| Lou Grant | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Created by | |
| Based on | Lou Grant by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns |
| Developed by | Leon Tokatyan |
| Starring | |
| Composers |
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| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 5 |
| No. of episodes | 114(list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
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| Running time | 46–48 minutes |
| Production companies | MTM Productions 20th Television |
| Original release | |
| Network | CBS |
| Release | September 20, 1977 (1977-09-20) – September 13, 1982 (1982-09-13) |
| Related | |
Lou Grant is an Americandrama television series starringEd Asner inthe title role as a newspaper editor that aired onCBS from September 20, 1977, to September 13, 1982. The thirdspin-off (afterRhoda andPhyllis) of the AmericansitcomThe Mary Tyler Moore Show,Lou Grant was created byJames L. Brooks,Allan Burns, andGene Reynolds.
Lou Grant won 13Primetime Emmy Awards, includingOutstanding Drama Series twice. Asner received thePrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 1978 and 1980. In doing so, he became the first person to win an Emmy Award for both Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series andOutstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for portraying the same character.Lou Grant also won twoGolden Globe Awards, aPeabody Award, anEddie Award, three awards from theDirectors Guild of America, and twoHumanitas Prizes.
Lou Grant works as city editor of the fictionalLos Angeles Tribune daily newspaper, a job he takes after being fired from WJM-TV inMinneapolis at the end of thesitcomThe Mary Tyler Moore Show. (Grant mentions several times onMary Tyler Moore that he had begun his career as a print journalist.)
Given the shift from comedy to drama in this show, Lou becomes a less eccentric character: more diplomatic, sober, and professional. The only other character from the earlier series is a single appearance byFlo Meredith, a veteran journalist (played in three episodes byEileen Heckart) with whom Lou had a fling.
The rest of the main cast includes: general-assignment reporters Joe Rossi (Robert Walden) and Billie Newman (Linda Kelsey); managing editor Charles Hume (Mason Adams), an old friend of Lou's who has convinced him to move from Minneapolis to Los Angeles; assistant city editor Art Donovan (Jack Bannon); photographer Dennis Price (Daryl Anderson), usually referred to as "Animal"; and widowed, patrician publisher Margaret Jones Pynchon (Nancy Marchand), a character loosely based on acomposite of real-life newspaper executivesDorothy Chandler of theLos Angeles Times andKatharine Graham ofThe Washington Post. Recurring actors who play editors of various departments includedGordon Jump andEmilio Delgado;Peggy McCay has a recurring role as Charlie Hume's wife Marion.
The episodes often have Grant assigning Rossi and Billie to cover news stories, with the plots revealing problems experienced by the people being covered as well as the frustrations and challenges faced by the reporters as they worked to get the story. The younger reporters are frequently seen turning to Lou for guidance and mentorship over some of the hard questions and moral dilemmas they experience as they work on their stories. The series frequently delves into serious social issues, such asnuclear proliferation,mental illness,prostitution,gay rights,domestic violence,capital punishment,child abuse,rape, and chemicalpollution, in addition to demonstrating coverage of breaking news stories of all kinds. There is one character onLou Grant, reporter Rosenthal, who is mentioned frequently but never seen.[1]Lou Grant was cancelled after the star, Ed Asner, publicly protested U.S. interventions into the politics of Latin American countries.[2]
The series also undertakes serious examination ofethical questions in journalism, includingplagiarism,checkbook journalism,entrapment of sources, staging news photos, andconflicts of interest that journalists encounter in their work. There are also glimpses into the personal lives of theTribune staff.
The following actors were listed in the opening credits:
The following actors were seen in recurring roles:
WhenThe Mary Tyler Moore Show ended its run, that series' co-creators and producers,James L. Brooks andAllan Burns, had a commitment to create a new show starring Ed Asner. They decided that it was easier to retain the popularLou Grant character and make it a spinoff series.Mary Tyler Moore had already established that the character had a previous newspaper career. Brooks and Burns' decision to make the spinoff series a one-hour realistic drama instead of another 30-minutesitcom was influenced by the 1976 filmAll the President's Men, and how that movie depicted the operation of a major newspaper.[3]
Gene Reynolds, who was producing the TV showM*A*S*H at the same time, was also brought on as a co-creator and executive producer. Reynolds, Brooks and Burns had previously worked on the seriesRoom 222, andLou Grant made occasional reference toWalt Whitman High School, the setting ofRoom 222.Gary David Goldberg was a producer for the series. The theme music toLou Grant was composed byPatrick Williams.
Lou Grant aired onCBS from September 1977 to September 1982. A total of 114 episodes were produced. In the second half of the 1990s, in syndication, the show was carried on cable TV'sA&E Network.
| Season | Episodes | Originally released | Rank | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | ||||
| 1 | 22 | September 20, 1977 (1977-09-20) | March 20, 1978 (1978-03-20) | 36 | |
| 2 | 24 | September 25, 1978 (1978-09-25) | May 7, 1979 (1979-05-07) | 30 | |
| 3 | 24 | September 17, 1979 (1979-09-17) | March 24, 1980 (1980-03-24) | — | |
| 4 | 20 | September 22, 1980 (1980-09-22) | May 4, 1981 (1981-05-04) | 27 | |
| 5 | 24 | November 2, 1981 (1981-11-02) | September 13, 1982 (1982-09-13) | 38 | |
Lou Grant won several critical honors during its run, including 13Primetime Emmy Awards, twoGolden Globe Awards, aPeabody Award, and twoHumanitas Prizes.
Asner won two Emmys for his portrayal of Grant; Marchand won an Emmy 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.
The cancellation ofLou Grant in 1982 was controversial. Asner served two terms as president of theScreen Actors Guild, during which he voiced opposition to U.S. government policy in Central America and worked closely with Medical Aid for El Salvador. Up until his death in 2021, Asner consistently stated his position that his political views, as well as the publicity they attracted, were the root causes of the cancellation of the show.[4] CBS denied that the cancellation had anything to do with Asner's politics, citing a fall in ratings for the last two seasons.[5] The show's ratings had fallen from an average 19.6 rating over the previous three seasons to 16.6 in its final year, finishing the season 43rd among primetime network series.[6]
Shout! Factory has released all five seasons on DVD in Region 1.[7][8][9][10][11][12]
| DVD Name | Ep # | Release Date |
|---|---|---|
| The Complete First Season | 22 | May 24, 2016 |
| The Complete Second Season | 24 | August 16, 2016 |
| The Complete Third Season | 24 | November 22, 2016 |
| The Complete Fourth Season | 20 | February 21, 2017 |
| The Complete Fifth and Final Season | 24 | March 13, 2018 |
