Ep. 75 - The Consultant

August 14, 2019

Writer: Hugh Wilson
Director: Dolores Ferraro
Original Air Date: December 30, 1981

^^^FAMOUSLY FUNNY^^^


I think Hugh Wilson writing this episode is very interesting because I propose this episode is about two things that are of great interest to him specifically.  The first is the direction of the entertainment industry as a whole and radio in particular. The second is the expectations and judgements of types of people that he has always played with.

Let's begin with Norris Breeze, an old friend of Andy's that has come to Cincinnati to "evaluate" the station. Many in the radio business would look at him and say he has surpassed his old boss and become even more successful. Breeze is programming 45 radio stations across America - Cincinnati would be a small pick up to the empire he is building. And he is very clear about that with Andy - he's not interested in evaluating Andy's performance to help improve it at all. He is there to sell his programming service, meaning one more station would sound like 45 other stations.

This is of course the way radio has gone. Virgin Radio, Clear Channel and I Heart Radio now don't only program 45 stations - they program hundreds at a time. But Wilson is fighting against this and Andy is his stand-in. Andy doesn't even program ONE radio station; the DJs play their own stuff. Wilson is arguing for this very personal approach to the music and the audience. He purposely makes Breeze a villain with a coke habit who calls Cincinnati "small town." But it's Andy who judges Breeze for "changing" ie. selling out. I think Wilson may be commenting of people in the Hollywood industry who he has seen "surpass" him and sell-out their artistic beliefs, not just to make money but to accumulate power.

You know what we haven't talked about for a while? The Suits vs the Dungarees! "WKRP in Cincinnati" exists to blow up the preconceived perceptions about how these two groups behave. At this station, it is the Dungarees who are responsible and the Suits are the buffoons. Even Mama Carlson says "I only trust my son and I always trust him to do the wrong thing." So how can Andy and the rest of the staff make a mockery of Norris Breeze's evaluation?

Play into the stereotypes.

Jennifer is a gorgeous blonde? She must be an airhead. Bailey just came out of college? Probably still using drugs (let's just jump over Norris' coke use when judging a stoned Bailey). One black man working at the station? There's probably racial tension and he's probably armed.  Wilson steers his cast into the roles society would have expected them to play.

But his (or Andy's) most brilliant move is to get the Suits to play the roles they should be playing in WKRP. Arthur Carlson SHOULD be constantly on top of the station's numbers as the General Manager running a family business. Herb SHOULD be exhausted as the only salesman on the staff. Most radio stations have more salesmen than DJs in real life! Also having these two "responsible" looking men tell Breeze that they need his sort of service just give them greater credibility in his mind.

And I personally have always believed that WKRP should have promoted Les as the wacky newscaster, rather than try to hide him and be ashamed of him. NOBODY listens to a rock station for cutting edge news reporting! But I'm not being paid to be a radio consultant.

Of course, the coupe de gras is Andy, the man who manipulated everyone in the station in order to keep the union out, coming across as naive, even while sitting on Mama's couch during the evaluation. Once again he has manipulated everyone, especially his old friend Norris.

Notice something here with Mama: she is not mad at Andy. She is bemused at what Andy has done. She loves the paring back and forth the two of them are doing. My wife watched this episode with me and said "why does she keep Hirsch around if he acts that way all the time?" The reason is because she likes it! So many people in her life are frightened or grovel around her; especially her son. She likes it when people stand up, speak their mind and are not afraid of her. That's why she would keep a rude houseboy for over 40 years. It's also why we hear no more of Norris Breeze.

Roy


Other Notes - David Clennon, who played Norris Breeze is a long time character actor who is probably best known for playing Miles on "twentysomething" - who was essentially just a meaner version of Norris. Bailey is singing the like Farfel the dog, a puppet who did Nestle Quik commercials from 1953 to 1965. See that side eye Andy gives Herb when he says "No Problem-o" rather than "No Problem"?


NEW NOTE - I was watching the episode "Pills" when my seven year old daughter came into the room and decided she wanted to watch Daddy's show with him. So I stopped watching the episode about taking Speed because that would raise just too many questions, I looked for what I thought would be the funniest episode on the same disc... "The Consultant."
     But she didn't find it very funny and that is because she didn't know any of these characters. It hadn't dawned on me because I've spent three decades with this show, but in a vacuum, this episode makes very little sense. And that made me think more about season four as a whole. This is the season in which WKRP really leaned into the continuity, and I have praised them for that. But the flipside is the writers are expecting the viewers to bring a lot of knowledge with them.
     But she did think Loni Anderson's airhead voice was really funny!