The WORST episodes of Lou Grant
Every episode of Lou Grant ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of Lou Grant!
Lou Grant was a spinoff from "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and premiered on CBS in September 1977. The series was a radical departure from its predecessor as it was a drama. It was the first successful one-hour show from MTM Enterprises. As the series began, Lou Grant had just been fired from his job at WJM-TV, and had moved to Los Angeles to work for a newspaper.
#1 - Judge
Season 1 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/15/1977
When Lou goes to a courthouse to look into a report of inappropriate behavior by a senior judge, he angers the judge by trying to leave in the middle of a trial and is put in jail. Upset by this treatment, he gets the newspaper staff to further investigate the judge's erratic behavior.
#2 - Sweep
Season 2 - Episode 16 - Aired 2/5/1979
After Lou sees an Immigration Department sweep of his favorite Mexican restaurant, the Tribune uncovers a grim and unsettling picture of what's happening to illegal aliens. At the same time, Lou has to cope with a new addition to the city room staff ? Mrs. Pynchon's spoiled niece ? who turns out to be ill-equipped for the job of copy girl.
#3 - Venice
Season 4 - Episode 15 - Aired 3/9/1981
Animal becomes obsessed with finding out why a pretty young woman with a bright future would commit suicide. Someone tries to extort money from the paper by threatening to publish the newspaper's salary list.
#4 - Hollywood
Season 3 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/17/1979
Lou is intrigued by the closed restaurant down the street, which turns out to have been the scene of a famous murder 25 years earlier. Animal is sent in for pictures, and becomes friends with the reclusive owner, the woman who found the celebrity's body 25 years ago.
#5 - Survival
Season 4 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/23/1981
When Lou and Rossi investigate a secret society of survivalists, who believe that the world is going to end, they become stranded in a violent storm.
#6 - Strike
Season 4 - Episode 13 - Aired 2/16/1981
When the Tribune is hit by a worker's strike, Lou sides with management but is sympathetic toward the union.
#7 - Search
Season 4 - Episode 12 - Aired 2/9/1981
Lou fears a possible letdown when the staff use their connections to try to help a reporter find her biological parents. A glowing review on Lou's favorite restaurant makes it harder for him to get a table.
#8 - Generations
Season 4 - Episode 11 - Aired 1/26/1981
Charlie allows his father to move in after he is arrested for shoplifting. Lou tries to help an elderly neighbor who is being harassed by neighborhood kids.
#9 - Boomerang
Season 4 - Episode 10 - Aired 1/19/1981
When Rossi and Billie come upon the hot story of illegally exported medical supplies, Lou holds off on publication due to the lack of tenable facts. However, a visiting reporter disagrees with Lou and has no reservations about exposing the story.
#10 - Rape
Season 4 - Episode 9 - Aired 1/12/1981
Lou and Rossi try to offer comfort to a staff reporter who returns to work the day after she is robbed and raped.
#11 - Catch
Season 4 - Episode 8 - Aired 1/5/1981
Billie is assigned to do a story on a controversial business venture which may throw tenants out of the their apartments. However, she soon becomes biased after she meets and falls in love with one of the investors, baseball player Ted McCovey. Computer problems plague the office staff.
#12 - Streets
Season 4 - Episode 7 - Aired 12/15/1980
Rossi and a fellow black reporter clash when they are assigned to investigate the controversial police killing of a drug dealer who had earlier killed a cop.
#13 - Libel
Season 4 - Episode 6 - Aired 12/8/1980
Lou gets into hot water when the paper is sued for libel after writing a scathing story on a supermarket tabloid.
#14 - Goop
Season 4 - Episode 5 - Aired 11/24/1980
Charlie and Mrs. Pynchon are worried about misrepresentation when Billie poses as a employee at a chemical company to expose their dumping of hazardous materials.
#15 - Sting
Season 4 - Episode 4 - Aired 11/17/1980
Charlie and Lou do some thorough investigating when Charlie's new tenant seems to be using his house for suspicious purposes.
#16 - Harassment
Season 4 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/29/1980
When the paper decides to do a story on sexual harassment in the workplace, Billie finds that harassment is prevalent at the Tribune. A new female reporter develops a romantic interest in Lou, which creates a conflict of interest.
#17 - Nightside
Season 4 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/22/1980
With the staff short-handed, Lou decides to work the night shift.
#18 - Hazard
Season 3 - Episode 24 - Aired 3/24/1980
Checkbook journalism - payment for a new story- becomes an issue when a source wants money to document a dangerous motorbike scandal. Cold financial facts are also brought home to the staff when Hume takes a talented editor to task for padding his expense accounts.
#19 - Guns
Season 3 - Episode 23 - Aired 3/17/1980
While the paper investigates a story on stolen guns, Lou himself becomes the victim of an Irish gun dealer who steals his identity to obtain weapons.
#20 - Influence
Season 3 - Episode 22 - Aired 3/10/1980
Lou sticks his neck out to try and help Adam, who develops a serious drinking problem. However, when Adam's drinking problems gets worse and he expects Lou to keep covering for him, Lou regrets getting involved.
#21 - Dogs
Season 3 - Episode 21 - Aired 3/3/1980
The disappearance of Mrs. Pynchon's dog leads Rossi to the discovery of an underground dog-fighting ring.
#22 - Blackout
Season 3 - Episode 20 - Aired 2/18/1980
The paper's long standing streak of having a daily newspaper published is threatened by a blackout.
#23 - Lou
Season 3 - Episode 19 - Aired 2/11/1980
Lou faces a burn-out on a particularly stressful day when everybody has something to complain about, one staffer quits, another is fired and on top of it all a 24 year old woman shows romantic interest in him.
#24 - Censored
Season 3 - Episode 18 - Aired 2/4/1980
Rossi visits a small town where book burnings are back in fashion and a young teacher loses her job for teaching too radical ideas. Back at the Trib', Charlie refuses to publish a satirical comic strip in lieu of being sued.
#25 - Inheritance
Season 3 - Episode 17 - Aired 1/28/1980
When Billie investigates claims that drug companies manufactured a drug that caused cancer, she finds out that her mother may have taken that drug several years ago.