Lou Grant

Lou is the only witness to a neighborhood murder and is mystified by the way the police handle the case, thereby discovering a touchy area of crime. At the same time, a fatal fire in a gay bar poses a tough question for Lou: should the newspaper publish the names of the victims, knowing people will be hurt by the story. Lou is also puzzled to see a uniformed cop working a homicide case and sends Rossi to find out why, with disturbing results.

The hard drinking husband of a popular female politician makes headlines while the Trib staff makes news itself in a gossip magazine. The Trib learns a hard lesson about what happens when private lives become public from Rossi's tough coverage of elected official, Bonita Worth, and Lou's firing of a resentful reporter.

After agreeing to be guest speaker at Rossi's journalism class, Lou learns his "students" are tough state prison inmates who are angered by the shutdown of their newspaper. While Lou bucks the prison administration to help the hostile inmate editor, Hume gets the job of running the Trib during the period Mrs. Pynchon is on jury duty, and it's a learning experience for all.

A naked man on a church steeple and the editor of a sleazy porno magazine put Lou in hot water on two fronts with a common bond. The Trib's religious editor, Marcus Prescott, warns Lou he'll stir up a hornet's nest by allowing Rossi's probe into a disturbed member of the wealthy United Pilgrim Crusade.

Billie gets into the headlines when her stories questioning a big company's clean air standards brings on a costly damage suit to the Trib. Corporation Chief, Curtis Folger, may have engineered an on-again, off-again deal to get the city to ease pollution restrictions. When Billie goes after proof, she lands herself and the Trib in trouble.

While helping test a new drug, Lou learns about the "publish or perish" research at a medical center with a publicity seeking director. Eager for new grants and honors, Dr. Duncan puts pressure on youthful scientist, Todson, to speed up his experiments. At the same time, another young man surprises Lou with his occupation: human guinea pig.

Lou befriends a dedicated racetrack tout who urges him to bet heavily on a long shot horse that could mean a fortune if he wins. Meanwhile, Billie doesn't know that a boyfriend who constantly borrows money from her is heavily in debt to bookmakers and is trying to cover his losses.

The unwilling Billie finds herself in the protective custody of a male chauvinist policeman because of what she knows in a grand jury case involving a popular game show host. Lou also learns about the irony of the law when he tries to be a Good Samaritan and painfully ends up as a target in a damage suit.

It's a battle for bylines when Billie tries to keep Rossi from taking over her big story: the mysterious disappearance of a plane carrying a small town basketball team. Meanwhile, a rumor that the Trib might be sold to a big newspaper chain sends shockwaves through the city room.

Donovan's cousin Andrew is a mental patient whose own mother says he's like a ticking bomb, but nobody knows how to prevent the explosion. While Donovan's Aunt Edna worries over Andrew's increasingly hostile behavior, the Trib staff is enthralled by the purple prose that mysteriously turns up in the city room computers.

Cousin Andrew goes on trial for murder and the Trib staff feels the strain of covering the story because of Donovan's close relationship to the defendant. Even as Andrew continues his erratic behavior in jail, Donovan argues that the legal system is better equipped to punish crime than prevent it.

Fascinated by a recluse who lives over an abandoned restaurant, Lou puts the Trib on the trail of a long unsolved murder that involves high profile names from Hollywood's golden years. Updating the story turns up surprises in what happened to the principals, among them a movie star known as the girl with come-hither smile, a hardboiled female city editor, and movie director Wild Man Moran.

Rossi's interview with a child TV star focusing on what her life is really like is unusable; Lou tries to help young Mark Donner, a boy neglected by his busy working mother; and Billie talks to a legal expert regarding the sensitive area of children's rights.

A devastating brushfire roaring out of control figures into Charlie Hume's troubled marriage, and turns none other than Mrs. Pynchon into an on-the-scene reporter. As Lou marshals his staff to cover the blaze, Billie's father gets and eye-opening look at his daughter's job.

Rossi and Animal pick up a runaway boy who provides them a troubling look at the problems of Native Americans torn between two ways of life: their own and the modern world's. Lou assigns his staff to a story which illuminates the white man's control of Indian affairs which imposes back-breaking pressures on a proud people.

The bane of a reporter's job, the cover-up, hits on two sensitive areas: a private school where Mrs. Pynchon is a trustee, and at a movie studio where Rossi is attempting to sell a screenplay. Rossi knows that brilliant teacher Jeff Lindsey is in some kind of trouble, but runs in to a brick wall when trying to get answers. Lou steps on toes while investigating a kickback scandal involving top executives at the movie studio.

A story in the news hits close to home for Billie, who is horrified to learn that she could be a DES daughter: a victim of cancer caused by a "miracle drug" given to her mother while pregnant. Meanwhile, Rossi and Animal discover another matter of inheritance - the historic hostility between Turks and Armenians which threatens a young couple's marriage plans.

The Trib deplores a book burning in a farm community, while having censorship troubles of its own with a popular but libelous comic strip. Rossi tries to pinpoint the source of a mushrooming moral crusade that has cost respected teacher, Marily Keefer, her job and frightened the town librarian.

A typical work day piles up pressure on an overworked Lou as he tries to handle crank calls, libel issues and a feuding staff. His attention is diverted from a nuclear protest rally by a scandalous item by popular Trib columnist, Jack Towne, and a stubborn campaign by a pretty feature writer for a transfer to the city room.

A slow news day suddenly erupts when an earthquake shakes the city, setting off a wave of vandalism and causing a power blackout that leaves the Trib with no way to print the story. With the computer system and presses out of commission, Lou has to move fast, marshaling the staff to use candlelight and ingenuity to put out the paper.

The disappearance of Mrs. Pynchon's beloved Yorkie, Barney, alerts the Trib to a vicious ring of dogfight promoters who steal pets for their bloody events. Rossi tries to infiltrate a dogfight operation and discovers a band of secretive, lawless and heavily armed men.

A powerful businessmen's group flatters Mrs. Pynchon into backing a controversial new airport. Mrs. Pynchon clashes with the Trib's outspoken urban planning critic who says the airport project is a boondoggle. Meanwhile, Lou discovers his mistake in trying to shield the hard drinking financial editor from the consequences of his drinking.

A St. Patrick's Day party at McKenna's bar sets off a Trib inquiry into the funneling of money and weapons to the warring Irish by well meaning Americans. Lou finds a disturbing link between Maggie McKenna's collection for Irish relief and the recent theft of valuable guns.

Checkbook journalism - payment for a new story- becomes an issue when a source wants money to document a dangerous motorbike scandal. Cold financial facts are also brought home to the staff when Hume takes a talented editor to task for padding his expense accounts.