EDWARD ASNER
I always wonder what people in various professions think of how their field is portrayed in television dramas. I spent a lot of years in the newspaper business, and I cannot recall any show that presented an accurate picture of everyday life in that arena. The key, I suppose, is “everyday,” which might not be interesting enough to hold the interest of a television audience. I have heard folks suggest that the “Lou Grant” series was realistic, but I found it laughable — and Lou Grant himself an absurdity. Of course, I also think Ed Asner is a pompous windbag, so that might color my opinion.
There was a series in the early days of television, “The Big Story,” that dramatized the reporting of actual news stories — not all of them from large newspapers. I remember, in fact, that one episode in that series was based on an annual charity drive conducted by the Paterson Morning Call, which was a small paper in its best days. “The Big Story” was nominated for an Emmy in 1953.
RAYMOND BURR
What calls this to mind is a report that a 12-member jury of the American Bar Association has named the best law series of all time, and it wasn’t Raymond Burr’s “Perry Mason,” nor yet his “Ironsides” — to both of which I was devoted before I became so jaded about television. The ABA choice was “LA Law,” a show I have never seen.
You can read about the ABA jury’s reasoning at this link:
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