# Lou Grant: Anybody remember this show? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 5, 2017, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055 "2017-02-05T08:28:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055/21 "2017-02-05T17:31:45Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Two things do I have to say about _Lou Grant_. > > 1. I was confused as to why it wasn’t a sitcom. Spin-offs to sitcoms should also be sitcoms. I am talking to you too, _Trapper John MD_. > > 2. I am amazed that Ed Asner has outlived Mary Tyler Moore. He’s only 7 years older than her. On the Mary Tyler Moore Show it seemed like he was 20 years older. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055/22 "2017-02-05T17:44:09Z")
> [@jaycat](#): > > ThelmaLou - they actually do use computers – if you look closely, they are typing on old fashioned monitors, not typewriters. I was a typesetter (including at the Wall St. Journal) in the 70s and 80s and we were already working on (rudimentary) computers. Of course when programs like Quark Express came out, that’s when a lot of us started to get laid off. I remember one episode about a death penalty case that starts out in a flashback where somebody is writing the story on a typewriter, then it cuts to the present day and the same reporter was now typing on a computer keyboard. I also remember one where one of the characters (I think it was Billie) had to get somewhere - a date, I think - but the computers suddenly crashed, all of the work that day had been lost, and she had to stay behind and re-enter her story. One of my high school journalism teachers aired the episode with the insane judge in class, after the final exam. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055/23 "2017-02-05T18:18:53Z")
> [@jaycat](#): > > These are pretty easy to find on Youtube. We are big fans around here. > > ThelmaLou - they actually do use computers – if you look closely, they are typing on old fashioned monitors, not typewriters. I was a typesetter (including at the Wall St. Journal) in the 70s and 80s and we were already working on (rudimentary) computers. Of course when programs like Quark Express came out, that’s when a lot of us started to get laid off. > > Art was Art Donovan. I remember early on when the show **introduced** computers into the newsroom. I also remember the episode where a guy held the city room staff hostage and when it was over, Lou figured they had an exclusive, but Mrs. Pynchon refused to give space and recognition to the perp. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_John_Marcej)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055/24 "2017-02-05T18:44:10Z")
I was also a fan of the show, Monday night’s on CBS. Looking over what’s been posted about the show so far, I’ll add: • I liked how the opening credits depicted the “life” of a newspaper, staring with a singing bird in the tree, the tree is cut down, tree is taken to the mill turned to pulp, the pulp is turned into paper, the paper is printed into a newspaper, the paper is delivered, the person reads the paper and the paper is placed in a birdcage under a singing bird. • And if I’m not mistaken, the MTM Cat after the end credits wore glasses and held a newspaper. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055/25 "2017-02-05T19:26:02Z")
“Do you watch Lou Grant?” “Oh no. It’s off now. So is MASH. We miss Lou Grant but mostly MASH. Don’t we miss MASH, Harv?..” –Lou and Peter Berryman Never watched the show but always think of that song when I see or hear a reference to it. ---
**Author:** ![chaika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chaika/32/405_2.png) [@chaika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaika)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055/26 "2017-02-05T19:37:55Z")
I’m calling from the Trib and I’d like to confirm. . . I’ve been getting the runaround for two hours. . . Approximately how much money was involved? Was it over a thousand dollars? Was it over ten thousand dollars? Yes, I remember this show well. I loved it when I was a kid. It was one of the first “grownup” TV programs I ever watched. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Prize](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d2c977/32.png) [@Sir\_Prize](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Prize)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2017, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055/27 "2017-02-06T02:44:39Z")
There was an episode where the son of one of the characters becomes a Hare Krishna. I think the episode was sympathetic to the son’s point of view. I was over at may grandparents soon after and my grandmother commented on what a tragedy that episode was. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2017, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055/28 "2017-02-06T03:18:48Z")
> [@jaycat](#): > > ThelmaLou - they actually do use computers – if you look closely, they are typing on old fashioned monitors, not typewriters. I recall an episode in which Rossi was moonlighting as a porn writer, and mistakenly believed that whatever he typed on his desk terminal was private. Everyone in the newsroom could read it. One of my favorite moments was when a reporter slipped a dirty word into a story as a joke. Lou blew up, fired the guy on the spot, and told him to clean out his desk and get out the hell NOW. Later Lou calmed down, apologized to the guy for yelling at him, and told him to take his time saying goodbye to everyone and THEN get the hell out. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2017, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055/29 "2017-02-06T03:34:09Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > 1. I was confused as to why it wasn’t a sitcom. Spin-offs to sitcoms should also be sitcoms. I am talking to you too, _Trapper John MD_. > [@outlierrn](#): > > Absolutely, I remember they took on some serious women’s topics, and I, for one, thought Asner’s shift from comedy to gravitas was awesome. I remember the show well. I also remember tat it was slightly confusing at first that I’d keep waiting for a joke, but it didn’t take long to figure out that this was actually a drama. And yeah, I thought Ed Asner was fantastic. I was really, really impressed that everyone involved managed to pull it off so ddamned well. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2017, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055/30 "2017-02-06T04:30:39Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > I remember it. Nancy Marchand, who played the publisher, later became Tony Soprano’s mother. I’m waiting for MeTV or Cozi TV or one of those retro networks to start airing it. That goes for a few other shows like Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere, and 21 Jump Street, too. The first female reporter (Rebecca Balding) was later Phoebe’s editor on “Charmed”. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2017, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055/31 "2017-02-06T04:44:07Z")
My favorite episode was when Lou Grant inherited some money and in the final scene disclosed that he had bought a baseball team. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2017, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055/32 "2017-02-06T04:47:37Z")
I seem to remember that the final episode ended with a nuclear war. Am I remembering correctly? ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2017, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055/33 "2017-02-06T05:02:48Z")
Lou Grant is one of my all-time favorite shows, and had been on my list of most-wanted DVDs for 12 years. I’m very happy that it’s now available; in fact I just ordered season 4 today (it comes out on Feb. 21). > [@](#): > > Approximately how much money was involved? Was it over a thousand dollars? Was it over ten thousand dollars? I believe it was in an interview on the season 1 DVDs that Ed Asner answered the question of why Adam, the business editor, who wasn’t a regular, was included in the opening credits. It turns out that Allen Williams was the dialogue coach for the show. He appeared in many episodes, and even had one or two written around his character, most memorably the one about his alcoholism (which took on the stereotype of the hard-drinking reporter). The episode that made the biggest impression on me was the one about dying with dignity, in which Art has to learn to let his mom go. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2017, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055/34 "2017-02-06T06:15:43Z")
I think I saw most of the episodes between 1977 and '80. It was originally billed as a “comedy–drama,” meaning there was comedy relief scattered throughout, no matter how serious the stories got. I remember when Lou fired the guy for slipping in a dirty word, but I think the “Take your time, say goodbye to everybody” bit came after another reporter was nailed for plagarizing a college newspaper. (The story was about handicapped law students). Art was a big ladies’ man, always wore a three-piece suit like Frank Furillo would later do. My favorite story was when Rossi helped a mother track down the guy who killed her son in a hit-and-run accident. Turned out he was a hard-nosed judge who used the city bureaucracy to cover up his crime. Mrs Pynchon had a stroke one day in her office and laid there for hours before someone found her. That was all I could think about the last time Livia Soprano was on screen. She looked then like she wasn’t long for this world. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2017, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055/35 "2017-02-06T06:20:11Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > I seem to remember that the final episode ended with a nuclear war. > Am I remembering correctly? This was a big thing at the time. On _ **St Elsewhere** _ (another MTM show), an effort was made to enlist St Eligius in a Civil Defense program. Even _ **Benson** _ had an episode with a Doomsday RPG in which Katie was declared a casualty. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2017, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055/36 "2017-02-06T06:38:10Z")
One other bit I remember from one episode was a little comment on how the patrician publisher, Mrs Pynchon, interacted with “the staff.” It’s the end of the episode, and Lou’s car has broken down or something. He’s walking home in the rain. Mrs Pynchon drives up in her chauffeur-driven car, lowers the window to talk to Lou about something that happened in the episode, and then raises the window and drives away, leaving Lou just standing in the rain looking at her. The whole thing was about 30 seconds, but it was a very nice frame on their relationship. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2017, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055/37 "2017-02-06T06:45:40Z")
Glad to see that so many remember Lou Grant! I would like to address this: > [@Baker](#): > > I remember the episode about illegal dogfights. The owner’s dog, a Yorkie, was stolen to act as a bait dog, to get the fighting dogs used to killing. Expose ensues. Grant gets a Yorkie puppy for the publisher, to be a replacement for her beloved pet, but she doesn’t take it. There’s a scene of the dog in Grant’s place, newspapers all over the floor. Owner shows up and takes the dog after all. I call the end bittersweet. A _happy_ ending would have been finding the original dog, but that wasn’t going to happen, that poor doggy was long dead. That’s one of the episodes I remember from all those years ago vividly. It had no happy ending, unlike so many dramas had at the time. Columbo always caught the perp, Kojak always caught the perp; but the “Lou Grant” show, without happy endings, left you with questions: How can some people be so insensitive to animals that they would set them against each other for sport? There is no easy Columbo or Kojak answer, and we are left thinking about our own values. Thanks for all the answers so far! ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2017, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055/38 "2017-02-06T09:00:21Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > The episode I remember was when there was a old-dog reporter who was too cozy with the local police and helped them to cover up misconduct. Then there was an event where it was brought home to him that he was helping corruption and he came in to the newsroom, drunk, and steadily typed out an exposé of the misconduct, fully acknowledging his own role in it. > [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > One other bit I remember from one episode was a little comment on how the patrician publisher, Mrs Pynchon, interacted with “the staff.” > > It’s the end of the episode, and Lou’s car has broken down or something. He’s walking home in the rain. > > Mrs Pynchon drives up in her chauffeur-driven car, lowers the window to talk to Lou about something that happened in the episode, and then raises the window and drives away, leaving Lou just standing in the rain looking at her. > > The whole thing was about 30 seconds, but it was a very nice frame on their relationship. …both of these scenes are from the same episode: the pilot. It may well be you haven’t seen any other episodes! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2017, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055/39 "2017-02-06T10:00:21Z")
I remember one episode when it was originally aired … it started out a bunch of kids were harassing the local grouch at night and he got tired of it and pulled a gun and shot it off and accidently killed a kid … and it caused a huge debate about guns on the paper But about a decade ago when A&E ran a little four or 5 hour block of “daybreaks” they ran lou grant and I watched a lot of it But according to ed asner bill paley himself hated the show and personally killed itb ysimply saying get it off the schedule when they were doing the fall schedule … ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2017, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055/40 "2017-02-06T10:39:02Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > I remember one episode when it was originally aired … it started out a bunch of kids were harassing the local grouch at night and he got tired of it and pulled a gun and shot it off and accidently killed a kid … and it caused a huge debate about guns on the paper > > But about a decade ago when A&E ran a little four or 5 hour block of “daybreaks” they ran lou grant and I watched a lot of it > > But according to ed asner bill paley himself hated the show and personally killed itb ysimply saying get it off the schedule when they were doing the fall schedule … Asner actually believes the show was cancelled because of his political views. He opposed U.S. policy in Central America and his activism generated unfavorable publicity in the eyes of CBS. The cancellation was controversial because it still held very high ratings. > **[Lou Grant (TV series)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Grant_(TV_series)#Cancellation)** > > Lou Grant is an American drama television series starring Ed Asner in the title role as a newspaper editor that aired on CBS from September 20, 1977, to September 13, 1982. The third spin-off (after Rhoda and Phyllis) of the American sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Lou Grant was created by James L. Brooks, Allan Burns, and Gene Reynolds. > Lou Grant won 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Drama Series twice. Asner received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Dram... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055.md?page=3)