LOU GRANT (1977 – 1982)

Creators: James L. Brooks, Allan Burns, Gene Reynolds, Leon Tokatyan

Cast: Edward Asner, Robert Walden, Mason Adams

Edward Asner played Lou grant  in the Mary tyler Show it spin of as Lou Grant but this time he transfer to the L.A times. Well he went into journalism this time around. This was the rash reality of being an editor in chief at a newspaper.

The team: assistant city editor Art Donovan (Jack Bannon); photographer Dennis Price (Daryl Anderson), usually referred to as “Animal,” and the Tribune’s widowed, patrician publisher, Margaret Jones Pynchon (Nancy Marchand). The episodes often ha Grant assigned his team to cover news stories. You see the frustration trying to cover the story and trying to meet the deadline as well as Grant was the mentor of some of his colleagues. The issues that the series tackles usually were nuclear proliferation, mental illness, prostitution, gay rights, capital punishment, child abuse, rape, chemical pollution etc….An every so often you see a glimpse of the private life of the team members. Here is a terrific series that is worth a look with some superb casting. The writers as done an outstanding job here. Lou Grant won 13 Emmy Awards, including “Outstanding Drama Series”. Asner won the Emmy Award for “Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series” in 1978 and 1980.

MARY TAYLOR SHOW (1970 – 1977)

Creators: James L. Brooks, Allan Burns

Cast: Mary Tyler Moore, Edward Asner, Gavin MacLeod

Mary Richards (Mary Tyler Moore)  starts over in a new town after a long romance comes to an end. Well her friend Phyllis (Cloris Leachman),  finds an apartment in Minneapolis. Her upstairs neighbor, Rhoda (Valerie Harper), becomes a good friend. Soon, she’s got a job as associate producer for the evening news at WJM. There she meets her grumpy, sexist boss Lou Grant (Ed Asner), news writer Murray (Gavin MacLeod), and bumbling news anchor Ted Baxter (Ted Knight). And you will get a lots of laughs.

I used to see this show when I first got in the US and i quickly found out what a great show it is that at the time is well written plus it stands out some 45 years later. The first season is outstanding it introduced you to the characters and you see Mary trying to go trough obstacle after obstacle, she is just feeling the ground. It is full of laughs even today like I said it stand out because it is such a good show. The show got so many golden globe it is unbelievable. There is the rapid fire one liners that so works here. I began to love each characters its their own right. The chemistry of the actors is perfect you wonder how they find those actors. Plus theirs performances are awesome. Here is a terrific show that broke though the 70’s just fine and made its mark to all the working class women out there.

TAXI (1978 – 1983)

Creators: James L. Brooks, Stan Daniels, David Davis, Ed. Weinberger

Cast: Judd Hirsch, Jeff Conaway, Danny DeVito

 

This is one of many of my favorite from the late 70’s and what the great series that was. It was about a cab company and their cab drivers here is the rundown:

• Alex Rieger (Judd Hirsch) A fortyish lifelong New Yorker with an ex-wife, an estranged daughter.
• Elaine Nardo (Marilu Henner) Divorced mother of two, Elaine has devoted her early thirties to pursuit of a career in the arts, but has found it necessary to drive a cab nights to make ends meet. Elaine is attractive and streetwise, rarely without male attention that often brings problems  to the table.
• Bobby Wheeler (Jeff Conaway)  An aspiring actor and fashion victim, Bobby has little on hid mind , weathering an endless series of self-esteem crises. He always returns to his arrogant self in the end.
• Tony Banta (Tony Danza) The classic gentle fighter. Tony is a good guy,  despite his war experience; even a bit of a bore sometimes,
• John Burns (Randall Carver) Designated regular guy.
• Latka Gravas ( Andy Kaufman). Latka is a crack mechanic; the only problem is communicating with him. Seems capable of learning only idiomatic English. and his from some country somewhere some kind of funky country that you never heard theme ever before.
• Louie DePalma (Danny DeVito) The bully, usually parked in his high-mounted dispatching cage, or throne as he would have it. Louie is verbally abusive, money oriented, and wants his cab on the street at all the time well so he can make money.

The show was great as I said. it revolves around those characters with the everyday life and their daily problems with customers and each other. Tony Danza an amateur boxer himself in real life played one here that how he got his start in this sitcom a lucky break. There were Latka having difficulties with his visa, Elaine problems with her dates and her kids. They always ending up in the garage talking teasing each other with the Boss always complaining that they are not ou there to make him money. Great time with this series. There were an episode where Alex delivers a baby in his cab. Taxi broke new ground in the sitcom department. You might catch in the rerun somewhere on some channel. Take a look at it you are going to live it.Taxi is a show about adults in the blue-collar workplace. You can get it on DVD or on Netflix which I am sure they have it. Good times with this one. I was in my teens when this one came out. I used to watch it  with my best friend every week never a dull moment.