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Lou Grant (fictional character)
Encyclopedia
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
(1970–1977), in which the character was the news director
at the fictional television station WJM-TV. A spinoff series, entitled Lou Grant
(1977–1982), featured the character as city editor
of the fictional Los Angeles Tribune.
Unusually, the two shows in which the Grant character features are in completely different genre
s. The Mary Tyler Moore Show was a half-hour-long light-hearted situation comedy while Lou Grant was an hour-long serious dramatic series which frequently engaged in social commentary
.
n, Lou Grant in fact established that he was born in the fictional town of Goshen, Michigan
. His grandfather was a pharmacist. At some point in his youth and early adulthood he developed a life-long affection for westerns, particularly those starring John Wayne
. In high school, he was a tackle
for his school's football
team. Soon after high school, he married Edie MacKenzie (Priscilla Morrill), at an age young enough to have four grandchildren before he turned 50.
After marriage, he became a combatant
in World War II. He served in both the Pacific and European Theatres. At one point, he was a sergeant
in the Pacific-based 2nd Marine Division. During another phase of his wartime service, he was injured by a grenade
in France, the last remnants of which were only removed in his late 40s. He was also part of a unit that liberated an unknown town in Germany. During the war, he met and befriended Walter Cronkite
.
He attended college, likely after the war. He started his career in print journalism as a copy boy, but it is unclear whether this was in Detroit, Minneapolis or San Francisco, as he worked for papers in all three cities. In this period of his life, he met and worked with Charlie Hume (Mason Adams
) for the first time at the San Francisco Call-Bulletin.
served as his associate producer, Ted Baxter
as his news anchor and Murray Slaughter
as his head writer.
Of these relationships, the one with Richards was likely the closest. When he first interviewed Mary, he liked her because she had spunk, even though he hated spunk. He offered her the job of associate producer, which paid less than the secretarial position for which she'd initially interviewed, but more than what he said was the going rate for full producers. She accepted, saying that she could only "afford" to be an associate producer. At the same time, Mary discovered that Lou was a heavy drinker, with a penchant for hiding whole bottles of scotch in his desk drawers. Except for one abortive attempt at romance, his general attitude towards her was paternalistic. A typical display of his affection for Richards came when his nephew, Allen, tried to put the moves on Mary. Lou became infuriated and said, "Listen you, let me remind you of something, and remember this forever. I think of this girl here as if she were my own daughter and that means she is your cousin, you get my drift?"
Lou's personality was outwardly that of a tough loner and a workaholic man's man, with little subtlety. The real Lou Grant was somewhat more complicated. He was quick to anger and had a violent streak, at times threatening the barely competent Ted Baxter and once causing him physical injury. However, those who understood him best, like Mary Richards, knew he was also painfully shy, with a particular awkwardness around women. With those few people he trusted, again like Mary Richards, Lou was protective and could at times confide his emotional vulnerability.
Lou's marriage began to slide as he and Edie both adjusted to life after parenthood. They briefly separated for the first time almost immediately after their youngest daughter got married and left the house. Though they reconciled on this occasion, they would occasionally re-separate and seek marriage counseling over the next two years. In about 1973, he and Edie divorced, after which Edie promptly remarried. Lou, who had been consistently portrayed as a devoted husband, tentatively began to date again. He went with a woman named Charlene (Sheree North
); Mary's best friend Rhoda Morgenstern
; Mary's next-door neighbor, Paula Kovacks (Penny Marshall
); Mary's Aunt Flo (Eileen Heckart
); and even with Mary herself in the penultimate episode. He and Sue Ann Nivens
almost had a relationship, as well.
Though he never talked about his religious background, several comments by those around him during his time at WJM suggest he might have been Jewish: Phyllis Lindstrom
was the first to suggest that he would get along well with Rhoda, since in her strained words they were "both...earthy," and in a later episode Sue Ann Nivens
assured him he would not mind singing her "non-denominational" Christmas carols.
Professionally, his career with WJM-TV ended in the final episode. Lou, along with Mary, Murray, and Sue Ann Nivens
, were fired due to the low ratings. Ironically, Lou's sometime-nemesis, the vacuous Ted Baxter—the real cause for the ratings slide—was retained.
); Billie Newman (Linda Kelsey
); her predecessor, Carla Mardigian (Rebecca Balding
); and photographer Dennis "Animal" Price (Daryl Anderson
). His assistant was Art Donovan (Jack Bannon
). Charlie Hume was now his boss, who ultimately reported to publisher Margaret Pynchon (Nancy Marchand
). They, like those in his prior work at WJM, became his family as well.
, Lou hired a team of mercenaries to "rescue" Mary Richards after she got stuck in the '70s in syndicated reruns. But Mary refused rescue on the grounds that she never ages and never gains weight, and that people still like her.
In 1996 the character appeared on "Call Waiting", an episode of Roseanne
, in a dream sequence experienced by the show's lead. Roseanne (Roseanne Barr
) was Mary and Dan (John Goodman
) was Lou, and the two got into a heated argument. Lou stomped out, but quickly returned and was then played by Asner. (He commented about not feeling like himself.) Asner was uncredited.
In 2004, Asner unofficially reprised the role in a series of ads promoting Twin Cities station KSTP-TV
, a real channel in the same market as the fictional WJM-TV.
MTM Enterprises
MTM Enterprises was an American independent production company established in 1969 by Mary Tyler Moore and her then-husband Grant Tinker to produce The Mary Tyler Moore Show for CBS...
for 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...
. The first was Mary Tyler Moore
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...
(1970–1977), in which the character was the news director
News Director
A news director is an individual at a broadcast station or network or a newspaper who is in charge of the news department. In local news, the news director is typically in charge of the entire news staff, including journalists, news presenters, photographers, copy writers, television producers,...
at the fictional television station WJM-TV. A spinoff series, entitled Lou Grant
Lou Grant (TV series)
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...
(1977–1982), featured the character as city editor
City editor
A city editor is a title used by a particular section editor of a newspaper. They are responsible for the daily changes of a particular issue of a newspaper that will be released in the coming day...
of the fictional Los Angeles Tribune.
Unusually, the two shows in which the Grant character features are in completely different genre
Genre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...
s. The Mary Tyler Moore Show was a half-hour-long light-hearted situation comedy while Lou Grant was an hour-long serious dramatic series which frequently engaged in social commentary
Social commentary
Social commentary is the act of rebelling against an individual, or a group of people by rhetorical means, or commentary on social issues or society...
.
Pre-WJM-TV
Although the setting of The Mary Tyler Moore Show might have implied that he was a native MinnesotaMinnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
n, Lou Grant in fact established that he was born in the fictional town of Goshen, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
. His grandfather was a pharmacist. At some point in his youth and early adulthood he developed a life-long affection for westerns, particularly those starring John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
. In high school, he was a tackle
One-platoon system
The one-platoon system, also known as iron man football, was a system in American football where players played on both offense and defense. It was the result of rules that limited player substitutions. The alternative system is known as the "two-platoon system", or simply the "platoon system",...
for his school's football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
team. Soon after high school, he married Edie MacKenzie (Priscilla Morrill), at an age young enough to have four grandchildren before he turned 50.
After marriage, he became a combatant
Combatant
A combatant is someone who takes a direct part in the hostilities of an armed conflict. If a combatant follows the law of war, then they are considered a privileged combatant, and upon capture they qualify as a prisoner of war under the Third Geneva Convention...
in World War II. He served in both the Pacific and European Theatres. At one point, he was a sergeant
Sergeant
Sergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organizations around the world. Its origins are the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term Sergent....
in the Pacific-based 2nd Marine Division. During another phase of his wartime service, he was injured by a grenade
Grenade
A grenade is a small explosive device that is projected a safe distance away by its user. Soldiers called grenadiers specialize in the use of grenades. The term hand grenade refers any grenade designed to be hand thrown. Grenade Launchers are firearms designed to fire explosive projectile grenades...
in France, the last remnants of which were only removed in his late 40s. He was also part of a unit that liberated an unknown town in Germany. During the war, he met and befriended Walter Cronkite
Walter Cronkite
Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years . During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll...
.
He attended college, likely after the war. He started his career in print journalism as a copy boy, but it is unclear whether this was in Detroit, Minneapolis or San Francisco, as he worked for papers in all three cities. In this period of his life, he met and worked with Charlie Hume (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...
) for the first time at the San Francisco Call-Bulletin.
WJM-TV
At some point in his late 30s, he made the transition to television news, and eventually became the head of the WJM news department. He worked in that capacity for 11 years. For most of that period, Mary RichardsMary Richards
Mary Richards, portrayed by Mary Tyler Moore, is the main character of the television sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show.-Family:Mary Richards, born in Roseburg, Minnesota, is the daughter of Walter and Dottie Richards...
served as his associate producer, Ted Baxter
Ted Baxter
Ted Baxter is a fictional character on the sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show . Portrayed by Ted Knight, the Baxter character is a broad parody of a vain, shallow, buffoonish TV newsman. Knight's comedic model was William Powell, and he also drew on various Los Angeles newscasters, including George...
as his news anchor and Murray Slaughter
Murray Slaughter
Murray Slaughter was a fictional character in the situation comedy The Mary Tyler Moore Show. He was played by actor Gavin MacLeod.- Character :Murray Slaughter was the news writer at fictional television station WJM-TV in Minneapolis, Minnesota...
as his head writer.
Of these relationships, the one with Richards was likely the closest. When he first interviewed Mary, he liked her because she had spunk, even though he hated spunk. He offered her the job of associate producer, which paid less than the secretarial position for which she'd initially interviewed, but more than what he said was the going rate for full producers. She accepted, saying that she could only "afford" to be an associate producer. At the same time, Mary discovered that Lou was a heavy drinker, with a penchant for hiding whole bottles of scotch in his desk drawers. Except for one abortive attempt at romance, his general attitude towards her was paternalistic. A typical display of his affection for Richards came when his nephew, Allen, tried to put the moves on Mary. Lou became infuriated and said, "Listen you, let me remind you of something, and remember this forever. I think of this girl here as if she were my own daughter and that means she is your cousin, you get my drift?"
Lou's personality was outwardly that of a tough loner and a workaholic man's man, with little subtlety. The real Lou Grant was somewhat more complicated. He was quick to anger and had a violent streak, at times threatening the barely competent Ted Baxter and once causing him physical injury. However, those who understood him best, like Mary Richards, knew he was also painfully shy, with a particular awkwardness around women. With those few people he trusted, again like Mary Richards, Lou was protective and could at times confide his emotional vulnerability.
Lou's marriage began to slide as he and Edie both adjusted to life after parenthood. They briefly separated for the first time almost immediately after their youngest daughter got married and left the house. Though they reconciled on this occasion, they would occasionally re-separate and seek marriage counseling over the next two years. In about 1973, he and Edie divorced, after which Edie promptly remarried. Lou, who had been consistently portrayed as a devoted husband, tentatively began to date again. He went with a woman named Charlene (Sheree North
Sheree North
Sheree North was an American actress, singer, and dancer. She was known for being 20th Century Fox's answer to Marilyn Monroe from 1954 to 1956...
); Mary's best friend Rhoda Morgenstern
Rhoda Morgenstern
Rhoda Morgenstern, portrayed by Valerie Harper, is a character on the television sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show and subsequent spin-off Rhoda.-The Mary Tyler Moore Show:...
; Mary's next-door neighbor, Paula Kovacks (Penny Marshall
Penny Marshall
Penny Marshall is an American actress, producer and director.After playing several small roles for television, she was cast as Laverne DeFazio in the sitcom Laverne and Shirley...
); Mary's Aunt Flo (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...
); and even with Mary herself in the penultimate episode. He and Sue Ann Nivens
Sue Ann Nivens
Sue Ann Nivens was a fictional character on the long-running situation comedy, The Mary Tyler Moore Show. She was played by television perennial Betty White.- The Happy Homemaker :...
almost had a relationship, as well.
Though he never talked about his religious background, several comments by those around him during his time at WJM suggest he might have been Jewish: Phyllis Lindstrom
Phyllis Lindstrom
Phyllis Lindstrom is a fictional character on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its spin-off, Phyllis, portrayed by Cloris Leachman.-The Mary Tyler Moore Show:...
was the first to suggest that he would get along well with Rhoda, since in her strained words they were "both...earthy," and in a later episode Sue Ann Nivens
Sue Ann Nivens
Sue Ann Nivens was a fictional character on the long-running situation comedy, The Mary Tyler Moore Show. She was played by television perennial Betty White.- The Happy Homemaker :...
assured him he would not mind singing her "non-denominational" Christmas carols.
Professionally, his career with WJM-TV ended in the final episode. Lou, along with Mary, Murray, and Sue Ann Nivens
Sue Ann Nivens
Sue Ann Nivens was a fictional character on the long-running situation comedy, The Mary Tyler Moore Show. She was played by television perennial Betty White.- The Happy Homemaker :...
, were fired due to the low ratings. Ironically, Lou's sometime-nemesis, the vacuous Ted Baxter—the real cause for the ratings slide—was retained.
Los Angeles Tribune
Soon thereafter, he was asked by his former co-worker, Charlie Hume, to relocate to Los Angeles, to help work with him at the fictitious Los Angeles Tribune, as the paper's City Editor, returning him to newspaper work. His subordinates at that time included staff reporters Joe Rossi (Robert WaldenRobert 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...
); Billie Newman (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...
); her predecessor, Carla Mardigian (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...
); and photographer Dennis "Animal" Price (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...
). His assistant was Art Donovan (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....
). Charlie Hume was now his boss, who ultimately reported to publisher Margaret Pynchon (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....
). They, like those in his prior work at WJM, became his family as well.
Unofficial appearances
In a 1984 episode of Saturday Night LiveSaturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
, Lou hired a team of mercenaries to "rescue" Mary Richards after she got stuck in the '70s in syndicated reruns. But Mary refused rescue on the grounds that she never ages and never gains weight, and that people still like her.
In 1996 the character appeared on "Call Waiting", an episode of Roseanne
Roseanne (TV series)
Roseanne is an American sitcom broadcast on ABC from October 18, 1988 to May 20, 1997. Starring Roseanne Barr, the show revolved around the Conners, an Illinois working class family...
, in a dream sequence experienced by the show's lead. Roseanne (Roseanne Barr
Roseanne Barr
Roseanne Cherrie Barr is an American actress, comedian, writer, television producer and director. Barr began her career in stand-up comedy at clubs before gaining fame for her role in the sitcom Roseanne. The show was a hit and lasted nine seasons, from 1988 to 1997...
) was Mary and Dan (John Goodman
John Goodman
John Stephen Goodman is an American film, television, and stage actor. He is best known for his role as Dan Conner on the television series Roseanne for which he won a Best Actor Golden Globe Award in 1993, and for appearances in the films of the Coen brothers, with prominent roles in Raising...
) was Lou, and the two got into a heated argument. Lou stomped out, but quickly returned and was then played by Asner. (He commented about not feeling like himself.) Asner was uncredited.
In 2004, Asner unofficially reprised the role in a series of ads promoting Twin Cities station KSTP-TV
KSTP-TV
KSTP-TV, channel 5, is the ABC affiliate for the Twin Cities. Its transmitter is located at the Shoreview Telefarm. It is the flagship station of Hubbard Broadcasting, which also owns several other broadcasting properties across the United States....
, a real channel in the same market as the fictional WJM-TV.