Eileen Heckart reprises her recurring role of Mary Richards' honorary aunt Flo Meredith from The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970), making her the only other character from that series to crossover to Lou Grant (1977). However, she never shares any screen time with Lou and Mary is never mentioned by name.
A key plot point is what position Jim Carlisle held on a Proposition 12, which was supposed to be a referendum on whether to require the registration of firearms. In 1980, when this episode originally aired, there were only 11 propositions on California's November ballot, none of them having to do with guns.