Growing Things: Is it worth it trying to grow grass under a spruce tree?

Q: Love your columns. I find them incredibly helpful and cut and save each and every one. I hope you can help with a problem I have in my front yard. I have been trying to save the lawn that is growing, or trying to grow, under a very large and old spruce tree. I water the lawn very well every week and have top-dressed the area and overseeded it with lawn seed, and it looks OK for a time, but by mid-summer, it starts to look bad again. Is there anything I can do to help the grass grow in that sp