Meet Emily

The kids think Mr French is getting a bit too strict, Bill decides to hire cleaning woman Emily Turner to help out.

An amusing episode, French and Emily do not get along since she is outspoken and likes to take coffee breaks. Nancy Walker was a talented comic actress, she had already appeared in her most famous role of Rhoda's mother on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show", she would continue with that part on "Rhoda". However, she does not quite fit in with this show, she would appear on 5 more episodes this season.

When a TV show suddenly added a recurring character, that was usually not a good sign. Nancy Walker had a dynamic that belonged on a different show. When she clashed with Mr French, there was no surprise. They were so different, you couldn't have expected them to get along. When Emily first meets Cissy, she says: "Wow, you're a knockout!" Cissy absolutely was a "knockout." However, this was a compliment that should have come from a guy. Coming from Emily, the motivation for the compliment was questionable. Emily had every reason to envy Cissy's youth and beauty. This is sort of confirmed in a later episode, when some tension develops between Cissy and Emily. Overall, the episode plays well. It just wasn't clear what the "need" for Emily was, unless it was an attempt to give the show a different dynamic. As the saying goes: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."