# Lou Grant (1977)

> A gruff former television news manager becomes a newspaper city editor and steers his Los Angeles staff through the trials of the trade.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/450

## Facts

- Seasons: 5
- Episodes: 114
- Episode runtime: 50 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama, comedy
- Created by: Gene Reynolds, Allan Burns, James L. Brooks
- Network: CBS
- Cast: Ed Asner, Robert Walden, Linda Kelsey, Mason Adams, Jack Bannon, Daryl Anderson, Nancy Marchand, Allen Williams
- TMDB rating: 7.3/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075528/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: none
- Tone: sincere, witty, earnest, brisk

## Synopsis

Lou Grant (1977-1982) is a American television dramedy series created by Gene Reynolds, Allan Burns and James L. Brooks for CBS. Ed Asner stars as Lou Grant, a former television station manager who becomes the city editor of a Los Angeles newspaper, supervising a staff of reporters including Joe Rossi (Robert Walden), Billie Newman (Linda Kelsey) and Charlie Hume (Mason Adams). The engine of the series is the daily grind of the newsroom: deadlines, stubborn sources, editorial pressure from management and the moral choices reporters face when a story threatens to cost them their jobs or their integrity. Each episode tends to center on a discrete assignment, while character relationships and the editor's gruff loyalty carry the arc across five seasons and 114 episodes. Set in 1970s Los Angeles, the show balances wry workplace humor with earnest social reporting, producing a tone that is brisk, sincere and occasionally sobering. Its ensemble dynamics and ethical stakes will appeal to viewers who enjoy newsroom dramas and the warmth of an ensemble workplace comedy. Fans of The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Newsroom will find resonance in its blend of humor, idealism and journalistic conscience.

## Shows like Lou Grant

- [The West Wing (1999)](https://ember.film/tv/651)
- [Sports Night (1998)](https://ember.film/tv/1894)
- [The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970)](https://ember.film/tv/2816)
- [NewsRadio (1995)](https://ember.film/tv/3775)
- [The Newsroom (2012)](https://ember.film/tv/14567)
- [Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974)](https://ember.film/tv/4827)
- [The Bob Newhart Show (1972)](https://ember.film/tv/1866)
- [Sanford and Son (1972)](https://ember.film/tv/2458)
- [Blunt Talk (2015)](https://ember.film/tv/55390)
- [Hill Street Blues (1981)](https://ember.film/tv/3642)

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