Lou Grant claims to be a big fan of John Wayne, but in reality, Ed Asner was just the opposite. It was common knowledge that they disliked each other. During the filming of "El Dorado", they made unflattering remarks about the other, because of their widely differing political views.
Although later episodes would mention Lou's two daughters, and one would even feature a brief on-camera appearance, this was the only episode to focus on them.
The plot centers around an incident Ed Asner's character Lou Grant experiences at a John Wayne movie. Just five years previously Ed Asner had starred as the villain in the John Wayne film El Dorado.
Elizabeth Berger who plays Patti Woods, the woman his son in law has a date with, would later guest star in an episode of Lou Grant. That's Show was a spin off of Mary Tyler Moore starting the year after MTM ended.