Hello my dear friends. Under the "Cancellation Stories" banner we'll explore why certain shows got canceled and either confirm or dismiss certain facts and myths. In our first entry we'll look at
Lou Grant - the creative
Mary Tyler Moore spin-off that in my opinion deserves to be more revered than it is.
To sum it up, Lou Grant was Mary's boss on the eponymous show and got spun off when Mary called it a day. It ended up differentiating itself from the two other spin-offs that happened - Rhoda and Phyllis; fellow columnist BenjamonsterTV has reviewed Rhoda on his blog - by taking a more serious approach. Instead of being a half hour comedy, Lou Grant was a procedural drama about his work as a journalist.
Like journalists themselves the show often flew under the radar and was rarely celebrated for filling a time slot.
However, why did it end in its fifth season? Ed Asner claimed it was because his outspoken Democratic views in an era where Reagan was the rage, but CBS blamed it on the ratings. So how did the show do in reality? Well, let's take a look:
| Episode # |
Rating |
Ranking |
| 5.01 |
16.2 |
49 |
| 5.02 |
16 |
49 |
| 5.03 |
18.9 |
23 |
| 5.04 |
16.4 |
40 |
| 5.05 |
21 |
14 |
| 5.06 |
14.4 |
50 |
| 5.07 |
21 |
13 |
| 5.08 |
20.9 |
17 |
| 5.09 |
17 |
43 |
| 5.10 |
15.6 |
53 |
| 5.11 |
17.5 |
36 |
| 5.12 |
18.1 |
21 |
| 5.13 |
13.7 |
56 |
| 5.14 |
13.4 |
58 |
| 5.15 |
12.2 |
53 |
| 5.16 |
15.9 |
41 |
| 5.17 |
15.8 |
37 |
| 5.18 |
15.2 |
41 |
| 5.19 |
14.3 |
42 |
| 5.20 |
10.9 |
53 |
| 5.21 |
12.9 |
33 |
| 5.22 |
11.6 |
48 |
| 5.23 |
18.4/32* |
N/A |
| 5.24 |
13.9 |
36 |
Now, just looking at the plain seasonal ranking might have you think that Lou Grant was a bubble show, but week-by-week tends to tell a different story. It ended up in the 43rd spot in t
he 1981-82 season.
Knots Landing just edged it out in the 40th spot, so why did Knots survive (aside from having a connection the the number one show on air) and Lou Grant didn't? Well, again, let's take a look at five weeks of Knots:
| 3.17 |
13.2 |
54 |
| 3.18 |
14.9 |
43 |
| 3.19 |
16.2 |
33 |
| 3.20 |
15.8 |
30 |
| 3.21 |
15.4 |
31 |
| 3.22 |
16.0 |
22 |
Source: Archive dot org
While Knots wasn't the runaway hit that the parent show was, it was at this point stable and started showing a bit of heat towards the end of its third season. Meanwhile, Lou Grant was wildly inconsistent and all over the place, often depending on its lead in to do the work. In theory it could've been renewed due to the fact that it could still clearly draw in casual viewers, on the other hand why? Lou Grant wouldn't have been more than a utility player at this point and CBS was riding high off its prime time soap successes.
Verdict: So was Lou Grant canceled because of Ed Asner's political views? My answer is no. It was fluctating and dependent on lead-ins. At best Ed's political views pushed it in the wrong direction, but the cancellation wasn't unjustified based on numbers alone. A great show that needs to find a reliable streaming home, but also hard to argue against CBS letting go of it in its fifth season.
So what do you think? Are there any other shows you'd like to see be covered and especially those with folk lores surrounding them? And yes, an entry for
Bridget Loves Bernie is in the works, as is "canceled because of Richard Nixon's wife"
Nancy. As if poor Pat didn't have better things to do!
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