The Mary Tyler Moore Show/Better Late... That's a Pun... Than Never

Better Late... That's a Pun... Than Never
Season 4, Episode 20
Airdate	February 2, 1974
Production Number	7323
Written by	Treva Silverman
Directed by	John C. Chulay
Produced by	Ed. Weinberger
← 4x19 Best of Enemies	4x21 → Ted Baxter Meets Walter Cronkite
The Mary Tyler Moore Show — Season Four

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Better Late... That's a Pun... Than Never is the twentieth episode of the fourth season of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and the ninety-second episode overall.

Starring: Mary Tyler Moore (Mary Richards)

Co-Starring: Edward Asner (Lou Grant)

with Valerie Harper (Rhoda Morgenstern), Gavin MacLeod (Murray Slaughter), Ted Knight (Ted Baxter)

and Georgia Engel (Georgette Franklin)

and Jennifer Leak (Erica)

Plot Overview

Even with Rhoda's help, Mary has to stay up until the wee hours of the morning working on the obituary file. The file contains information for Ted to read on the air if a celebrity passes away. Overtired and feeling a little punchy, Mary and Rhoda end up writing a few gag obituaries. Unfortunately for Mary and the subject of one of those said obituaries - a man named Wee Willy Williams, the oldest man in Minneapolis - he dies. Needing the obituary, Ted grabs it from Mary's desk and reads it on the air. Lou has no choice but to reprimand Mary for what happened. He was close to firing her, but instead gives her a two week unpaid suspension. On Murray's urging, Mary speaks to Lou about the reprimand, feeling that the suspension is treating her like a little kid. As such, Mary vows not to return to work if the suspension holds. This act may be the end of Mary's stint at WJM, a stint that both she and Lou have cherished because of her.