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What's the story with Allen Williams (Adam Wilson)?

posted 9 years ago by gary-64659
5 replies | jump to latest

I've been watching reruns of Lou Grant and, just into the episodes copyrighted in early 1981, noticed that Allen Williams who plays Adam Wilson only gets credited in the second bunch of also-rans at the end of each episode. Considering he seems to have a much wider range than, say, Daryl Anderson (who plays the photographer "Animal"/Dennis, I think) -- who got star billing almost from the start -- and moreover Allen Williams appeared in 95 episodes (out of the total 114) including some that featured him primarily and others very prominently, this seems way out of proportion. What gives?

[–] tenderlovingtony 9 years ago

The Adam Wilson character grew as the series progressed. For the 6th season, Allen Williams was going to be added to the opening credits, but the series was cancelled before that could happen.

In addition to playing Adam Wilson, Allen Williams did many of the offscreen voices heard on the series.

Allen Williams is also a sharp poker player, according to LG cast members.

[–] ragingbull1965 9 years ago

I was wondering about the same exact thing and was about to start a new thread until (fortunately) I saw yours. If you notice, Allen's character is also shown at the very beginning of each episode from season 2 until the end, before the theme song is played. You can hear him asking over the phone "Do you know how much money was stolen?" I always felt that he should have been made a regular and gotten star billing and always wondered why he never did. He's sort of like the 6th man on a basketball team. But if it's any consolation for him, he has appeared regularly at Lou Grant reunions so I believe that his co-stars saw him as a "regular" even if the producers did not.

[–] gary-64659 9 years ago

Yes, I don't like to be seen as repeatedly running down Daryl Anderson ("Animal") but in using him as a fair comparison he was a peripheral character who was only integral to the story in a very few episodes over the five-year run -- yet was starred up front from the first. I don't really buy the story of the previous poster (sorry, can't see your name from here) who said that Allen Williams' status grew with the Adam Wilson character. Stories featuring Adam seemed to peak around 1980 -- in the middle of the run -- and then somewhat tailed off. But, given fair dues, both he and Daryl should have been featured at least as "also starring" from the first -- not Allen alone treated as an also-ran for five years until the run ended, as if he was the one who had to prove himself.

Now that I'm here again posting, I might as well say that no way would I have rewarded Ed Asner's performances with the umpteen Emmy Awards he won. Maybe worth one or two in his Mary Tyler Moore Show era, when his I believe his interpretation of character was much more deft and skillful than his Lou Grant period.

[–] tenderlovingtony 8 years ago

Gary, you are just wrong. If you review the first season (now available on DVD), Adam was just one of the miscellaneous editors that met for the budget meeting. Beginning in the second season, Adam was made a much meatier part, interacting frequently with Lou and the other city room staff.

Animal was an essential part of the series from the beginning, which was designed to spotlight Lou, two other editors, two reporters, a photographer, and the publisher. Animal was always important going on stories with the reporters (and on photo assignments by himself) and was developed as an important character.

The Adam character was not that way from the start but grew in importance as they found more for him to do (e.g., get involved on business-related stories).

[–] gary-64659 8 years ago

I've just finished watching the entire run of the series (five years), one episode per day though I did miss about a quarter to a third of them. My impression is still the same -- Animal being featured as the central character of the up-front "stars" in only about three or four episodes. Most of the time he was a tag-along with a couple of lines, or not seen at all -- and in my book, making a pretty weak impression when he did appear, as the lead character or not, not able to carry the burden on screen. I only remember a couple of Allen Williams starrers (when he still got about 13th billing at the end credits), and one was an arresting performance as an alcoholic with his wife leaving him. He ran Ed toe to toe on screen throughout the hour. This was fairly early in the run, within the first two seasons, and why he was never officially "promoted" is still a mind-blower for me. Five years was a very long run, way against the odds, for a series in those days.

If you can't see my point I can't help it.