Line #16 Series/LouGrant


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Cast__AW_3337.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Back row, left to right: Charlie Hume, Margaret Pynchon, Dennis "The Animal" Price, Adam Wilson, Art Donovan. Front row, left to right: Lou Grant, Joe Rossi, Billie Newman.]]
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4	This DramaticHourLong series is a {{Spinoff}} of the {{Sitcom}} ''Series/TheMaryTylerMooreShow.'' Creator/EdwardAsner reprises his role of Lou Grant from there.
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6	After the GrandFinale of ''Series/TheMaryTylerMooreShow,'' Lou is now in UsefulNotes/{{California}} working as the city editor for the fictional UsefulNotes/LosAngeles Tribune. He manages to keep his character, in both senses, for five seasons of this. The other regulars were general assignment reporters Joe Rossi (Creator/RobertWalden) and Billie Newman (Creator/LindaKelsey) (Kelsey joined the show in the fourth episode, replacing Rebecca Balding, who had portrayed general assignment reporter Carla Mardigian); managing editor Charles Hume (Creator/MasonAdams), an old friend of Lou's who convinced him to move from [[UsefulNotes/TwinCities Minneapolis]] to Los Angeles; assistant city editor Art Donovan (Creator/{{Jack Bannon\|American}}); photographer Dennis Price (Creator/DarylAnderson), usually referred to as "Animal," and the ''Tribune'''s widowed, patrician publisher, Margaret Jones Pynchon (Creator/NancyMarchand).
7	----
8	!!'''Tropes''':
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10	* AbusiveParents: In "Hooker", Patti Oxley was sexually abused by her stepfather throughout her childhood.
11	* TheAlcoholic: While PlayedForLaughs in ''Series/TheMaryTylerMooreShow'', the tone becomes serious here, as Lou's drinking problem at times is referenced. At one time, it becomes deadly serious when he is arrested for [[DrunkDriver drunk driving]] and has to attend a drinking driver's school to get his license back.
12	* AuthorFilibuster: Many ''Lou Grant'' episodes dealt with social issues, but it did not come off nearly as preachy as ''Series/QuincyME''.
13	* BananaRepublic: In "Prisoner", Malagua is a Latin American country ruled by a brutal dictator named General Baroja. Supposed subversives are regularly taken off the streets on trumped up charges and tortured.
14	* BenevolentBoss: While Mrs. Pynchon, Charlie Hume, and Lou Grant all have gruff and demanding demeanors, they're all passionate about journalism and preserving its integrity.
15	* BittersweetEnding: Several, including when Charlie Hume accepted his son's decision to join the Hare Krishnas.
16	* BookEnds: The TitleSequence for the first season begins with a bird in a tree, which is then cut down. And so, we see the process (though, not the ''whole'' process, mind you) of how trees are turned into newspapers. The titles end with one ''Los Angeles Tribune'' reader using a piece of the day's newspaper she just finished reading to line her bird's cage.
17	* BoomerangBigot: In "Nazi", Donald Sturner was raised in Orthodox Judaism by his parents Abraham and Dora and was extremely committed to his faith. However, he experienced a severe CrisisOfFaith after his mentor Rabbi Samuel Stein moved away. During the turbulent 1960s, inspired by his teacher Mr. Kelso, Sturner was a committed patriot who hated the counterculture movement. However, Sturner's warped mind began to misinterpret what Kelso taught him and he embraced neo-Nazism. After changing his name to Stryker, he founded the National Socialist Aryan American Party. According to a psychiatrist that Billie interviews, his behavior suggests that he may be psychotic.
18	* CaliforniaUniversity: In "Sports", the NCAA is investigating recruiting violations on the part of the highly popular Los Angeles University football team. When the ''Tribune'' reports this, it loses more than 300 subscriptions and Lou receives several death threats.
19	* CelebrityParadox: In "Pills", the high school student Gerry tells Donovan that most of her classmates interested in journalism want to be Woodward and Bernstein. Donovan jokes that they probably want to be [[Creator/DustinHoffman Hoffman]] and [[Creator/RobertRedford Redford]]. Robert Walden (Rossi) played Donald Segretti in ''Film/AllThePresidentsMen''.
20	* CharacterNameAlias: In "Psych-Out", Rossi admits himself into the Glenview State Hospital under the name Carl Woodward, a reference to Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, in order to get an insider's perspective on being a psychiatric patient.
21	* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Carla Mardigian disappears without explanation or further mention after the third episode "Hoax". She is [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute replaced by Billie Newman]] in "Henhouse".
22	* ClothingConcealedInjury: In "Housewarming", Dorothy Trent wears large sunglasses to hide the bruise on her right eye, given to her by her husband Jerry, when they go to Lou's housewarming party. She claims that she has an eye infection but Billie learns the truth when she accidentally walks in on her in the bathroom and sees the bruise.
23	* CoolOldLady: Mrs. Pynchon.
24	* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Lou Grant and his reporters ran into quite a few of these during the course of the series.
25	* CulturePolice: In "Prisoner", ''Film/ANewHope'', ''Series/AllInTheFamily'', ''Franchise/{{Peanuts}}'', Music/TheBeatles, ''The Washington Post'' and the ''Tribune'' are all banned in Malagua. Lou thinks that it is an honor for the paper to be included as it is the classiest list since the White House enemies list.
26	* DaEditor: Lou Grant is the city editor of the ''Tribune'' while Charlie is its managing editor.
27	* DomesticAbuse: In "Housewarming", there are two examples:
28	** Alice Merrin is beaten by her husband Jerry, an alcoholic with an extremely violent temper, almost every night. He also psychologically abuses her as he repeatedly tells her that she is worthless and no one else would have her. Alice finally leaves Jerry when he [[AbusiveParents threatens to beat their children]].
29	** The junior ''Tribune'' staffer Roger Trent punches his wife Dorothy in the face, giving her a large bruise. Lou and Billie are both shocked as they never thought that he was the sort of person who would do something like that.
30	* DownerEnding: In "Renewal", Lou and the others did everything they could to help an elderly man named Earl Humphrey preserve the apartment building murals he lovingly dedicated to his deceased wife, but despite getting a court order against demolition, they could not stop the wrecking ball.
31	* TheEponymousShow:
32	* FakedKidnapping: In "Scoop", Terry Hall and his girlfriend Jennifer Walker, the children of wealthy corporate lawyers, faked his kidnapping and demanded $200,000 ransom. They did so in order to raise funds for the Society to Preserve Our Seas, an activist group in which they are heavily involved.
33	* AFatherToHisMen: Lou Grant
34	* FictionalPoliticalParty: In "Nazi", Billie investigates the Nationalist Socialist Aryan American Party, which is based on the American Nazi Party.
35	* FirstNameBasis: Everyone refers to Lou, Charlie, and Billie by their first names.
36	* FlashbackNightmare: In "Prisoner", Charlie is haunted by nightmares about being imprisoned, tortured and regularly threatened with death in the Malaguan federal prison, which is nicknamed ''El Hotel'', for five weeks in 1963.
37	* FromTheAshes: After Lou Grant and all his co-workers are fired from the station in the finale of ''Series/TheMaryTylerMooreShow'', Lou survives and thrives as the city editor of a busy Los Angeles newspaper -- and maintains his humanity and integrity throughout the series.
38	* HangingJudge: In "Judge", Lou Grant is held in contempt of court and thrown in jail when investigating reports of a ruthless judge named Felix Rushman.
39	* HeadTiltinglyKinky: In "Billie", Joe and Billie are undercover in a motel room. Joe starts watching porn on the TV. Billie starts making comments about how silly it is, and how none of it is remotely erotic. Then she stops, tilts her head, and says "Now ''that's'' erotic."
40	* HostageSituation: The Trib newsroom was held hostage in the appropriately named episode "Hostages".
41	* IntrepidReporter: The hallmark of the show. Lou Grant and his reporters braved everything from organized crime to corrupt politicians to natural disasters to bring the news to the people of Los Angeles.
42	* LastNameBasis: Everyone refers to Rossi and Donovan by their last names.
43	* LocalHangout: The ''Tribune'' staff often go to [=McKenna's=] for drinks or some food at lunchtime or after work.
44	* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident:
45	** In "Poison", the death of Sam Beecher, who planned to blow the whistle on Tucor, in a hit-and-run is later determined to be murder when it is discovered that the driver Rindell is a security guard for one of Tucor's holding companies.
46	** In "Prisoner", after General Baroja's second wife spoke out against the human rights abuses in Malagua, she went on a sailing trip and was never heard from again. It is widely speculated that Baroja had her murdered.
47	* MeaningfulRename: In "Nazi", Donald Sturner changed his name to Stryker after coming to [[BoomerangBigot hate his Jewish heritage]]. He eventually founded the National Socialist Aryan American Party. Julius Streicher was a prominent Nazi who published the extremely anti-Semitic newspaper ''Der Stürmer'' from 1923 to 1945 and various books designed to indoctrinate German children into hating Jews. He was convicted of war crimes at Nuremberg and executed in 1946.
48	* MythologyGag: The character of Flo Meredith, Mary Richards' [[HonoraryUncle honorary aunt]] and a very respected newspaper reporter, was the only other ''Mary Tyler Moore Show'' character to appear on ''Lou Grant''. A running gag during the sitcom episodes had Flo making snide remarks to Lou about being in "trivial" television journalism instead of "real" newspaper journalism. On her first of two appearances on the drama, she congratulates Lou on finally returning to his newspaper roots... although she implies the Trib isn't exactly the most respected newspaper around, thereby keeping their friendly feud alive.
49	* ObfuscatingStupidity: Dennis "Animal" Price looks like an unfocused slob, but is an award-winning photographer.
50	* OneWordTitle: The series did 114 episodes, and all but two of them had one-word titles.
51	* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: "Animal" Price is virtually always referred to by his nickname.
52	* PetsHomageName: In "Poison", Sam Beecher, a huge fan of [[TheWestern Westerns]], has a cat named Film/{{Shane}}.
53	* PoliceAreUseless: Many of the problems faced in ''Lou Grant'' were too complex to be handled by the police, who were often hamstrung by some flaw of the system.
54	* ReassignmentBackfire: {{Averted\|Trope}} in "Christmas". For violating a newspaper policy, Rossi is assigned to the dullest story Lou can think of -- profiling a minor state official named Malcolm Findlay, who commutes between Los Angeles and Sacramento (he even admits to his subject that he's being punished). But then Rossi discovers that Findlay is a bigamist, with a family in each city...and gloats that his story is "going to write itself." But in the end, he can't bring himself to ruin two families' lives, especially since it's Christmas Eve, and instead turns in a story which Lou dismisses as drivel.
55	* RightHandAttackDog: Barney, Mrs. Pynchon's yappy Yorkshire terrier.
56	* RippedFromTheHeadlines:
57	** In "Nazi", Billie discovers that the Nationalist Socialist Aryan American Party leader Donald Stryker, whose real name is Donald Sturner, is secretly Jewish. Only hours after her article about him is published, Stryker [[DrivenToSuicide shoots himself]]. This is based on the case of the American Nazi Party member Dan Burros, whose Jewish heritage was exposed by ''The New York Times'' in 1965.
58	** In "Poison", Rossi's best friend Sam Beecher finds evidence that the nuclear plant Tucor where he works has inadequate safety procedures and previous leaks have caused several deaths. Before he can blow the whistle, he is killed in an apparent hit-and-run which is later linked to Tucor. This was inspired by the story of Karen Silkwood, an employee of the [=Kerr-McGee=] nuclear plant in Oklahoma who raised concerns about health and safety at the plant in 1974. On her way to meet with a journalist from ''The New York Times'', she was killed in a suspicious car accident.
59	* SharpDressedMan: Art Donovan is always impeccably dressed and becomes agitated if there is any risk of his clothes being damaged.
60	* ShownTheirWork: Often, real-life problems are showcased with outstanding attention to detail.
61	* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism
62	* TheSmurfettePrinciple: Billie is the only female reporter to work in the city room, as was Carla for the first three episodes. The only other female main character, the matriarch Mrs. Pynchon, is the paper's publisher.
63	* SpinOff: Lou Grant's character was largely unchanged since his departure from the UsefulNotes/TwinCities via the ''Series/TheMaryTylerMooreShow'', though going from a comedy to a drama could lead you to believe he had (e.g., his alcoholism now being portrayed more realistically, instead of being PlayedForLaughs).
64	* TheSeventies: From building interiors, to Animal's attire, to episodes like "Sect", Lou Grant is clearly a creation of the seventies.
65	* TheyCallMeMisterTibbs: Mrs. Pynchon.
66	* AVerySpecialEpisode: Every episode.
67	* WelcomeEpisode: In the first episode "Cophouse", fresh from his firing at WJM-TV in Minneapolis, Lou Grant relies on his old friend Charlie Hume to secure a City Editor job at the ''Los Angeles Tribune''.
68	* WhyDidYouMakeMeHitYou:
69	** In "Housewarming", Jerry Marrin tells his wife Alice that he beats her because she is always making mistakes and doing things to make him mad.
70	** In the same episode, Roger Trent tries to justify beating his wife Dorothy because she always nags him over his lack of ambition and not creating more opportunities for himself at the ''Tribune''. Lou is disgusted but his reaction helps Roger to realize how pathetic and hollow his excuses are.

Context Series / LouGrant