Simply, one of the best dramas ever on television. Excellent writting (something I look for), great ensemble cast, and engaging plots developed from current (then) events and issues. Worthwhile tv! And to think, my Ma used to call it the idiot box, lol.

Please -- I beg you -- add more seasons of Lou Grant! I've seen every one of these multiple times and I NEED more Lou Grant!

Don't make me have to turn on the television!

This is one of the best shows to come out of the 1970's. Its well written and well acted and the subject matter is usually as relevant today as it was when it was first shown. I wish they would make the other seasons available. I'd especially love to be able to buy them all on DVD. Great show.

Another aspect of this show is that although it is set at the fictional "Los Angeles Tribune," certain characters were definitely patterned after real-life newspaper journalists. I am certain, for instance, that Nancy Marchand's "Mrs. Margaret Pynchon" was modeled after "Washington Post" publisher Katherine Graham, and Mason Adams as managing editor "Charlie Hume" bears more than a passing resemblance to "Post" executive editor Ben Bradlee, although Bradlee's crusty demeanor is also present in "Lou Grant" himself.

I too majored in journalism in college, was a columnist, general assignment reporter and arts editor at my college paper, later on in life a pop music journalist for some local and regional magazines, and I can say from experience that this show was very close to reality, albeit with some dramatic license.

Someone else mentioned here of Grant's having gone back to newspaper work from television news, but his "Grant" character (at "WJM-TV" in Minneapolis) on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" frequently spoke of his past days as a print journalist on the sitcom itself. In fact, "Grant" also revealed his days in Washington, D.C., where in one episode he was trying to impress "Mary Richards" with his connections (from former Senator, then Vice President Hubert Humphrey to House Minority Leader and then President Gerald Ford) on a junket to the nation's capital. When all appeared to be out of town and plans didn't pan out, "Mary" began to disbelieve what she perceived as "Grant's" tall tales, even when he got then-First Lady Betty Ford (who did a cameo on that episode) on the hotel telephone. As with Walter Cronkite's cameo in a scene with anchor "Ted Baxter" on another episode of this series, the Betty Ford episode of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" was another classic episode of a classic TV show with a journalism angle!

What is also worth noting is "Grant's" almost-paternal attitude toward the younger reporters of "Billie Newman" and "Rossi"; in fact "Lou" has to reel in "Rossi" from time-to-time when he goes overboard on a hunch or wrong intuition, particularly in earlier episodes, just as a father/mentor would his son/protege. Great television and great storytelling generally!

These were the days when there was a marked increase in students majoring in journalism, attending colleges with journalism schools, just after Watergate and "All The President's Men." In fact, it might be fair to say that "Lou Grant" was television's rendering of the film "All The President's Men."

TV still broadcasts some good dramas, from "ER" to those forensic crime franchises, but "Lou Grant" was really TV's first, realistic portrayal of life at a big city newspaper. I recall the show was canceled not due to poor Nielsen ratings (although they were declining), but because of lead Edward Asner's publicized views about El Salvador (in support of leftist forces) while he was president of the Screen Actor's Guild, which lead the program's main sponsor, Kimberly-Clark, to withdraw its backing of the show. This was not an act of censorship, for as journalists know, that is only when a government prohibits the press from broadcasting/printing by act of prior restraint. But it was certainly some heavy-handed influence peddling on the part of Kimberly-Clark, and a bad choice by the carrying network, CBS, to drop what was a superior dramatic series, qualitatively speaking.

By the way, the replacement for "Lou Grant" was "Cagney & Lacey," another highly-praised dramatic series, about two women police detectives, which was also a landmark series in that, after it was canceled, was restored by CBS as the result of a massive letter-writing campaign by fans. A pity CBS wouldn't have responded similarly with "Lou Grant" and found a new primary sponsor, thus sending a message to Kimberly-Clark (and other, would-be blackmailing sponsors) to "stick it where the sun doesn't shine!"