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Season One

Episode 8: "Rhoda's Wedding" (part one)

First aired October 28,1974

Writers: Allan Burns, James L. Brooks, David Davis, Lorenzo Music, Norman Barasch, Carroll Moore, David Lloyd
Director: Robert Moore
Cast: Valerie Harper as Rhoda Morgenstern, Julie Kavner as Brenda Morgenstern, David Groh as Joe Gerard, Nancy Walker as Ida Morgenstern, Harold Gould as Martin Morgenstern, L. Music as Carlton the Doorman, Ed Asner as Lou Grant, Cloris Leachman as Phyllis Lindstrom, Georgia Engel as Georgette Franklin, Mary Tyler Moore as Mary Richards, Gavin MacLeod as Murry Slaughter

Special Guest Stars: Most of the principals of TMTMS appear in this episode, although Ted Baxter (played by Ted Knight) is notably absent.

Stuart Margolin makes an uncredited appearance in this episode in a flashback to TMTMS's episode 67 "Romeo and Mary," in which he plays Mary's overzealous suitor. You may recognize him from his appearances on "Rhoda" as Susie's psychiatrist husband, Arthur.

Memorable Quotes:
Rhoda: "How many Ma?"
Ma: "Not counting musicians? 79"

Rhoda [to Joe]: "I really must love you, I feel so sorry for you."

Georgette [to Ida]: "Rhoda told me if she wasn't married by the time she was 35 you said you'd take all your clothes off in Macy's window."

Rhoda: "Alright Ma, you win, you're still the champ. If it's alright with Joe, we'll get married at your place."
Ma: "Whatever you want."

Phyllis: "Georgette, you know I love you dear, but trust me, that is not an interesting story"

Phyllis: "I have several pieces-- all brown"
Rhoda: "Brought everything in paper bags, huh?"

How we rate it:
Sarah: 10
Suzie: 10

The Short Version: The first half of one of TV's highest rated and most classic events: the marriage of Rhoda and Joe.  Part one centers on events before the ceremony.

The Long Version: Ma comes over to Brenda's to wheedle Rhoda into having a large wedding, though Rhoda has already planned a small ceremony.  Ida admits that she's already arranged to have the wedding in her own apartment and Rho finally capitulates.  When Rhoda picks up a rumpled Mary at the airport, she is surprised to see Murry and Lou stumble drunkenly off the plane, along with Phyllis. When Rhoda introduces Mary and Joe, tension is high: Joe's bad day has him in a rotten mood.  Rhoda tells Joe off, and he makes a very genuine apology to Mary and welcomes her wholeheartedly.  As everyone gets together at Ida and Martin's for dinner, Joe and Rhoda go out on their last date.  Rhoda tries to prepare him for the worst, and Joe reveals that he's already prepared himself for the fact that married life isn't always perfection.  Finally, after sowing their last 'wild oats,' the happy couple show up for dinner.  As dinner ends, Mary and Rhoda reminisce about their classic bad dates, and we flash back to scenes from several episodes of TMTMS.  At the close of the show (as it appears in syndication) Phyllis promises that she will pick Rhoda up and drive her to the wedding.

Special Notices:
Some viewers held Joe and Rhoda parties, still others sent Valerie Harper and David Groh wedding gifts.

This show appears as a two-parter in syndication, however, it was originally aired as an hour long special.

This is Valerie Harper's favorite episode.

Firsts:
First flashbacks to TMTMS-- episode 2, 'Today I am a Ma'am' (cut in syndication), episode 7 'Toulouse-Lautrec is One of My Favorite Artists,' episode 65 'My Brother's Keeper,' episode 67 'Romeo and Mary,' and one other as yet unidentified episode.
First meeting of Joe and Mary.  The feeling between them is tense in this episode, and continues to be so when Mary appears again in episode 25 "Along Comes Mary."
First reunion of Mary and Rhoda. Mary would appear in 5 episodes of Rhoda in the first season ( 1 [cut in syndication], 6, 8, 9, and 25).
First mention of Grandmother Morgenstern as a guilt trip for Rhoda and Brenda.
First and only appearance of all the principals of the TMTMS (excluding Ted Knight).

Classic elements:
This episode is considered to be one of the classics of television. With 63 million viewers tuned in, 'Rhoda's Wedding' was one of the highest rated shows up to that point in television history-- second only to the birth of Little Ricky on "I Love Lucy."   It continues to be one of the all time highest rated comedy episodes. 

Classic Performances:
Special notices go to Nancy Walker, Valerie Harper, and Cloris Leachman, who were all in top form in this episode. The dialogue between Rhoda and Phyllis is hilarious as is the dialogue between Rhoda and Ma!
Rhoda's diatribe to Joe about her awfulness is terrific.

Production Notes:

Rhoda's timeslot was (along with "Maude") on CBS, opposite the extremely popular Monday Night Football.  Before the show aired, no one at CBS was sure how the ratings would be.  They figured that having a spectacular wedding extravaganza early in the series would boost ratings,  thus the wedding was planned long before the series ever aired.  To quote series co-creator Allan Burns: "We always wanted the marriage to happen. But from a creative point of view, we were opposed to having it [that] soon... If we'd had our way we would have waited. The marriage made sense from a programming point of view... [We] could have explored the relationship of a man and a woman who were single. We could have gotten 18 shows out of it, rather than eight. As it turned out, we didn't need a wedding at that point. We had enormous ratings! But that's hindsight."

What We Noticed:

When Joe goes to the bathroom to wash up, a tissue can be seen on the bottom of his shoe.

The credits are a little strange, as a result of the show originally not being an episode unto itself.

Some cuts from the syndicated version

• When Brenda is talking to Carlton, and says, "Good Carlton, you know where you are," she gets off the intercom, and says something about smelling scotch coming from it.

• When Ma is talking to Joe, she says something to the effect of "You know, there are some men who when it comes to the night before their wedding, they begin having second thoughts about whether you should marry. Well let me help you out Joe-- you should"-- and then Joe says that it's going to be lots of fun having her as a mother in law, and then Ma asks Brenda why she never said that, and Brenda said something after that.

• There's extra dialogue when Rhoda is talking to Ma about where the wedding will be (around the line,"Whatever you want.")

• During the airport scene you see a lot more of the plane, and there's some extra dialogue between Rhoda and Phyllis, as Rhoda wonders why Phyllis had come and says something to the effect of "don't get me wrong, I'm really glad to see you" and also a line that Rhoda says to Mary: "And hey, if you like his type, let me know. There's a lot more of them in New York; this is where they come from."

• You see Brenda alone in the apartment blowing up the air mattress when Mary, Rhoda and Phyllis come in. Rhoda introduces her to both Mary and Phyllis, and there is a little extra dialogue: Mary telling Brenda she was sorry that she had to blow up the mattress for nothing and  another line by Phyllis-"Mary-you silly goose, you think that's all he wanted," and something to the effect of he just needs the soup to sustain him for what he really wanted.

• Extra dialogue: At the dinner table, Ida asks Brenda if she knows where Joe and Rhoda are, and then says something to the effect of "then come in to the kitchen with me for a second." Then Mary says, "Mrs.Morgenstern, I know where they are and I really don't think Rhoda will mind if I tell you..."

• Extra dialogue: In the scene between Rhoda and Joe, Rhoda is sprawled out on Joe's sofa, and Joe is sitting on the floor, there are supper plates on the table. Joe asks Rhoda if she's had enough. Rhoda says yes. Joe says you didn't eat anything. Rhoda says she wants to tell Joe something. Joe asks what. She begins but then can't say it. Joe says c'mon, and something to the effect of we should be able to tell each other everything. Then Rhoda begins her diatribe.

• Extra dialogue: in the scene before Rhoda and Joe come in, Georgette tells them about another group of people in another state she had gone through.

• When Rhoda comes in, and Ida asks, "So how was the big date" Phyllis says, "Yes tell me Rhoda, you know how I love romance, tell me everything."

• One of the flashbacks is cut Rhoda says to Richard Schaal (or Howard Arnell) "Excuse me, let me introduce myself, I'm another person in the room" (episode 2).

Fashions of the Decade

Obscure References:

Brenda [smelling Joe]: "Mmm, that's something I'm going to miss around here-'The lingering scent of Aqua Velva'."
Aqua Velva is a type of aftershave.

Lou [carrying Phyllis' luggage]: "For some strange reason, I feel like calling somebody bwana."
Bwana is an east African word for 'sir' or 'master' which was used as a term of respect in colonial times in that part of the world. For example: a servant would call his employer/master "bwana." Lou may also be referring to a 1963 movie starring Bob Hope, "Call Me Bwana."

70's Trendy Topics:

Premarital Sex:  
Joe:"You know what would be an appropriate thing for us to do-- I mean before we go up to see your mother?
Rhoda:"What?"
Joe:"Just so we're ready to settle down. Let's sow our last wild oats."
Joe's blatant, direct reference to premarital sex causes Rhoda to give him a big grin.

What's going on:

10/25/74 The U.S. Air Force successfully fires the first intercontinental ballistic missile from a plane.
10/26/74 $4.3 million in cash is stolen from Chicago’s Purolator Security-- the largest cash theft in U.S. history.
10/26/74 Dionne Warwick & Spinners ‘"Then Came You" is the #1 pop single.
10/27/74 The first televised showing of Irwin Allen's megahit "The Poseidon Adventure" (ABC.)

Help us out: if you can tell us for certain whether 'the lingering scent of Aqua Velva' was the Aqua Velva tagline/advertising motto, or what episodes of TMTMS the unidentified clip of Mary and Rhoda talking about an exterminator that Rhoda used to date, please let us know.

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