Video: R.I.P. the Honest Laugh

Cancellations bring an end to an era of sophisticated sitcoms

The small Minneapolis TV newsroom was dark with disuse when the old gang—Mary Richards and Lou Grant, Murray Slaughter and Sue Ann Nivens, Ted and Georgette Baxter—came back one last time for reminiscence and rue. As clusters of the faithful were doing in living rooms and the classier pubs across the country, the WJM team had assembled to lament the untimely passing of some fine old friends: Louie De Palma, Doctor Johnny Fever, Detective Harris, Mork from Ork. With a few swipes of TV...