Ep. 9 - Mama's Review

December 22, 2014

Writer: Hugh Wilson
Director: Asaad Kelada
Original Air Date: January 15, 1979

So if you missed all the earlier blogs, that's okay! This is a recap blog of all the best parts of the first eight blogs because you probably missed all those earlier blogs!

Okay not really. But that's the theme of this episode and begins a reoccurring pattern in the history of "WKRP in Cincinnati" - the show is close to cancellation and we need to remind you all about what's going on in the show.

Let's leave the repeated parts for a while and let's talk about new stuff that happens. The show has been off the air for six weeks. Critics and audience have given their opinions and some changes have been made. First off - cold opening! Tap, tap, tap, tap as Carlson and Andy are waiting for Mrs. Carlson to arrive for the quarterly station inspection. There is no dialing though the radio stations of Cincinnati. That gives us a couple of extra minutes of jokes and less sightseeing of downtown 1970's Cincy.

New graphics! White, instead of blue lettering that looks steadier and, oddly, more professional.

But the most important new addition is Carol Bruce at Mama Carlson, taking over the role from Sylvia Sidney. By the end of the show's run, she becomes the de facto ninth cast member. But here, she establishes all of Mama's important characteristics: imperious; smart; joyless; icy business woman; but in the end, a mother who cares (?) about her son.

Mama's review goes through all the highlights of the station since Andy arrived, showing all the funniest moments and showcases each of the characters. It begins with Johnny scratching the needle across the record and announcing it is "times for this town to get down!" (Ep. 1) and goes quickly to the scene of Johnny yelling at the elderly protesters in the studio(Ep. 2)

Since we've now had two Johnny spots, it's time to introduce the other characters, and if you are trying to keep this show alive, the smart move is to bring out Loni Anderson first. It is revealed that Jennifer makes an extraordinary amount of money: $24,000 a year! (oh, inflation!) and we see the scene in which she reminds Mr. Carlson that she doesn't do any of the things you imagine a secretary making $24,000 would (Ep. 7)

It is important to remember that throughout this quarterly review, Mr. Carlson's main objective is to try to keep his staff from getting fired, so a lot of the comedy comes from him attempting to defend the undefendable. Calling Les a "crackerjack news reporter" and following it with the clip of Les calling a golfer "Chai Chai Rod-ra-queeze" (Ep. 3) just gives Mama more ammunition for firings.

The next clip is the strangest, as it had never appeared in the show before. It is a short monologue of Venus, talking to his audience in his full "child of the cosmos" persona. It's a nice little illustration of what Venus does but it is a wonder why we've never seen it before.

Because the show started with two Johnny clips, Johnny gets discussed and moved past without a clip, to go straight to Bailey Quarters. But Bailey doesn't get a clip either. Instead we get a call back to a running joke that Mr. Carlson doesn't know who Bailey is. Frankly, I've never understood this joke. Only eight people work at this station - how hard can it be to remember all of their names?

Herb is up next with the clip of him being told Jennifer was once a man (Ep. 3) to show how stupid he is. When Mama asks Carlson why he didn't fire Herb years ago, Andy says "Firing Herb wouldn't solve anything." How is that true? Herb might be the worst salesman in Ohio, and the entire station's fortunes depend on him selling this new format change to the businesses of Cincinnati. Firing Herb was probably the first thing Andy should have done, even before changing the format!

But I digress. The characters are all introduced, so let's see some top clips! Here's Johnny describing on-air getting held up at the stereo store remote (Ep. 5). And then to finish, let's show the clip you're friends have told you about... it's Les and the Turkey Drop! (Ep. 7). This is by far the longest clip shown because, as we have discussed in the blog before, it's the most important clip in the show's history.

The episode ends with Mr. Carlson, no longer defending his employees, but taking responsibility for them and the actions of the station. He stands up to his mother when she begins to threaten Andy, for the first time in his life! "You're 20 minutes? They're up!" It's a very nice ending to a pretty unnecessary episode because it really puts the Mr. Carlson character into focus. He will become the lovable, sometimes bumbling father-protector of the station and it's staff. Gordon Jump plays down the shrillness of the character from the earliest episodes in favour of a well-meaning man just out of his element.

Roy

Ep. 8 - Love Returns

December 12, 2014

Writer: Bill Dial
Director: Asaad Kelada
Original Air Date: November 6, 1978

"Baby, if you ever wondered
Wondered, what the theme song is all about
Turns out it's the ballad of Linda and Andy
Lovers torn apart by drive and doubt,
Doubt that anyone else could run 'KaaRrrPeee"

I'm imagining a time in 1978 when someone told a friend about this incredible funny show he had just watched, about a radio station and its manager who threw live turkeys from a helicopter. It was so funny, this friend needed to watch it next week. So the friend watches and sees this episode (written by the same writer) and wonders "What's so funny about this?"

There are definitely some funny bits to this episode, but they are all relegated to the B stories. In fact, there is a B story (Les reporting/ pestering Mr. Carlson), C story (the Date a DJ contest), D story (Herb freaking out) AND a E story (Bailey is jealous?). In my opinion, there has to be so much support, because the main love story isn't strong enough to carry the show.

Here's the problem: the central conflict is flawed. Andy has two loves in his life - rock music and Linda Ronstadt, er Taylor, the girl he once knew who has become a big rock star. He is torn between joining her on the road, living in that rock music world with the beautiful woman her loves, or staying in a job he's been at for about three months, turning around a rickety radio station. If he really loves her, that's not even a question! "Good luck, Cincinnati! Linda's waiting on the bus!"

But you have to believe he loves her to make any of this interesting. So I'm now going to give you some life advice: Love isn't how you feel about someone when they are at their best; it's about if you still feel that way when that someone is at their worst. It's easy for Andy to love Linda when they are walking through the woods and drinking wine by the fire. Heck "I" love her then! But Andy sees her stressing out two minutes before she goes on stage for the last of three nights (?!?) of shows in Cincinnati, telling the roaring crowd that she loves them, and THAT makes him choose WKRP?

Not only is that not believable, even worse for a first year sit-com - it's not funny.

So let's look at that B story with Les instead. I'm really struck re-watching the show how certain elements in which the comedy was suppose to come from one direction in the 70's now come from a different direction in the '10's. Les may be asking silly questions, but the questions coming from his WPIG colleague are offensive, borderline slanderous, and today would get him fired! The are suppose to look sophisticated compared to Les's questions, but today TMZ wouldn't ask this stuff at a press conference. The first question is asking to confirm a rumour that she is sleeping with a senator. The second question is asking if the music industry is run by the mafia! Les asking if Linda knew Elvis Presley less than a year after he died is not that foolish by comparison. The Snooky Lanson question is pretty random, however. (Just a note - Lanson was a real singer and TV personality in the '50's. Thanks Wikipedia!)

Lastly, I wish I knew more about that "Linda Taylor" song that plays at the end of the episode. No credits are given, but I would imagine actress Barrie Youngfellow, who plays Linda, is singing it and that the writers, including Bill Dial,  wrote the lyrics. "You were right for me but I was wrong" seems a little on-the-nose for the themes of this show.

It's a really nice performance by Gary Sandy (including the dramatic flair with which he writes his goodbye note), but the show is quite a drop off from the last episode.

Roy

Ep. 7 - Turkeys Away

December 7, 2014

Writer: Bill Dial
Director: Michael Zinberg
Original Air Date: October 30, 1978
***VERY IMPORTANT***
^^^FAMOUSLY FUNNY^^^


Here it is!

If you are reading this blog, chances are good you jumped right to this post. TV Guide ranked it as one of the 50 funniest episodes of TV ever! It is the episode that saved the show from getting cancelled in its first season. Frankly, it would be impossible for me to overstate the importance of this particular episode to the history of WKRP.

It's the Thanksgiving episode.

Mr. Carlson throws live turkeys out of a helicopter. Chaos ensues.

That famously happens in the second half of the show. This episode can be divided into two very distinct halves. The first half follows Mr. Carlson's attempts to become relevant within his own station. Everything has been working for so long WITHOUT his involvement, the staff (both young and old) become suspicious when he wants to be in on the action.

It sets up the comeuppance of Herb, who literal "got in line" to complain about Carlson, but later brown-nosed his way into being "right by his side" at this moment of his greatest defeat. By the way, that "get in line" site gag is extremely funny. Yet it might be the fifth or sixth funniest thing in this one episode!

This also sets up the first of what, in my opinion, are the two best and most important aspects of this episode. First, there are no wasted moments - no throwaway lines. For example, one of Carlson's first attempts to help is with Bailey doing a promotion. Although we've seen she has done this before, we know from just the last episode that she has many other jobs in the station, including producing her own show. But this particular task sets up that Carlson has done "thousands of promotions" and that he will make a snap decision without getting all the facts.

The second important aspect is that the magic of this episode mirrors the magic of radio itself: it's all about the theatre of the mind. Radio is a medium that paints pictures with words. We see it performed in spectacular fashion on three separate occasions, kicking off the second half of the show.

First, Johnny tells Venus the story of the Guatemalan earthquake relief project. It could have been two minutes of filler on a different show. But it gets the audience in the practice of imagining ridiculous things. Johnny even says "I still have this picture in my mind of quake victims stumbling through the rubble... all looking like Dolly Parton!" Venus laughs at the mental image Johnny paints for us. But this only leads to the images we will create of the Pinedale Shopping Mall!

(Another quick example about no wasted moments: Les is yelled at by a shop owner before the promotion. It's funny but it doesn't mean much... until later when you realize that this encounter is the reason Les doesn't just take shelter in the store, but stays outside for the entire... promotion. No wasted moments.)

Nothing in the next few minutes of the show is not funny.

Starting from Les being unable to distinguish a banner he himself had made and the staff back at the station miming along, the comedy builds. And all the action occurs from the description Les gives us, as well as the reactions from the staff. When Les cries out "Oh My God! They're Turkeys!" we are watching the reactions of Andy, Bailey, Venus and Johnny. Andy throws his head back in recognition of the trouble the station is about to face. Johnny just smiles and shakes his head.

Les's news report is obviously an aping of Herbert Morrison's famous reporting of the 1937 Hindenburg disaster, specifically when he says "Oh the Humanity!" Les is equating turkeys hitting a parking lot with deaths of dozens of people in a fiery zeppelin crash! But the screaming, destruction and confused terror from the crowd must make Les think about the worst.

Then the remote feed suddenly goes dead. Again, we are watching the reactions of the staff as the "theatre of the mind" comes to a sudden jarring end and reality snaps back in. Johnny is naturally the person who can handle that jar the best, with what is personally my favourite line in the show: "Les? Are you there? [pause] Les isn't there."

Back at the station, Andy and Jennifer are handling the fallout from the turkey disaster when Herb and Mr. Carlson return, disheveled and covered in turkey feathers.They are soon followed by an even more disheveled Les, who proceeds to tell everyone the aftermath of the turkey drop in the last great "theatre of the mind" piece. "It's like the turkeys mounted a counterattack!" No filmed footage could ever match what is in your mind's eye upon hearing a line like that!

Finally, as the credits start to roll, Mr. Carlson comes out of his office to deliver the single most memorable line in WKRP's history: "As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly."

It has taken me a while to write this post. I've wanted to touch on as many points as I could for this, the quintessential episode of a program about which I've promised to write 83 more posts. I may even come back to it again in the future. (Jennifer won't get coffee, but Bailey brings everyone in the control room coffee. Herb feels Carlson thinks off him as a son. Oh, there's so much here!!)

I see there are a number of people who have read these posts, and I thank you.  I'd love to hear about your memories of the show, your comments about this blog, what you think of the new box set or even just what brought you here.

Thanks
Happy Thanksgiving, whenever you're reading this
Roy