Lou Grant Episode Guide

Episode Guide

Lou Grant: Season 5 (1981 - 1982)

• Season 5 Episode 24: Charlie

  Staffers' demands overwhelm Charlie; Lance overdoes it on an out-of-town assignment; guest Joanna Cassidy.

• Season 5 Episode 23: Victims

  A police officer shoots a thief during an armed holdup in which Lou was injured; guest Barry Primus.

• Season 5 Episode 22: Beachhead

  Lou is in hot water over the Trib's story on rival surfing gangs; Billie and Ted get in a neighborhood feud.

• Season 5 Episode 21: Suspect

  Cub reporter Lance (Lance Guest) digs up dangerous information on a hit-and-run victim; guests Dixie Carter, Christina Pickles.

• Season 5 Episode 20: Unthinkable

  A Middle East crisis has the staff gearing up to cover a nuclear war; guest Bonnie Bartlett.

• Season 5 Episode 19: Fireworks

  Billie's lobbyist ex-husband undermines her; Lou finds shocking news about a respected foundation; guest Vincent Baggetta.

• Season 5 Episode 18: Law

  A councilman uses one of Animal's photos in a revenge lawsuit; Lou has home-repair difficulties.

• Season 5 Episode 17: Blacklist

  A frank sex column causes attacks on the Trib; a staffer may once have been an FBI informant.

• Season 5 Episode 16: Obituary

  Tragedy hits the city room; Rossi joins Animal's fight for an endangered species.

• Season 5 Episode 15: Recovery

  Rossi investigates the treatment of Japanese-Americans during World War II; guests Pat Morita, Clint Howard.

• Season 5 Episode 14: Hunger

  Impelled by Lou's dare, Rossi devotes himself to a story about mass starvation in Third World countries.

• Season 5 Episode 13: Immigrants

  The refugee plight comes to light when the Trib hires a Vietnamese photographer; a tip leads Rossi to welfare fraud.

• Season 5 Episode 12: Review

  A complaint against the Trib comes before a news review board with a hostile chairperson; guest Margaret Hamilton.

• Season 5 Episode 11: Cameras

  Billie is a defense witness when a woman claims her son was injured in a hostage case; guest John Blyth Barrymore.

• Season 5 Episode 10: Ghosts

  After a murder suspect blames ghosts, skeptical Billie joins scientists holding a seance in a haunted house.

• Season 5 Episode 9: Jazz

  Rossi reunites Sonny Goodwin's (Joe Williams) famous jazz quartet; retirement splits a top news team.

• Season 5 Episode 8: Friends

  Rossi becomes involved in a friend's election campaign; Donovan tussles with the health editor.

• Season 5 Episode 7: Drifters

  Charlie's troubled nephew (W.K. Stratton) wants a job; a hunt begins for an escaped bear; with Conchata Ferrell.

• Season 5 Episode 6: Doublecross

  A wealthy man donates a time capsule to the public, with a mysterious jeweled cross inside.

• Season 5 Episode 5: Risk

  Sharon conceals her source in a child-pornography story; Donovan accompanies a rescue volunteer.

• Season 5 Episode 4: Hometown

  In his hometown, Lou covers a troubling story and meets an old flame; with Robert Prosky, Thom Bray.

• Season 5 Episode 3: Reckless

  Lou and Billie take a drunken-driving test; Charlie's hot line creates headlines.

• Season 5 Episode 2: Execution

  A publisher (Christopher Cazenove) sees profit in the story of a condemned killer (Terri Nunn) who won't appeal her sentence.

• Season 5 Episode 1: Wedding

  Ted (Cliff Potts) proposes to Billie, but her work on a story distracts her.

Lou Grant: Season 4 (1980 - 1981)

• Season 4 Episode 20: Stroke

  With Mrs. Pynchon hospitalized, the editors clash with her nephew over control of the paper.

• Season 4 Episode 19: Depression

  A police reporter has a midlife crisis; Mrs. Pynchon orders Charlie to hire a new executive editor.

• Season 4 Episode 18: Violence

  Billie probes sports violence; Lou goes along with the paper's film critic; with Fred Williamson, Tyne Daly, Fred Dryer.

• Season 4 Episode 17: Business

  Coverage of a factory fire raises accusations of anti-business bias; with Edward Winter, David Spielberg.

• Season 4 Episode 16: Campesinos

  Rossi publicizes striking farm workers and ends up in jail.

• Season 4 Episode 15: Venice

  Animal investigates a dead girl's background; a salary dispute plagues the Trib; with Trinidad Silva.

• Season 4 Episode 14: Survival

  Caught in a storm, Lou and Rossi encounter survivalists; with Keene Curtis, Ed Harris, Lance Guest.

• Season 4 Episode 13: Strike

  Lou confronts his staff during a bitter strike by the printers over jobs lost to automation.

• Season 4 Episode 12: Search

  Rossi helps a worker seek her birth mother; the gossip columnist wants Lou's secret.

• Season 4 Episode 11: Generations

  Children harass an elderly man; Charlie's bored father shoplifts; a retiree (Whitman Mayo) dispenses money; with Matthew Broderick.

• Season 4 Episode 10: Boomerang

  Rossi and Billie drop all to help a columnist (Michael Constantine) with a potentially sensational story.

• Season 4 Episode 9: Rape

  Sharon, (Lynne Moody), Rossi's partner on a difficult story, is raped.

• Season 4 Episode 8: Catch

  Billie falls for her news source, baseball player Ted McCovey (Cliff Potts); strange computer problems arise.

• Season 4 Episode 7: Streets

  Rossi's style irritates a reporter (Carl Franklin) investigating a ghetto killing with him.

• Season 4 Episode 6: Libel

  A tabloid publisher sues the paper over an expose; with Bernard Fox, James Van Patten.

• Season 4 Episode 5: Goop

  Billie and Rossi investigate a dump site; Lou and Charlie debate sending someone under cover at a chemical plant.

• Season 4 Episode 4: Sting

  A strange couple renting Charlie's house makes changes; with Larry Linville.

• Season 4 Episode 3: Pack

  Billie gets a rough welcome covering a politician's road campaign; with Eileen Heckart, Ed Nelson, John Hillerman.

• Season 4 Episode 2: Harassment

  Billie uses office events in an article on sexual harassment; with David Spielberg.

• Season 4 Episode 1: Nightside

  Lou works with the Trib's eccentric night crew on a late-breaking story.

Lou Grant: Season 3 (1979 - 1980)

• Season 3 Episode 24: Hazard

  A source demands payment for providing information; guests Ed Harris, Carl Lumbly.

• Season 3 Episode 23: Guns

  Lou connects a bar owner (Rue McClanahan) and Americans sending money and weapons to Ireland.

• Season 3 Episode 22: Influence

  Mrs. Pynchon backs a controversial airport proposal; Lou protects an alcoholic financial editor; guest James Whitmore Jr.

• Season 3 Episode 21: Dogs

  The search for Mrs. Pynchon's missing Yorkshire terrier leads Rossi to dogfight promoters; guest Geoffrey Lewis.

• Season 3 Episode 20: Blackout

  An earthquake causes damage, vandalism and a blackout that cripples the Tribune.

• Season 3 Episode 19: Lou

  Lou deals with a nuclear protest rally, a possibly libelous column and a persistent writer; guest Rae Dawn Chong.

• Season 3 Episode 18: Censored

  The Trib decries book-burning in a farm community, but pulls a controversial comic strip.

• Season 3 Episode 17: Inheritance

  Billie may be the victim of a carcinogen; Animal uncovers a historic feud that threatens a wedding.

• Season 3 Episode 16: Cover-up

  Rossi suspects a cover-up around a troubled private-school teacher; Lou reveals movie kickbacks.

• Season 3 Episode 15: Indians

  A runaway boy inspires Rossi and Animal to delve into American Indian culture.

• Season 3 Episode 14: Brushfire

  A brush fire threatens Charlie's neighborhood; Billie's father (Marshall Thompson) watches her at work.

• Season 3 Episode 13: Kids

  Rossi interviews a child TV-star but can't use the story; guests Matthew Laborteaux, Michael J. Fox.

• Season 3 Episode 12: Hollywood

  The Trib probes an unsolved murder involving old-time Hollywood stars; guests Howard Duff, Margaret Hamilton.

• Season 3 Episode 11: Andrew: Trial

  Donovan's disturbed cousin (Bruce Davison) is tried for murder; guest Barbara Barrie.

• Season 3 Episode 10: Andrew: Premonition

  Donovan's cousin (Bruce Davison), a mental patient, becomes increasingly hostile; guest Barbara Barrie.

• Season 3 Episode 9: Kidnap

  A basketball-team plane disappears; the Trib may be sold.

• Season 3 Episode 8: Witness

  Billie has police protection in a grand jury case involving a game-show host; good Samaritan Lou is sued; guest Peter Marshall.

• Season 3 Episode 7: Gambling

  Lou has a tip on a long shot; Billie's boyfriend borrows to cover gambling losses.

• Season 3 Episode 6: Hype

  An administrator (Harold Gould) pressures a scientist to speed up research; Lou meets a human guinea pig (Craig Wasson).

• Season 3 Episode 5: Frame-up

  Billie's story about a corporation's air-pollution standards causes the firm to sue.

• Season 3 Episode 4: Charlatan

  Rossi investigates a nude man on a church steeple; Lou defends a pornography publisher; guest Ellen Travolta.

• Season 3 Episode 3: Slammer

  Lou helps prison inmates whose newspaper has been shut down; guests Kene Holliday, Alan Fudge, Danny Glover.

• Season 3 Episode 2: Expose

  The Trib uncovers a politician's alcoholic husband, then becomes the target of a gossip magazine.

• Season 3 Episode 1: Cop

  Lou witnesses a murder; Lou questions publishing names of victims of a fire in a gay bar; guest Joe Penny.

Lou Grant: Season 2 (1978 - 1979)

• Season 2 Episode 24: Romance

  Susan (Frances Lee McCain) makes an offer to Lou; Billie talks to teens who became pregnant to escape home; guest Terri Nunn.

• Season 2 Episode 23: Skids

  Rossi and Lou find personal connections in Skid Row stranglings; guests Andrew Duggan, Scoey Mitchlll.

• Season 2 Episode 22: Bomb

  A terrorist threatens to detonate a homemade nuclear device; guests Dinah Manoff, Joe Spano.

• Season 2 Episode 21: Marathon

  Harried Lou copes with a hectic news day and city-room upheaval; guest Michael Warren.

• Season 2 Episode 20: Convention

  Radicals threaten to kidnap a VIP during a publishers' convention; guest Kenneth McMillan.

• Season 2 Episode 19: Home

  Billie goes under cover in a shoddy nursing home; Lou looks into other problems of the elderly; guest Jack Gilford.

• Season 2 Episode 18: Hit

  Rossi and a distraught mother seek her son's hit-and-run killer; Billie explores cars as weapons; guest Ed Harris.

• Season 2 Episode 17: Samaritan

  Lou fears a Tribune column could cause a six-time killer to strike again.

• Season 2 Episode 16: Sweep

  Lou deals with a new copygirl, Mrs. Pynchon's spoiled niece, while investigating illegal aliens; guest Rene Enriquez.

• Season 2 Episode 15: Scam

  Investor Lou uncovers a con game, but can't convince anyone; guest J. Pat O'Malley.

• Season 2 Episode 14: Vet

  While trying to help Animal, Lou learns about Vietnam veterans; guests Charlie Robinson, Joe Spano.

• Season 2 Episode 13: Fire

  Animal's building is the next target of arsonists Lou is investigating; guest G.W. Bailey.

• Season 2 Episode 12: Denial

  Lou's grandson has hearing problems; Rossi chases down a construction-company scandal; guest Meeno Peluce.

• Season 2 Episode 11: Conflict

  Mrs. Pynchon assigns Rossi as staff 'watchdog,' causing repercussions.

• Season 2 Episode 10: Babies

  Rossi and Billie pose as husband and wife to expose a baby-selling racket; guest Joseph Mascolo.

• Season 2 Episode 9: Singles

  A newspaper expert's plans for the Trib include an in-depth piece on single people, sex and computer dating.

• Season 2 Episode 8: Slaughter

  Vacationing Lou clashes with his old boss (Stephen Elliott), a crusty rural newspaper editor, over an explosive story.

• Season 2 Episode 7: Schools

  A high-school counselor gives Lou a crash course on violence and drug abuse; guests the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Kevin Hooks.

• Season 2 Episode 6: Dying

  Billie gets an unusual assignment when Donovan cannot deal with his mother's (Geraldine Fitzgerald) terminal illness.

• Season 2 Episode 5: Murder

  A woman's murder generates no interest; the tale of a woman who fought jewel thieves does.

• Season 2 Episode 4: Mob

  Lou and Rossi wonder why an old-time mobster has appeared at a posh resort; guest Nicholas Colasanto.

• Season 2 Episode 3: Hooker

  Billie's investigation of a prostitute's murder causes her to question some beliefs; guest Dee Wallace.

• Season 2 Episode 2: Prisoner

  Lou puzzles over Charlie's irrational reaction to an expose of political torture.

• Season 2 Episode 1: Pills

  Rossi's investigation of a pill-pushing doctor lands him in jail.

Lou Grant: Season 1 (1977 - 1978)

• Season 1 Episode 22: Physical

  Lou must undergo surgery for cancer.

• Season 1 Episode 21: Poison

  Rossi's investigation of radiation leaks at a chemical plant leads to a friend's death and personal peril.

• Season 1 Episode 20: Spies

  The CIA asks Lou to abandon a local espionage story; he refuses; guest Laurette Spang.

• Season 1 Episode 19: Scandal

  Rossi thinks a woman reporter is trading personal favors for political information; guests Gail Strickland, James Olson.

• Season 1 Episode 18: Sect

  Lou investigates when Charlie fears he has lost his son to the Hare Krishna movement.

• Season 1 Episode 17: Renewal

  Lou tries to prevent the destruction of his friend's artwork; guest Robert Earl Jones.

• Season 1 Episode 16: Hero

  Lou seeks a man who foiled an assassination, then feels responsible for the resultant tragedy.

• Season 1 Episode 15: Sports

  The Tribune courts public outrage by exposing a college-football cheating scandal; guests David Ackroyd, Keene Curtis.

• Season 1 Episode 14: Airliner

  Charlie's daughter is a passenger on a jumbo jet in trouble above Los Angeles.

• Season 1 Episode 13: Christmas

  Two stories -- one on a homeless family, and one on a politician -- take unexpected turns; guest Tim O'Connor.

• Season 1 Episode 12: Takeover

  Lou and Charlie suspect that Mrs. Pynchon's beau, a publisher, covets the Tribune; guest John Anderson.

• Season 1 Episode 11: Housewarming

  Billie writes a series on wife abuse then finds it in the city room; guests Julie Kavner, Edward Winter.

• Season 1 Episode 10: Psych-out

  Lou suspects he forced Rossi to take unnecessary risks in an in-depth story on a mental hospital.

• Season 1 Episode 9: Judge

  Lou's observation of a manslaughter trial leads him to question an elderly judge's (Barnard Hughes) mental competence.

• Season 1 Episode 8: Scoop

  Billie's accuracy causes her to miss a deadline; Rossi's speedy reporting yields errors.

• Season 1 Episode 7: Barrio

  Billie gets involved in a story about a gang-related barrio shooting; guest Joe Santos.

• Season 1 Episode 6: Aftershock

  Lou has trouble ending his relationship with a Tribune reporter's widow; guest Joyce Van Patten.

• Season 1 Episode 5: Nazi

  Billie probes anti-Semitic activities of an American fascist group; guests Brian Dennehy, Peter Weller.

• Season 1 Episode 4: Henhouse

  Lou orders 'Today' section reporter Billie off a murder story.

• Season 1 Episode 3: The Hoax

  Lou's con-artist pal (Eugene Roche) offers him an exclusive interview with a missing tycoon.

• Season 1 Episode 2: Hostages

  A dead thief's brother orders hostage Rossi to rewrite a story about a shooting; guest John Rubinstein.

• Season 1 Episode 1: Cophouse

  Lou, fired from his TV job, leaves Minneapolis and becomes city editor on the faltering Los Angeles Tribune.