Would it have been "challengingly" to say the least to imagine a character like Ted Baxter (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Baxter) being a good fit for a drama like Lou Grant as opposed to a comedy like The Mary Tyler Moore Show? Essentially, James L. Brooks you could say, did in fact reimagine Ted Baxter in a dramatic setting via William Hurt in Broadcast News (https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:tcOvP0eF8CUJ:https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/broadcastnewsrhowe_a0b148.htm+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us).
king of comedy
05-23-2022, 08:16 AM
It wouldn't work. The spin off was a drama and it worked with dramatic actors.
Doug-oh
11-11-2022, 06:46 PM
They could've written Ted Baxter as arriving in LA for a job interview to be an anchor (or game show host) at a TV station.
Ted could've visited Lou for a few minutes in the Trib's newsroom with Lou introducing him to Charlie, Donovan, Rossi and Billi.
They could've shared a few laughs inside a bigger story arc involving one of the other principals, there in the newsroom or over lunch.
Similar with Mary Tyler Moore, who's now a network TV news producer visiting LA.
It might've worked.
Doug-oh
11-21-2022, 10:59 PM
Come to think of it, Mary Tyler Moore's Mary Richards character paying a visit to Lou's office would've been more visible.
She's in LA as a network TV news producer, and stops in to visit and gets introduced to Charley, Donovan, Rossi and Billie
This would be like Cheers' Ted Danson and Woody' Harrellson's characters visiting Frasier Crane in his Seattle hometown. Though they weren't the funniest eps., and seemed rather ho-hum, it was a way of reuniting the actors.
For Ted Knight, visiting Lou in LA as Ted Baxter, perhaps he could come groveling to Lou, regretful for all the mistakes he made and trying to get Lou to help him, like he might've done at WJM-TV.
"Lou, I... I've really blown it," he tells Lou. "I need your help. I haven't been able to get into TV after WJM let me go. I was hoping here in LA you could..."
"No, Ted, I... can't," Lou tells him, signalling he's moved on.