Ep. 16 - I Want to Keep My Baby

February 6, 2015

Writer: Hugh Wilson
Director: Asaad Kelada
Original Air Date: March 12, 1979


This episode does something unusual for a TV show - it plays with your perception of good and bad by showing you how TV manipulates your perception of good and bad.

The most obvious example of this is the two representatives from Family and Children's Services. When we first see them, her with her tight bun and pinched features and he with his thick glasses and weird name ("Chick"), they are Cincinnati's version of Miss Hannigan. They are the threat, that will steal a baby away from a helpless young girl. But by the end of the episode, they are sweet like a pair of Sunday School teachers who are going to take that child to her own private paradise.

Next we have Peggy, the unseen mother. At first, we think she must be crazy to abandon her child (and with all people, the wholly irresponsible Johnny Fever). Then we hear Johnny sympathize with her story of being alone and confused and we hope the mother and child can be reunited. Finally, once the Family and Children's Services people are shown to be friendly, we believe Peggy has made the right decision after all. But honestly, we don't know anything about Peggy or her circumstances to be able make an informed decision - it's all about what's presented to us in the moment. That is something worth remembering in a world of 24 hour news and reality television.

WKRP teaches us all not to judge a book by its cover.

This is an episode full of teaching moments. First we learn not to call the fire department when someone abandons a baby. We also learn that people will believe a black man carrying a bassinet shaped sheet is "da laundry man" and not a guy trying to smuggle a baby out of an office.

The audience greatly benefits from using the original music in this boxset. Much of the commentary that Johnny makes - first in getting the mother to call him back after she leaves her baby on the station's doorstep; then in thanking her for this gift in the end - is made through his choice of songs. We don't see it focused this clearly all the time, but this love in the communicative powers of music is why Johnny goes through all that he has gone through to remain a DJ all these years. Music is how Johnny talks. Music is how Johnny shares his feelings. Everything else is sarcasm.

Many ideas that pay off in future episodes are introduced in "I Want To Keep My Baby." This is the first reference we've had to Jennifer dating wealthy older men. Mr. Carlson tells us he has a son in military school. Even the idea that Johnny might have some experience caring for a baby girl - each idea will be the focus of a future episode.

Other Notes: Good budgeting on the part of the producers by using the Johnny's Apartment set in the second episode in a row. The crying sounds of this baby are terribly fake! It sounds that a full grown adult of to the side making that noise (I have no idea how it was done, but that's what it sounds like) Nice pay-off of the "baby crying when Herb's around" running joke at the end. Venus in the morning! with one of the best lines in WKRP lore "Get the funk out your face Cin-cin-nati!"

Roy