Philadelphia Daily News from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 33

Tuesday, September 20. 1977 Philadelphia Daily News 3 1 Lou Grant Is Ed Who? ON TV BV JIM O'BRIEN Ed Asner claims he is not worried about being type-cast as a news editor but there is some cause for concern. When the Mary Tyler Moore gang split, Betty White was given a series named after her. Asner, a much more important actor in that cast, had to settle for a series named after the chapter he portrayed in the M'l'M show. In "The Lou Grant Show," Asner is the same, gruff but lovable teddy bear with tfa.

Ed Asner: Still gruff, but lovable surprising. The producer-director of "The Lou Grant Show" is Gene Reynolds, who left "M'A'S'H" to join the new project. As he did with the MTM show, Asner displays a special talent for subtly shifting from comedy to pathos without seeming to change gears. But then he knows Lou Grant better than anyone. Nancy Marchand is quite good as the icy publisher who apparently appreciates a man with a mind of his own.

Mason Adams is a suitably nervous managing editor. The new series is up to date in its re-creation of a modern, big city newsroom. There are video display terminals like the one on which this is written. However, in the opening episode, no one in the newsroom is seen actually using the computers. As in other modern newsrooms, the gadgets are apparently "down" or out of order much of the time.

Pryor on Tonight Channel 3 execs got a look at the second Richard Pryor show yesterday and decided it was fit for early evening viewing at 8 tonight. Last week's premiere was postponed until 11:30 Sunday night for being too risque for the kiddies. O'Brien ONLY YOU GET THE FOLLOWING AT NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE WITH EACH INSTALLATION smoked or chased women. And they would never fight with their publishers. Most of them are in public relations now.

But seriously, if Lou Grant is not the quintessential newspaper editor, the series that makes its debut at 10 tonight on Channel 10 is the closest TV has come to offering us an entertaining show with a newspaper background. Viewers who identify Asner only with the MTM series may be surprised to learn that the new series aims to give us more drama than comedy. In the first episode, the mix is about 6040 in favor of drama and the ingredients are artfully blended. The opener has Grant arriving in L.A. to see tiis old friend, the managing editor of The Tribune and surprisingly being offered the city editor's vacant post.

Most of the humor stems from his confrontations with the woman publisher who, among other things, cannot abide television news. Grant asks the e. how he will explain his recent experience with the TV station in Minneapolis and his friend replies, "If she asks, tell her you've been in prison." The drama is wrapped around a veteran police reporter's efforts to sit on a story about a probe into a police department sex scandal involving teenage girls. Inevitably, word leaks out to a hard-working young reporter who tips off Grant and the plot develops from there. The core of the story was apparently taken from an actual case in Los Angeles a year or so ago.

If the blend of drama and comedy in the new series reminds you a bit of "M'A'S'H" that should not be New Furnace Wiring Thermostat Tie-in Duett Controls Tie-in Gas Line MM. oton MODti seGcoao Philadelphia Bucks Montgomery Co. Delaw. Co. New Jersey JE 3-6600 322-6121 CL 9-1411 665-6620 the heart ot gold who never fooled Mary for a moment but who could scare the hair spray out of Ted Baxter with a single shout.

Picking up where the MTM show left off with Lou. Mary and Murray being fired. Asner moves his act to a fictional Los Angeles newspaper where he gets a job as city editor with the help of an old friend from his newspaper days. There are people in films and TV who would call Asner's agent first if they were casting a movie about a newspaper and needed an "editor type." Sleeves rolled up, tie askew, collar open and figure portly from working behind a desk, Asner fits the standard conception of an editor. In the Lou Grant characterization the editor also loves to have a drink with the boys even during working hours and is likely to tell off his publisher as often as he does his brash young reporters.

I have known some editors who never opened their collars or rolled up their sleeves, never raised their voices above a whisper, never had a drink with the boys and never Ti REPLACEMENT IrWl DOORS I WINDOWS STEEL CLAD, 111 r- CUSTOM FITTED r333n2- ALL MASS CUSTOM FITTED ALUMINUM DflUf 1 WM "Sow XX YY X) 1 WNMUTU I ROOFING I paneling 1 i.w CEILINGS SL. CEMENT WORK ASPHALT 10Q AMp SERVICE MjM 10 YEAR KITCHENS GUARANTEE -BATHROOMS.