The Mary Tyler Moore Show S04E05 - Hi There, Sports Fans

In this episode Dick Gautier guest stars briefly as Ed Cavenaugh, a sleazy sportscaster. Have a look at his website at Dick Gautier.com. Gordon Jump, later of MTM Enterprises' "WKRP" is seen for a few minutes playing one of the sportscaster applicants. When Ted asks Mary to order tweezers and other assorted supplies for his personal use, she gets more than a little flustered and asks Lou to give her something challenging to do. At the drop of a hat, he assigns her the task of hiring a new sportscaster...and firing the old one. In order to let Ed Cavenaugh down easy, she invites him to lunch and he tries to mesmerize her with his suavity with the opposite sex. Then Mary learns a lesson: don't fire the current sportscaster until you've hired another one. After days of screening applicants, listening to demo tapes and perusing their eight-by-ten glossies, she decides on Andy Rivers. On the night of Andy's first broadcast, Mary once again gets a case of the blues when all Andy has to say on the air are three football scores. Her melancholy lapses once more when Andy invites her to dinner. "Careful!", Ted warns him..."that's how she fired the last guy." Check out Ted's fantastic conquistador boots gimmick, which seems to be good for livening up one or two scenes! Classic Lou/Mary talk, wherein he tells her that we live on a planet the size of a pin, and are specks of dust waiting to be blown away. This average episode of MTMS was far better than most shows' best episodes.