David Groh's television debut in the sitcom Rhoda (1974) was a significant milestone in his career. He played the role of Joe Gerard, the husband of Rhoda Morgenstern, and the episode featuring their "marriage" was the highest-rated episode of that decade, with over 50 million viewers watching. This role situated him firmly on the Hollywood TV map.
Rhoda Morgenstern, the single and cynical, highly beloved Bronx-born jokester and best friend of Mary Richards on The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970),was given her own spin-off series and landed back in New York City, where she found her dream man. Audiences took to the prospects of having tall, dark, virile, curly-haired blue-collar man Joe Gerard sweep their single heroine off her feet.