November 23, 2014
Writer: Tom Chehak
Director: Asaad Kelada
Original Air Date: October 16, 1978
^^^FAMOUSLY FUNNY^^^
Last thing's first. The cop with the perm at the end of the show? That's show creator and writer Hugh Wilson!
And Bucky Dornster? That is story editor and writer Bill Dial. Which isn't as cool as the creator of the show being onscreen, but it's still something.
Now back to the show, which is suppose to be about the plight of Disc Jockeys in the modern world, but is really about how much dialogue writer Tom Chehak can squeeze into one script. And he needs all that talking to fill the mouths of two salesmen trying to out-salesman each other. In another life, Del Murdoch and Herb Tarlek could have switched roles. Both are motor-mouth, insincere sales sleezes who don't even know themselves if they are telling the truth.
It's nice to see an episode about what Herb does and why he does it. Why does he wear those suits? Because his clients compliment him on them. Does he know what he's talking about? He discusses about "increasing floor traffic," "inventory backing up" and customer demographics. Does he know what he's doing? Well, he bought a couple of thousand dollars worth of stereo equipment to earn a $700 sale, so clearly not.
The opening scene, in Del's Stereo Shop is as good of a scene as Frank Bonner, as Herb Tarlek, would ever enjoy. You can see the joy with which he is sparring with Del, the give and take from being fully Herb Tarlek, salesman and not Herb, foil to the DJ's or Lothario to Jennifer.
Back to the main plot, once again, Johnny is the one explaining to the audience some of the hardships of being a Disk Jockey. Herb (and most people) see the glamour side of the job, when he suggests to Andy that he (Herb) should host the remote ("Gosh darn! What a waste!") But Johnny explains to the audience what an automated station does to the livelihood of DJ's like Bobby Boogie. Six months out of work; jumping from format to format "up and down the dial." Is it worth pulling a gun on a stereo store owner? No, but Johnny still sympathizes.
By the way. today almost every radio station you listen to is automated. The also play their music from hard drives rather than vinyl records or CDs. So Johnny was right - the machines are going to take over!
Other notes from this episode - another episode without Bailey or Venus. At this early stage, they seem to be the Professor and Mary Ann of WKRP ("...and the rest!")
The car-driving-through-Cincinnati-while-Carlson-and-Andy-speak-over-the-shot scene (as it might be called) is one of the very rare times the show uses footage filmed in Cincinnati. In fact, I can't think of another time that it happens.
You might not recognize it today, the police sketch Johnny holds up at the end of the episode is a picture of Richard Nixon.
Roy
This is a great episode, it is not only funny, but the way things hang together is nicely done. It is sorta split into two parts, the first being about Herb and Del, and the second being Johnny and Del, with the little piece with Les misreading Johnny's intro copy being the pivot.
ReplyDeleteThe way they introduce "Bobby Boogie" in the interview scene in Andy's office is good, and having him find out about the remote while there sets things up nicely for later.
The hold-up scenes are well done and very funny - one thing WKRP seemed to get right was the casting, and "Bobby Boogie" does a great job here.
We learn more about Johnny here as well, with his speech about being out of work and messing lives up. It makes us (well it does me) like him more - too often in sitcoms people have good lives but here is a guy who has had a crap life in many ways.
Overall, this is one of my favourite episodes of WKRP. And the little cameos from Bill Dial (especially) and Hugh Wilson are a nice touch. Bucky is funny here, and the talk about the union he is in is almost like a time-capsule piece.
It's worth noting that the character Del is played by folksinger Hamilton Camp who wrote the song Pride of Man. Quicksilver Messenger Service did a great cover of this song on their debut album.
ReplyDeleteOh Hamilton Camp is kind of fascinating and has a long history with Howard Hesseman. The two of them were members of the comedy troupe "The Committee" in San Francisco in the late '60's. Also he appeared in another WKRP episode called "Til Debt Do Us Part" which was the only episode Hesseman wrote.
DeleteThanks for letting me know about "Pride of Man."
I'm looking forward to getting the first 4 seasons on DVD, now that they finally got the music clearance problems straightened out (after decades). The scene of Andy & Arthur in the car, I have NEVER seen, because it was CUT from syndication on my local station!
ReplyDeleteNot long after this, Hamilton Camp dubbed the voice of the robot sheriff in the tacky yet fun Italian sci-fi flick "STARCRASH".
Bucky's brother Buddy was a regular in the revival. There's one episode where he has to call in Bucky for help, it turns out he has no idea what's wrong or how to fix it, and at the end, tells his brother in no uncertain terms, "Don't ever call me again."
ReplyDeleteAnother note about this episode: while he was a semi-famous jazz type, there is, unfortunately, no such place as the Wingy Mannone Memorial Mall. Every time I meet someone from Cincy in Vegas, I ask... no luck. LOL
ReplyDeleteSpeed Kills Del
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised there isn't more love for Hamilton Camp in the blog post. He was hilarious reading off the phony "stereo system" names (and everyone who's ever worked retail can relate to the anguished "What is this, a GAS STATION!?" line).
ReplyDelete