At the beginning of 2018, we lost the creator of WKRP, Hugh Wilson, at the age of 74. But he lived to see he most popular creation restored to (almost) its original condition and released in 2014 in the Shout Factory boxset. And the biggest bonus of this boxset is this featurette of the Paley Centre for Media's reunion interview featuring cast members, directors and Wilson himself. As we have come to the end of the Third Season of "WKRP in Cincinnati" let's examine this joyful reunion and hear what would be Wilson's final word on the series.
The moderator is long time radio DJ Jim Ladd, who currently hosts the "Deep Tracks Freeform Radio" show on SiriusXM (channel 27). He has been in radio since the late '60's in Los Angeles, even appearing as a DJ in movies and on albums. Frankly, he is Johnny Fever if Fever has better management. He also hosted a nationally syndicated rock interview show called "Innerview" in the 1970's and '80's, so he knows how to conduct an interview AND the world of WKRP.
Wilson is joined stage by actors Loni Anderson, Howard Hesseman, Jan Smithers and Tim Reid. Finishing up the reunion are regular WKRP director Asaad Kalada (who worked mostly in the first and last seasons of the show) and famous director Jay Sandrich, who directed the pilot (he also directed over 100 episodes of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," over 50 episodes of "Soap" and would later direct over 100 episodes of "The Cosby Show." Thanks IMDB)
For only being involved in the first episode, Sandrich has very clear memories on his time with the show and Wilson's work creating it. He recounts the how he recommended both Gordon Jump and Howard Hesseman due to the work they did on "Soap" the season before "WKRP" launched. Wilson, with a mischievous grin, explains why he hired Jan Smithers although she didn't have much experience: "I'm a boy!"
Loni Anderson credits Wilson for creating a show with two well defined female characters who displayed a camaraderie within the station, when it would have been easier, and more commonplace, to show them as rivals. She also credits Wilson for making "the glamourous woman the smartest person in the room."
Tim Reid goes into a lot more detail about how the character of Venus originated as a "flamboyant negro" and how Wilson promised him that, if the show got picked up, the writers would do more to display two sides of the character. Reid explains how New York soul DJ Frankie Crocker was an influence, having both an outsized public persona (seriously, check out the Wiki page on this guy!) and quieter personal side. Still, Reid says he had concerns: "I don't want to be sixty something years old and have someone say "Hey Venus!" Before turning the crowd and saying "Here we are!" It's maybe the biggest laugh of the night. Later in the interview, it is Hesseman who calls out the "Who Is Gordon Sims?" episode for really developing the character of Venus, and he goes out of his way to praise Wilson for writing it.
When this reunion originally happened, it was streamed to over 35,000 people, and one of those watching calls in: Gary Sandy! It is an important moment because for years the rumour had been that Sandy resented the show for typecasting him and making it difficult to get other film or television work. If that was ever the case, it certainly isn't anymore! Sandy goes out of his way to praise his time on WKRP, and of the cast and crew he says: "It is a family." He makes such an impression that the fourth Bonus Feature of the boxset is an interview with Sandy alone.
If anyone on the stage is angry, it's Howard Hesseman, but not at the WKRP family. He is angry that the rest of his career in television was not as much fun or as collaborative as his time with Hugh Wilson. Hesseman says the character of Dr. Fever was "already on the page" but that the writers would take an interest in his input and they would TOGETHER work on making Fever come to life. He bemoans how he spent "six years on a series (where) writers were buried in their scripts" and not watching what they had created. He is obviously talking about his time on "Head of the Class," and may explain why you are not reading a "Head of the Class" blog right now.
Sandrich and Wilson take this time to praise the late Grant Tinker and MTM Productions for standing up for the writers in the face of the network. Both complain there are no more really independent producers in television anymore.
Wilson takes a moment to call out the two remaining cast members not present for the reunion, thanking Richard Sanders and Frank Bonner for being "so funny." Anderson says Bonner would make her crack up during takes and calls his comedy "a force of nature." Wilson tells the oft-told story behind Les' bandages and Kalada jumps in to discuss how Sanders developed the bit about Les' taped walls.
Some time is then taken to remember the only cast member no longer alive at the time, Gordon Jump, and everyone on the stage immediately fills up with warm loving memories of the man. "Full of compassion and love," says Reid. Wilson says he was "always the adult in the room" calling him the "Master of the Take."
Most of the rest of the featurette is filled just the kind of fun stories and remembrances you want old friends to retell when they get back together; whether it was greeting CBS affiliates with the "Welcome Scum" banner or the genesis of the "In Concert" episode. There is good natured ribbing and self deprecating jokes. The group acts the way we fans would hope they would act years later.
In discussing the characters of Jennifer and especially Bailey, Hugh Wilson remarks "the show is accidentally a history capsule of stuff back then." It's that idea that has fueled this blog and so many people's fandom over the years.
Roy
Other Notes. At the same time as this reunion, Hugh Wilson gave an individual interview to the Paley Centre. Clips from this can be found on YouTube. In it he discuss both "WKRP" and "Frank's Place." There are five episodes of "Soap" with both Hesseman and Jump. They are Season 1, episode 21-25 ("Soap" didn't name it's episodes)
