The iconic theme song asks: "Who can turn the world on with her smile? Who can take a nothing day and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile?" Mary Richards can! She caps off the opening credits with her signature hat toss.
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In the pilot, Mary interviews at WJM and meets Lou Grant for the first time. When Mary calls him out for asking personal questions that don't have anything to do with the job, he tells her, "You've got spunk. I hate spunk." Mary gets the associate producer job, though! It seems she's going to make it after all.
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As Rhoda tells us in her spinoff's opening credits, "I decided to move out of the house when I was 24. My mother still refers to this as the time I ran away from home. Eventually, I ran to Minneapolis where it's cold and I figured I'd keep better. Now I'm back in Manhattan. New York, this is your last chance."
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In "Chuckles Bites the Dust," perhaps the funniest episode about death in television history, the newsroom attends the funeral for the station's clown. When the others crack jokes, Mary tells them that this is not a laughing matter. When it comes time for the eulogy, though, she can't stop herself from cracking up.
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Pass the tissues! After the new station manager fires everyone but Ted, Mary tells her WJM family, "I just wanted you to know that sometimes I get concerned about being a career woman. I get to thinking my job is too important to me, and I tell myself that the people I work with are just the people I work with and not my family. And last night, I thought, 'What is a family, anyway?' They're just people who make you feel less alone ... and really loved. And that's what you've done for me. Thank you for being my family."
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