Christmas and the Hard-Luck Kid II: The Mary Tyler Moore Show

It's time to look at Mary Richards's first working Christmas at WJM-TV in Minneapolis! 

via gifer

This episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show originally aired on December 19, 1970, in the show's first season. 

Who's ready for Christmas? Mary Richards is ready, that's who! I'm the kind of Christmas nut that truly appreciates her desk decor here; I admire it, even. I especially love that, aside from a few scattered decorations around the bullpen that you can tell she set up, nobody else even seems like they're in the Christmas spirit. 

At one point, Lou walks by her desk and tells her that the only thing she's missing is a train station. Then he asks if she's got the nativity stuffed in her desk drawer. She opens the drawer wordlessly. "That's incredible!" 

Anyways, she's on the phone with her mother going over Christmas plans: she'll drive up, but not too late at night so as not to worry her mother. 

She asks Lou about having Christmas off to drive home, and they go into his office to talk. He then spots the tiny Christmas tree she'd left on his desk. 

Then he breaks the news to her: she has to work on Christmas this year. "I better go call my mom," she says, dejected. "She's sentimental about Christmas." 

Lou mutters to himself, after she leaves, that he's worried three ghosts might visit him that night. 

Back at the house, Mary's decorating for Christmas, but Rhoda won't help: she just decorated an entire department store and she's Christmas'd out. 

Then Phyllis shows up with a few Christmas presents. She too is a Christmas nut ("Not just Christmas..." Rhoda mutters) and she's excited to show off what she bought and to hide her daughter's presents up here where she can't find them. 

Lest you think that's a doll for Phyllis's daughter, it's actual a gift for Lars the doctor... Lars told Phyllis that she could pick out her own present and she chose cash. 

Mary's sad about missing out on Christmas this year, saying it's not going to be the same. She tells Rhoda that on the drive up to her grandparents' house every year, they'd drive by a diner where lonely little old men would eat Christmas dinner alone, and now she's going to be one of them.

Rhoda says that she came to visit so as not to be depressed, and this snaps Mary out of her mood. They decide to celebrate Christmas together and exchange gifts. Rhoda asks Mary what she got her. "That's not how this works," Mary says. "I'm competitive," Rhoda reminds her. She just wants to make sure she gets Mary the better gift. 

Back at the station, everyone but the newsroom is at the company Christmas party, and Ted's bitter about it. Even Chuckles the Clown is drunk and merry. He sticks his head out into the hallway and yells, "Hey clown, you're not funny!" 

Turns out the newsroom can't, and won't, have a Christmas party because the year prior Ted got drunk and insulted the President on air. He was salty that he didn't get a Christmas greeting from him. 

That doesn't dampen the spirit though, with Murray and Mary exchanging gifts (even though they'd both agreed not to)...

...and Ted handing out records to everyone. It's an LP of his greatest hits over the past year: The Year in Review as told by Ted Baxter. "I'm surprised you needed an LP," Lou says.

Then Fred, a coworker, comes up to Mary's desk to guilt her into working on Christmas Eve as well as Christmas, because he's got a big family and he's never spent Christmas Eve with his children before. "I wouldn't ask you if you were going home to your family," but she's going to be alone anyways, so what's the harm? 

He really twists the knife, and Mary agrees even though she knows it wasn't a fair argument for him to make. She gets him to cover for her long enough to go home and slap together a sandwich. "I feel terrible about this," he tells her on her way home. "Good," she replies. 

Back at the house, Rhoda knocks and says that she can't come in yet because she had to stop and open the door first so that she could get the huge present she'd bought for Mary into the room. 

I love the wrapping paper, I have to say. 

Rhoda got her a state-of-the-art rotisserie, toaster oven and griddle, complete with a wrapped egg inside to cook with. Don't worry about her having spent a lot of money though, she got a 40% staff discount. 

Mary's gift to Rhoda is a little less extravagant, but she paid full price at least, which Rhoda loves. She also loves how it'll go with her new suit, and how she can wear it while Mary cooks a turkey in the new rotisserie. 

But then Mary drops the bomb that she has to work that night. "You get me all hyped up for Christmas Eve," she says, "and then you abandon me." 

Rhoda says that she'll see her later that night then, to which Mary replies "I'm working until midnight." 

"Then I'll see you tomorrow," Rhoda says. "I'm working tomorrow!" Mary wails.

"Well, have a Merry Christmas," Rhoda says, leaving. 

Mary eating her feelings. 

Back at the station, Mary and Murray watch Ted's last broadcast before Christmas. 

He's on the air reporting a Santa sighting from Alaska. "This is Ted Baxter saying Merry Christmas to you and yours from me and mine." 

Murray tells Mary that it's the only story Ted's ever written in his life, then gets ready to leave. Then he turns around and asks her why she let Fred guilt her into working. "They bought an aluminum tree this year!" he says, as if that justifies it. 

Lou's wrapping up his work, and he asks her to come into his office to get an envelope that was delivered for her there. It's from him, and it's her bonus. "I can't accept this," she demurs. "Sure you can," he says. "But a blank cheque?" 

He asks for it back. "All I have to do is fill in an amount here," he says, waffling for a few minutes as he tries to decide how much she's worth. 

Then he gets the card back, reseals the envelope, and gives it back to her. "Thank you, Mr. Grant." 

Lou tells her he doesn't want to know why she switched with Fred, because he doesn't want that responsibility in his head. She tries to tell him that it'll be fine, with the cleaning crew and the night watchmen, but he tells her they don't work on Christmas and she'll be totally alone in the building except for the security guard at the desk...12 floors down. 

"Take care of yourself," he says. 

And then Mary quickly finds out how boring the night shift can be. She watches Christmas specials and attempts ballet...

...until she hears a voice beckoning her. "Hello! Hello there!" 

"Hey Fred, you there?" the voice asks. She picks up the microphone, and it turns out it's Charlie. He's out at the transmitter. "You've heard of me?" 

"Oh yes, Charlie out at the transmitter!" 

They talk for a few minutes, and she wants to hear the joke he was going to tell Fred when he thought Fred was working, but when he confirms that she's a woman, he says, "I can't tell it to you." 

Then the telephone rings, but there's nobody on the other end of the line, which freaks her out. 

So she jams the chair under the handles to block herself in. Then she hears the elevator in operation and rings up Rhoda to say her goodbyes. "I can't call the police, what am I going to tell them, that I heard the elevator? I can't call them until the murderer gets off the elevator!" 

She hangs up and grabs her Santa to bludgeon any murderers, but...

...then Lou, Murray and Ted show up to surprise her. 

Rhoda calls back to check that Mary hasn't been murdered, and Ted answers the phone. "Are you the murderer?" he asks Mary. She finds out that they came to throw a Christmas party and wanted to invite her along. 

To say she's relieved is an understatement. She invites Rhoda to join them, and as they're getting ready to leave, Lou reminds them that Mary has to work until midnight and that if they leave early, she won't be there to answer the general manager's call. 

They all sit down at their desks to do some last-minute work while they wait for midnight, and that's Mary's first Christmas with the newsroom!

THE END!