Ep.46 - The Airplane Show

May 26, 2017

Writers: Michael Fairman and Richard Sanders
Director: Rod Daniel
Original Air Date: March 31, 1980

Welcome to Season Three of "WKRP in Cincinnati" which begins in, of all places... Cincinnati!

You may also have noticed this episode aired a full seven months since season two ended. Both of these things happened as a results of a Actors' Strike in Hollywood in the summer of 1980. Actors' wanted a piece of the newly emerging "videocassette" revenue stream, among other things. All TV and movie production went into hiatus. Actors were not allowed to work by their union.

But writers and film crews could still work. So Richard Sanders, who played Les Nesman, and his writing partner Michael Fairman (who is also an actor - he played the shopkeeper in the "Turkey's Away" episode as well as Buddy) got special permission to film their scenes for this episode in Cincinnati because they were also the writers. That also explains why the rest of the cast is filmed in just two sets (bullpen and control room) tightly and quickly. The strike ended October 25 and this episode was on the air on November 1st!

Oddly, the final episode of season two was also written by Sanders and Fairman and both episodes place a certain focus on needing therapy. I counted six separate occasions in this episode in which psychological therapy is either suggested for Les, or he is outright called crazy. When I look back at episodes written by Richard Sanders, I can't really tell how he feels about his own character. I think he thinks Les needs help and that he could do something "crazy" at any moment.

I see Les more as a frustrated "doer." He wants to get things done and solve problems. He sees WPIG getting ahead of WKRP in traffic reporting and he wants to DO something about it. He's frustrated management hasn't gotten him the helicopter they promised him two years ago. So he solves the problem by getting a crop duster to fly him over the city. Problem solved, right?

It's strange and random to see where Les applies this "talent." He's prepared to stand up against his bosses to put his career and life in danger. But he can't stand up to pilot Buddy over paying for a cup of coffee.

Buddy is kinda crazy too, and not just because he threatens to take Les and himself down in a murder/suicide pact. On one hand, he criticizes the government, saying "the President's plan of a controlled recession seems to have gotten out of hand" (which is a great line to just drop into conversation) but on the other hand he is fiercely patriotic and proud of the role he played in the war.

One of the most impressive shots ever filmed on this show is from Les' point of view, in which, as Les approaches the airplane on Veteran's Day, he is wiping his glasses. Then we see as he puts them back on, the airplane, with Buddy in full dress uniform, come into focus. It literally refocuses Buddy from a greedy crop duster to a war hero, literally in Les' eyes.  That must have been a stage direction in the script as Rod Daniel, in the many WKRP episode he has directed, has never made another shot like that.

The bulk of the show is taken up with the fact that Buddy is upset nobody is remembering Veteran's Day (and it is "Veteran's Day" in November in the US) and his efforts to remind the people of Cincinnati. He takes off to the tune of The Who's "Had Enough" featuring the line "I've had enough of being nice." As he is buzzing the city, we take in a lot of the sites in Cincinnati, including Riverfront Stadium and Fountain Square. This will be the most we ever see of the city outside of the title sequence, but from what I've been able to learn, the producers had been hoping to show more of the city at a later time because Cincinnati had been so supportive of the show.

The rest of the WRKP staff comes together to help Buddy (and save Les' life) when Johnny calls them all in to plan a parade. What's most interesting here for us is a glimpse into what the staff does on a day off of work just by what they're wearing. Andy was playing football for the Baptists. Jennifer was horseback riding. Bailey was jogging, maybe? Herb was barbecuing with his family in his Kiss the Cook apron (which will get a surprising amount of play in upcoming episodes). Venus is a Boy Scout leader and Mr. Carlson is just in a casual sweater. Johnny is of course working.

The episode ends with Mr. Carlson commenting on a city that blew their car horns to save a crazy newsman and honour its veterans, and that would breed a group of people like the WKRP staff... "Strange town, Cincinnati."

Roy

Other Notes: The show makes a lot of fun that the name has changed to Veteran's Day from Armistice Day, but that happened back in 1954. Armed Forces Day is in May.  Because of the Actor's Strike, it was difficult to find anybody to go up in the plane who looked like Les, so all of those stunts actually do feature Richard Sanders flying over the city! Interesting the producers were willing to feature a Who song so prominently less than a year after the concert tragedy. At one point it is said that WKRP has "2000 listeners, tops." The population of Cincinnati in 1980 was 385,000. That is less that 1/2 of 1%!

Bonus Feature -"Do My Eyes Say Yes?"

May 19, 2017


We have come to the end of the Second Season of "WKRP in Cincinnati," so let's celebrate by taking a look at Loni Anderson. (Does that sound right? That doesn't quite sound right). One of the Bonus Features of the boxset is the featurette "Do My Eyes Say Yes" that looks a little deeper into the phenomena that was Loni Anderson/Jennifer Marlow in 1980. This featurette first appeared in the Season One WKRP box set that was released in 2007 ("The Black Box"). That's why all of the clips used come exclusively from Season One.

Should I read anything into it that the first full minute of this featurette plays before they ever talk to Loni Anderson? Or that this minute includes Frank Bonner, Tim Reid and Hugh Wilson all mentioning how sexy she is, while the first words Anderson uses to discuss her character are "really intelligent woman"?

What is interesting is seeing how much Frank Bonner views his own character of Herb through his relationship to Jennifer. Now, of course, this is a clip about Jennifer, so it's not surprising, but Anderson talks about the real friendship between the two characters. In fact, I think we see that friendship more in the second season than the first. Looking at a very funny reel of clips in which Jennifer shoots Herb down, it becomes apparent that his hitting on her is just a running joke between colleagues. The second season Ep. 38 "Put Up or Shut Up" confirms this.

There's also quite a bit of discussion on which characters Jennifer kissed. Anderson confirms that Johnny is a good kisser, something I'm sure Bailey would like to know.

Tim Reid doesn't say "Jennifer" when he talks about her being "no dumb blonde." He says Loni Anderson is no dumb blonde and that's the point this piece tries to make. Jennifer cared about the staff and relished being the face of the station. She knew she could handle anybody and we are left with the impression that Loni was the same way.

This is just a fun little extra that doesn't add much to our understanding of the character. As I said of the "Fish Story" featureete at the end of Season One, I would have much preferred to get a commentary track instead.

The featurette does concludes with a wonderful little anecdote from Anderson of how she would get drinks sent to her in a bar when she was wearing the blonde wig from a play, but not when she wore her naturally brown hair and how Hugh Wilson took this story and worked it into the Ep. 15 "Never Leave Me Lucille" episode.

Roy

Note: To add more value to this blog, I am going to go back through and make a note at the top, stating if this is a "Very Important" or "Famously Funny" episode. Some might be both; most will be neither.

"Very Important" will mean it is important to the development of the overall story or characters. It does not necessarily mean it tackles an important topic. They are the episodes that I imagine the writers, producers and actors are most proud of.

"Famously Funny" will mean the biggest laughs of the series. These episodes will have the most quoted lines and craziest scenes.

I don't intent to rank the shows but to give a quick guide to those people just wanting to check out a few episodes. The choices are all mine, but I'd love to debate them with you!

Ep. 45 - Most Improved Station

May 4, 2017

Writers: Michael Fairman and Richard Sanders
Director: Rod Daniel
Original Air Date: March 31, 1980

There is a lot I want to discuss about this episode, but I'd first like to discuss an issue in WKRP fandom that is a personal peeve. I have waited specifically for this episode to discuss it, because out of all the WKRP in Cincinnati episodes, this is the only one in which Jennifer and Bailey are made to confront each other.

If you do a cursory Google search on "WKRP in Cincinnati," two things come up most often. 1) "Turkeys Away" is the funniest episode of anything ever. (This usually gets more play around Thanksgiving) 2) Who is hotter: Jennifer or Bailey? Actually, let me rephrase that. It is usually posted by some guy who thinks he is wiser, deeper or more liberal when he posts "Bailey was actually sexier than Jennifer" with a lot of late 70's short shorts pictures to make his point.

A reminder about who I am. I am currently writing my 45th blog entirely about WKRP in Cincinnati. So I think a LOT more about this show than almost anyone on the planet, and I preach that it has a lot more to offer the world than just those two details. Also, I'm a straight white guy in my mid-40's. There is no question both Loni Anderson and Jan Smithers were very attractive (and still are) and that WKRP was not afraid to showcase the beauty of both women to draw their audience.

But this binary meat marketing of the characters (and it's always about the characters, not the actresses themselves), choosing between the curvy blonde bombshell and the smaller, bespectacled brunette is crude and reductive and should be left to the past. I'd say the same thing if I were writing a Gilligan's Island or Scooby Doo blog. I have never read a piece debating if Andy or Venus is sexier. And it does not make any guy "deeper" for opining that Bailey is the true beauty because she isn't as showy about it. This program has gone to great lengths to display both female characters as intelligent and desirable. Please, future bloggers of WKRPs: stop talking about which female cast member is hotter! Neither of them would have had anything to do with you anyway!!!

Thank you for indulging me there. Now, back to the important stuff, like how is Johnny going to get lipstick out of a rented tux.

Having just written the post about Ep. 44 "Venus Rising," I think this episode can be viewed as a companion piece to that one (especially in the crack where Les asks Herb why he doesn't just quit and Herb grits his teeth and says "Shut up, Les.")  That one was about respect. This one is about responsibility. Each member of the staff feels the station is in some way their own responsibility and that by losing the Most Improved Station award, each feels they have neglected their responsibilities.

Bailey considers herself "basically an executive" (which I think would come as a surprise to Mr. Carlson and maybe even Andy) who has been reduced to fetching coffee for DJ's. In Johnny's opinion DJs are "what make radio alive" but that they are disposable and therefore insecure. Les feels the "management is not responsive to the needs of the news department" as demonstrated by his lack of walls. Mr. Carlson worries so constantly about the station he wakes up in mid-argument about his feelings of responsibility. We know from the end of last season how seriously Andy takes the success of the station and feels he doesn't get the support from a divided staff to get things accomplished.

But the solution writers Fairman and Sanders concoct to solve this problem seems very late 70's / early 80's. Today, communications consultants might be brought in to conduct team building exercises, but here the staff use bits and pieces pop psychology to confront their issues. Bailey suggests they break up into "dyads." (Why can't she just use the word "pairs"?) Venus tries relaxation exercises. But nothing actually gets accomplished until Johnny stands up and just speaks honestly from the heart.

This leads to Andy's "Walls" speech, and for my money, if you needed to show someone one minute from the entire series to explain what the character of Andy Travis is all about, this is that minute. Andy 1) confronts Les, 2) makes a heartfelt and intelligent point and then 3)undercuts the whole thing with a joke.

You would think Richard Sanders would give his own character the long climatic monologue of summing up all the characters but wisely he gives that to the character who spends the most time observing the others: Jennifer. She breaks down the family that is the WKRP staff:

• Mr. Carlson - Father - concerned
• Andy - Son - competent and success-oriented
• Les - Brother - bookish
• Herb - (no relationship mentioned) - lovable jackass
• Johnny - Uncle - weather-beaten ("no, I never could nail you down")
• Venus - Brother - spiritual and loving
• Bailey - Sister - beautiful, shy with brains

She doesn't put herself in this family, but the remaining role is clearly the compassionate, watchful Mother of the station. Her description is very specifically structured. Only Carlson and Andy are placed in a father-son relationship. The others are connected as brothers and sisters, apparently of Andy, except for Johnny, who as an uncle is on a near even level to Mr. Carlson as far as wisdom and experiences go, and Herb who, although loved, isn't really part of the family. That matches up to the previous episode in which we the staff wasn't broken up over possibly losing him to another job. Jennifer also leaves the person she was put in a dyad with, Bailey, until the end. Oh, bloggers of the future, please note that Jennifer recognizes Bailey is also beautiful.

It is the last statement of the season. If it had turned out to be the last statement of the series, I feel it would have been a satisfying wrap up, leaving all these characters in a better place than where we found them.

Roy

Other Notes: The station that WKRP loses to, "Those crazies" was WTNA. Twelve year old me likes that joke.