The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Better Late . . . That's a Pun . . . Than Never
TV Flash files “Better Late . . . That's a Pun . . . Than Never” as hour 92 of 168 in the TV Flash guide — The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970–1977) on CBS, season 4, episode 20, aired 1974-02-02, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S04E20: listed hour 92 of 168 in the The Mary Tyler Moore Show guide, hour 20 of 24 in season 4. It aired 1974-02-02 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Best of Enemies” (S04E19). Next is “Ted Baxter Meets Walter Cronkite” (S04E21).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
To relieve her boredom, Mary jokingly writes a humorous obituary of one of the people in the WJM-TV file. Coincidentally, the same person dies the following day and the obituary is read on the air. Lou has no choice but to suspend Mary, but she threatens to quit in response.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Better Late . . . That's a Pun . . . Than Never sit in the The Mary Tyler Moore Show guide?
S04E20 is listed hour 92 of 168 — hour 20 of 24 in season 4, season 4 episode 20.
When did The Mary Tyler Moore Show S04E20 air?
Better Late . . . That's a Pun . . . Than Never aired 1974-02-02 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Where should I start?
Love is All Around. The hat, the job interview, and the newsroom manners are the whole silhouette. If you only have two hours, add Chuckles Bites the Dust.
In the series
Why this series still plays
For the silhouette: a single working woman in newsroom wool who made competence look like glamour, an ensemble that dressed like adults, and a hat toss that is still the hardest launch in sitcom photography.
The first image is not a joke. It is a woman in a coat, a city that photographs cold, and a hat that leaves her hand as if it had a publicist. Love is All Around does not announce a feminist lecture. It announces a silhouette: Mary Richards as single working woman in a market that still wanted her married by the first commercial. The beret in the air is not cute. It is a premiere look that the rerun still steals. Style is the plot. The newsroom is the closet she will live in for seven seasons.
Filed against
- Mary Tyler Moore as Mary Richards
Mary Tyler Moore tossed her hat as Mary Richards and made the single working woman sitcom a second home — newsroom family without a lecture. Dick Van Dyke Show roots as Laura Petrie fed 1970s feminist milestone craft. On TV Flash she is…
- Ed Asner as Lou Grant
Ed Asner played Lou Grant on The Mary Tyler Moore Show — newsroom bark as affection, Minneapolis wool, a boss who could file a grievance with a growl. TV Flash files him as the ensemble's gravel center, the man who made competence look…
- Valerie Harper as Rhoda Morgenstern
Valerie Harper’s Rhoda Morgenstern made The Mary Tyler Moore Show a city friendship in newsroom-adjacent wool — Minneapolis as a fitting room for a new kind of leading lady, an ensemble that dressed like adults, a hat toss still sitcom…
- Ted Knight as Ted Baxter
Ted Knight’s Ted Baxter is The Mary Tyler Moore Show’s anchorman as a walking punchline in newsroom wool — Minneapolis as a fitting room for a new kind of leading lady, an ensemble that dressed like adults, a hat toss that is still sitcom…
- Betty White as Sue Ann Nivens
Betty White played sweet-as-pie Rose Nylund on The Golden Girls while building a seven-decade career as TV’s most beloved survivor — including Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. From early game-show sparkle to late-life meme…