The Mary Tyler Moore Show/Will Mary Richards Go to Jail?

Will Mary Richards Go to Jail?
Season 5, Episode 1
Airdate	September 14, 1974
Written by	Ed. Weinberger and Stan Daniels
Directed by	Jay Sandrich
Produced by	Ed. Weinberger and Stan Daniels
← 4x24 I Was a Single for WJM	5x02 → Not Just Another Pretty Face
The Mary Tyler Moore Show — Season Five

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Will Mary Richards Go to Jail? is the first episode of the fifth season of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and the ninety-seventh episode overall.

Starring: Mary Tyler Moore (Mary Richards)

Co-Starring: Edward Asner (Lou Grant), Gavin MacLeod (Murray Slaughter), Ted Knight (Ted Baxter)

with Georgia Engel (Georgette Franklin), Betty White (Sue Ann Nivens)

Guest Stars: Barbara Colby (Sherry), James Randolph (Harrison), Mary Ann Chinn (Kim)

and Darlene Conley (Matron), Don Macon (Reporter), Charles Woolf (Mr. Everett)

Plot Overview

With Lou off sick for the day, Mary, as the person in charge, talks to a man who walks into the newsroom wanting to divulge some information about a news story he has. It is an inside exclusive about a half a million dollars worth of grafts, he having the documents to prove it. The only stipulation the man has is that he not be revealed. Mary decides to air the story as a late news bulletin, which causes a sensation. Ted basks in the limelight, taking credit for the story, until Special Agent Harris with the Justice Department comes by for the documents as well as the name of the story's source. That's when Ted relinquishes his ownership of the story to Mary, who refuses to name the source, even to the federal grand jury. The judge threatens her with jail time if she doesn't reveal the source. Mary doesn't want to go to jail, but she also wants to uphold her first amendment right as a newsperson. Her friends and newsroom colleagues may have their own opinions of what Mary should do based on who she is and not what she is.