Phyllis persuades Ted to stand for local government. Ted agrees and goes so far as to quit his job at WJM-TV.

Lou is closing in on fifty and today is his birthday. Mary can't stand the thought of the now-separated Lou celebrating his birthday all alone, so she arranges a surprise party for him. That evening, she invites Lou over for a drink and the doorbell rings just as he tells her how much he appreciated her not throwing an office party for him that afternoon. Gordy is at the door with an envelope...full of hats. Others are out in the hallway, too. Lou is furious and tries to get out using the back door...but there is no back door. Mary asks Lou's permission to invite Murray in. He enters, miffed at Lou's actions. Next Rhoda, and finally Ted, get to come in. Lou admits that he hates displays of affection...then reluctantly agrees to let the remainder of the guests in. While they all file in, he files out and down to MacKluskey's bar where....they throw a surprise party for him. Later he returns to Mary's place to apologize...evidently the guests opened his gifts (at Ted's urging) and they a

Ted joins Mary at a night-school class in creative writing, and winds up plagiarizing her assignment.

Lou finally loses his temper with Ted when he endorses a political candidate on The Six O'clock News and throws him through the office doors. Lou feels guilty, and Ted takes advantage of him.

Lou begins seeing a cocktail lounge singer but becomes uncomfortable about her past.

A young fan, Gloria, persuades Sue Ann to hire her for The Happy Homemaker. Sue Ann is less than pleased when Gloria plays up to the station manager and gets a larger role on the show at the expense of her own.

Mary and Sue Ann go to a convention in Chicago and Mary finds out that Sue Ann leads a lonely life.

Ted is shocked when he finds out his mother does not intend to marry her boyfriend, but will live with him.

Mary doesn't feel she deserves the title of producer and asks Lou that she be given the chance to produce The Six O'clock News alone.

Lou wins the Albert Mason Award, which he had once said was for broadcasting veterans who couldn't chew their own food.

Mary, wanting some change in her life, makes the decision to move to a new apartment.

Murray realizes that he's always been in love with Mary and wants desperately to tell her.

Mary's high-flying journalist aunt comes for a visit, and Lou finds that he has a rival in her.

Chuckles the Clown is crushed to death by a rogue elephant in a parade, which leaves all the newsroom staff in hysterics except Mary.

Out of pity for Ted, Mary invites him & Georgette over for brunch. While he as an onion ring in his mouth, he proposes to Georgette...again. When, for the first time, Georgette says no, she & Ted have a talk and decide they want to get married now. They invite all their friends: Lou, Murray (with mud on his sweatshirt from his son's football game), and Sue Ann (who, in a spectacularily comedic enterance, brings a veil, flowers, and rice, among several other things). Ted's mom can't make it (she's washing her hair), but the incompetent minister comes straight from his tennis match. Best man Lou helps Ted calm his wedding day jitters. When the minister asks Ted if he takes Georgette to be his lawfully wedded wife, he pauses for a moment. Finally, with a smile on his face, he says, ""I do."" When they are pronounced husband & wife, Sue Ann sings the wedding march...very poorly, of course. Once the wedding ends and Lou, Murray, & Sue Ann leave, Ted asks, as if nothing had happened,

Lou meets up with a woman who had sent him a 'Dear John' letter during World War II but is disappointed to learn her motives for doing so.

Sue Ann gets Mary to ask Lou out on a date on her behalf. Lou accepts, not realizing who Mary's 'friend' is.

Mary's old flame Dan Whitfield, who once proposed to her, returns to Minneapolis and she's forced to choose between him and her current boyfriend.

Murray is unhappy with the new station owner's policies and tells him off over the phone one evening. However, the station owner fires him the following day.

Mary's Aunt Flo and Lou both prepare competing ideas for a TV documentary.

Georgette gives birth at Mary's dinner party. With the hospital and doctor too far away, Lou and Mary help deliver the baby.

Sue Ann becomes deeply depressed when her sister arrives and gets an offer to do a competing homemaker show in Minneapolis.

Mary hires a new sportscaster who refuses to cover any sports but swimming and is faced with the prospect of firing her.

Lou realizes that he has feelings for Mary's Aunt Flo, a journalist with a similar pride and passion in the news profession.

Lou learns from a source on the Teddy Award's panel that Murray will finally win an award for his news writing.

Mary is having trouble sleeping and resorts to pills, which has Lou concerned that she's become addicted to them.

A pompous but renowned critic is hired to provoke controversy on The Six O'Clock News, but the newsroom thinks he has gone too far when he begins attacking Minneapolis and its residents.

Ted and Georgette successfully audition for their own variety show, which becomes a big hit, but Georgette eventually finds that she would prefer being a wife and mother.

Ted offers Murray $200 to write an article on his behalf. The article becomes a success, but Ted refuses to share the credit with Murray.

Mary has another disastrous date and worries she'll never meet the right man, until Georgette points out that every quality she seeks can be found in Lou Grant.

WJM-TV has some personnel changes in the executive department (again), and everyone except Ted Baxter is fired. The new station manager wants to see the WJM News the highest-ranked in Minneapolis, and for some reason feels that Ted can help him make it happen. (Seems a little odd, eh?) The gang says goodbye to each other in the form of a long, hard cry. Mary thanks them all for being her surrogate family, and Lou finally sentimentally says, ""I cherish you people."" They bravely march out the office doors singing, ""It's a long, long way to Tipperary."" At the last moment, Mary leans back through through the WJM-TV doors and turns out the light.

So long, WJM-TV.