50th Anniversary Viewing (Part 2)
Ironside
"Set-Up: Danger!"
Originally aired October 24, 1974
Wiki said:
A mobster kidnaps Ironside with the intention of proving his niece was murdered by a rival criminal's [younger brother].
I think they're not even trying with the titles at this point. Ed returns to the Cave to find the Chief and the van gone and unable to be reached. Subtle signs left that nobody else would know the significance of clue the team in that he had two visitors and left without resistance. The team brings in Lt. Jim Crutcher (Casey is everywhere!) to help investigate. (There are references to "the department" being "over there," and Crutcher drives to the Cave, which suggests that the Cave isn't above police HQ, or they've forgotten at this point that it is.)
The van is found at a train station with a decoy posing as the Chief (uncredited Lee Miller). More subtle clues left in the van indicate that the Chief's true destination was LAX. The real Chief is taken by Eric Roman (Rudy Solari looking unrecognizable in curly hair and a beard) and Marty Simmons (Gary Crosby) to see Bruno Roman (Barry Sullivan), whom the Chief is said to have driven out of the country, which got him promoted from lieutenant to captain; though the Chief considers him the one that got away. Roman wants Ironside to investigate the murder of his niece, Selma (Cynthia Lane), whose body the Chief examines in a walk-in cooler. The Romans believe that rival Jack Phelps, with whom Bruno was discussing a merger, is involved, and indicate that Selma had been seeing Phelps's younger brother, Max, until Bruno put a stop to it.
A matchbook left in a rental car at LAX provides more clues for the team, including Roman's involvement and the name of a restaurant. Simmons takes the Chief to the motel room where Selma had been meeting Max, questioning Simmons about how he found the body there. He then has Simmons take him to the restaurant, which Ed and Fran just happen to walk into as the Chief is there. He leaves a message and clues at the table, indicating that it has to do with Selma Roman. When the Chief returns to Roman's place, Jack Phelps (John Vernon) is there, outraged that Roman has involved a cop. The Chief describes how he's surmised that Selma was approached from behind by someone she trusted, who strangled her with a scarf and killed her while she was lying face-down on the bed, though Simmons says that he found her on her back. With Simmons having been Selma's suitor of her father's choice, the Chief narrows down the suspects to Eric, Marty, and the not-present Max.
The Chief is taken to Camp Pendleton, where Max Phelps (Michael Richardson) is serving as a Marine corporal. His non-alibi is that he was drinking alone and AWOL the night of the murder; and things he tells Ironside bring to light that Eric was enabling Selma to see Max after Bruno thought they'd been cut off. Ed and Mark, posing as MPs, use a vehicle inspection as an opportunity to exchange messages with the Chief. Max tries to call the Chief to tell him something while the Romans are listening in, and the Chief arranges a rendezvous instead...Max fearing that what he has to tell could ignite gangland violence.
Bruno and Jack Phelps are together and allowed to listen via wire as the Chief talks to Max on a pier...the crime lords planning to shoot both of them if they try to make a move. The Chief shares how he deduced from some of the physical evidence, involving a piece of jewelry that Max gave Selma, that he was innocent. And the Chief shares his deduction, made somewhere along the way, that Eric was cooking the Roman books, robbing Bruno blind. Eric ascends the side of the pier in a frogman outfit and trains a gun at the Chief and Max, but is stopped by Ed; following which the police swoop in and nab both of the mob leaders. Marty offers to serve as a witness to Eric's shenanigans.
Shazam!
"The Boy Who Said 'No'"
Originally aired October 26, 1974
Wiki said:
Mentor is hit over the head and robbed. Young Larry Burns knows that it was Ron Craig who robbed Mentor, but is threatened that he had better keep quiet, or else...
Larry Burns (Todd Gross) bikes out from his family ranch to go fishing. Nearby, after Billy leaves the van to get groceries, Ron Craig (Andrew Rubin) sneaks into it from his waiting car. Larry comes upon Ron leaving the van, and the elder Ron warns Larry not to say anything. Larry hears Mentor coming to as Billy returns, tries to split, and won't talk about what he saw. The Elders then call, talking about addressing concerns with proper action and (from Hercules) about snowballs turning into avalanches. Billy and Mentor initially translate this into "call the cops"; but stewing on it afterward, Billy decides that he needs to find Larry, who may be in trouble. Meanwhile, Larry runs into a couple of bike-riding friends (Dermott Downs and Brian Williams) at a park and spills all to them...while Ron conveniently watches from afar. The other kids discourage Larry from sharing with the police.
Ron catches up to Larry in his car and leans on the boy for what he told his friends...but bugs out when the van approaches. Billy and Mentor give Larry a ride back to the ranch, where they fill his mother (Selette Cole) in on what's been going on. After her husband (Lew Brown) gets home, the parents question Larry, but he remains mum...all while Ron watches again. When Mrs. Burns catches Ron sneaking around, he asks to see Larry, but Larry splits on his bike. Mr. and Mrs. Burns soon deduce that Ron's the motorhome robber, and Ron strongarms Mr. Burns into giving him a getaway ride in the Burnscopter...though Lew Brown looks like he could handle a scrawny punk like Ron. Larry rides to tell Billy and Mentor, who are playing chess at a picnic table (cultural quota check), about what he saw and how he thinks his parents may be in danger. Billy goes to "contact" Captain Marvel, and after being filled in by Mrs. Burns, pursues the chopper...pulling it down to the ground by one of its landing struts despite Mr. Burns's compliant efforts to take it back up. Larry hops out of the chopper and commandeers the nearby van, using his amazing powers of unarmed intimidation to force Mentor into giving him a getaway ride. Cap lands on the van, secures his feet under a luggage rack bar, and stops the van by grabbing a tunnel entrance. The police swoop in, Cap gives Larry a little talk about how he could have saved everyone a lot of trouble if he'd come clean in the first place, and Ron apologizes for his role, claiming that things got out of hand and he didn't intend to hurt anyone.
Cap: Hi. You know, some day you may see somebody do something wrong, just as Larry did today. If you don't know what to do about it, just remember, when a problem has you stumped, it's a good idea to talk it over with a grown-up you can trust. It could save you a lot of trouble in the long run. See you next week!
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
"A New Sue Ann"
Originally aired October 26, 1974
Wiki said:
Sue Ann is charmed when a hometown acquaintance of Mary's comes on as an assistant to her show. But things turn ugly when the young woman dates the station manager and aims for Sue Ann's job.
It's still snowy in Minneapolis as Mary, Murray, and Georgette return to Mary's after wedding present shopping for--
DING!DING!DING!--Rhoda! (First mention of the season.) Mary receives an unexpected visit from Gloria Munson (Linda Kelsey), the cute, perky younger sister of a high school classmate named Carla whom Mary doesn't remember. Gloria's looking for help breaking into television, and Mary agrees to show her around the station, where Sue Ann goes to Lou looking for advice for getting the station manager off her back about making changes to her show. Lou begins to suggest that she'd have to appeal to his carnal side, and while he stops himself, she's happy to entertain the suggestion. When Gloria comes in, she gushes in hero worship of Sue Ann, who gets her a position as her stand-in and assistant. When station manager Ed Schroeder (Ron Rifkin) visits the set to lean on Sue Ann some more, Gloria makes a suggestion about adding an exercise segment, which Schroeder wants her to appear in. Soon a threatened Sue Ann tells Mary how Gloria is seeing the station manager, underscoring that it's how she got her job in the first place (presumably with a different manager).
Sue Ann subsequently shows up at Mary's, who's having dinner with Georgette, to inform her that Schroeder has given Gloria another new segment on the
Happy Homemaker show.
Georgette: Why is Mr. Schroeder giving her her own baking spot on your show?
Sue Ann: I don't know, dear. Perhaps he has a weakness for tarts.
Sue Ann expresses her concern that Gloria is threatening to take over her show completely. Back at the station, Schroeder invites the newsroom crew to a party on the
Happy Homemaker set, where Sue Ann seems suspiciously accommodating in handing out baked appetizers while going out of her way to credit Gloria for them. Contrary to expectations, Schroeder announces that WJM's shows don't need a single star--a proposition to which Ted, heretofore in kissing-up mode, takes vocal exception. After the party, the news crew start to experience stomach issues...then receive a visit.
Sue Ann: Good news, people...I think we got food poisoning.
It comes to light that Sue Ann deliberately let the cream-filled appetizers sit out under the studio lights, though she herself ate them and has contracted the poisoning, "for the good of the show." More importantly, Schroeder has also been affected.
Sue Ann: As I said to Gloria just now, bending down to where she was lying under the sink, "If you can't stand the heat, dear, get out of my kitchen."
Ted seems to be the only one unaffected, but it catches up with him on camera as he's starting to read a statement from President Ford.
In the next day's coda, everyone's recovered in time for Lou and Murray to drive Mary to the airport for the wedding. This is all setting up
Rhoda's one-hour episode "Rhoda's Wedding," which will air two nights later and guest-star most of the MTM cast (including Phyllis and Georgette but excluding Ted and Sue Ann). I don't remember any details of the episode, if I even saw it in the day, but as Mary's supposed to be the only one going, I'm assuming that the others becoming guests is a circumstantial thing.
The Bob Newhart Show
"Dr. Ryan's Express"
Originally aired October 26, 1974
Wiki said:
When Carol is away again, Jerry hires an incompetent temp.
Bob's holding an over-60 group session, which includes recurring Mr. Edgar Vickers, one-timers Mrs. Chaney (Maxine Stuart) and Mrs. Della Vella (Paula Victor), and--setting a pattern--Elliot Carlin sitting in to bask in the superiority of relative youth. Carol is going out of state to attend a funeral, and Bob leaves it up to Jerry to hire a temp, despite his having a poor track record in that area. After an apartment subplot of Emily having gotten new drapes for the sliders that are both overpriced and a foot or so too short, Bob returns to the office the next day to find that Jerry's hired Debbie Flett (Shirley O'Hara reprising her role from last season's "T.S. Elliot," which explains the repetitiveness of the premise), who brings back her comedic incompetence and habit of referring to Bob by the titular name. Bob insists that Jerry let her go after she puts in her day.
When Bob gets home, he finds that the drape installers' solution was to lower the curtain bar, now leaving the top of the sliders exposed. Jerry comes by drunk, putting off letting Debbie go. Bob puts him on the phone with the agency and makes him inform them; but Jerry identifies himself as Dr. Hartley. The next day, Bob finds Debbie at her desk, as her disqualifications extend to not paying her phone bill. Bob's hosting another session of the over-60 group when Debbie comes in after having heard from the agency, bewildered that she was fired by a Dr. Hartley (even though the name is on Bob's door). After the others fill her in on who that is, she ends up joining the group, with Bob becoming the center of attention as the others come up with sympathetic ways of dealing with Debbie's shortcomings. Bob rehires her, and she proceeds to bring in coffee...one cup at a time.
In the coda, Bob is relieved at coming in to find Carol at her desk and calling him Dr. Hartley. When the drapery service calls, Bob is happy to give them a reference for Debbie.
The best bit of Debbie business is when, following one of her blunders, she asks, "Where did I put my brain this morning?" and then immediately starts rummaging around her desk looking for something.
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