Ed Asner does a great J. Jonah Jameson. He really conveys the character as someone very angry and cantankerous, but with a decent heart buried within. Ed Asner is probably the guy I would've gotten to have played either J. Jonah Jameson or Perry White in anything made during the 80s or 90s. Me and my dad took out a lot of the Mary Tyler Moore Show from the public library months ago. Watching it made me realize Ed Asner was probably one of the best actors that show had. I liked that shows cast, but Ed Asner really walks a tightrope between drama and comedy and emotional pathos. He was a grumpy newsman, a man who eventually ends up divorced from his wife of many years. His character was a drinker, an old fashioned man with somewhat older views and a very gruff demeanour, but still a man with a devotion to his job and a good heart. That emotional performance is why I think Ed Asner makes J. Jonah Jameson work so well.
Ed Asner as J. Jonah Jameson feels like Ed Asner doing a more child friendly version of Lou Grant. No drinking and no real old fashioned views in a way that would fly in shows aimed at adults or whatever, but the same core is there. A gruff and kind of stern man who has a heart underneath all his bluster. I think Ed Asner was just great at all his parts. I mean, I think his performance in the movie Up definitely helped it land. I haven't seen the movie in years, though. But Ed Asner plays kind people with hard exteriors really well. His Granny Goodness for Superman the Animated Series was amazing, too. He just played nasty so entertainingly there. I still think he should've played Perry White or something, though. If he was perry white, perhaps perry would've received some spotlight stories in the animated series. But I'm fine with asner as jameson. He was probably one of the best choices they could've made in the 90s. I think wikipedia showed me he almost won an emmy for that show. I think he kind of deserved it. He was pretty good in the part, and I think he's not talked about enough for his contribution.
