The Mary Tyler Moore Show/Son of "But Seriously Folks"

Son of "But Seriously Folks"
Season 4, Episode 7
Airdate	October 27, 1973
Production Number	7305
Written by	Phil Mishkin
Directed by	Jay Sandrich
Produced by	Ed. Weinberger
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The Mary Tyler Moore Show — Season Four

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Son of "But Seriously Folks" is the seventh episode of the fourth season of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and the seventy-ninth 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)

Additional Cast: Jerry Van Dyke (Wes Callison), Mark Gordon (Chuckles, the Clown), Randy Kirby (Director), Gavin O'Herlihy (Josh McBride), Benjamin Chulay (Pete)

Plot Overview

Mary's former boyfriend and Chuckles the Clown's ex-writer Wes Callison stops by the newsroom. After quitting the writing job for Chuckles and trying to find himself, he returns applying for a recently vacated writing job in the newsroom. Although Mary and Wes' relationship was never serious - at least on Mary's side - Mary feels she has to put in a good word for Wes (despite not thinking deep in her heart that he's right for the job) since she feels guilty about the wayward way of Wes' life. She secretly fears that Wes still has feelings for her, which she knows she will never return in kind. It ends up being worse as Wes begins to smother her, she who doesn't have the heart to tell him so. She feels he's only doing it because of lack of confidence in himself, and as a result this need to feel miserable. Despite doing a good job at work, Wes also faces other issues with Chuckles, who, in turn, is smothering Wes with informal request after informal request to help him write his show.