I will not be giving out candy. And I have no plans for viewing any horror films for Halloween. But, I will go ahead and include a video from John Carpenter’s classic 1978 film, Halloween, which starred Donald Pleasance and Jamie Lee Curtis. (She was 20 that year. On November 22, Curtis will turn 59.)
If anyone wants to briefly mention a horror film—like a recommendation—go ahead.
In 2007, AMC premiered a new drama series that was nostalgic and an immediate critical hit: Mad Men.
It may seem silly to reflect on this series, being it was the most recent, but it has been ten years—with its premiere date July 19, 2007—since AMC was able to stake a claim in original programming that grabbed America big time with Mad Men.
Created by Matthew Weiner, whose previous credits included a couple seasons of HBO’s The Sopranos, Mad Men was a blast from the past that reflected on a particular way of life—which included some politics on display both professionally and personally—which play out during the 1950s and primary the 1960s. According to Wikipedia.org, “According to the show’s pilot, the phrase Mad men was a slang term coined in the 1950s by advertisers working on Madison Avenue to refer to themselves, a claim that has since been disputed.”
The series, which lasted eight seasons, won the Emmy for outstanding drama series its first four seasons, writing for its first three seasons and, eventually, just one statue for acting—Jon Hamm, for the last season (2014–15), for outstanding lead actor in a drama series (playing top character Don Draper).
I am going to end this here. On October 2, 2017, the first series among these anniversary salutes—blog-entried every Monday—was CBS’s Lou Grant, which premiered 40 years ago in 1977. (Co-star Jack Bannon died Wednesday, October 25, 2017.) From October 9, 2017, I saluted ABC’s thirtysomething, which debuted 30 years ago in 1987. October 16, 2017 was a tribute to CBS’s Picket Fences, which premiered 25 years ago in 1992. October 23, 2017 covered two more David E. Kelley creations, ABC’s The Practice and Fox’s Ally McBeal, both which debuted 20 years ago in 1997. And, in the case of AMC’s Mad Men, we have a series that premiered 10 years ago in 2007. But, with this October 30, 2017 entry of Mad Men, which ended less than five years ago, there is no need for a deep write-up on the series. It is still very fresh in the minds of many. (Side note: One series’ anniversary, which I did not include for a blog entry, was CBS’s The Carol Burnett Show. It debuted 50 years ago on September 11, 1967. It is a personal favorite. But, it was not that political in a senses associated with those other series.)
Today [Thursday, October 26, 2017] is the 70th birthday of the 2016 Democratic nominee for president of the United States Hillary Clinton.
I acknowledge that.
And now I will move on to a subject which is worthy.
Tomorrow [Friday, October 27, 2017] is the first day of the 2017 Hallmark Channel “Countdown to Christmas.”
This is a two-month marathon, usually beginning with the last Friday of October or the first Friday of November, and running through Christmas. “Countdown to Christmas” typically concludes in the late hours on January 1 or 2 of the next year.
Hallmark Channel suspends much of its programming—most notably reruns of the Emmy winning, 1985–92 comedy series The Golden Girls—for this very special time of the year. Every year.
I love “Countdown to Christmas”!
I love this theme of Hallmark Channel original movies because I can avoid looking to real classic Christmas-themed movies like It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) and Scrooge because Hallmark originals tell stories that borrow from those titles and more.
In 2012, NPR’s Linda Holmes, in a piece titled “Does Hallmark Have Basic Cable’s Most Efficiently Defined Brand?” wrote the following: “Hallmark manufactures [its original movies] like McDonald’s stamps out McNuggets: they’re decent, they’re satisfying in a superficial way, they’re bad for you in excess, and they’re reliably the same every single time.”
Thank God for that!
Now, it should be noted that, during November, there is usually one or two Thanksgiving-related original movies from Hallmark. So, even though big retail corporations are making their employees work Thanksgiving Day (you can never get an early start on Christmas!), Hallmark still acknowledges Thanksgiving.
In past years, quality Hallmark originals included Love at the Thanksgiving Day Parade, a 2012 screwball romantic comedy of an initial love-hate relationship whose leads (played by Autumn Reeser and Antonio Cupo) battle over how to budget Chicago’s annual parade of excesses; The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, a light 2008 comedy complete with the track of Andy Williams crooning, in which a visiting uncle and retired cop (Henry Winkler) matches his career-driven and single-mother niece (Brooke Burns) with a neer-do-well but aspiring chef (Warren Christie); and, for simpler tastes, The Christmas Card, a lovely 2006 film about an on-leave military man (John Newton) who is fated to meet the woman (Alice Evans) who writes letters to military servicemen—and she wrote one to him. Her father (an Emmy nominated Edward Asner), despite urging by his wife (Lois Nettleton) to not interfere, plays matchmaker. (The Christmas Card is the most in musts. Even Netflix added it to its catalog in 2015.)
Those flashes of quality are merely distractions.
Onto the usual substance.
What I look forward to the most is the reliability of frequent leading lady Lacey Chabert. She totally lives up to what Linda Holmes wrote. The former cast member of Fox’s 1994–2000 drama series Party of Five, and a co-star in the 2004 big-screen comedy Mean Girls, is the go-to romantic leading lady so sugary sweet in likewise reliable Hallmark Channel original movies. (Check her out in A Christmas Melody, from 2015, in which Chabert and Mariah Carey, who directed, are reunited ex-high-school classmates who renew their rivalry. Never mind that there is a 12-year age difference between the two actresses. And check her out in her next Hallmark original movie, The Sweetest Christmas, on Saturday, November 11, 2017 at 08:00 p.m. ET.) Lacey Chabert can never star in enough of these original Hallmarks.
May God bless Lacey Chabert!
May God bless Hallmark!
This is a network which does not serve the Democratic Party Establishment’s recent identity politics phenom. For example: The only blacks I have seen have played supporting roles—like second bananas—to white lead actors. (For example: Vivica A. Fox has been in at least two in which she plays—get this!—a sassy sidekick.) And there are no gay men or women—safe zone!—and certainly not in lead roles. (Blasphemy!)
Hallmark is a very Republican Party-friendly basic-cable network. So typically are its productions in Canada—for the taxes and overall budget costs—that a part of the fun with viewing and researching an original Hallmark movie is to find out which of the two leads was born in the United States. Why? That is because there must be some agreement with Canada that says one of its natural born actors and citizens, who U.S. audiences may or may not recognize, plays one of the two lead roles. (Patriotism!)
I am counting on the 2017 “Countdown to Christmas” to—once again—live up to the reputation one expects from Hallmark. While many of its stores have closed, partly due to undercutting store owners for Hallmark cards being sold in big retail stores like Kohl’s and Walmart—these original movies rage on.
This video came to my attention of a superdelegate explaining why it would be good for the Democratic Party to retain the nominating system for presidential contenders.
I found Elaine Kamarck offensive. I do not want my vote selections to be approved by anyone. And what Kamarack—and what the continuation of superdelegates—represents is not democracy.
Given this comes from the Democratic Party, which has been pretending for decades to be the party of the people, it is no wonder it is experiencing deep divide.
Above is the YouTube-uploaded video. Go to the mark of 01:54 for the beginning of that interview.
Below is a link for information on Elaine Kamarck. (Notice: She was part of that “New Democrat” movement which overtook the Democratic Party and ruined it for the years to come.)
One month ago today [September 25, 2017] was the first official day of Progressives Chat.
Okay, that sounds a little too much.
I started this blog because I wanted a place where a number of regulars can post freely about whatever may be on one’s mind. And, to go along with a given day’s topic, it makes Progressives Chat feel like it is not without purpose.
I did not have a blog prior to Progressives Chat. So, this is my first. I thank a particular person who helped me. And I appreciate all who contribute with their comments.
Tonight [Tuesday, October 24, 2017], on Fox, is Game #01 of the 2017 World Series.
The American League pennant was won by Houston Astros, for the first time in the AL after its 2005 pennant win came while it was still in the NL. (Houston Astros have become the first team to win pennants in both leagues.)
The National League pennant was won by Los Angeles Dodgers, for the first time since 1988, which marked the last time it won the World Series.
After both teams won 100-game regular seasons, this Houston Astros-vs.-Los Angeles Dodgers matchup looks to be one that will be very interesting for this year’s Fall Classic.
Here are YouTube-uploaded videos of Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers having won their league championship series to advance to the World Series.…
1997 marked the debuts of not one but two series creations from David E. Kelley: The Practice and Ally McBeal.
The Practice, which premiered on ABC on March 4, 1997, was about a small law firm in Boston, Massachusetts. Leading it was Bobby Donnell (Dylan McDermott) with associate attorneys Lindsay Dole (Kelli Williams), Eleanor Fruitt (Camryn Manheim), Eugene Young (Steve Harris), Rebecca Washington (Lisa Gay Hamilton), and Jimmy Berluti (Michael Badalucco). Also in the cast was Marla Sokoloff (as receptionist Lucy Hatcher) and, after the first season, Lara Flynn Boyle (as assistant district attorney Helen Gamble), and Ron Livingston (as the firm’s adversary Alan Lowe).
Although many cases were not highly political in nature, according to Wikipedia.org, “A recurring strategy used by the practice—especially Eugene—is informally known as the ‘United States of America defense,’ an appeal to patriotism that emphasizes the rights of their client as the Constitutional priorities that must be upheld by the jury.”
In Season #08, The Practice began a retooling of the series—casting James Spader and William Shatner—which brought an end to the series, with its last episode May 16, 2004, and which ushered in its replacement, Boston Legal. (Spader won three Emmys combined for that last season of The Practice and with Boston Legal. Shatner combined for two from both series.)
I could not find many videos of The Practice uploaded to YouTube. (Some that are available require a pay-per-view charge.) The above are the opening credits from Season #06.
Ally McBeal, which premiered on Fox on September 8, 1997, cast then-unknown Calista Flockhart in the title role, a dreamer of an attorney from New York City who works for the firm Cage & Fish in Boston.
In describing Ally McBeal, Wikipedia.org writes, “Although ostensibly a legal drama, the main focus of the series was the romantic and personal lives of the main characters, often using legal proceedings as plot devices to contrast or reinforce a character’s drama. For example, bitter litigation of a client might provide a backdrop for Ally’s decision to break up with a boyfriend. Legal arguments were also frequently used to explore multiple sides of various social issues.”
The cast of Ally McBeal also included Gil Bellows as the ex-boyfriend Ally still loved; Courtney Thorne Smith as the wife of the man; Greg Germann as the ex-classmate and the co-owner of the firm at which Ally works; Peter MacNicol as the co-owner of the firm. Other cast members included Jane Krakowski, Portia de Rossi, Lucy Liu and, for one season, Robert Downey, Jr.
I also could not find many videos of Ally McBeal which were uploaded to YouTube—at least not ones worth sharing. The one above lasts less than 30 seconds.
The Practice, in addition to above notes, won two Emmys for outstanding drama series (1998, 1999). It was an Emmy magnet. It won nine guest-acting Emmys between eligible years 1998 to 2004, winning every year for guest actor and/or guest actress: John Larroquette (1998); Edward Hermann (1999); James Whitmore and Beah Richards (2000); Michael Emerson (2001); Charles S. Dutton (2002); Alfre Woodard (2003); William Shatner and Sharon Stone (2004). James Spader won lead actor in a drama series in 2004. Camryn Manheim won supporting actress in 1998. Michael Badalucco won supporting actor in 1999. Holland Taylor, who was a recurring player (as a judge with the hots for Jimmy) won supporting actress in 1999. Ally McBeal, by comparison, was good at getting the nominations but had an anemic showing in the high-profile categories—winning only with supporting actor in a comedy series Peter MacNicol (2001) and guest actress for Tracey Ullman (1999). Ally McBeal does get credit as the first series to win for Fox the Emmy for outstanding comedy series.
The Practice and Ally McBeal both broke ground at the Emmys, in 1999, when they were the winners for outstanding drama series and outstanding comedy series—making David E. Kelley the first series creator to win those top Emmy categories in the same year. It has not been duplicated by anyone else.
Beginning today [Friday, October 20, 2017] will be Music Weekend. This will be posted every Friday at 06:00 a.m. ET. (Open Weekend threads still remain.) The last paragraph explains it. And it will be repeatedly posted each Friday—covering Saturday and Sunday as well—so you can just dive in (if you would like). (Additional note: Current setting for comments remains at five days from the posting of a given thread topic.)
“Music Weekend” threads invite you to share any music—especially a video—with all who participate here at Progressives Chat.
During what may have been the entire period, and then following the United States presidential election of 2016, some of the push against Bernie Sanders—and his supporters—have been to say that he is not even a Democrat. It is the fact that Bernie Sanders is not officially affiliated with the Democratic Party, even though he caucuses with the Democrats in Congress, and the count for Senate Democrats is typically recorded as 48. (That is, 46 officially affiliated with the Democratic Party and two independents—Maine’s Angus King and the junior U.S. senator from Vermont—to bring the Democrats’ total to 48.) I never took this seriously. (Come to think—it’s a bonus.) But, I came across at a discussion site people who have found this from Good, Loyal Democrats—really the people who supported (and are #StillWithHer) for nomination Hillary Clinton—to be arrogant, not credible, and not persuasive. I have my own theory. And I wrote the following:
The people saying Bernie Sanders not being a Democrat means one thing: they want to control him.
That is why they—the Democratic Party Establishment, the pundits, the 2016 Democratic presidential primaries voters who voted the nomination to Hillary Clinton—push this narrative.
Here is the late comedian George Carlin (1937–2008) on going against the grain—which speaks to what the establishment wants and his not following “the middle of the road.”
David E. Kelley, recently a 2016–17 Emmy nominee for writing in a limited series or movie for best miniseries winner HBO’s Big Little Lies, created this next anniversary premiere, Picket Fences.
Debuting September 18, 1992, on CBS, it has now been 25 years since this strange but controversial series aired for four seasons on Friday nights. Set in the fictional town of Rome, Wisconsin, and with a small-town atmosphere where everything in the world seems to be happening in Rome, Wikipedia.org presents the following description of Picket Fences:
“The show dealt with unusual topics for prime-time television such as abortion, incest, homophobia and LGBT adoption, transsexuality, racism, belief in God, medical ethics, polygamy, polyamory, adolescent sexuality (including nocturnal emission), date rape, cryonics, the Holocaust, shoe fetishism, masturbation, animal sacrifice, spontaneous combustion, and constitutional rights. Illustrative of the subject matter is that the regular cast included a judge, two lawyers, and a medical examiner. Religious issues were frequently discussed, and the town's Roman Catholic and Episcopal priests were frequently recurring characters.”
Rome is represented by sheriff Jimmy Brock (Tom Skerritt) and his physician wife Jill (Kathy Baker). Working for Jimmy are police officers Kenny Locos (Costas Mandylor) and Maxine Stewart (Lauren Holly) and secretary Ginny Weedon (Zelda Rubinstein). Many of the court cases are presided by judge Henry Bone (Ray Walston) with arguments by the bombastic defense attorney Douglas Wambaugh (Fyvush Finkel) and, beginning with the second season, D.A. John Littleton (Don Cheadle). The city gets its share of mayors, including in the second season Rachel Harris (Leigh Taylor–Young), who is eventually ousted from office because of her past as a porn star. Jimmy and Jill’s children are Kimberly (Holly Marie Combs), Matthew (Justin Shenkarow), and Zack (Adam Wylie).
One Picket Fences storyline which stood out, very politically, was desegregation. It aired during the third season, on October 14, 1994. It was titled “Enemy Lines.” This episode had then-acting mayor Jill defying a busing order by federal judge Harold Nance (Paul Winfield, whose performance won him the 1994–95 Emmy for guest actor in a drama series).
Picket Fences was never a ratings winner. It peaked at No. 61 with the 1993–94 season. It was a blockbuster at the Emmys, winning for its premiere 1992–93 season the top three categories of its genre: outstanding drama series, lead actor for Tom Skerritt, and lead actress for Kathy Baker. It repeated winning the series prize, over the favored debut season of ABC’s NYPD Blue, for 1993–94 and which also resulted in supporting-acting wins for Fyvush Finkel and Leigh Taylor–Young and guest actor Richard Kiley (playing Jill’s father). The 1994–95 and 1995–96 seasons reaped lead actress and supporting actor wins for Kathy Baker and Ray Walston. Picket Fences achieved all this despite never having been nominated for directing or writing—something that doesn’t normally happen for any winning best comedy or drama series these days. (They usually get a nomination slot to back up being able to win for best drama or comedy series. The NBC sitcom Friends was the last to pull off a series win without a directing or writing nod. That goes back to 2002.)
Below is a YouTube-uploaded video, not in good quality, of the above-mentioned episode “Enemy Lines” of Picket Fences.
Friday [October 13, 2017] is the “Open Weekend” thread. So, prior to this weekend, there are six videos I want to share. I decided to make them available in this [Thursday,] October 12, 2017 thread as its topic [“Videos! Videos! I Have Lots of Videos!”].
There is no rule here that people have to stick to discussing a given day’s topic. I am aware that people appreciate much of these videos—and that we share others we come across—thanks to their information and insights.
Tim Black and H.A. Goodman discuss President Donald Trump, Colin Kaepernick, Eminem, the Democratic Party, and more on the [special Wednesday, October 11, 2017] edition of No Sell Outs.
Jimmy Dore has three videos: the first is NBC’s Chuck Todd lying about Medicare For All and smearing Bernie Sanders; the second is 47th vice president of the United States Joe Biden with terrible strategy; and the third is about union workers picketing The Washington Post.
Jamarl Thomas has two videos: the first is noting that it is not necessarily Republicans but Democrats who are the major political party posing a bigger problem for citizens; the second is about 42nd president of the United States Bill Clinton’s reaction to Hillary Clinton and her reaction—including her book—to her losing Election 2016 to Donald Trump.
There is a very interesting interview between WSWS’s David North and Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Chris Hedges titled, “The elites have no credibility left: An interview with journalist Chris Hedges.”
The interview covers such topics as the Democratic Party (“The Democratic Party doesn’t actually function as a political party”); Russia (“It’s as ridiculous as Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction”); and his former employer The New York Times (which Hedges describes as “a hermetically sealed echo chamber,” and that “Thomas Friedman and David Brooks may as well write for the Onion”).
CNN reports: “ESPN has suspended host Jemele Hill for two weeks due to ‘a second violation of our social media guidelines,” the network announced Monday [October 9, 2017] afternoon.”
I frankly have not followed any of Jemele Hill, her [Tweets] about President Donald Trump, so it is not a focus of mine. Perhaps there is at least one reader, here Progressives Chat, who can weigh in.
Last Monday [October 2, 2017], I wrote of the 40th anniversary of the premiere of the CBS series Lou Grant. With the 2017–18 television season less than a month old, and with every Monday in October a remembrance of past series’ premiere anniversaries, this entry looks back 30 years. Coincidentally, this is thirtysomething.
Created by Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick, thirtysomething premiered on ABC on September 29, 1987. According to Wikipedia.org, in its description of the series, “[thirtysomething] tells of Baby Boomers living in their thirties who reside in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and examines how this group of friends learn to negotiate their prior involvement with early 1970s counterculture as young adults, in contrast to the yuppie lifestyle which dominated American culture during the 1980s.”
thirtysomething was very reflective of life during the Republican Party presidential administrations of Ronald Reagan and George Bush. In fact, thirtysomething’s run was during Reagan and Bush. Its last original episode was May 28, 1991.
The 1987–88 television season was the last on record in which two freshmen series—thirtysomething and The Wonder Years (which premiered after Super Bowl XXII on January 31, 1988)—won best-series Emmys. It was also the last season on record ABC captured both prizes for outstanding drama series and outstanding comedy series for the same season. thirtysomething, in fact, was prized in each of its four seasons; most notably, in the performances, as Patricia Wettig (who played housewife Nancy) and Melanie Mayron (who played the artist Melissa) won statues. (Wettig, married to male lead Ken Olin, won supporting actress in 1988 and lead actress in 1990 and 1991. Mayron won supporting actress in 1989. Also: Timothy Busfield, whose character was married to Wettig’s, won supporting actor in 1991.)
Had thirtysomething run at least two more years, could it have also been reflective of the period that gave us at least the first year of the Democratic Party presidency of Bill Clinton?
I am including a YouTube-uploaded video of the series’ theme music, partly by W.G. Snuffy Walden (who went on to compose the themes for ABC’s Roseanne and NBC’s The West Wing, among many others, which are also two series with political and/or cultural impact). I considered the pilot. But, the video I came across had an annoying crawl message. Considering many at the time found thirtysomething to be very annoying, that may have been an appropriate inclusion.
Last Thursday [September 28, 2017], I blogged my appreciation for Twitter’s “Peter Douche.” Now, it is time to do that with a live person—comedian and political commentator Jimmy Dore.
Born July 26, 1965, the same day as Emmy winning actor Jeremy Piven, in Chicago, Illinois, Jimmy Dore has been on the scene since 1989.
According to Wikipedia.org, “[Dore] has made many appearances on late-night television on shows such as ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, CBS’s The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn and NBC’s Late Friday. He starred in a Comedy Central Presents half-hour special on April 9, 2004.”
Dore is also an author. He has been doing his Jimmy Dore Show since 2009.
I appreciate Jimmy Dore because, as one guest recently made the observation, his perceptions of what are playing out in politics—especially in the United States and most especially in the Democratic Party—have a direct and blunt take that recalls the late comedian George Carlin (1937–2008). Carlin understood human nature. And I think Dore does as well. They both have in common being able to read between the lines.
This is a voice that is much-needed.
Below are two recent videos from The Jimmy Dore Show. The first video is take on Hillary Clinton’s most recent book, What Happened. The second video is his take on Moderate Republican/Democratic Party U.S. president Barack Obama.
I ask interested participating members to share some of their favorite videos from The Jimmy Dore Show.
She had an impact with Democratic Party politics in 2016.
Last year, for Election 2016, actress Susan Sarandon endorsed for the Democratic presidential nomination U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
Sarandon—who turns 71 years old today (she was born October 4, 1946, in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York)—has taken her hits from Good, Loyal Democrats who could not fathom that she was not going to get on board for the corporate, establishment Democrats’ preferred candidate, and eventual nominee, former U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton of New York. In fact, according to Wikipedia.org, it was on October 30, 2016 when Sarandon endorsed for the general election Green Party nominee Jill Stein of Massachusetts.
In addition to winning the 1995 best-actress Oscar for Dead Man Walking—following four additional nominations in the same category (Atlantic City, 1981; Thelma & Louise, 1991; Lorenzo’s Oil, 1992; and The Client, 1994)—Sarandon received a 2016–17 Emmy nomination for lead actress in a limited series or movie for FX's Feud: Bette & Joan. In Ryan Murphy's miniseries, about the decades’ long rivalry pitting two movie-screen legends, Jessica Lange (who won the 1994 best-actress Oscar for Blue Sky) plays Joan Crawford (c. 1904–1977) to Sarandon as politically-left Bette Davis (1908–1989). In addition to Feud, Sarandon has received six more Emmy nominations spanning the previous and current decades.
Susan Sarandon is a true artist. And many artists, at least ones who do not easily go along with Hollywood's connection with Democratic Party Establishment bona fides, are truly on the left. They're real progressives. They’re more in line with the Democratic Party presidencies of Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman than Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. With the fine example of Sarandon, who endorsed at least one of consumer advocate Ralph Nader’s presidential election bids, this is a risk. The same cannot be said of the those who have smeared her.
Tim Black and H.A. Goodman discuss the mass killings in Las Vegas, Nevada, as well as other topics, on the [Monday, October 2, 2017] edition of No Sell Outs.
(Note: Availability to comment lasts 72 hours from when a thread is posted. I will typically do my best to post a given thread on its respective date at 06:00 a.m. ET.)
Last Monday [September 25, 2017], “Day One” was interestingly timed for the first day of the new 2017–18 television season. A new season can bring about new and memorable series; ones which have impact; ones which, years after they are no longer in first-run broadcast, are still remembered.
For the month of October 2017, and on Mondays, I will be posting thread topics on the milestone anniversaries of the premieres of past television series. Each has in common a voice on politics and/or having been affected by politics.
First up is Lou Grant. It premiered on CBS on September 20, 1977. It ran for five seasons.
Created by future Oscar winner James L. Brooks (1983’s best picture Terms of Endearment), Allan Burns, and Gene Reynolds, this was the spinoff from The Mary Tyler Moore Show, in which Edward Asner’s title character left Minneapolis, Minnesota for Los Angeles, California.
The premise was that, at the end of The Mary Tyler Moore Show (with its final episode also 40 years ago, March 19, 1977), every pivotal member of the fictional WJM–TV news station was fired but with exception of the least competent employee—news anchor Ted Baxter. This forced Lou to find other work. And he was offered a new job at the fictional Los Angeles Tribune.
When Lou arrives at the Tribune, his friend and boss Charlie Hume (Mason Adams) surprises him—it is not a low-level job, as Lou expects, but as the publication’s city editor. The paper’s owner, Margaret Pynchon (Nancy Marchand), a widowed character partly a composite of Washington Post’s Katharine Graham, is indifferent as to who Charlie hires. The two reporters are Joe Rossi (Robert Walden) and Billie Newman (Linda Kelsey). (In the first three episodes, Rebecca Balding plays the other reporter, Carla Mardigian. She was replaced by Kelsey in the fourth episode.)
What made me think of Lou Grant was not just its 40th anniversary. Shout Factory began releasing the series on DVD in 2016, one season at a time, usually spanning about three months apart of each other. As of this date, four of its five seasons are now available on DVD.
This was an important drama series. It won the outstanding drama series Emmys in 1979 and 1980. Asner won twice for lead actor. Marchand, who would later give us another iconic supporting character (Livia Soprano, Tony’s mother, on HBO’s The Sopranos), won four Emmys for her work.
Here in 2017, Lou Grant gives insight into why we need journalism and news. This was before the corporations overtook media. This was before our current reality of deregulation and that we now have six companies with ownership and control of what content we receive from mass media.
Below is a YouTube-uploaded video of the pilot (titled “Cophouse”).
