Journalism TV series: 'Lou Grant'

This week's journalism-in-popular-culture recommendation is the 1970s television series "Lou Grant."

Though it ran long before your time, many of you may have seen episodes of the sitcom "The Mary Tyler Moore Show." Lou Grant (played by Ed Asner) was Mary's boss, the news director of the Minneapolis TV station where they both worked. When MTM went off the air in 1977, they spun off Grant's character, turning him into a newspaper city editor and plopping him down in Los Angeles.

"Lou Grant" ran for five seasons, winning several awards and covering a wide range of subjects, all built around the activities of the fictional Los Angeles Tribune newspaper. It's a bit dated to watch today — dig those typewriters! — but it's still quality storytelling and the journalism is pretty accurately portrayed.

The episode above is the series pilot. The first three seasons are all available to watch for free on Hulu.com, and while you have to sit through a handful of short commercials to view it, I encourage you to give a couple of them a try. Who knows: You might just get hooked.