Lou Grant
Charlie
TV Flash files “Charlie” as a desk essential hour — Lou Grant (1977–1982) on CBS, season 5, episode 24, aired 1982-09-13, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S05E24: listed hour 114 of 114 in the Lou Grant guide, last listed hour of season 5. It aired 1982-09-13 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Victims” (S05E23). No later hour is listed in this guide.
Essential hour: “Charlie”. Charlie is the 1982 closer, named like a colleague. Five seasons of city-desk prestige, then a first-name bow: the spin-off that traded multi-cam for journalism and paid for it.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Charlie lets two incompetent staff members go, but Mrs. Pynchon rehires them. Rossi and Abby plan to move in but find it difficult sharing an assignment. Donovan speculates his stewardess girlfriend may be pregnant. Billie eyes a job in Sacremento but Lou tells Charlie he won't let her go. Secretary Cheryl is after Lance but he is more interested covering a stolen weapons story.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Charlie sit in the Lou Grant guide?
S05E24 is listed hour 114 of 114 — last listed hour of season 5, season 5 episode 24.
When did Lou Grant S05E24 air?
Charlie aired 1982-09-13 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Do I need The Mary Tyler Moore Show first?
Helpful for the face, not required for the hour. This is a drama about a Los Angeles city editor, not a sitcom continuation.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Ed Asner leaves Mary's Minneapolis newsroom for a Los Angeles city desk and trades multi-cam laughs for hour-long journalism. Rare sitcom-to-drama spin-off that earned serious awards, then ended in a fog of activism-and-cancellation argument. Ink-stained prestige before prestige was a brand.
So about the group chat that showed up for Mary's boss and found an hour-long city desk: Lou Grant left Minneapolis laughs for Los Angeles and traded multi-cam for journalism drama. (I said spoiler-free. The cancellation politics are extra-textual weather. The paper is the show.) Edward Asner's CBS Lou Grant (1977–1982), from James L. Brooks, Allan Burns, and Gene Reynolds, ran five seasons, 114 episodes, with Robert Walden's Joe Rossi, Linda Kelsey's Billie Newman, Mason Adams's Charlie Hume, and Nancy…
Filed against
- Ed Asner as Lou Grant
Ed Asner played Lou Grant on The Mary Tyler Moore Show — newsroom bark as affection, Minneapolis wool, a boss who could file a grievance with a growl. TV Flash files him as the ensemble's gravel center, the man who made competence look…
- Robert Walden as Joe Rossi
Robert Walden's Joe Rossi kept Lou Grant inky after Ed Asner left Mary's Minneapolis newsroom for a Los Angeles city desk — sitcom-to-drama spin-off, hour-long journalism, activism-and-cancellation fog at the end. TV Flash files him as…
- Linda Kelsey as Billie Newman
Linda Kelsey reported the hour as Billie Newman on Lou Grant — Ed Asner’s city-desk drama after the Minneapolis laughs, journalism as weekly stakes instead of a punchline. Ink-stained prestige before cable named the category. TV Flash…
- Mason Adams as Charlie Hume
Mason Adams edited the hour as Charlie Hume on Lou Grant — Ed Asner’s Los Angeles city desk after the Minneapolis laughs, journalism as weekly stakes, a rare sitcom-to-drama spin-off that wanted to be taken seriously. Ink-stained prestige…
- Nancy Marchand as Margaret Pynchon
Nancy Marchand’s Margaret Pynchon ran Lou Grant’s Los Angeles city desk like ink-stained prestige before the word — Ed Asner leaving Mary’s Minneapolis newsroom for hour-long journalism, 1970s sitcom-to-drama rare as a unicorn. TV Flash…