In executive producer Allan Burns' Outstanding Comedy Series acceptance speech at the 29th Primetime Emmy Awards, he stated, "We kept putting off writing that last show; we frankly didn't want to do it.

The new station manager of WJM-TV, Mr. Coleman (guest star Vincent Gardenia), is firing people left and right, and wants to do something about the Six O'Clock News' low ratings.

Surprisingly, Lou, Mary, Murray, and Sue Ann are fired, but the person widely perceived as the cause of the Six O'Clock News' low ratings, Ted is retained.

To cheer her up, Lou arranges for her old friends Rhoda Morgenstern and Phyllis Lindstrom to fly to Minneapolis for a surprise visit at Mary's apartment.

The original broadcast included a curtain call behind the closing credits, during which Mary Tyler Moore introduced her co-stars to the live audience as "the best cast ever."