Ep. 70 - Rumors

September 10, 2018

Writers: Peter Torokvei
Director: Linda Day
Original Air Date: October 28, 1981

Alright all you Bailey lovers! This is the episode you have been meme-ing, screen capturing and pause buttoning for the past 37 years. Any image search of "Bailey Quarters" will find a dozen pictures of Bailey in Johnny's T-shirt. And we will discuss that! But first, getting to what really matters... Sam Anderson is back!

The fourth and final character Sam brings to life for "WKRP in Cincinnati" is the creepy/harmless mid-morning DJ Rex Erhardt. At one moment, he is seductively pouring Perrier water for lonely housewives listening to his show and the next he is flustered at making simple conversation with Bailey. Once again, Sam Anderson creates a fully rounded character in just a couple of minutes of screen time.

"Continuity is so important," says Bailey. "Thank you for always being a jerk, Herb." That's a funny line, but the first part could have been written on a plaque in the writers' room for this season. There is a direct line of continuity from last episode. Andy continues with his plan for remodeling the lobby, and begins to give out the much deserved raises. These links will continue all season long.

This episode is called "Rumors" because it follows the intertwining of two related rumors going around the station. The first is Andy is going to give his morning drive time slot to the younger Rex Erhardt. Johnny created this idea himself, of course, but as he says "when everyone is out to get you, paranoid is just good thinking!" The second is that Johnny and Bailey are sleeping together since he is spending the week at her apartment while his place is being fumigated for lizards. (Do you believe Johnny was telling Les the truth about the lizards?)

Focusing on second rumor first, it's not hard to see why the whole station thinks something is up. Bailey has been openly pining for Johnny since the beginning of season two in episode 23 "For Love of Money," when she asks him out on a date to the movies. In Ep. 60 "I Am Woman," Johnny asks Bailey if he were to get her a pair of cut off jeans, and he got a boat... and she cuts him off by just saying "Any time." We know they like each other, and that they have chemistry.

1981 is also the middle of the broadcast run for "Three's Company," (a show that was WAY more successful in the ratings than "WKRP in Cincinnati" ever was) that was entirely about the sexy misadventures of a man living, platonically, with TWO women. The idea is in the collective conscienceness. So the staff has been primed and ready for the idea of these two together. If Les were staying at Bailey's place, no one would think much of it.

However, the one person who also thinks there might be something going on is Johnny himself, and I'm going to go back to my commentary about Joyce Armor and Arthur Carlson in this season's premier, "An Explosive Affair." In that, Joyce behaves in such a way that ANY reasonable person would think she's coming on to Arthur. Also so here, under the guidance of the same director, Linda Day, Bailey rubs her hands all over Johnny and tells him to "reach out and touch that beauty. Take advantage of your situation!"

It may not be "changing into something more comfortable" but it's pretty suggestive. Especially at a time when Johnny is worried people think he's getting old.

Bailey may think Herb is being a jerk by suggesting something is going on, but really he's just being the most forthright in saying what literally EVERYBODY at the station is thinking. Les is shocked at the inappropriateness of Bailey and Johnny's arrangement. Jennifer wants the girl gossip. Andy and Venus reveal how silly they can be together as they snicker and, literally, howl at the thought of Johnny with Bailey. So it's peculiar that they would then be so offended when Rex says "I hear Johnny's squeezin' her." Which, on one hand, ewww, but on the other hand is exactly what Andy was just lying on the floor laughing about.

Bailey comes home and ties the two rumors together for Johnny. She is upset that the station thinks she is some sort of a "floozie" or that Johnny would be anything less than a gentleman. She also feeds Johnny's paranoia by reporting that Venus agrees that testing for Rex in his time slot for a week would be a perfect way to moving Johnny out. She soft pedals that fact that Venus also said he doesn't think Andy has any plans to do this. She is so tied up in the rumors herself that she doesn't notice Johnny had prepared an entire candlelight dinner for the two of them.

Then, playing back into the mixed messages set up, Bailey tells Johnny she should just give the station what they all want... then leaves him cold. It's the turning point of the episode.

I am going to direct all readers of this blog to what I wrote about Ep. 45 "Most Improved Station" when it comes to Bailey fandom. Because the next scene is the same level of fan service to Bailey's fandom that Jennifer's scene in the bathing suit from "Filthy Pictures" is to her fan base. This is Bailey's sexiest scene in the series. It concludes with Bailey straightening Herb's tie and purring "I was naked Herb. And this was on the bed so... I put it on."

Johnny shows up in Andy's office and finally becomes the gentleman Bailey thinks he is, defending her honour before fighting for himself. Johnny just wants to deal with the truth. It hurts him to see Bailey thought of poorly and it's tiring to stay paranoid. Returning to the continuity, Andy confirms "Alright. There's going to be some changes around here," starting by giving Johnny a $200 a month raise (which is a pretty good raise even today!)

The final misunderstanding, between Mr. Carlson who has just learned of the Bailey/Johnny rumors and Bailey, who is talking about being given the hand-me-down business show, doesn't really work. The business show plot was too thin for Bailey to really be that upset about, but it does allow her to say "I get off on it" to Mr. Carlson, which is weird in it's own right.

Roy

Other Notes - Number of times I, as a Canadian, spelled "Rumors" with an extra "U" while writing this post... seven! Things in Bailey's apartment include: a chalk board shopping list that includes "Milk, Vitamin C and Wheat Bread." Isn't all bread wheat bread? How crunchy granola does Bailey have to be to remind herself that if she's buying bread, it needs to be "wheat bread?" Also a poster for the Sea Shepherd, a conservation group (still in existence) that uses "direct action" to protect marine life.