RIP Ed Asner

[Liut]

Rest in peace. I never watched much of Lou Grant because it always seemed to be on at the same time as MNF. As a kid, I was taken aback at his role in Roots, having so closely associated him with MTM.

 

[BTExpress]

I was taken aback by a LOT of people's roles in Roots.

 

[ChrisLong]

People asked me how realistic it was. It was pretty realistic, but it bothered me that the reporters got too personally involved with their stories. Billie does a feature on an orphanage and tried to adopt a kid. Or an animal shelter and adopts a dog. Etc.

 

[hondo]

Asner also was great in a made for TV movie called "The Gathering," with Maureen Stapleton. He played a businessman who was such a workaholic and a domineering husband and father that his four adult children would have nothing to do with him and he was divorced. He found out he was dying of cancer and would have one more Christmas. He and his ex-wife had to conspire to get the kids home for Christmas but he didn't want them to know he was dying, or else he'd think they were doing it out of sympathy. They never show that movie around Christmas and I wish they would.

 

[hondo]

Obervations:

• that theme song was solid
• Rebecca Balding lasted three episodes
• we had an Animal-like photographer on staff
• Robert Walden introduced Geraldine Ferraro during a campaign appearance at the alma mater in ’84

And when they had a controversial story with dirt on one of Nancy Marchand's friends, she's finally cave in and say, "Very well, Mr. Grant. Run your story."

 

[Liut]

I was taken aback by a LOT of people's roles in Roots.

+1

 

[ChrisLong]

He was in Hawaii 50 at the end. An aging burglar or something.

 

[User 150927]

He was also in Dead to Me

 

[DanOregon]

I did not realize Georgia Engel actually shot more episodes of MTM (and predated) than Betty White did. Betty's at 45 with the living lead, followed by John Amos at 13 and Joyce Bulifant at 11.

 

[mpcincal]

He was in Hawaii 50 at the end. An aging burglar or something.

August March, a jewel thief. He played that role in some episodes of the original Five-0 series, and reprised the role.

 

[Starman]

I have a soft spot for the Lou Grant episode called "Nightside," where he fills in for the night editor for the first time. The episode also features a couple great character actors, Richard Erdman and David Paymer.

One of John Wayne's "Rio" films was on TV last night -- "Rio Bravo" or "Rio Lobo," can't recall which (same movie, different cast). Asner played a ruthless land-grabber who hired gunman Christopher George. In the end a cute young cowgirl shoots Ed just as he's about to plug the Duke.

Young Ed Asner also showed up in several "Untouchables" episodes.

One thing Lou Grant never really got right was that it was never really clear whether the Trib was an AM or PM paper (except for the title sequence which showed paperboys throwing papers on porches in the morning).
In many shows it appeared that Lou's city desk crew was working essentially 9-5 hours .
Of course, on the news staff of a daily paper, you NEVER work 9-5.
If it's an AM paper going to press about 1 am, you go in to work about 4-5 pm; if it's an afternoon paper going to press about noon, you go in something like 4 am (or more likely work bizarro world split shifts).
The "Nightside" episode showed some of that, but not nearly the whole thing.

 

[OscarMadison]

Best ever callback to Roots was 33 years later on Community.

LeVar Burton is eating lunch with a catatonic Troy. He asks Troy if he wants his food and when Troy continues to stare off into the distance, he reaches over and takes his lunch while saying, "More fish for Kunta."

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

One thing Lou Grant never really got right was that it was never really clear whether the Trib was an AM or PM paper (except for the title sequence which showed paperboys throwing papers on porches in the morning).
In many shows it appeared that Lou's city desk crew was working essentially 9-5 hours .
Of course, on the news staff of a daily paper, you NEVER work 9-5.
If it's an AM paper going to press about 1 am, you go in to work about 4-5 pm; if it's an afternoon paper going to press about noon, you go in something like 4 am (or more likely work bizarro world split shifts).
The "Nightside" episode showed some of that, but not nearly the whole thing.

Lots of people worked 9-5 and even 7-3 at my last stop, which admittedly came out of a merger between a larger afternoon paper and a smaller AM. GRANTed, things didn't really start hopping until after the 3:30 meeting -- a lot of the old holdovers from grandpa's lunchbucket paper never quite got that. On those occasions when I got called to fill in on dayside, those shifts seemed to drag on forever.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

He was good on TikTok:

TikTok

 

[dixiehack]

People asked me how realistic it was. It was pretty realistic, but it bothered me

Originally I mistakenly believed you were talking about Roots and my eyes kept getting bigger and bigger.

 

[MTM]

Why Lou Grant mattered (in memory of Ed Asner) | Quill (quillmag.com)

 

[Songbird]

Hayward not only shook Coach Reeves for 40 bucks but he got to be copy boy at the Trib.

 

[DanOregon]

 

[Songbird]

Before she rode the metro and had her breath taken away she wanted to get pregnant but Billie wasn't too keen with that idea.

 

[Starman]

Before she rode the metro and had her breath taken away she wanted to get pregnant but Billie wasn't too keen with that idea.

She's a ...