The Mary Tyler Moore Show

Mary and Lou discuss other stations in competition for the "teddies" and mention WCCO, which is a television station in Minneapolis/St. Paul that was the news ratings leader during the 1970s.

Continuity Error: Mary says that in high school she was head cheerleader, but just a few episodes earlier, she told Rhoda that she was never a cheerleader, but a pom-pom girl.

Mary Richards reveals her height as 5'7".

This is Nancy Walker's first appearance as Mrs. Morgenstern. She would later reprise the role on the spinoff Rhoda.

Goof: When the camera fixes a long shot on Mary's house from the outside in the evening, it is snowing heavily with little wind. When the camera next cuts to the inside, the thick boughs of the tree outside are shaking but the snow has completely stopped.

Pat Finley, who played Sparkie in this episode, also plays the role of Twinks in an episode later this season, "A Friend in Deed". The actress will also go on to play a semi-regular role as Bob's sister (and Howard's girlfriend) Ellen in The Bob Newhart Show.

In this episode, it's revealed that Mary's mother's name is Marge.

The outdoor sequence with Mary and Bess was actually shot in downtown Los Angeles around the Century City Mall.

Goof: Howard said that it was no big deal that the film in his camera was exposed, it was only pictures of a total eclipse of the sun. Considering it was 1970, the film in his camera would have been very old since the prior eclipse that occurred in Minneapolis was June 30, 1954.

Richard Schaal, who plays the role of Howard, and later in the series the role of Howard's brother Paul, was married to Valarie Harper during this time.

This begins the "Battle of the Bulge" for Rhoda, with lines like "I gotta lose 10 pounds before 8:30" and while eating snacks from a bowl, she sees that her date is a newlywed with a beautiful wife and then DUMPS all the snacks out of the bowl into her lap, and starts shoveling them into her mouth.

This episode can be seen as the prototype for Mary's disastrous dinner parties. In this episode, the guests all show up expecting dinner, which Mary hasn't prepared as she thought the late start time of the gathering would let them know that dinner would not be served.

Goof: When Mary is telling Rhoda about being called a "ma'am" they are eating dinner at the table. Rhoda says something about her mother calling her an old maid and you can see the fork in her hand, then in the next shot she finishes her line, but only the coffee urn and coffee mugs are on the table.