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Lou Grant (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Lou Grant is an American
television drama series
starring Ed Asner
in the titular role
as a newspaper editor. Unusual in American television, this drama series was a spinoff
from a sitcom, The Mary Tyler Moore Show
. Aired from 1977 to 1982, Lou Grant won 13 Emmy Awards, including "Outstanding Drama Series". Asner won the Emmy Award
for "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series" in 1978 and 1980. In doing so, he became the only person to win an Emmy Award for both "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series" and "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series" for portraying the same character, recognizing his work on this series and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Lou Grant also won two Golden Globe awards, a Peabody award
, an Eddie award, three awards from the Directors Guild of America
, and two Humanitas prize
s.
from The Mary Tyler Moore Show
and premiered on CBS
in September 1977. Unlike The Mary Tyler Moore Show, which was a 30-minute situation comedy
, Lou Grant was a one-hour drama.
Lou Grant ran from 1977–1982 and consisted of 114 episodes. It is one of four shows in the history of American television to have the distinction of having episodes that finished both first and last in the ratings during its run, the others being AfterMASH
, Cheers
, and fellow Mary Tyler Moore spinoff Rhoda
.
The theme music for the series was composed by Patrick Williams.
worked at the fictitious Los Angeles Tribune daily newspaper as its city editor, a job he took after the WJM television station fired him. (Though Mary Tyler Moore Show viewers were introduced to the character as a television news producer, the character noted many times that he'd begun his career as a print journalist.) This Lou Grant was somewhat different from the character he had played in the former Mary Tyler Moore series, in that the comedic nature of his interactions with others was toned down, given the more serious and dramatic nature of the material. The rest of the main cast included Robert Walden
and Linda Kelsey
, who played general-assignment reporters Joe Rossi and Billie Newman, respectively (Kelsey joined the show in the fourth episode, replacing Rebecca Balding
, who had portrayed reporter Carla Mardigian during the show's first three episodes); Mason Adams
, who played managing editor Charles Hume, an old friend of Lou's who had convinced him to move from Minneapolis to Los Angeles; Jack Bannon
, who played assistant city editor Art Donovan; Daryl Anderson
, who played photographer Dennis Price, usually referred to as "Animal"; and Nancy Marchand
, who played the widowed, patrician publisher, Margaret Pynchon, a character loosely based on real life newspaper publishers Dorothy Chandler of the Los Angeles Times
and Katharine Graham
of The Washington Post
. Recurring actors who played editors of various departments included Gordon Jump
and Emilio Delgado
. Asner won two Emmys for his portrayal of Lou; Marchand won Emmy Awards for "Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series" four of the five years the series ran; Walden, Kelsey, and Adams all received multiple nominations for supporting Emmys.
Despite the show's connection with The Mary Tyler Moore Show, none of that series' other regular characters ever appeared (and were not referred to onscreen); the only other "crossover" character was MTM recurring character Flo Meredith (Eileen Heckart
) (Mary Richards' aunt), a churlish veteran journalist with whom Lou had had a brief fling while in Minneapolis, and who appeared on a single episode of Lou Grant.
The episodes often had Lou assigning Rossi and Billie to cover news stories, with the episode's plots revealing problems of the people covered in the stories as well as frustrations and challenges reporters experienced to get the stories. The younger reporters were frequently seen returning to Lou for guidance and mentorship over some of the hard questions and moral dilemmas they were experiencing as they worked on their stories. The series frequently delved into serious societal issues, such as nuclear proliferation
, mental illness
, prostitution
, gay rights, child abuse
, and chemical pollution
, in addition to demonstrating coverage of breaking news stories, such as fires, earthquakes, and accidents of all kind. The series also took serious examination of ethical questions in journalism, including plagiarism
, checkbook journalism, entrapment
of sources, staging news photos, and conflicts of interest
that journalists encounter in their work. There were also glimpses into the personal lives of the Tribune staff.
Gene Reynolds
, James L. Brooks
and Allan Burns
were executive producers, and Gary David Goldberg
was a producer.
Many of the episodes in the first season were based on incidents described by Gay Talese
in his history of his former employer The New York Times
, The Kingdom and the Power
. Talese was unaware of this fact more than a decade after the show was canceled.
top ten throughout its final month on the air), but CBS declined to renew it largely because of controversies created by Asner in using both the series and his presidency of the Screen Actors Guild
as political soapboxes. Asner's outspokenness in directly opposing the U.S. government's intervention in El Salvador
created problems for the network with its advertisers. Asner also gave one press conference, not long before the show was cancelled, in which he was asked whether he would support free elections in El Salvador even if those elected were communists. Asner responded that if that was what the voters chose in a free election then he would have to support it.
s, two Golden Globe Award
s, a Peabody Award
, and two Humanitas Prize
s.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television drama series
Dramatic programming
Dramatic programming in the UK, or television drama and television drama series in the US, is television program content that is scripted and fictional along the lines of √a traditional drama. This excludes, for example, sports television, television news, reality show and game shows, stand-up...
starring Ed Asner
Ed Asner
Edward Asner , commonly known as Ed Asner, is an American film, television, stage, and voice actor and former president of the Screen Actors Guild, primarily known for his Emmy Award-winning role as Lou Grant on both The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its spin-off series, Lou Grant...
in the titular role
Lou Grant
Lou Grant is a fictional character played by Edward Asner in two television series produced by MTM Enterprises for CBS. The first was Mary Tyler Moore , in which the character was the news director at the fictional television station WJM-TV...
as a newspaper editor. Unusual in American television, this drama series was a spinoff
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
from a sitcom, The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mary Tyler Moore Show is an American television sitcom created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns that aired on CBS from 1970 to 1977...
. Aired from 1977 to 1982, Lou Grant won 13 Emmy Awards, including "Outstanding Drama Series". Asner won the Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
for "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series" in 1978 and 1980. In doing so, he became the only person to win an Emmy Award for both "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series" and "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series" for portraying the same character, recognizing his work on this series and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Lou Grant also won two Golden Globe awards, a Peabody award
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...
, an Eddie award, three awards from the Directors Guild of America
Directors Guild of America
Directors Guild of America is an entertainment labor union which represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry...
, and two Humanitas prize
Humanitas Prize
The Humanitas Prize is an award for film and television writing intended to promote human dignity, meaning, and freedom. It began in 1974 with Father Ellwood "Bud" Kieser — also the founder of Paulist Productions — but is generally not seen as specifically directed toward religious...
s.
Broadcast history
Lou Grant was a spinoffSpin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
from The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mary Tyler Moore Show is an American television sitcom created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns that aired on CBS from 1970 to 1977...
and premiered on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
in September 1977. Unlike The Mary Tyler Moore Show, which was a 30-minute situation comedy
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
, Lou Grant was a one-hour drama.
Lou Grant ran from 1977–1982 and consisted of 114 episodes. It is one of four shows in the history of American television to have the distinction of having episodes that finished both first and last in the ratings during its run, the others being AfterMASH
AfterMASH
AfterMASH was an American situation comedy that aired on CBS from September 26, 1983 to December 11, 1984. A spin-off of the series M*A*S*H , the show took place immediately following the end of the Korean War and chronicled the adventures of three characters from the original series: Colonel...
, Cheers
Cheers
Cheers is an American situation comedy television series that ran for 11 seasons from 1982 to 1993. It was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television for NBC, and was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles...
, and fellow Mary Tyler Moore spinoff Rhoda
Rhoda
Rhoda is an American television sitcom, starring Valerie Harper, which ran for five seasons, from 1974 to 1978 airing in 109 episodes. The show was a spin-off from The Mary Tyler Moore Show, in which Harper between the years 1970 and 1974 had played the role of Rhoda Morgenstern, a spunky,...
.
The theme music for the series was composed by Patrick Williams.
Premise
Lou GrantLou Grant (fictional character)
Lou Grant is a fictional character played by Edward Asner in two television series produced by MTM Enterprises for CBS. The first was Mary Tyler Moore , in which the character was the news director at the fictional television station WJM-TV...
worked at the fictitious Los Angeles Tribune daily newspaper as its city editor, a job he took after the WJM television station fired him. (Though Mary Tyler Moore Show viewers were introduced to the character as a television news producer, the character noted many times that he'd begun his career as a print journalist.) This Lou Grant was somewhat different from the character he had played in the former Mary Tyler Moore series, in that the comedic nature of his interactions with others was toned down, given the more serious and dramatic nature of the material. The rest of the main cast included Robert Walden
Robert Walden
Robert Walden is an American television and motion picture actor. He is best known for his role as Joe Rossi on Lou Grant for which he was nominated for an Emmy three times and his role as Joe Waters on Brothers...
and Linda Kelsey
Linda Kelsey
Linda Kelsey is an American television actress.Kelsey's professional career began with stage appearances in her home of Minneapolis, Minnesota, with her good looks and striking mane of red hair winning her success that ultimately landed her in Los Angeles in 1972, with appearances in small roles...
, who played general-assignment reporters Joe Rossi and Billie Newman, respectively (Kelsey joined the show in the fourth episode, replacing Rebecca Balding
Rebecca Balding
Rebecca Balding is an American actress who was born in Little Rock, Arkansas.- Life and career :Balding may be best known for her 23 appearances, from 2002 through 2006, in the television series Charmed as Elise Rothman, newspaper editor-in-chief and Phoebe's boss Rebecca Balding (born on...
, who had portrayed reporter Carla Mardigian during the show's first three episodes); Mason Adams
Mason Adams
Mason Adams was an American character actor and voice-over artist.-Early life:Adams was born in Brooklyn, New York. He earned an MA degree from the University of Michigan in Theatre Arts and Speech and also attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison, studying theater arts...
, who played managing editor Charles Hume, an old friend of Lou's who had convinced him to move from Minneapolis to Los Angeles; Jack Bannon
Jack Bannon
John James "Jack" Bannon is an American television actor. He is most famous for his role as Assistant City Editor Art Donovan on Lou Grant, a role he played for the duration of the series, from 1977 until 1982....
, who played assistant city editor Art Donovan; Daryl Anderson
Daryl Anderson
-Biography:Anderson was born in Seattle, Washington, the son of Shirley and Donald Anderson. He began acting in high school and at age 19 joined A Contemporary Theatre in Seattle as box office manager. He started acting professionally in 1972. He received a BFA from the University of Washington...
, who played photographer Dennis Price, usually referred to as "Animal"; and Nancy Marchand
Nancy Marchand
Nancy Marchand was an American actress, whose career encompassed both stage and screen. She appeared in various theatre productions throughout the early 1950s, before being offered roles on film and television....
, who played the widowed, patrician publisher, Margaret Pynchon, a character loosely based on real life newspaper publishers Dorothy Chandler of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
and Katharine Graham
Katharine Graham
Katharine Meyer Graham was an American publisher. She led her family's newspaper, The Washington Post, for more than two decades, overseeing its most famous period, the Watergate coverage that eventually led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon...
of The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
. Recurring actors who played editors of various departments included Gordon Jump
Gordon Jump
Alexander Gordon Jump was an American actor best known as the clueless radio station manager Arthur "Big Guy" Carlson in the TV series WKRP in Cincinnati and the incompetent "Chief of Police Tinkler" in the sitcom Soap...
and Emilio Delgado
Emilio Delgado
Emilio Delgado is an American actor. He is best known for his long-running role as Luis, the friendly Fix-it Shop owner, on the children's television series Sesame Street. Delgado joined the cast of Sesame Street in 1971 and recently completed Season 41 with the show. He began his professional...
. Asner won two Emmys for his portrayal of Lou; Marchand won Emmy Awards for "Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series" four of the five years the series ran; Walden, Kelsey, and Adams all received multiple nominations for supporting Emmys.
Despite the show's connection with The Mary Tyler Moore Show, none of that series' other regular characters ever appeared (and were not referred to onscreen); the only other "crossover" character was MTM recurring character Flo Meredith (Eileen Heckart
Eileen Heckart
Eileen Heckart was an American actress of stage, screen, and television.-Early life:Heckart was born Anna Eileen Heckart in Columbus, Ohio, the daughter of Esther and Leo Herbert. She was legally adopted by her grandfather, J.W. Heckart. Her family was of Irish and German descent...
) (Mary Richards' aunt), a churlish veteran journalist with whom Lou had had a brief fling while in Minneapolis, and who appeared on a single episode of Lou Grant.
The episodes often had Lou assigning Rossi and Billie to cover news stories, with the episode's plots revealing problems of the people covered in the stories as well as frustrations and challenges reporters experienced to get the stories. The younger reporters were frequently seen returning to Lou for guidance and mentorship over some of the hard questions and moral dilemmas they were experiencing as they worked on their stories. The series frequently delved into serious societal issues, such as nuclear proliferation
Nuclear proliferation
Nuclear proliferation is a term now used to describe the spread of nuclear weapons, fissile material, and weapons-applicable nuclear technology and information, to nations which are not recognized as "Nuclear Weapon States" by the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons, also known as the...
, mental illness
Mental illness
A mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern generally associated with subjective distress or disability that occurs in an individual, and which is not a part of normal development or culture. Such a disorder may consist of a combination of affective, behavioural,...
, prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
, gay rights, child abuse
Child abuse
Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...
, and chemical pollution
Pollution
Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into a natural environment that causes instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or living organisms. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light...
, in addition to demonstrating coverage of breaking news stories, such as fires, earthquakes, and accidents of all kind. The series also took serious examination of ethical questions in journalism, including plagiarism
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is defined in dictionaries as the "wrongful appropriation," "close imitation," or "purloining and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions," and the representation of them as one's own original work, but the notion remains problematic with nebulous...
, checkbook journalism, entrapment
Entrapment
In criminal law, entrapment is conduct by a law enforcement agent inducing a person to commit an offense that the person would otherwise have been unlikely to commit. In many jurisdictions, entrapment is a possible defense against criminal liability...
of sources, staging news photos, and conflicts of interest
Conflicts of Interest
"Conflicts of Interest" is an episode from the fourth season of the science fiction television series Babylon 5.-Arc significance:* Garibaldi begins to work for William Edgars. In the process Garibaldi is reintroduced to his ex-girlfriend, Lise, who is currently married to Edgars.* The "Voice of...
that journalists encounter in their work. There were also glimpses into the personal lives of the Tribune staff.
Gene Reynolds
Gene Reynolds
Gene Reynolds is a former American actor turned award-winning television writer, director, and producer.-Early life:He was born Eugene Reynolds Blumenthal on April 4, 1923 to Frank Eugene Blumenthal and Maude Evelyn Blumenthal in Cleveland, Ohio, he was raised in Detroit, Michigan, where his...
, James L. Brooks
James L. Brooks
James Lawrence Brooks is an American director, producer and screenwriter. Growing up in North Bergen, New Jersey, Brooks endured a fractured family life and passed the time by reading and writing. After dropping out of New York University, he got a job as an usher at CBS, going on to write for the...
and Allan Burns
Allan Burns
Allan Burns is an American screenwriter and television producer. Burns is best known for, alongside James L. Brooks, creating and writing for the television sitcoms The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rhoda.-Early life:...
were executive producers, and Gary David Goldberg
Gary David Goldberg
Gary David Goldberg is a United States writer and producer for television and film. Goldberg is best known for his work on Family Ties , Spin City , and his semi-autobiographical series Brooklyn Bridge .-Background:Gary David Goldberg was born on June 25, 1944, in Brooklyn, New York, the son of...
was a producer.
Many of the episodes in the first season were based on incidents described by Gay Talese
Gay Talese
Gay Talese is an American author. He wrote for The New York Times in the early 1960s and helped to define literary journalism...
in his history of his former employer The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, The Kingdom and the Power
The Kingdom and the Power
The Kingdom and the Power: Behind the Scenes at The New York Times: The Institution That Influences the World was a 1969 book by Gay Talese about the inner workings of The New York Times, the newspaper where Talese had worked for 12 years...
. Talese was unaware of this fact more than a decade after the show was canceled.
Controversy
The cancellation of Lou Grant in 1982 was the subject of much controversy. Reportedly, the series had significant enough ratings in its last season to be renewed (it was in the ACNielsenACNielsen
ACNielsen is a global marketing research firm, with worldwide headquarters in New York City. Regional headquarters for North America are located in Schaumburg, Illinois. As of May 2010, it is part of The Nielsen Company.-History:...
top ten throughout its final month on the air), but CBS declined to renew it largely because of controversies created by Asner in using both the series and his presidency of the Screen Actors Guild
Screen Actors Guild
The Screen Actors Guild is an American labor union representing over 200,000 film and television principal performers and background performers worldwide...
as political soapboxes. Asner's outspokenness in directly opposing the U.S. government's intervention in El Salvador
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
created problems for the network with its advertisers. Asner also gave one press conference, not long before the show was cancelled, in which he was asked whether he would support free elections in El Salvador even if those elected were communists. Asner responded that if that was what the voters chose in a free election then he would have to support it.
Awards
Lou Grant won several critical honors during its run, including 13 Primetime Emmy AwardPrimetime Emmy Award
The Primetime Emmy Awards are awards presented by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in recognition of excellence in American primetime television programming...
s, two Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
s, a Peabody Award
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...
, and two Humanitas Prize
Humanitas Prize
The Humanitas Prize is an award for film and television writing intended to promote human dignity, meaning, and freedom. It began in 1974 with Father Ellwood "Bud" Kieser — also the founder of Paulist Productions — but is generally not seen as specifically directed toward religious...
s.