Lou and Edie are together again. 
RIP.
“Lou Grant”, the show, got pulled from circulation too soon. I’m not sure if it qualifies as a prototype, but it seems there were a lot more programs that took on serious topics in a lighthearted way in its wake. Boston Legal, The Good Fight, and so on.
I remember Ed Asner’s early roles on Gunsmoke and Virginian. He was very convincing as a bad guy. He did a lot of TV before MTM.
He appeared with John Wayne in El Dorado.
When it debuted, no one was quite sure how to classify it. TV Guide called it a “comedy-drama,” but I think the word “dramedy” was coined soon afterward.
That’s my understanding. Viewers expected “Lou Grant” to be an hour-long comedy, with Lou’s bottle of Scotch in his desk drawer, him reaming out lesser and clumsier reporters as he did on Mary Tyler Moore, and other such sitcom memes.
“Lou Grant” was nothing of the sort. It was a drama, with dramatic themes. And it allowed, (IMHO) Asner to much better portray Lou Grant as the man that the character “Lou Grant” was–tough but compassionate, divorced father to three daughters, and knowledgeable about journalism. We get his backstory, from his childhood in Michigan, through his TV experience in Minneapolis, to his time at the LA Tribune, in the “Lou Grant” show.
Rest well, Mr. Asner. You gave us a character that will long be remembered, I’m sure.
He was great on MISSION IMPOSSIBLE as, well, a middle-management bad guy: you know, passed over for promotion, out to make a rival coworker look bad, hoping to make a good impression on someone who could really his career along — but I’m talking about his real career, not the way he runs an innocuous storefront just so this or that operative can have an easy time bringing him classified info; that doesn’t actually matter to him, he knows he’s always minutes away from dropping the act and heading for the nearest safe house if his cover identity ever gets compromised.
Though if that never happens, he knows he could keep plugging away at this for — years?
“I hate spunk” has to be the greatest one-liner in sitcom history (sorry all you I-thought-turkeys-could-fly devotees). Just three perfect words.
RIP Mr. Asner
mmm
Makes it probably the single best Pilot/1st episode ever.
“The Mind of Stefan Miklos,” one of the best episodes of M : I ever!
Ed worked right up to the end. Imdb shows a lot of recent work. He was in 3 episodes of Cobra Kai.
91 years old and still busy working. He probably has several roles that will have to be recast.
https://m.imdb.com/name/nm0000799/filmotype/actor?ref_=m_nmfm_1
He was on a couple of episodes of ER, season 9. He ‘ran an inner city clinic’, attracting Carter’s attention.
He did voicework for animation, too. He voiced Granny Goodness on the animated Adventures of Superman, he played Ed Wuncler on The Boondocks, and of course, was Carl in Up.
We’re binge-watching the Hawaii 5-0 reboot and Asner played a character for a couple episodes that was also in the '70s 5-0.
His performance as slave ship captain Davies in the amazing Roots miniseries was excellent!! I don’t think I have ever seen a character like Lou Grant appear in two separate TV series, especially one a sitcom and one a dramatic series. For Ed Asner to pull that off and win multiple Emmy’s on both shows is quite an accomplishment.
He was also great in Oliver Stone’s JFK. His character was a rotten human being and he played it well.
Interesting, because that would be simultaneous with his regular MTM gig.
He was on Dead to Me in the last few years, loved his character. Age finally caught up to the guy who has been old as long as I’ve been alive. RIP Mr. Asner.
Check out his IMDb page, he had a lot of work during his MTM stretch. Hell, he had a lot of work, period – 64 years in TV/movies? I’m tired just thinking about it.
I literally was just watching him in an episode of Doom Patrol (2019 - I just finally started watching it the other week), where he had a bit role playing a hospital patient and looking very much his age. But he was as Ed Asnery as ever, in full crotchety-wisdom form. I was impressed he was still working - he must have truly loved his craft, as I assume he didn’t need the paycheck.
“Lou Grant” had a good supporting cast, including Mason Adams, who was the friendly guy-next-door voiceover in many a TV commercial, and Robert Walden as the cynical young reporter Rossi.
A favorite episode had an old colleague of Lou’s (played by that character actor who was the dishwasher who promoted the “Ajax squeak”) shows up and leads Lou and Rossi on a wild goose chase, making them dress in white linen suits to meet a mysterious contact in some bar in the Carribean. The contact shows up, and Ajax guy takes him aside, contact says “What’s with the ice cream suits?”, Ajax says “We’re gay”, shoots a glance down the bar, Lou and Rossi smile and wave.
One of the silly episodes.
wow whos going to voice/be Santa Claus next year in all the holiday specials and movies …