a strain on her friendship with Mary.