Writers: Hugh Wilson
Director: Linda Day
Original Air Date: November 8, 1980
The wonderful website TVTropes.org defines a Back Door Pilot as an "Episode in which the show's primary characters take a back seat to secondary or, more likely, brand new characters in order to test the waters for a separate show." "Jennifer Moves" is the closest WKRP ever came to trying a Back Door Pilot of its own.
Let's introduce the characters from "Jennifer in Landersville": Jennifer Marlowe is the beautiful, unexplainably wealthy single woman who moves from the hustle and bustle of the Big City (in this case, Cincinnati) to relax among the treelined streets of Landersville. Ken and Dottie are the completely suburbanized married couple next door, who dress alike and talk alike, but each have their own secrets. Does Ken have a wandering eye, and if so, would it wander towards Jennifer? Is Dottie more jealous and manipulative than she lets on? We can find out after we meet Mr. Fergood, another neighbour with a macabre sense of humour and perhaps a well-placed mistrust of local government. Also this quiet neighbourhood may be hiding a sex pervert! And is Jennifer's new house actually... haunted?
Of course, this never became a real show and I can find no actual evidence that this was the intention, but this episode certainly feel this way. This "show" has the same feel as the most ridiculous episodes of WKRP, most notably "Fish Story" in which character development is pushed aside for laughs. This is an episode with a runaway piano and an exploding princess phone, for goodness sake! Written by Hugh Wilson, who famously took his name off of the "Fish Story" episode, maybe he finally was relaxing into allowing his show to go crazy every so often.
Okay, so much for the show that never was. What about the show that is here?
Like episodes from the first season, "Jennifer Moves" employs a great deal more "theatre of the mind" pieces than in season two. Herb's growing frustration at having to move a piano by himself feeds seamlessly into his monologue describing how he "lost it;" the piano getting away from him and rolling down the hill. Frank Bonner once again pulls both humour and sympathy from his graphic description of chasing a piano for two blocks. When the policeman comes in at the end to read his report of the piano finally "destroying a hatchback," this theatre piece is fully wrapped up.
However, it is Jennifer's rendition of the events of her first evening in the house to Les at the very end of this episode that is the high point of its "theatre of the mind." Loni Anderson tells the story like a girl around a campfire, spinning a ghost story in the best way possible to prevent her friends from getting a good night's sleep. Her tale draws in more than Les, but Herb, Johnny and Andy as well; as drawn in as Jennifer was to the mysterious light beneath the door. But when the mystery is finally revealed, Herb and Les are the only ones gullible enough remaining to hear how things end.
This is a wonderful episode to show how stupid Herb Tarlek is! There is what I just spoke about with him listening to the ghost story even after it's revealed to be a hoax (did I need to say "Spoiler"?). At the beginning of the episode, Jennifer gives him the choice of moving the kitchen utensils or a piano. He gives it a great deal of thought (while oblivious to Les' murderous rage) before deciding on moving the heaviest, most awkward item anyone ever moves rather than a box of spoons. Equally, he can't understand why nobody else will help him! (until Ken, under Jennifer's spell, agrees to also move a piano.)
Ken and Dottie are an excellent commentary of the veneer of suburbia, a subject the show tackles head on in the next episode. They appear completely in sync, dressing alike and watching the same TV shows at the same time ever week. But it's all a facade when the mere presence of a beautiful woman next door can unravel an eleven-year marriage in twenty minutes. She's been suspicious for years (since the country club party). Only Jennifer, having a lifetime of experience dealing with men like Ken, will be able to fix everything.
Mr. Fergood revels in this juxtaposition, delighting in the idea of unveiling the corruption in city government. The audience gets the sense he doesn't much care about the apartment building going up; he just want to see the government burn!
One final thought: this is the first episode in which WKRP takes on the phone company. Jennifer's question about the phone company's lack of customer service receives an answer that is business school 101: "It's like that because we don't have any competition." In a world full of competing mobile phone companies, it's difficult to remember a time when all of the U.S. was wired together by one giant monopoly. The Bell Company was broken up into the "Baby Bells" in January 1982, so when this (and future telephone-centric episodes aired) the issue of the Bell monopoly was very front of mind. It could be traumatic, even it was "just a phone."
Roy
Other notes: Although I don't believe there really is a Landersville, "across the river in Landersville" would indicate the town is across the border in Kentucky. Is there another kind of pervert besides a "sex pervert?"
To celebrate completing two season's worth of blogs, I purchased the Kindle edition of Michael B. Kassel's book "America's Favorite Radio Station: WKRP in Cincinnati" (1993). I believe it is the only book to deal exclusively with the back stage story of this show. Although it has been out of print for some time, the e-book is still available and it contains interviews with all of the major cast (including Gordon Jump) and crew members, such as directors and creator Hugh Wilson himself.
