# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2017, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055/41 "2017-02-06T13:14:06Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > And Mason Adams became the voice of Smuckers’. Mason Adams was the voice of a LOT of commercials (possibly including Smuckers – I don’t recall) well _before_ **Lou Grant** aired. When he appeared on the first episode I immediately realized that his was the face that went with the voice-overs in all those commercials. ---
**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, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055/42 "2017-02-06T14:28:11Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > 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. I remember that episode too. Rossi went undercover to do some investigative reporting and got the crap beaten out of him when he was exposed. He was all bandaged up when he was writing the story back in the office. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2017, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055/43 "2017-02-06T14:43:03Z")
Does anyone remember this: In one episode of The White Shadow (another CBS show) the eponymous character was watching TV on his porch, and you could hear the theme music to Lou Grant coming from the TV? Interesting bit of cross-promotion, but when ESPN Classic was running TWS a while back, I never saw that scene. Did it really happen? ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2017, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055/44 "2017-02-06T18:28:16Z")
One of the reporters was a cheery type played by Jack Bannon, Bea ‘Kate Bradley’ Benaderet’s real life son. Another was played by a dour Robert Walden. [Just looked up, and the character names were Art Donovan and Joe Rossi, respectively.] In one ep, Lou is about to send him out to do some kind of human interest, light-hearted story. Not the exact exchange, but something like it: Bannon: Are you sure you want to send Rossi out on this story? He’s not exactly Art Buchwald. Grant: He’s not even Earl Butz, but he’s all we got. I took that to mean, “He doesn’t have much of a sense of humor,” to which Grant responds, “I know. . . He doesn’t even have a funny name.” ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2017, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055/45 "2017-02-06T18:53:36Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Mason Adams was the voice of a LOT of commercials (possibly including Smuckers – I don’t recall) well _before_ **Lou Grant** aired. When he appeared on the first episode I immediately realized that his was the face that went with the voice-overs in all those commercials. It was a very lived-in face. ---
**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, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055/46 "2017-02-06T19:15:07Z")
Here’s the intro: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/gYDvoDNYRJ0/hqdefault.jpg "'Lou Grant' Season One Intro (1977)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYDvoDNYRJ0) ---
**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 6, 2017, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055/47 "2017-02-06T21:05:13Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Bannon: Are you sure you want to send Rossi out on this story? He’s not exactly Art Buchwald. > > Grant: He’s not even Earl Butz, but he’s all we got. > > I took that to mean, “He doesn’t have much of a sense of humor,” to which Grant responds, “I know. . . He doesn’t even have a funny name.” Not quite, though Butz did of course have a funny name. Butz was Secretary of Agriculture in the mid-seventies, but he lost his position (“resigned”) after telling a couple of very offensive “jokes,” including one considered so vulgar that hardly any papers of the day would print it. At the time the show was on, Butz’s rather ruinous attempts at comedy would obviously have been much better remembered than they are today. Anyway, that’s the reference. ---
**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 6, 2017, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055/48 "2017-02-06T22:15:16Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Does anyone remember this: In one episode of The White Shadow (another CBS show) the eponymous character was watching TV on his porch, and you could hear the theme music to Lou Grant coming from the TV? > > Interesting bit of cross-promotion, but when ESPN Classic was running TWS a while back, I never saw that scene. Did it really happen? MTM shows would often cross-promote their shows, most notably on _St. Elsewhere_ • Actor Byron Stewart who played student/basketball player Warren Coolidge on _The White Shadow_ played Warren Coolidge, now an orderly, on St. E. Fellow White Shadow cast member, Actor Timothy Van Patten guest starred as a patient named Dean on three episodes. On one of those episodes, as Dean enters an elevator, Warren sees him and shouts out “Hey Salami!” Salami was Van Patten’s character’s name on White Shadow. • Jack Riley, who played patient Elliot Carlin on _The Bob Newhart Show_ played patient…Elliot Carlin on a few episodes of St. Elsewhere. He’d often mention a “quack” doctor who treated him in Chicago. • Actor Oliver Clark played a patient who had amnesia, he was called John Doe, over a series of episodes on St. Elsewhere, on one of those episodes thought he was Mary Richards (even spinning around and throwing his knit hat in the air, ala MTM.) which led to some funny moments when he met a visiting navel captain, played by Betty White, and kept calling her Sue Ann (of course, referring to her Sue Ann Nivens character from The Mary Tyler Moore Show. I’m sure there are more MTM crossovers from St. Elsewhere that I’ve forgotten, ---
**Author:** ![D.E.S.K.Top668](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@D.E.S.K.Top668](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D.E.S.K.Top668)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2017, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055/49 "2017-02-06T22:56:35Z")
It’s weird. I remember the character “Lou Grant” on the Mary Tyler Moore show. I remember watching and enjoying the show “Lou Grant.” but I can’t recall a single episode of either. ---
**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, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055/50 "2017-02-06T22:59:11Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > Not quite, though Butz did of course have a funny name. > > Butz was Secretary of Agriculture in the mid-seventies, but he lost his position (“resigned”) after telling a couple of very offensive “jokes,” including one considered so vulgar that hardly any papers of the day would print it. > > At the time the show was on, Butz’s rather ruinous attempts at comedy would obviously have been much better remembered than they are today. > > Anyway, that’s the reference. Somewhat off topic, but for anyone who’s interested in the story about Butz and the NSFW “joke” (I wouldn’t even call it a joke) is at this link: [spoiler][The infamous quote that revealed Earl was a bigoted Butz-hole… - This Day in Quotes](http://www.thisdayinquotes.com/2009/09/earl-butz-three-things-loose-shoes.html%5B/spoiler%5D). ---
**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 7, 2017, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055/51 "2017-02-07T03:33:12Z")
> [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](#): > > • Actor Oliver Clark played a patient who had amnesia, he was called John Doe, over a series of episodes on St. Elsewhere, on one of those episodes thought he was Mary Richards (even spinning around and throwing his knit hat in the air, ala MTM.) which led to some funny moments when he met a visiting \*\*navel \*\*captain, played by Betty White, and kept calling her Sue Ann (of course, referring to her Sue Ann Nivens character from The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Her belly button was out? 😕 Around the middle of the third season, I noticed _ **St Elsewhere** _ and _ **Hill Street Blues** _ (another MTM show) had started borrowing plot lines from each other. For example: One week, there’d be a male stripper at the police station; a couple of weeks later, he’d be in the ER (“I got the idea from some cop show!”). ---
**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 7, 2017, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055/52 "2017-02-07T05:45:01Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > He’s only 7 years older than her. On the Mary Tyler Moore Show it seemed like he was 20 years older. There was an episode on “Mary Tyler Moore” where Lou Grant turned 50 “Just think of it. Two thirds of your life is over” is how Ted Baxter consoled Lou). Asner must have been “born old”…a decade earlier he was on a few episodes of “The Untouchables” were he seemed middle aged even then. At the same time it seemed risky to cast Moore as Dick van Dyke’s wife when he was about a decade older. ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055/53 "2017-02-07T22:12:07Z")
This thread roused my curiousity to see how well the show held up after all of these years. I had the afternoon free, so I binge watched it for three hours. It held up well. 🙂 Watching it during its first run, I wanted a buddy like Animal and had a huge crush on Rossi. ---
**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:** [March 24, 2018, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055/54 "2018-03-24T08:00:22Z")
Update: _Lou Grant_ season 5 has just been released on DVD–in the past week actually. I bought it today, from the local video store. (I should state that it is more of a pop-culture store: it stocks DVDs, Blu-Rays, coffee mugs with the Batman logo, Superman blankets, music CDs, Spider-Man cookie jars, and so on and so on. I just think of it as a video store.) The young lady (no older than 25) working at the video store checkout remarked, “I’ve never heard of this show.” We talked a bit, and she finally recognized the character from the _Mary Tyler Moore Show_, which she had seen. I explained how Lou made the jump from a half-hour sitcom to an hour-long drama, and she was curious. Maybe I made a convert. Right now, I’m binging on _Lou Grant_, season 5. It’s great! ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2018, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055/55 "2018-03-24T12:45:52Z")
Just checked Netflix, it ain’t there. Bummer. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2018, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055/56 "2018-03-24T14:34:32Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Update: _Lou Grant_ season 5 has just been released on DVD–in the past week actually. I bought it today, from the local video store. (I should state that it is more of a pop-culture store: it stocks DVDs, Blu-Rays, coffee mugs with the Batman logo, Superman blankets, music CDs, Spider-Man cookie jars, and so on and so on. I just think of it as a video store.) > > The young lady (no older than 25) working at the video store checkout remarked, “I’ve never heard of this show.” We talked a bit, and she finally recognized the character from the _Mary Tyler Moore Show_, which she had seen. I explained how Lou made the jump from a half-hour sitcom to an hour-long drama, and she was curious. Maybe I made a convert. > > Right now, I’m binging on _Lou Grant_, season 5. It’s great! I,m going to check out the local used video store. Maybe they have it. It’s where I got all five seasons of Babylon 5. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2018, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055/57 "2018-03-24T15:13:36Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > Here’s the intro: > [https://youtu.be/gYDvoDNYRJ0](https://youtu.be/gYDvoDNYRJ0) That’s an awesome intro. And it makes me a little sad about the absence of a daily newspaper in my life. mmm ---
**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:** [March 24, 2018, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055/58 "2018-03-24T17:41:41Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > There was an episode on “Mary Tyler Moore” where Lou Grant turned 50 “Just think of it. Two thirds of your life is over” is how Ted Baxter consoled Lou). Asner must have been “born old”…a decade earlier he was on a few episodes of “The Untouchables” were he seemed middle aged even then. He played a Communist sleeper agent in an early Jim Phelps episode of _ **Mission: Impossible** _ (the one with Steve “Lord Garth” Inhat and Jason “Rael” Evers). He was completely believable as someone who’d been living a lie for years and was thoroughly burned out and ready to go home. (Of course he didn’t, at least not right away. The IMF tripped him up.) ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2018, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055/59 "2018-03-24T18:14:56Z")
First thing I remember about _Lou Grant_ was getting used to seeing Mason Adams’ face. Before that, I listened to a whole lot of _CBS Radio Mystery Theater_, on which it seemed like he was in almost every episode. > [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](#): > > I’m sure there are more MTM crossovers from St. Elsewhere that I’ve forgotten, There was the _Cheers!_ crossover where Dr.s Auschlander and Westphal showed up at the bar. Was _Cheers!_ an MTM production? ---
**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:** [March 24, 2018, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055/60 "2018-03-24T18:45:58Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > There was the _Cheers!_ crossover where Dr.s Auschlander and Westphal showed up at the bar. Was _Cheers!_ an MTM production? No, but they were both on NBC. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lou-grant-anybody-remember-this-show/779055.md?page=4)