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Perennial loser Ted Baxter (Ted Knight) has suddenly and inexplicably developed a foolproof system for winning the office football pools. Before long, Lou Grant (Ed Asner) is imploring Ted to share his new sure-win methods. But a potential disaster looms over Lou, when, without consulting Ted, he bets all his previous winnings on the Super Bowl. Since "The System" originally aired on January 11, 1975, the night before the actual Steelers-Viking Super Bowl, the writers had to declare a winner without the actual facts on hand -- resulting in a most curious closing-credits apology.