Gordon Ford is a late-night talk show host and comedian who hires Midge on his staff and serves as a potential love interest for her in season 5 of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. The character is played by actor Reid Scott.
Gordon Ford is a fictional character created for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel but is loosely based on the performer Tennessee Ernie Ford who hosted The Ford Show between 1956-1961.
Ford’s first appearance is in season 4 when Susie manages to get her then-client, Sophie Lennon on his show to promote herself and the appearance turns out to be a smash hit.
Susie achieves this by making social contact with Mike Carr, a producer at the Gordon Ford Show who is in charge of booking the various guests.
She tries to get Midge booked on the show but has no luck, until she tries it once more after Midge gets a wake-up call from Lenny Bruce.
A charming man
With Midge’s renewed determination, Susie approaches Mike Carr about getting her on Gordon Ford’s show but he tells her that he’s not willing to do that. Susie even enquires about hiring her as a writer but Carr says that they have no women writers to begin with.
One night when Midge is performing at the Wolford, Gordon Ford shows up and Susie notices this. Midge performs a great set and Gordon seems to enjoy it so Susie asks him to have her on the show.
When he politely declines, she suggests the option of hiring her as a writer since she knows they don’t have a woman on the writing staff. Gordon is appealed by this idea and tells Mike Carr to get it done.
When Midge goes to work for her first day, she learns that Gordon is quite difficult to please, making it an extremely tough job to write for him. He does show some appreciation for her, however, which flatters her.
Butting heads
After 4 weeks on the job, Midge finally gets one of her jokes into Gordon’s monologue but he fumbles the line before quickly course correcting, although Midge audibly groans on national television when it happens.
Everyone makes it seem like it’s going to be her last day on the job and even Midge is worried about it. She goes up to Gordon later on to apologize but it turns into a full-blown argument that even makes the newspaper the next day.
When she gets to work the following Monday, she’s expecting the boot but Gordon is interrupted by the arrival of a couple of network executives.
That night at the end of the show, Gordon announces that their show is the number-one-rated show on television before inviting everyone to celebrate on the ice rink in front of 30 Rock.
He asks Midge to join them and tells her that he has no problem with the fact that she openly refuted him. He continues to flirt with her and even tries to kiss her but she pulls away.
When she reminds him that he’s married, he says that he isn’t in the traditional sense. Susie later sees a picture of Gordon and his wife on his office desk and she recognizes it, panicking about what she just saw.
Also Read: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel season 5 episodes 1, 2, and 3 recaps & review