The Mary Tyler Moore Show: Season 2
Season 2 Lore Primer
Key plot threads, lore context, and character stakes you need to remember before diving into this season.
- Directly follows the overarching narrative developments of The Mary Tyler Moore Show Season 1.
- Faction dynamics and core character alliances shift under escalating external stakes.
- Crucial mysteries introduced previously reach key turning points and narrative reckonings.
- Sets up serialized story arcs that build directly toward the climactic season finale.
Episode Guide
Season 2 Progress Shield
The Bird and ...Um ...Bess
Sep 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 youn
I Am Curious Cooper
Sep 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.
He's No Heavy . . . He's My Brother
Oct 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.
Room 223
Oct 9, 1971
Mary and Rhoda enroll in a night school course in journalism and Mary begins dating the lecturer.
A Girl's Best Mother Is Not Her Friend
Oct 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'
Cover Boy
Oct 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 EV
Didn't You Used to Be . . . Wait . . . Don't Tell Me
Oct 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 peop
Thoroughly Unmilitant Mary
Nov 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 a
And Now, Sitting in for Ted Baxter
Nov 13, 1971
Ted is forced to take a vacation and the anchorman hired to sit in for him becomes a huge success.
Don't Break the Chain
Nov 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
The Six-and-a-Half-Year Itch
Nov 27, 1971
Mary, Rhoda and Lou go to a John Wayne movie, where they spot Lou's son-in-law with an unknown woman.
. . . Is a Friend in Need
Dec 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,
The Square-Shaped Room
Dec 11, 1971
When Edie is out of town, Lou hires Rhoda to redecorate his living room. However, Rhoda's tastes are too modern.
Ted Over Heels
Dec 18, 1971
After Ted appears on the Chuckles the Clown Show, he falls in love with Chuckles' daughter.
The Five-Minute Dress
Jan 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.
Feeb
Jan 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.
The Slaughter Affair
Jan 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'
Baby Sit-Com
Jan 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
More Than Neighbors
Jan 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.
The Care and Feeding of Parents
Feb 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.
Where There's Smoke, There's Rhoda
Feb 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.
You Certainly Are a Big Boy
Feb 19, 1972
Mary begins dating an architect and is astonished to learn that his son is only six years younger than she is.
Some of My Best Friends Are Rhoda
Feb 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 d
His Two Right Arms
Mar 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 even