Your Mental Sorbet: Rhoda's Wedding

Here is another "Mental Sorbet" that we could use to momentarily forget about those things that leave a bad taste in our mouths... Maybe this time you will still have a bad taste.

June is for weddings... Why not? Eight weeks into the series, on Monday, October 28, 1974, Rhoda and Joe are married in a special hour-long episode. Heavily publicized, the episode became one of the highest-rated events in 1970s television, even defeating the competing ABC ratings juggernaut, Monday Night Football. At the time of its airing the episode had the distinction of being the second most-watched television program in American history, surpassed only by the birth of Little Ricky on the 1950s comedy I Love Lucy. The episode was watched by more than 50 million Americans. It featured guest appearances by many of the main characters from The Mary Tyler Moore Show: Mary Richards (Mary Tyler Moore), Lou Grant (Edward Asner), Murray Slaughter (Gavin MacLeod), Georgette Franklin (Georgia Engel), and Phyllis Lindstrom (Cloris Leachman). (The only major characters who didn't attend were Ted Baxter and Sue Ann Nivens.)

In the Mary Tyler Moore show episode "The New Sue Ann," airing Saturday, Oct. 26, 1974, two days before Rhoda's Wedding, the characters frequently discuss Rhoda's upcoming event and buy wedding gifts. At the end of the episode Murray and Lou are leaving the TV station to drop off Mary at the airport. During Rhoda's Wedding it is revealed that on a lark they had all decided to fly to New York to surprise Rhoda. During the episode, Phyllis promises to pick up Rhoda at her sister's Manhattan apartment and drive her to her parents' apartment in the Bronx for the ceremony. The self-absorbed and forgetful Phyllis neglects to keep her promise, forcing Rhoda, unable to find another ride or a taxi, to take the subway in her wedding dress, run through the streets of the Bronx, and cross the Grand Concourse to dash into her parents' apartment building in one of the series' most memorable moments. Ida is furious with Phyllis, and threatens to kill her; Rhoda herself is just as furious with Phyllis, as is most everyone at the ceremony. The only one who forgives her is Georgette, who still warns Phyllis to get her tail out of the room when Rhoda arrives. The episode also features special closing credits, showing Rhoda running through the city streets in her wedding dress, and an altered theme song including passages from The Wedding March.

Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa