Joe Gerard, played by actor David Groh, is a fictional character on the television sitcom Rhoda, a spin-off of The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
However, in the first episode of the third season, they decided to separate after Joe revealed that he was restless and unhappy in their marriage.
In the episode "Two Little Words - Marriage Counselor", Joe admitted that he never really wanted to remarry, and that he had only married Rhoda because she pressured him into it.
During the remainder of that season, Joe would pop in and out of Rhoda's life, but they never reconciled and in the episode "The Ultimatum", Rhoda finally issues Joe an ultimatum: either he can really try to make their marriage work, or she's going to start seeing other people.
CBS was inundated with thousands of angry letters protesting the plot development, "Rhoda" and "Joe" received sympathy cards and letters of condolence, with Groh later reporting that he had received hate mail for as much as a year after the season had ended.