Season One
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Season One
Episode 6: "Pop Goes the Question"
The episode title is a combination of the children's song 'Pop Goes the Weasel' and the
phrase 'Pop the question.'
First aired October 14, 1974
Writers: Norman Barasch and Carroll Moore
Director: Robert Moore
Cast: Valerie Harper as Rhoda Morgenstern, David Groh as Joe Gerard,
Julie Kavner as Brenda Morgenstern, Harold Gould as Martin Morgenstern, Tom Atkins as Vic
Rhodes, Mary Tyler Moore as Mary Richards
Special Guest Stars:
Mary Tyler Moore is, of course, the star of TMTMS. Mary then headed up MTM
Enterprises, the company that produced 'Rhoda,' and other hit shows of the mid to late
seventies and early eighties (including 'The Bob Newhart Show' and many more).
Memorable Quotes:
Rhoda: "Okay Joe, I want to be married."
Pop: "Brenda, leave the room."
Bren: "Pop, I'm old enough to vote!"
Pop: "Then go somewhere and vote!"
How we rate it:
Sarah: 10
Suzie: 7
The Short Version: Joe convinces Rhoda to move in with him. She convinces him to marry her.
The Long Version: When Rhoda window dresses at a sporting goods store she meets the live version of the dummy she's dressing: Vic, a hockey player with the Rangers. He asks her out, but she tells him she's 'sort of' going with someone. Soon Rho starts wondering where her relationship with Joe is going. She consults with Brenda and decides to confront him about it. Vic asks her out again. She says no. Joe asks her to live with him. She talks with Brenda again and decides that her big problem with living with Joe is telling Ma, but she's resolved to do it. Rho goes to tell her parents she's going to live with Joe. Only Pop is home. He would prefer that Rho not go through with it, but he can accept it. He decides that he'll have to take Ma to Miami Beach or Niagara Falls to tell her, so that the sound of the water will block out what he says. Rho goes to Joe's. After a little hemming and hawing, she admits she really wants to get married, and not just live together. Joe agrees to marry her. In the final segment, Rho calls up Mary in Minneapolis during the middle of the night and tells her the good news.
Parallel of this to a later episode:
In the episode 55 "Two Little Words-- Marriage Counselor," Joe tells Rhoda that
she gave him the prospect of either marrying her or losing her. Given what happens in this
episode, this statement seems unfounded.
Firsts:
Rhoda is first faced with major problems in her relationship with Joe. She knows she
cannot just "see" Joe, she wants something more solid.
This is the first time we see the inside of Joe's apartment. Joe's apartment has a
typical 70s color scheme: lots of brown and tan with orange accents. Joe also has
an ashtray out, even though he doesn't smoke. Back in the seventies, it was
considered friendly to offer your smoking guests an ashtray, as opposed to today's
habit of sending visiting smokers outside to spare the lungs of nonsmokers. Unlike
Brenda's place, Joe's apartment is uncluttered has a separate bedroom and living
area. His apartment is noticeably masculine, with lots of dark wood furniture and a
stuffed fish hanging on the wall by several fishing poles.
First appearance by Mary Tyler Moore. She appears in three more episodes this season:
episodes 8 and 9, 'Rhoda's Wedding,' (parts one and two) and episode 25, 'Along Comes
Mary.' She also appeared in episode 1, but this scene was cut in syndication.
Classic elements:
Classic diatribe: Rhoda's diatribe to Joe about wanting to get married is great, and
hilarious!
Classic character development:
Back in the early days of TMTMS all Rhoda thought about was getting married, and she even
states in one early episode that she no longer thinks at night, another day I'm not
married, now she thinks another *year* not married. It was very important to Rhoda to find
the right man early on in the TMTMS (for example, see 'Love Blooms at Hempel's'), but as
her character developed further on that show and on Rhoda, it became less of a priority
for her. As time went by she had a better balance in her life between finding a man and
all of the other things life was offering her. She started finding happiness more in being
independent and through her work although she still would've liked to find the right man.
As she states so eloquently to Brenda in this episode: "I've finally found a man I
can love, who loves me back, and I don't want to see him just part-time, I want to see him
everyday, including mornings and weekends."
Classic jealousy: Catch Joe's classic reaction to Vic calling Rhoda at his apartment and flirting with her.
What We Noticed:
When Rhoda gets out of the cab at Joe's apartment, she has a big fancy shopping bag in her hand. However, when she steps into Joe's apartment she is carrying the suitcase and softsided bag that we saw Brenda and her carrying previously. Valerie Harper must have been filmed earlier stepping out of a cab for this episode.
Fashions of the Decade:
In this episode we see Brenda with classic 70s accessories: a shawl and a macramé purse.
Obscure References:
Brenda [to Rhoda]: "Hey, if you go [out with Vic], maybe you can get me a [Rangers] season pass." The New York Rangers made nine consecutive playoff appearances beginning in the '66-'67 season, so they were a hot team.
Brenda [to Rhoda]:"Another flasher?" Flashers vs. streakers: Streaking was a fad in the 70s where a person or people (the streakers) would run naked into a public area and then run away. Flashers would sometimes wear masks to protect their identities. It was considered to be more of a joke than anything else-- like mooning someone-- and has since gone out of fashion. Someone even streaked at the 1974 Academy Awards. A flasher, on the other hand is a person who tries to shock or arouse random people by suddenly showing (flashing) their private parts. Flashers are considered to be more perverse than funny and there are still plenty of them around.
Rhoda [to Brenda]: "Right, I just can't start packing and forget every single Doris Day movie I ever saw.": Doris Day was a popular 1950's film actress. She generally played a 'nice girl' who would never sleep or live with her boyfriends until they were married. She co-starred with Rock Hudson in many films, including the well-known 'Pillow Talk.' Incidentally, Nancy Walker played Hudson's maid Mildred on the show 'McMillan and Wife.' She played the roles of Ida and Mildred simultaneously during the 1974-75 season.
Rhoda [to Brenda] :..."This is the Space Age, and I
want to share his space."
The sixties and seventies were the heyday of both the Soviet and American space programs.
"Rhoda" began only five years after Neil Armstrong landed on the moon.
The US space station Skylab was launched in 1973, and we got a look at some of our
neighboring planets during the seventies (Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter).
Rhoda [to Mary]: "I'll tell you when your three minutes
is up..."
Back in 1974, the US government filed an antitrust case against AT&T, who then
monopolized both local and long distance service. This resulted in the divestiture
of AT&T into the seven local 'Baby Bells' and the long distance carrier AT&T in
1984. But before 1984, you were charged for the first *three* minutes of a long
distance call as soon as you were connected.
70's Trendy Topics:
Premarital Sex:
Vic [asking Rhoda out] "I'm not talking about a one night stand-- we're in town 'til
Thursday."
Rhoda [to Vic]: "Thinking about me when you're in the shower is *not* an
emergency"
Joe [to Rhoda, on how she wants to be listed on their mailbox]: What would you like, Ms.
or Miss or what?"
In this episode, we are clearly presented with Rhoda's personal stance on
premarital sex: Monogamous premarital sex was OK, but living together was too much for
her, and not something that she felt comfortable with personally.
Vic is clearly sexually interested in Rhoda, though he presents it in a humorous way.
Although Rhoda is flattered by his attention, she is a one woman man, both
emotionally and sexually. Being presented with Vic's flirtation, Rhoda's reaction is to
reassess her relationship with Joe and to tell Vic she's already involved.
Then, after thinking about living with Joe, she mentions the Doris Day movies of her
childhood, where a good girl would never have sex with a man before she was married-- much
less move in with him. Although she is clearly fine with having premarital sex with
Joe, she still has part of that upbringing with her, and doesn't feel right about moving
in with Joe. When Joe asks her what she wants on the mailbox, she responds that she
only wants 'R. Morgenstern,' on the box. She'd rather let people guess about whether they
were living together; she is clearly not completely comfortable with this situation.
Even though she'd like to be more 'modern' that's just not the kind of person she
is. She feels that it's better for her to be married to the man she loves than to
live with him.
Ring of Truth:
"Valerie also argued for a change in script at the point Rhoda and Joe decided to get married. In the original scene the writers had Rhoda begging Joe to marry her. Valerie comments, 'Six guys sat in a room and wrote that men don't want to be married and women trap them into it. And I wouldn't play it. I told them, Joe has to want to want to marry me, too, or he's a jerk. So they rewrote it on the spot and now Joe and I jointly decide to get married.'" -Joe's position in later episodes that he was forced into the marriage may have been a reference to this episode's original script.
The fishing poles and stuffed fish in Joe's apartment reflected David Groh's real life interest in fishing. Groh stated in the 1975 book 'All About Rhoda': "I've fished since I was six!... I still do a lot of deep sea fishing. I use a light test line. I've gotten a 100-pound fish on a 12-pound test line."
What's Going On
10/09/74 Oskar Schindler dies.
10/11/74 "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" debuts.