Lou Grant (TV series) examination of ethical questions in journalism, including plagiarism, checkbook journalism, entrapment of sources, staging news photos, and conflicts of interest that journalists encounter in their work. There were also glimpses into the personal lives of the "Tribune" staff. "Lou Grant" was a spin-off from "The Mary Tyler Moore Show". Unlike "The Mary Tyler Moore Show", which was a 30-minute sitcom, "Lou Grant" was a one-hour drama. When "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" ended its run, that series' co-creators and producers, James L. Brooks and Allan Burns, had a commitment to create a new show starring Ed Asner. They decided that
Play for Today (1971), "The Foxtrot" (1971), "Home" (1972), "Bar Mitzvah Boy" (1976), "Abigail's Party" (1977), "Blue Remembered Hills" (1979) and "Just a Boys' Game" (1979). Certain other well known plays, including "Penda's Fen" (1974), "Nuts in May" (1976), were commissioned by David Rose of the BBC's English Regions Drama department based in Birmingham. Some installments in the series were spun off into full-blown series. Probably the two best-remembered examples of this are "", which was produced as a one-off in the "Play for Today" strand in 1975 and three years later became a series for Thames Television, again with Leo McKern, and