The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • 72

28-T glie Atlanta aournal and CONSTITUTION SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1977 i 1 TV PREVIEW 4 -r i 4 Lou Grant's Back In the City Room By CAROLE ASHKINAZE Jojrnal Constitution Stall Writer LiOS ANGELES There's a director's chair fur the star on Stage Six at Studio Center where an episode of Lou Grant is being filmed. Edward Asner," it's marked. And underneath his name, in Gothic print, "The Trib." Rut Asner isn't the type to just sit around in between "takes," when his time could be spent more profitably; when he could, for example, be picking the brain of a bona fide reporter who has wandered onto the set. "The Constitution. That's a pretty good newspaper, isn't it? What's your circulation? What's your editor like?" Asner asks, rising to meet her.

"Were you an English major? Most of the reporters I've met have been English majors. I'm not going to be the sort of editor who decries the benefits of education. By the way, how is your paper 'playing' the Bert Lance story?" Asner is boning up for his new role as Lou Grant, city editor of "The Trib," and he rarely passes up an opportunity to "talk jour nalism" with visiting reporters, a CBS spokes-' man explains. When last we saw "Mr. Grant," in last season's concluding episode of "Mary Tyler Moore," he and the rest of the WJM news team had been fired by the station's new owners.

The script of his new series, an hour long "drama, with lots of comedy," he says, calls for him to retain the name of the character through which he has endeared himself to millions of TV viewers during the past seven years, but to return to Lou Grant's first love, the newspaper business. mm' '-mBB WS-)m --r fkj- rv: I JS editor, this results in "the lady dropping me, the first time I'm late," he sighs. "Isn't that a problem a lot of newspaper people have?" Asner asks. He then leads the reporter to the set of a dimly-lit bar, where the "Trib" staff will gather after putting the last edition to bed, to ask: "Does this look like a real newspaperman's hangout?" At first glance, the reporter informs him, it does, indeed, with its linoleum-topped tables and red vinyl booths. But a thin layer of dust and a hole or two in the upholstery would make it appear even more authentic.

Asner considers this, nodding seriously. "You know, when I was a kid," he muses, "I wanted to be a journalist. I was feature page editor of the Wyandott High School Pentagraph! But my high school English teacher talked me out of it. She said, 'You can't make a living at that sort of thing Show business was his second love in those days, and Asner began, while still in high school, to learn the ropes as a writer, producer, performer and "sound effects" man on local radio. After a brief hitch In the Army, where he trained as a radar repairman, Asner joined a repertory theater company in Chicago, and began studying acting in earnest.

He never attended acting school, "but we were ham mering out the classics and performing before audiences, and that was light years ahead of anything I could have gotten out of school," he Other stage, movie and TV roles followed in rapid succession, leading up to his selection as the gruff but warm-hearted TV news director on the Mary Tyler Moore show; and unlike other actors who shun such extended identification with a single character, Asner says he "only hesitated about five seconds" before accepting CBS's offer to star in his own series, as Lou Grant There WILL BE NO guest appearances by Mary Tyler Moore, Ted Knight or the others, whom Asner and his wife Nancy still see socially on a regular basis, "because Lou Grant's moved into an entirely different kind of world, in this show," Asner says. But when he speaks of the old days, and MTM, it's With a great deal of nostalgia. "We really had a terrific 'family' feeling on that show," he says. "And that's something I consider inordinately important to the success of a show, to buttress whatever good Vibes you radiate." He also recalls, somewhat wistfully, the case of taping a weekly half-hour comedy show, compared with the task at hand. "I used to come in and lounge around all day 'til they were ready to shoot.

Now, I have to be wise. itfrir'n i inrtrnm ini -u i lnuu-u-ttjn in tmt 1 HIS PRESENTS FEW problems for Mr. Grant, who used to regale Mary, Ted and Murray with anecdotes from his newspaper background. But for Asner, the actor, and the show's producers and story editors, who hope to portray the newspaper business "as it really is," there's a lot to be learned. Executive story editor Leon Tokatyan and his staff, for example, have paid countless visits to city rooms around the nation, "and have milked the hell out of the (nearby) A.

Times, the Herald Examiner and the Oakland Tribune," Asner says, in their search for authenticity. Asner has received copies of all their findings, which have made for some fascinating bedtime reading, he says. For example, he's learning "the powerlessness of an editor, who's dedicated to his work, to conduct a private life." Applied to one episode of Lou Grant, in which he feels romantic stirrings for a lady Ed Asner as Lou Grant back in bis element: "You know, when I was a kid," he says, "I wanted to be a journalist. But my high school English teacher talked me out of it. She said, 'You can't make a living at that sort ot here, In make-up, from 7:30 a.m.

to 7:30 p.m., and we film all day." Lou Grant will be filmed, rather than Videotaped, is a more time-consuming process, he explains. And the scripts them selves in which, for example, the down-and-out Lou Grant has plead for a chance to prove that he can still edit a newspaper; and the crusading "Trib" takes on the American Nazi Party are more demanding on the actors. In between acting assignments, Asner says, he and his wife who are the parents Of 14-year-old twins and a lQVt year old daughter like nothing better than to relax in their Los Angeles home, which he describes as "Shanty Bel-Air," with their menagerie of pets: two dogs, three cats, three parakeets and a parrot. They also like to spend holidays at the beach, hunting for shells, which are a family Obsession, he says. But enough about that.

Asner wants to talk about the Bert Lance story. "I don't know how Lou Grant would have played it," he admits. "I don't know enough about it. But it seems to me that there's a great ethical question here. Did Carter know, about all these shady loans, or didn't he? And how does this jibe with his 'born-again' morality?" Asner has, at least, mastered the first tenot of hard-boiled newspaper journalism: skepticism.

He ought to fit right in at "The Trib." Local Stations Plan Only a Few Changes In 'Fringe' Access Time By PAUL JONES Journal-Conslltulion Staff Wrlltr TlIE BIG NEWS in non-nelwork tele-Vision for 1977-78 is the release of the Mary Tyler Moore Show reruns which WSB-TV (Channel 2) acquired a couple of years ago at a big price. A.R. Van Cantfort, program director for WSB, said he purchased the series at an "unheard of price." But, he said, if he had to buy the series today, he would have to pay four times that amount. How much, exactly, be wouldn't say. The premiere of the MTM reruns Is one Cf the slightly important things that will take place in access or fringe time in the new season.

Another is the return of what was the Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman series under a new title: Forever Fernwood. Louise Lasser, who played the title role in the series last season, will not return. But a big surprise is in store for fans who followed the wacky show. It seems that Mary Hartman's was involved in a major auto crash at the end of last season. In the Initial episode, medics will remove the bandages from his face.

What emerges is the face of Tab Hunter, the screen star whose career has been in eclipse for almost 10 years. Because of the success of many the non-network shows offered in prime-access time here, stations are making only a few Changes in programming. The Rookies, considered one of the hottest properties in syndication, will be added to the WSB lineup, along with the MTM series. Van Cantfort said the episodes of The Hookies will be "laundered" to eliminate.