Aspirin At Seven, Dinner At Eight

S3, E14: By coincidence, Shirley meets a doctor whom she once dated named Bernie Applebaum. Trapped into accepting a date with him for the following evening, they go to a fine French restaurant. But Bernie allows her to eat only plain lamb chops, carrots, and buttermilk -- the rest is too high in cholesterol. The doctor is evidently very wrapped up in his vocation, for the following night, he takes Shirley to the hospital cafeteria for an after-concert dinner. Shirley finds herself in the embarrassing position of having to tell Bernie that she's really not interested in him without hurting his feelings. Her plans to do this are complicated when the doctor brings his mother to visit the Partridge household. However, the enthusiasm of the two members of the Applebaum family does not diminish even when the kids try to help out their mother by misbehaving. Later, Bernie approaches Shirley with what he feels will be terribly upsetting news -- that he can't marry her because he enjoys the swinging bachelor life too much, and because he's too involved in being a doctor! Shirley hides her delight and tells Bernie that she'll try to get over it...somehow.