Writer: Mary Maguire
Director: Will MacKenzie
Original Air Date: September 24, 1979
One nice thing about a blog is if you want a recap of last week's episode, you just have to go back and read the last posting. Back in the days of episodic television, you needed to spend two minutes letting a narrator remind the audience of what had happened. One nice thing about watching a DVD boxset is you can watch the two episodes back to back and judge how well the narrator did.
He did fine.
It was neat to see how they used a couple of different cuts and camera angles in the recap than what they used in the actual episode. Johnny recap adds the line "She got nice and weird!" and Herb reclines to a full shot of the bull pen rather than a close up.
But that's really nit picking an episode that has some very nice acting and subtle themes. The episode has the same writer and director as the first episode which makes sense since this is really just one long episode cut into two rather than two completely different episode tied together as in the two-parter from season one (Goodbye, Johnny and Johnny Comes Back)
It starts almost exactly the same way as the first episode, with a wordless shot of Bailey alone in the station, and then she comes up behind the DJ (in this case, Venus) in the studio and startles him. Jan Smithers really gives her best performance in the series so far, because she is finally given something to do. With Venus, she is angry and embarrassed. but as she sits at Herb's mirror, primps her hair and goes on her imaginary date with Johnny, she's sweet and (to use the modern term) Adorkable. So when Andy catches her doing it, we can really feel her humiliation being piled onto the humiliation of being stood up.
The audience should be turning against Johnny right about now except we know he's having problems of his own. He's called Venus to come help him because Buffy, the woman he lived with in California for two years, is coming back to sue him for (a new idea in 1980) palimony.
Now it's Howard Hesseman's turn to continue the fine acting we saw in the first episode. At first he is distraught and panicy. Maybe Buffy wasn't the only drama queen living in Laurel Canyon back in the day. Johnny swings from dramatically shocked and depressed, to resigned and even level-headed. Then he swings back to dramatic when he discovers he may have been poisoned! He finishes the episode acting as if he's on speed. Don't just listen to the fast talking, but look at the darting eyes and lip licking too. That's a lot of emotions in about ten minutes.
Bailey delivers the heart of the episode by saying that some people "aren't cruel. Just thoughtless." She is directing this at Johnny, who at first thinks she means Buffy, and when the realization of what he has done to Bailey hits him, his whole demeanour collapses under the weight of the bad karma he has brought upon himself. If Johnny had only kept his date with Bailey, not only would none of this have happened but he could have been starting a whole new, healthy relationship with someone who isn't crazy. (Relatively speaking that is. This is still WKRP. Everyone is crazy). Another wide emotional swing that Hesseman sells well.
Let's go back a little bit to the scene in the booth when Andy and Carlson come in to discuss the budget numbers with Venus, before they all get routed to Jennifer's apartment. First, I don't remember most of this scene from syndication. The discussion for the price for a new transmitter? That seems new to me, but it doesn't fit with anything else in the episode so I can see why it might have been cut for time. However, it is interesting the show wants to show Venus as some sort of tax expert, or at least knowledgeable about finance. I said in the last post that the producers obviously wanted to develop the characters deeper this season, and the juxtaposition of funky nighttime DJ against jargon spouting accountant give both that depth while keeping the funny.
That scene of Andy, Venus and Carlson together in the booth is reflected nicely at the end of the scene in Jennifer's apartment. Bailey and Johnny finally go on their date and the three men are left alone in Jennifer's apartment. You would think these men wouldn't have much in common outside of work, but Jennifer's apartment is a "nice place." All three of them are curious to take the tour, drink the fine liquor... and check out Jennifer's bedroom. The three men getting caught together by Jennifer only tightens their peculiar bond.
Other notes: If your wondering which snifter Johnny picked up, he DID pick the "poisoned" cup. Carlson checks out the bottom of the same brass bowl Buffy checks out in part one.
He did fine.
It was neat to see how they used a couple of different cuts and camera angles in the recap than what they used in the actual episode. Johnny recap adds the line "She got nice and weird!" and Herb reclines to a full shot of the bull pen rather than a close up.
But that's really nit picking an episode that has some very nice acting and subtle themes. The episode has the same writer and director as the first episode which makes sense since this is really just one long episode cut into two rather than two completely different episode tied together as in the two-parter from season one (Goodbye, Johnny and Johnny Comes Back)
It starts almost exactly the same way as the first episode, with a wordless shot of Bailey alone in the station, and then she comes up behind the DJ (in this case, Venus) in the studio and startles him. Jan Smithers really gives her best performance in the series so far, because she is finally given something to do. With Venus, she is angry and embarrassed. but as she sits at Herb's mirror, primps her hair and goes on her imaginary date with Johnny, she's sweet and (to use the modern term) Adorkable. So when Andy catches her doing it, we can really feel her humiliation being piled onto the humiliation of being stood up.
The audience should be turning against Johnny right about now except we know he's having problems of his own. He's called Venus to come help him because Buffy, the woman he lived with in California for two years, is coming back to sue him for (a new idea in 1980) palimony.
"I put poison in the brandy!" "How very... medieval of you."
Now it's Howard Hesseman's turn to continue the fine acting we saw in the first episode. At first he is distraught and panicy. Maybe Buffy wasn't the only drama queen living in Laurel Canyon back in the day. Johnny swings from dramatically shocked and depressed, to resigned and even level-headed. Then he swings back to dramatic when he discovers he may have been poisoned! He finishes the episode acting as if he's on speed. Don't just listen to the fast talking, but look at the darting eyes and lip licking too. That's a lot of emotions in about ten minutes.
After everything, Bailey still wants Johnny
Bailey delivers the heart of the episode by saying that some people "aren't cruel. Just thoughtless." She is directing this at Johnny, who at first thinks she means Buffy, and when the realization of what he has done to Bailey hits him, his whole demeanour collapses under the weight of the bad karma he has brought upon himself. If Johnny had only kept his date with Bailey, not only would none of this have happened but he could have been starting a whole new, healthy relationship with someone who isn't crazy. (Relatively speaking that is. This is still WKRP. Everyone is crazy). Another wide emotional swing that Hesseman sells well.
Let's go back a little bit to the scene in the booth when Andy and Carlson come in to discuss the budget numbers with Venus, before they all get routed to Jennifer's apartment. First, I don't remember most of this scene from syndication. The discussion for the price for a new transmitter? That seems new to me, but it doesn't fit with anything else in the episode so I can see why it might have been cut for time. However, it is interesting the show wants to show Venus as some sort of tax expert, or at least knowledgeable about finance. I said in the last post that the producers obviously wanted to develop the characters deeper this season, and the juxtaposition of funky nighttime DJ against jargon spouting accountant give both that depth while keeping the funny.
That scene of Andy, Venus and Carlson together in the booth is reflected nicely at the end of the scene in Jennifer's apartment. Bailey and Johnny finally go on their date and the three men are left alone in Jennifer's apartment. You would think these men wouldn't have much in common outside of work, but Jennifer's apartment is a "nice place." All three of them are curious to take the tour, drink the fine liquor... and check out Jennifer's bedroom. The three men getting caught together by Jennifer only tightens their peculiar bond.
Other notes: If your wondering which snifter Johnny picked up, he DID pick the "poisoned" cup. Carlson checks out the bottom of the same brass bowl Buffy checks out in part one.
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