When Ida tells Rhoda she wants to be her friend (and mother), Rhoda counters by saying how she didn't like when Ida wanted then to dress in identical outfits to a mother-daughter tea party. In one of Ida's earliest appearances, she ALSO wanted to be Rhoda's 'best friend' - thanks to Phyllis and Bess (A Girl's Best Mother Is Not Her Friend (1971)) - and Phyllis and Bess had just shown up in THEIR mother daughter outfits (Ida later showed up at WJM,? In the same outfit as Rhoda).
Not everybody thinks that David Groh's casting as Joe was a mistake. A lot of people feel that he had great chemistry with Valerie Harper as they were like two bulldogs that loved each other. Anyway, Valerie, Julie Kavner, Lorenzo Music, and Nancy Walker were funny enough to make up for the fact that Joe was just not a funny character. Anyway, Desi Arnaz was no comedic match for Lucille Ball, or for that matter Vivian Vance, and yet nobody criticized Lucy's decision to marry Ricky. Also, once Nancy returned to the show in Season 4, Rhoda returned to the top 10 as it followed 60 Minutes and people love Rhoda's mother. The show only finished 25th for the season but often ranked in the top 10 or top 20 that year. Audiences were getting used to Rhoda being single again, and the character became a hero again because she showed strength in surviving divorce and continued challenges from her mother.
In the closing credits for this season, the Building that Rhoda is walking in front of is the NYC Public Library located on 5th avenue and 42nd Street