canadianbiologyman

As a child/teenager of the 70s, I grew up watching the popular shows of the time like the Mary Tyler Moore Show, the Bob Newhart Show, etc......but it was never the main character that won me over. In the case of the Mary Tyler Moore Show, I was taken by the character of Lou Grant. For Career Day in Grade 8, I got to visit Toronto's CFTO station because I wanted to run a TV News show. Well, after The Mary Tyler Show ended it's run, I was excited to hear that "Lou Grant" was moving to California and getting his own TV station (or so I thought). You can imagine how disappointed I was watching that first Lou Grant episode and realizing he is no longer in competition with Les Nessman at WKRP, but rather Tom Bradford at the Sacramento Register (Eight Is Enough) . As a 14 year old, I couldn't understand why one would leave television for print...even I knew back in the late 70s that print was dead, but Lou didn't know.

I watched the show anyway and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was nice getting to know the whole persona of Lou, as opposed the gruff boss on the MTM show. The entire cast worked well together and 14 year old me thought Linda Kelsey was cute. Some of the content was tough to swallow at the time (the child on a bike episode for example) but they tried to be real about it.

The real crime today is that you can't find this show anywhere on any streaming services (at least not in Canada). My kids and grandkids have all seen the MTM show, but none have seen any episodes of Lou Grant, and it's Must See TV in my opinion.

So, streaming services....where you at?

This show was originally on several years ago, and a second season aired a couple of years later. However, it seems that Slice only airs the first season in reruns

Anyway, this show leaves the viewer waiting for more. We never really find out anything juicy about the couples and that's s hame.

What are the pros about this show? They're equal opportunity when it comes to the people they chose to air. There have been traditional couples, same sex couples, mixed-race couples, and even a couple of transgendered individuals seeking love. The tall frizzy haired server in season one. Her sense of humour kept me watching.

What are the cons? The show is short and you don't get to meet the couples. They also jump from one couple to the next like a bad home movie. At least Chuck Woollery spent some time with the couples asking questions.

Sadly, I'll watch again, if only for the frizzy haired server.