Writers: Joyce Armor & Judi Neer
Director: Linda Day
Original Air Date: February 14, 1981
Welcome back!
I had a lot of difficulties writing the blog post for this particular episode. Much of that is because I was without a computer for about six weeks. Some of that was because of the holidays. But a lot of it was because I couldn't quite get a handle about what I wanted to say about this episode.
See, most obviously, a person would want to focus on the battered wife story at the end of the episode. But it is at the VERY end of the episode and the episode isn't really ABOUT that. I could speak about the rise of talk radio, but "Ask Arleen" was a very simple advice show and not indicative of the kind of scathing talk radio that would soon be coming to American airwaves. (Incidentally, someone with the opinion that we should "blow the whole country, oilfields and all, right off the map" would probably make a very successful talk radio host).
The more I've thought about it, the more I think this is an episode the producers of "WKRP in Cincinnati" wanted to be an "important episode." It features their biggest star Loni Anderson (who is very good here, especially with the one-liners to the callers). It does have that battered woman story element. Perhaps most importantly for 1981, it is an episode both written AND directed by women. But, despite all of those markings, "Ask Jennifer" simple is not an important episode. It's just a regular, middle of the road episode.
What does make this episode stand out is the conceit of time passing, with the Day Count in the corner, references to the number of days passed and the costume changes. So I have rewatched the episode specially to give you all the counts on what we are seeing.
According to the day counts, "Ask Arleen" runs over 96 days. At one point, Jennifer complains to Andy that she has been on the air for 64 days, but according to the day count, it has actually been 70 days. However, on the last day, Andy tells Mr. Carlson that Herb has "only been on the job (of finding a host for the show) for 194 days" and, including the first 168 days it took him to find the original Arleen, that actually does match the Day Counter!
Jennifer first gets a call from "not Joan" on Day 22 of "Ask Arleen." It is 38 days after that Jennifer advises her to tell her husband that she's leaving him, Walter Cronkite style (she gives that date as February 8, 1981. The episode aired on February 14, 1981 (Happy Valentine's Day America!)) There are 36 more days to go, so the original audience was seeing into the future!. Given the Day Count, Arleen "resigned on March 16, a total of 96 days.
But what is really important is the fashions!
Remember that in 1981, Loni Anderson was at the height of her fashion icon status, so an episode that features her in multiple costume changes would have been eagerly devoured. This episode is also proof that Anderson was wearing wigs throughout the run. Here are the numbers:
Jennifer wears five distinct hairstyles of various lengths and eight different outfits, ranging from a yellow business dress to a denim blouse.
However, both Herb and Andy wear 10 different outfits each. That is TEN different Herb Tarlek suits in one episode, people!!
For those of you who need to know, Bailey only wears two different outfits here, and Les wears one for the whole show.
As much as the previous episode was a spotlight episode for Howard Hesseman, this one is a showcase for Loni Anderson. She gets to be at her quip-y best, while also being very sensitive in crying over Not Joan and caring for Mr. Carlson. Anderson would be nominated for the Emmy for Best Supporting Actress this season.
In my opinion, I think the show would have been wise to continue Jennifer in the position of advice lady in subsequent episodes, as there really was no reason to cancel the show. Jennifer (with Bailey's assistance) got the caller the help she needed. The show was very popular and has Jennifer herself admits to Andy, she actually liked doing the show. Maybe with Bailey acting as a producer, "Ask Arleen" could have continued.
The last five minutes of this episode could also be seen as the definition of the Arthur Carlson character. In one moment, he has the emotional weight of speaking truth to Jennifer when she wants to take all the blame onto herself. In the next, he's a big child coming to Jennifer when literally his toy is broken.
Roy
Other Notes - in the post about the episode "Hotel Oceanview," I argued that it should be Herb, as Sales Manager, giving the sales pitch and not Andy. Likewise here, it should be the Program Director who finds the host for a show, not the Sales Director.
In my opinion, I think the show would have been wise to continue Jennifer in the position of advice lady in subsequent episodes, as there really was no reason to cancel the show. Jennifer (with Bailey's assistance) got the caller the help she needed. The show was very popular and has Jennifer herself admits to Andy, she actually liked doing the show. Maybe with Bailey acting as a producer, "Ask Arleen" could have continued.
The last five minutes of this episode could also be seen as the definition of the Arthur Carlson character. In one moment, he has the emotional weight of speaking truth to Jennifer when she wants to take all the blame onto herself. In the next, he's a big child coming to Jennifer when literally his toy is broken.
Roy
Other Notes - in the post about the episode "Hotel Oceanview," I argued that it should be Herb, as Sales Manager, giving the sales pitch and not Andy. Likewise here, it should be the Program Director who finds the host for a show, not the Sales Director.
