Ep. 88 - Up and Down the Dial

December 25, 2020

Writer: Dan Guntzelman
Director: George Gaynes
Original Air Date: April 21, 1982

**VERY IMPORTANT**

I propose that in television the difference between a "finale" and a "final episode" is forewarning. When the creators of a show know this is its last season and last episode, they can build to it, wrap up all the loose ends and say a tear-filled goodbye to the audience.  M*A*S*H, Cheers, Newhart and Seinfeld all had finales. Even WKRP's mother show "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" had a famous finale that shows up every year on "Best Finales Ever" lists. But other beloved shows like The Jeffersons or Taxi just ended because the writers and producers didn't have the forewarning. They didn't know it was the end.

"WKRP in Cincinnati" is in a somewhat different position. The producers and writers "kinda" knew this was the end. There were strong indications the show was about to be cancelled, but not enough to promote it as a "finale." So now I make another proposal: "Up and Down the Dial" should be considered a finale, and moreover, should be considered as great of a finale as any of those above mentioned classics. If not a finale, then perhaps as the greatest final episode of all time!

Throughout 88+ blog entries, I have tried to steer clear from ever proclaiming this show, or any of it's episodes as the greatest anything. There are certainly classics and I have my own favourites, but I make this point now because I don't know of any other final episode which is used to explain why the show exists. This episode doesn't answer questions like "Will Bailey and Johnny get together" or "Does Les ever get walls." It answers this question: Why does a station like WKRP even exist?

Everybody who works there knows it's screwed up. They know there should be more than one salesman (even the smallest stations have two or three)! They know Les is incompetent - not just poor at his job but dangerously unqualified for anything beyond farm reports. They know the format is all over the place - there is no station in America on which Johnny's music and Venus' music is both played, and neither of those is "a Top 40 Rocker" like Andy claims. They know the General Manager is asleep or playing with toys. Once you get over the comedy of all of this, a reasonable person should ask, why would Mama Carlson allow this to happen?

In this final episode, we get the answer. It's so simple it is elegant. The answer is delivered beautifully, with stakes on the line. The episode ends with the characters in a place they should all be in. Even the title of the episode feels like the end.

"WKRP in Cincinnati" did get the finale it deserved. We just didn't realize it at the time.

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As it opens, Andy calls a meeting in his office because the new ratings book has come out. At first he pretends to be angry saying there are going to be some changes around here. That's called foreshadowing, kids.  Notice nobody is surprised that the ratings might be bad. Herb says "he could feel it on the streets for weeks now." Instead they should all be shocked the ratings might be bad. But Andy was kidding!  He's thrilled the station has risen to sixth in the market. Johnny's #1 overall. Venus is #3 overall and #1 with women 18-35 (of course he is). After four years, the station is finally making some money. 

Andy keeps putting Les off when he asks how the news ratings are until Andy finally conceeds that news "never does that good on a Top 40 Rocker. " That raises a lot of points: so this is already not a destination station for anybody wanting the news. That will come up later. Also, if that's the case, why does Andy care whether Les does rutabaga stories or not? The audience isn't tuning in for the news anyhow. Or is it that the ratings could be even higher if news, and mostly Les, wasn't dragging them down?

But this is WKRP and good news can never last for long. Jennifer comes in and tells Andy there is a man in the lobby claiming to be the new News Director.

Charles von Sanker looks like a man who would expect his office to have walls. Andy is convinced by his story of being hired over the phone by Mrs. Carlson that he is a legitimate hire because that's the way he was originally hired. Mr. von Sanker is a well-spoken family man from Fargo ND who would have jumped at the chance to get to market like Cincinnati and sounds reasonable enough to know what a actual news story is. Also, he is heavily sucking up to Mama Carlson even when she isn't there. I'm sure that's something that she would like after four years of Andy Travis.

Les is paranoid his bad ratings mean he's going to be fired and that's also what Andy thinks as he tears out of the station to confront Mrs. Carlson and fight for Les' job.

By some bizarro logic, Herb thinks that the station being more popular means he can do even less work. "The phone's gonna ring off the wall!" he says. He wants to pal around in the DJ booth (which of course he sees as fun and not real work) to the irritation of Johnny and Venus. When asked why he's there Herb advises "Enjoy this John. It sure as hell can't last." (Is that character to character or actor to actor? Given the real life situation, it's pretty profound). In the funniest sight gag of the episode, the DJ's silently roll Herb out into the hall.

Symbolism alert: When Andy gets to the Carlson mansion, Hirsch is sharpening a knife. Cuts are coming!

Mrs. Carlson intended to discuss Mr. von Sanker with Andy next week, but he demands answers now. He asks if she has three solid reasons why Les should be fired "Yes, he's incompetent, unprofessional and very weird." It didn't take her even a second to rhyme those reasons off.

But she then pulls out a 660 pages report she has had prepared by one of the top radio consultant firms in the country, all about the Cincinnati market and WKRP's place in it. It concludes: "WKRP's Top 40 audience is at its peak. The sound quality of the AM signal can not compete with FM stations. If WKRP is to remain profitable in the long run, we recommend changing to a non-music format: All News."

Von Sanker wasn't hired to replace Les. He was hired to replace Andy. 

Andy is in shock and angry! they are finally making some money at the station and she wants to throw away all of that hard work, mostly HIS hard work to move to a format he knows nothing about. She asks "Are you through?" and Andy replies "Well you tell me." Next shot is him cleaning out his office.

Everyone comes back in from the party celebrating the good ratings, tipsy and thrilled. Even Les has a little glow about him. When Andy delivers the news of the format change, they all think he's pranking them again, like he did at the beginning of the day. Once the news settles in, Herb delivers what might be his most Herb-defining line: "Wait, wait wait a minute. How does this effect me?"

Some time has passed and Johnny, Venus and Andy are commisserating drunkenly in the booth when Mr Carlson comes in. He's been talking to his mother about the changes for the station. He believes his mother is doing what's best for the station. "She wants us to be #1!" Andy can stay on as public relations director. Venus would become traffic reporter. Arthur talks about how being number one is the American Way, but each example he gives is wrong. Johnny asks "Were you this effective with your Mother?" and it gets a big laugh. 

Arthur says "I'm just trying to make a point" to which Johnny replies: "So am I." He leaves the booth with no further explanation. It seems like a joke, but as we've learned about Johnny, he's faster when he's drunk. 

I'm so happy that Hirsch made one final appearance in WKRP! This is one of his best! Greeting Johnny at the door, he assumes it's a homeless man coming to beg for money. But when he learns this is Johnny Fever, his manner changes dramatically. "You're the DJ who has caused her so much discomfort over the years. Please make yourself comfortable!"

What follows is the single most important conversation in the history of the show. That is not an overstatement. It is between two characters at the farthest spectrum from each other, economically, socially and politically. One is the boss, the other the employee. But where do they connect? They are both survivors. Both are willing to go to extremes for what they believe in. And most importantly, and oddly, they both actually care about Arthur Carlson.  Somehow all of that seems appropriate for the final episode that explains why WKRP is the way it is and has been for years

Johnny doesn't come in with much of an argument other than to say that this decision is going to hurt the existing staff. "Probably the farthest things from your mind was the people who work for you."

Mrs. Carlson says everybody gets to keep a job with the new format "If you're an announcer, you can announce." She says this in a way that makes her seem charitable. "I didn't have to do that." But Johnny sees through that, pointing out if she wants the new format to work, people like Venus, Andy and himself are all gone. He's trying to explain that if the profit is all that counts, what she will have to do is... But she firmly cuts him off.

"The profit is NOT all that counts!"

Johnny is confused but Mrs. Carlson explains: "Profit and loss are merely theoretical terms in a diversified conglomerate like Carlson Industries. It's not the plus and minus, Mr. Fever. It's the plus and plus IF the minuses are played correctly."

And Johnny finally gets it! It's a way for thinking the dungaries crowd just doesn't do and suits in the station would be too stupid to think of. But Johnny is older, has seen more in life and is certainly not stupid. "This is so deeply warped even I get it."

" 'KRP is not suppose to make money! That's the deal! We're set up to lose. But we didn't. And that's why your changing the format! So you can lose money for two more years."

We can see Johnny mind spinning at the news. She has said several times through the years that she doesn't trust her son to ever do the right thing. Why give him a job like General Manager? Why keep a nitwit like Les on the air? No radio station of WKRP's size, in a market the size of Cincinnati would have one salesman. There should be four or five, on top of a General Manager who would be in charge or maintaining relationships with the existing clients. Why only keep one, especially when that one is a lazy con man like Herb? The receptionist should not be the highest paid employee. Why hire a washed up old hippie as a drive time DJ? Finally FINALLY it all makes sense.

Except for the lying.

"You're telling your own son that you want him to be the General Manager of the number one station in the market, and you'd be happier if it were sixteenth.

How do you think he'd feel if he knew?"

I don't think that notion had ever occurred to her before. All Arthur has ever wanted to do is make his mother happy and the thing that makes her happiest is his continued failure. "How do you think he'd feel if he knew?

It has not been a funny conversation, so Hirsch, breaking the fourth wall for the first time ever on the show is a relief. "An very interesting turn, don't you think?"

Arthur comes to the door. Andy and Venus follow, staggeringly drunk. He brought them so Mama could explain to them, the way she had to him, why this format change will be good for everyone. Johnny is playing Chicken with her. He has nothing to loose. Everything he cares about is going to be taken away if she doesn't change her mind, so he barrels forward in telling Arthur what he's learned. The whole time, he's keeping his eye on Mama.

"Oh was our conversation confidential?"

Finally she relents. She tells Arthur to keep the format as it is. Johnny is very proud "Ah! A Mother's Love!"

The final scene of the series takes place the next morning in Andy's office. He is nursing a terrible hangover. As the staff starts filtering into his office, he thanks the guys for talking Mama out of changing the format and Johnny gives all the credit to Mr. Carlson. He has spun the story that she has decided to believe in her son's decision making and faith in the format. But then Andy started to wonder why everyone is coming into his office. 

It's a party for Andy! He missed the first one and everyone wants to congratulate Andy for turning the station around and making everything great at WKRP! Even Herb is thrilled to present Andy with a congratulatory cake. But he trips on Les' tape recorder and throws the cake, covering Andy! As the credits role, each staff member trickles out of the office, including a hung over Venus who crawls away. Finally like a naughty boy, Johnny scoops a handful of cake off and skips away as Andy sits alone and stunned, covered in his own cake. This is the life that one day before Andy had fought so hard to keep.

I think it's wonderful that, after everything we've watched, "WKRP in Cincinnati" end with a classic,old fashioned, lowbrow cake-in-the-face gag!

Roy

Other notes: Charles von Sanker was played by Nicholas Hormann. He is mostly a theatre actor with over 75 credits on IMDB, mostly in TV guest spots. Sadler, Selman and Cardone is a made-up radio consulting firm. This is George Gaynes' ONLY directing credit. You would recognize his from "Police Academy," "Punky Brewster" even a guest shot on the "Jennifer Home for Christmas" episode of WKRP. But his closest connection to the show is he was the real-life husband of Carmen Carlson, Allyn Ann McLerie!

I want to thank everyone who took some time to read any or all of the blog posts. I have made nothing from it but friends, so I feel very rich indeed. Thank you all! May the good news be yours.

Ep. 87 - To Err Is Human

December 15, 2020

Writer: Lissa Levin
Director: Linda Day
Original Air Date: April 14, 1982

***VERY IMPORTANT***
*** FAMOUSLY FUNNY***

Here's another episode that feels like two separate episodes stapled together, and those staples are a staple remover salesman! The first half is extremely funny but the second half comes off like a "very special" episode about treating the disabled with dignity, which although important, isn't really funny. 

Should we even discuss how advertising shampoo on the radio is a ludicrous notion to begin with? So at least WKRP and the Soul Suds company are putting cardboard standees of Venus Flytrap and his laid back hair in every grocery store and and drug store in Cincinnati. The attention this will bring the station should be huge!

But Herb messed it all up by being greedy, cheap, lazy and incompetent. Instead of hiring a professional photographer, Herb paid himself to take the pictures of Venus with his own personal camera. Instead of checking up with the printers to proof their work, he was in his backyard barbequeing. So when Herb showed up that morning and is ushered into Mr. Carlson's office, he is faced with dozens of cardboard standees of himself saying "I'm Venus Flytrap and I use Soul Suds Shampoo."

As Mr. Carlson questions "This is a shampoo marketed EXCLUSIVELY to the hip, young black customer. So why am I looking at a picture of a really idiotic looking white man?" And later  "We can't even tell how the shampoo works on you, Herb, because you've got a hat on!!"

Then Venus steps into Mr. Carlson's office. Nobody is quite sure how to react until suddenly, Venus screams and runs to attack Herb! The next couple of seconds before the credits may seem like nothing, but they really sum up how Herb survives at the station: Andy and Arthur literally come to Herb's defense, holding Venus back while Herb nonchalantly dusts off a standee, pretending to not notice the chaos in his wake.

The thrust of this episode is to see just how incompetent Herb can actually get. This whole stunt with Soul Suds has cost the station $5000 ( which is worth about $13,500 in 2020). Bailey asks Herb if he thinks he should be fired and he thinks he's surprising her by saying Yes. But Herb is confident and comfortable that management will never fire him. "Carlson is a marshmallow. Andy is too nice of a guy." Herb even dares Bailey to pretend to fire him and even she can't bring herself to do it. And that is Herb's whole argument. "Nobody ever gets fired around here."

But I'm getting ahead of myself. We're passing some very funny scenes, including the very first scene in the show. A salesman comes into the lobby trying all of his best lines to get past Jennifer to see Mr. Carlson. But she's heard them all before and each rejection is funnier than the last. How this gets woven in later is just great writing.

Coming back from the commercial, Johnny is playing the Soul Suds ad as Venus is walking down the hall dragging a Herb standee. He comes into the both and shows Johnny while the commercial says "so look for a life-sized poster of me wherever they sell Soul Suds shampoo." Hysterically Howard Hesseman waits and waits before telling Venus "You've got to stop using this stuff right away." The entire exchange in the booth is worth the price of admission on it's own, whether it's Johnny telling Venus he's now washed up as a black man or the end with Venus punching cardboard Herb in the face.

Getting back to Herb, Carlson confides to Jennifer that this time, he really is going to fire him. Jennifer knows he means it this time and she's shocked., because like Herb, she has come to believe that nobody ever gets fired from WKRP. Carlson asks her to send Herb in from the lobby. But Jennifer hatches a wacky scheme. She makes Herb go right away down to the offices of Hester Sherman, owner of Soul Suds to apologize and fix the situations and then she sends Les into Carlson's office to discuss the metric system for an hour and a half. She wants to distract Carlson, let him cool off and maybe Herb can right the ship.

This is where the first half of the show ends, the second half starts and two me, these feel like two totally different episodes that were jammed together. My notations calling this episode "Very Funny" and "Very Important" are all about the first half. Although the second half does have some funny things, there are some real jumps in logic and timing. Don't get too caught up trying to figure out for how long Herb, and then Jennifer are out of the office. But the split is so distinct, it occurs at the 11:35 mark of the episode.

That's when Herb walks into the offices of Hester Sherman, someone we have only heard described as "tough as nails..." twice! How has Herb never met this person before? How did he get the sale without knowing more about him. Herb is as rude to Sherman's receptionist as the first salesman was to Jennifer, but when she realizes he's the man on the standee, she sends him right in!

Sherman is blind. His guide dog barks at Herb loudly... dogs always know best. What comes next I think is only funny because it makes Herb look like a jackass; I don't believe Sherman is being belittled at all, but I do see the bullying taking place. Herb thinks he's being clever but he's obviously being a fool.

Herb obnoxiously "tests" Sherman to see if he really is blind. He waves his hand in front of his face. He spins in his chair. He takes papers off of Sherman's desk to pretend they are letter of praise from customers who love the standee. He pulls faces, shoots finger guns and even dances by the door. What is Herb thinking?!? He is so confident in his place in the world, he's not even offering the man behind one of his biggest accounts some basic human respect.

Sherman had already settled the issue with Andy on the phone but sarcastically tells Herb he's so delighted he came down there, he's going to call Andy up and change all that! Then he makes a face and shoots finger guns at Herb, indicating he's known what's been going on all along.

Andy had settled the issue with Soul Suds not pulling their ads, but Herb's visit changes that.

Jennifer now feels guilty because her wacky scheme has lost WKRP the client, so she goes to try to Sherman's office to change his mind with her feminine wiles.

This next bit in Sherman's lobby is the funniest bit in the second half and what ties the two sides together. Jennifer uses all the same tactics we saw used against her but Sherman's receptionist is as experienced as Jennifer and will not be fooled. So then Jennifer just waits... until that very same salesman comes in to see Mr. Sherman. So being A receptionist, she just sends him right in! In the confusion she gets into Sherman's office where, even blind, he knows this is a beautiful woman and agrees to meet with her. 

Jennifer's treatment of Hester Sherman is the polar opposite of Herb's. She respectful, heartfelt and honest. She truthfully tells him "WKRP hires some people whole otherwise couldn't get jobs at another radio station." She also admits why she is fighting for a jerk like Herb: "I like him. It's crazy, but I like him." which is kind of what we saw in the "Fire" episode with them trapped in the elevator together.

But the episode quickly gets bogged down into a discussion of how the handicapped are perceived and treated by society. Sherman tells Jennifer "When you're handicapped, you're always trying to show the world you can be a little bit better. " The sentiment is nice, but it's not very funny. However, the worst thing about it is Jennifer relating being visually impaired with being beautiful.

"I'm a pretty blonde so when people meet me they naturally think I'm dumb." 

"I didn't think that."

"Well, that's because you can see through all that." Jennifer jokes, and now the two of them are equals in society! But not really, right? I mean, I don't think most people think of being pretty and blonde as a handicap. Otherwise Loni Anderson would still be a brunette!

Very quickly, Sherman becomes as creepy as any salesman who has ever ogled Jennifer. "Can I feel your face?" Eeew. She rightly calls it out as "some sort of sightless come-on?"

When we get back to the station and everything has been sorted out (back to the arrangement Andy agreed on, I believe), we get the best call back of the show, and a bit of writing that takes this from a average to an above average episode. The original salesman comes back! He rightly tells Jennifer she owes him and she agrees, sending him into Mr. Carlson to pitch his "Super New Staple Remover," right after Carlson just finished discussing the metric system with Les. What should normally have been a one-off salesman-and-Jennifer joke to be quickly forgotten actually becomes a running gag that gooses the plot along and ties two separate plotlines together!

And that's how Herb kept his job!

Roy

Other Notes - Tom Sullivan was something of a celebrity in the late '70's and early '80's, primarily famous for being a blind musician and comedian. He appeared on many game shows and talk shows around that time, especially "The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson." A movie based on his memoir, both called "If You Could See What I hear," was released in in 1982 (same as this episode!) starting Marc Singer.

According to the Michael B. Kassel book, "America's Favorite Radio Station," this is the final episode actually filmed.

Also, we only see two people, but are there no black people working at Soul Suds Shampoo? 

I don't usually write about all the music on an episode, but this episode includes the first network airplay for Huey Lewis and the News with "Do You Believe in Love."

Ep. 86 - The Impossible Dream

 December 8, 2020

Writer: Richard Sanders and Michael Fairman
Director: Nichlas Stamos
Original Air Date: April 7, 1982

When I started this blog, I was very hard on Richard Sanders. My memories of him were as someone who went out of his way to show he was acting. I then saw he had written five episodes of the show, most of which like "A Date With Jennifer" focus on Les. But over the seasons, I had somewhat mellowed on Sanders as I felt he had gracefully blended into the ensemble.

Then I watched "The Impossible Dream." This is Les' last real mark on the series and it end with Richard Sanders in a dress. Sigh.

The whole episode revolves around Les' birthday and with the major life changes Les wants to take on, I'm guessing it's suppose to be his 40th birthday (Sanders was 41 years old in real life). He has rashly decided to finally go out to New York City and break into big time broadcast journalism. He feels like it's now or never for him to give it try.

This is the modern version of the "Special Dream" he and his mother had shared that he would become a writer with the "New York Times." Oh yes, it is important to know that Les' mother has travelled to Cincinnati to celebrate her son's birthday. What influence has she had on this sudden decision?

There are a couple of obstacles in Les' way. The first is that he doesn't have any vacation time right now - Andy does. And as Andy will whine for the next ten minutes "There's an eight foot base with a two foot powder at Aspen!" I have no idea if Andy is suppose to know what that means.

The second, and certainly more pressing issue is that Les is not very good at journalism and has no idea what he's doing. Hundreds of journalists across America dream about what Les is dreaming, but they've put in the years of work to even have a chance at that kind of job. Les is giving himself a two week vacation to make that dream come true. Everyone, especially Andy, knows he's going to fail "They're going to ship him back in a body bag!" Andy says charitably.

Yet with this all happening, Jennifer decides to throw a surprise birthday party for Les, mostly so she can meet his mother. As cloying as the script is with Les' character, it gives Loni Anderson a lot to play with. It's always fun to see the cool, in-control Jennifer get frazzled and this party gives us that. She invites the staff over to her apartment for seven o'clock and tells Les to bring his mother by at eight.

However, Les arrives at the party before even 7 o'clock! She's not ready at all! Also, that's when Les tells  Jennifer how much he hates birthdays, and begs her not to tell anyone else. That's about when Jennifer headache starts.

The rest of the staff starts to trickle in. Andy and Mr. Carlson are trying to think of the best way to tell Les not to go. Jennifer tells them not to mention Les' birthday. Herb shows up hoping he might be early and get some alone time with the hostess. Jennifer tells him not to mention Les' birthday. Johnny and Bailey show up with party hats and serpentina! She admits to Les that everyone knows it's his birthday,  but now he's fine with it! The headache worsen.

This gives us her great delivery when Andy doesn't want to wear a party hat: "Put on the damned hat!"

Les is in a giddy mood. He's about to start an adventure and he has has a video audition reel made up to sell him in New York. He's had it professionally produced at "Twilight Video Arts," a client of Herb's. You have to remember, this is still a time when having a private video made was a big deal. You had to have money to even have a video player. So of course, Jennifer has five. Les is excited to get the gang's opinions.

But he doesn't even wait to hear they have to say. Cheaply made, it shows Les miss pronouncing President Reagan's name (he says REE-gan). The script is inane and opinionated. The wrong photos are shown on the screen behind him mixing up a car with an anteater. I like that Herb is sitting front and centre for the whole thing, loudly encouraging Les' name on the screen. But he's also the first to turn it off. Everyone know it is a disaster, unusable and, most sadly, an accurate portrayal of what Les Nessman would be like on the news.

Les is humiliated and runs out of the apartment. Jennifer turns back to her guests, giving up on the party she had planned and just says "Whaddya say guys? Triple vodkas all around?"

We know from Bailey earlier that Venus is on the air at the station and that's where Les winds up. I'm guessing he doesn't want to go back to his apartment and his mother quite yet. Venus is having Chinese food with two beautiful women in the control booth, but he has learned something from a couple of episodes ago. This is actually a meeting with his broker Adele and Tiffany his bookkeeper. And he really is having a business meeting this time! You tell Andy!

Venus is the first person to straight up ask Les "Why do you want to go to New York?" Venus is also the only person Les has asked "Do you think I'm good enough to go to New York?" Venus has fulfilled a "trusted advisor" role on the show before. Venus is also someone Les believes he can learn from.

Perhaps the best written joke in the episode occurs when Venus goes on the air and tells the audience "I hear you asking yourself Am I good enough? Should I take the chance? Will I Fail? Well, only you know your true worth. So seek not reflection in another's eyes." He then turns to Les and asking if that helps and Les replies "Oh I'm sorry Venus. I wasn't listening"

But the ladies are the most honest with him, telling him stories about how tough New York can be. Tiffany even says "Maybe those guys are just fifty times better than you are." Perhaps because they aren't his close friends, they can be a little most honest with Les. 

Next morning, in the lobby, Carlson, Jennifer and Andy are wondering if Les really wen to New York. Johnny comments how when Bailey did the news this morning it's the first time it's made sense in years!

I'm about to reveal a sixty year old spoiler, so please be ready. At the end of the movie "Psycho," Norman Bates runs out wearing his dead old mother's dress. I'm telling you this to prepare you for the next shot.

In walks Richard Sanders wearing old woman drag- permed, grey wig, pinched glasses and white gloves. The audience howls with laughter. Johnny asks "Nessman, are you going to New York or San Francisco?"

"I'm Lester Nessman's mother. I came here on the bus!"

Les did not go to New York after all. His mother has come down to the station to blame them for putting these "silly ideas" about New York in his head and Mr. Carlson says he thought New York was her idea.

"Mothers don't create false expectations in their childrens' minds. Although, Lester would make an interesting anchorman, wouldn't he?" She grins and sounds like Mother Bates as she says it.

In a final trick, Herb walks in and like Johnny, he also thinks this is just Les in a dress. He mocks her and gooses her as she's leaving. The director, believing no one in the audience has ever seen a camera trick before, has Les angrily walking into the lobby a second later. See? It wasn't the same person after all!

Roy

Other notes - Every newsman Les mentions (Roger Mudd, Charles Kuralt) is or was a CBS newscaster. Even Andy asks are you going "to replace Dan Rather?" The end credits read "Mother Nessman as Herself"

Ep 85 - The Creation of Venus

November 23, 2020

Writer: Blake Hunter
Director: Gordon Jump
Original Air Date: March 31, 1982
*** VERY IMPORTANT***

Venus Flytrap has always been the most inconsistently written character on "WKRP in Cinicinnati." It has been stated on this show that he was at various times a solider in Vietnam, a deserter from the Army AND teacher (both high school chemistry and elementary school) as a graduate from teachers' college. All of that would be hard enough for one person, but he has also claimed to have played three years of Double A baseball in Texas and hosted a children's TV show as Sailor Ned. So an episode to try and solidify Venus' back story is probably not a bad idea.

But we also get a closer look into Andy's methods of getting what he wants. We've seen it before, most especially in his handling of a possible union in the station but here we really see him working all sides, telling everybody what they want to hear in order to get what he wants.

The episode opens and Venus is on the air! It is another lush, spiritual soliloquy wrapping the city into the velvety night when... Andy throws a paper ball at him. Alone together in the stations, to two chase each other around like children, in a game they have obviously played before. Andy hides behind the door to grab Venus but grabs... Mama Carlson instead!

The guys try to talk themselves out of the trouble they think they are in. She says "Of course, I knew Mr. Travis liked games, but you Mr. Flytrap, well I thought you were more conservative." Why would she think that about a character like Venus? I went back through the series, and outside of the pilot, Mrs. Carlson and Venus have only even been in the same room once (in Ep. 54 "Baby, It's Cold Inside," while she is singing Gershwin) up until this point. (There is probably a whole article to be written about the fact that the only character the owner of the station hasn't interacted with on screen is the black character.)

So why would she consider him conservative?

Since Mama "has to wait for (her) son to realize what day it is" we go into a flashback episode explaining the TRUE story of how Gordon Sims became Venus Flytrap. It opens with Andy trying to sweet-talk his landlady to let him out of his lease because the station isn't what he thought it might be. Gordon shows up at Andy's apartment, having quit his teaching job in New Orleans to become a full time disc job on a top rated radio station in Cincinnati. How many lies has Andy told in just this short scene?

In fact, Gordon shows up wearing a very professional three-piece suit, because he's so nervous about his big break into radio. In New Orleans, he worked part-time on Saturday mornings as "The Duke of Funk." Imagine Venus' style of music and chatter on a Saturday morning - you'd never get out of bed!

For all of his manipulations, Andy knows talent and he knows how to put it in the right places. Gordon Sims needs to be on at night and WKRP needs a strong nighttime anchor host. Andy also knows how he should be presented - funky, urban, romantic and poetic. And the three piece suit is not going to work. He know the audience can "feel" the talent and wants him to get a new "fly" wardrobe, even if the audience won't be able to see it.

There is a lot of talk by fans of Venus' crazy, pimp-like outfits, but honestly, after the first 10 episodes, we almost never see these looks again. Generally, he dresses like other casual young people in the late 70's. But for his debut, Venus needs to look "Fly!"

Did I say "Venus?" It is right here, on Andy's couch, that we see that name be born. Andy wants something "cosmic." Maybe something astrological, but Gordon's sign is Libra.

Andy: "Well, that sucks."

Venus (offended): "It does not suck!, It's a Love sign, ruled by Venus."

This is a really funny scene, with each line adding another joke while still explaining to origin of the nom de airwaves.

Andy: "Okay, what's the first thing you think of when you hear the word "Venus?"

Venus: "Flytrap"

Andy: "Like the plant that eats bugs? Don't be an idiot."

So they decide on "Venus Rising" and the stage is set for the new format change the very next day. "We're going to do this format change with style and grace and class all the way." 

Smash cut to Johnny scratching the record and what is probably the most interesting choice made for this episode... the re-filming of iconic scenes from the pilot. The first is the instant format change, in which Johnny tells Cincinnati "it's time for this town to get down!" Much like a band that has been playing their biggest hits hundreds of time, Howard Hesseman has now had four year to think about how this scene should play out. He doesn't just launch into his monologue, he pauses and thinks about what he wants to say. It takes moment for him to come up with the Dr. Johnny Fever name, which he then promptly forgets.

We also now see the reactions of the others in the station. Jenifer, Herb and Les each look shocked and appalled. Andy is laughing with Bailey in the hallway as his plan starts coming together. The dungarees are taking over! Literally, Mr. Carlson is being awoken in his office by the change. This is the "awakening" that will take hold later.

We get to be in the lobby this time when Mama comes to the station to find out what is going on. From the pilot we know Mr. Carlson is panicking and has called Herb and Les into his office to prepare for Mama while he's firing Andy. But that's not what we see this time. Now we're watching Jennifer and Bailey discussing what's going on. Jan Smithers isn't playing Bailey quite as shy and mousey as she was in pilot. She wants to see the changes Andy is beginning take hold and she talks a big game about standing up to Mama Carlson... until Mama shows up.

But next we get the entrance of Mr. Venus Rising, in all his purple velvet splendor! The women break down to Mr. Rising that Andy is being fired. His "cool" demeanor falls away quickly and he reverts to the polite, conservative school teacher. The women suggest he going into the meeting and fight for Andy, the format change and in the end, himself. Venus questions if that will work, to which Bailey replies: "Oh you'll scare the Hell out of her!"

Next we see the re-filming of the scene in which Arthur is standing up to his mother, and this time it is Carol Bruce, not Sylvia Sidney. You rarely get to see how two different actresses would play a scene and I've always felt Bruce's elegant iciness works better than Sidney's shrill yelling. She reluctantly agrees to go for the format change but admonishes Andy "I warn you, nothing weird. nothing strange." And that's the moment Venus enters. In the excitement of his confrontation with Mama, Andy messes up the name, and now Gordon has to go with the new name for the rest of his career. Welcome the birth of Venus Flytrap!

Cut to Venus being shown around the station. The set decorators have just presented the old station as the same station with all the posters taken down. It makes the workspace depressingly colourless and lifeless. That's not the only thing that has changed. Working with Venus for four years have made Herb and Les a little more racially sensitive. Going back to that first day, the two of them can't stop from making insensitive comments - Les is even still using the word "negro." He would never do that in 1982.

We get some inconsistency with the Les character in an episode that is clearing up the Venus backstory. Herb says Les has been with WKRP for 24 years. In the season 2 episode "Baseball," Les says he is 37 years old. So 36-24 is 12, meaning Les was 12 when he started on radio. In reality, Richard Sanders was 38 years old when "WKRP in Cincinnati" went on the air - the same age as Howard Hesseman.

Finally we learn of the last pieces of the Venus Flytrap mythos. He panics when Andy tells him he's going on the air that very night. He's going out to get wind chimes Venus can play on the air, rather than an accordion, and to calm him down, Andy tells him to call the audience what he used to call his students. With wind chimes tinkling in the night, that becomes his catchphrase "my children."

The episode returns to the present, where Andy claims he always knew what was best for the station and if he hadn't lied about Venus' experience, he wouldn't have gotten "a sure thing." But Mama says she was never fooled and had the two of them investigated

[To Venus] "You taught chemistry full time, worked at a radio station part-time. You love the Classics, Never married. Parents divorced when you were young, Raised by your grandmother and... you play the accordion."

"And you Mr. Travis collect baseball cards. And you wet the bed until you were seven."

Satisfied, she leaves but rather than being chastised, Andy and Venus go right back to playing their game. Andy goes into the very same stance, hiding behind the door, until he catches... Mr. Carlson

Roy

Other Notes: This episode was directed by Gordon Jump. It is his only directing credit on IMDB.

Andy quotes the theme song in saying he was tired of "packing and unpacking, town to town up and down the dial." In fact, he says it in such a way as if it would be a common expression, rather than the lyrics of a song none of the characters could ever have heard.

Also, this is a whole episode about how Andy changed the station from easy listening to rock 'n roll, and the song we hear Venus playing at the beginning is Ernie Watts' saxophone cover of the Theme from "Chariots of Fire." That's something that could have very easily been worked into an easy listening station

Ep. 84 - Dear Liar

November 16, 2020

Writer: Steve Marshall
Director: Frank Bonner
Original Air Date: March 24, 1982
*** VERY IMPORTANT***


A Prologue before I begin: With this episode, we are now into the final six episodes of the original "WKRP in Cincinnati." Various interviews and sources indicate that the cast and crew were pretty sure, if not certain, this would be the end of the series. As such, it seems to me the team we've come to love and respect who made this show,  knew they wanted to go out on a high mark. There are ideas the writers wanted to get out. There are performances the actors wanted to sink their teeth into. There are character and story arcs the creators wanted to finish.
     I think it helps to understand and break down this and the following episodes with that fact in mind.


There is a LOT going on with this episode. It could easily have been two completely separate episodes - one about plagiarism and the other about integrity. A couple of episodes ago, with "Circumstantial Evidence," I wrote about the feeling that the writers ran out of time to fit in all of their ideas. This episode does not suffer that fate. The fact that all the pieces fit so well together, while still delivering big laughs, is really a credit to Steve Marshall and the whole writing staff.

Also, this is Jan Smithers' best episode, hands down!

Now, after all that gushing, I'm going to tell you that the episode starts off with Les promoting a five part docu-series entitled "Rutabaga - The Vanishing Vegetable!" He has even brought in a rutabaga into the booth with him as a prop to shake in furious indignation, even though he's on the radio and no one can see it.

Of course, Andy doesn't want any part of this. WKRP is a rock station and he wants their news to have real weight in the community. A story... no, pardon me... a FIVE PART DOCU-SERIES about rutabaga does not fit in with those goals (I've written elsewhere about why he would care about the news department of a rock station, so I won't repeat those thoughts here). As Johnny labels it, Les' stories always seem to have a "barnyard aroma" to them and Andy, quite bluntly asks Les why "you never seem to do any PEOPLE stories."  I think there is a whole episode and therapy session to be had discussing why Les feels more comfortable discussing vegetables and pigs than the people in his city.

Andy happens to have a "people piece" he wants him to do: the Northside Children's Clinic, a pet project of Mama Carlson. The Clinic has been running into funding issues lately. Les truly does not care about the problems of sick kids. He sees that kind of heart tugging story as hokey and not worth his time. But the biggest issue for Les is that this docu-series is going to be his entry for this year's Buckeye NewsHawk Award (which as we learned in Ep.9 "Mama's Review," is awarded to "the best news story specifically about, or related to, tap root production in the Tri-State area and some areas of West Virginia"). THAT is his motivation - winning another award. For Les, it's not about community outreach or helping others. It's about the acclaim he can receive. That's important to keep in mind later in the episode.

Les complains to Bailey that Andy is making him do this hospital story and she says she'd be willing to do it. At first, he really does think it's too boring to do, but Bailey's enthusiasm to be able to get a piece on the air gets Les' more sinister side going. He can get Andy off his back with the hospital story, dangle the chance for Bailey to read it on the air to get her to do it, and all the while work on his prized rutabaga story. Oh, and don't forget, Andy is also dangling the idea that if Mama Carlson likes the story, Les could finally get walls for his office. For Les, it's a win-win-win-walls situation.

Inadvertently, Les gives Bailey her motivation in the story. He says if it's good enough, maybe he'd let her do it on the air. So in her mind, it can't be stale "It'll be the best darn story you ever read!" she promises him and she is way more genuine in making that promise than Les is in making his promise to her. But that's just another sign of Bailey's naivete.

We have just gone over all of this, and we aren't even into the main plot of the episode yet! Yikes!!

Bailey goes down to the Northside Children's Clinic and meets their Chief Administrator Edna Perkins. Her office is constantly busy with people running in and out, telephones ringing and Edna arguing on the phone about the prices of laundry service. She is stressed, tired and cynical all while trying to get enough funding to really make a difference in the lives of these sick kids. Into this situation comes fresh-faced Bailey Quarters, who says:

"I would like to find out everything I can about your operation. Then I'll be able to write my story and solve your problem."

Bailey honestly believes that's how journalism works, how the world works; that once she's identified a problem and told it well enough, the problem we be solved. Maybe I'm stressed, tired and cynical myself but it's hard to believe any college graduate who has hung out with Johnny Fever as much as Bailey has would think that identifying a problem itself will cause people to take action to solve a problem. Those are two very different things.

Edna Perkins running the hospital knows this isn't true and that Bailey is in for a stark awakening. But for whatever reason, she takes Bailey on a tour of the six hospital wards

Then we are back at the station, with Bailey looking over the typewriter. We never see the hospital or any kids. But we can tell she has been very effected by what she saw. She is distracted in her own thoughts when Jennifer comes into the bullpen. The two of them go to lunch and Bailey is rambling on about what she saw at the clinic.

So now to follow the story, we need to watch the timeline. Bailey and Jennifer go to lunch at noon, while Les is giving his noon report. During this, he is reading the first of his five-part rutabaga series. Andy is furious! He literally backs Les up against the wall to say this is important to Mama Carlson and he must do the hospital story at 2 o'clock. If he does, he can still do the rutabaga story at 4 o'clock. Les has less than two hours to come up with a story when he hasn't even gone to the hospital! Bailey doesn't get back to the station until 2 o'clock and we know this because Les is already on the air reading the story when she and Jennifer get back (It's always good to go to lunch with Jennifer, because then no one will yell when you take a two hour lunch break).

After his confrontation with Andy, Les doesn't know what to do... until he finds Bailey's story in his typewriter. Her note book is right beside it. It's all there. And we know he doesn't even bother to check it over before he reads it on the air, or he never would have made the "bearing children" gaff.

As Bailey promised, it's the best darn story he's ever read. It's shows personality and emotion. Bailey really took in all the patients she saw at the hospital. We only hear the last minute or so of the story, but even with Les' typically wacky reading, it's an emotional story, wrapped up with a simple flower picture handed to her by Bobby, a 10-year old boy unable to speak. His spirit of generosity is stronger than his disability. It's a beautiful capper to the story Les presents.

Bailey is furious at Les for reading her story and tells Jennifer, who assumes this is another instance of Bailey not standing up for herself. She tells Bailey to go back, confront Les and tell Andy what he did. But Bailey doesn't want to do that. Jennifer insists but Bailey wants this all to go away, and that's when she confesses... The story is a fake. There is no flower picture... and no Bobby.

Jennifer's first thought is the station could loose its license over this, and I don't really see that being the problem. I can't imagine the FCC shutting down a station that already threw live turkeys from helicopter for a fake flower drawing. But it does raise the dramatic tension as we go to commercial.

We come back to a scene that was cut from syndication! (Thank you Shout Factory) Les presents Mr. Carlson with 3 estimates from contractors to build his walls. Carlson tells him he's getting a $25 / week raise that he doesn't seem to care about. Mama wanted him to get a raise because of how good the story is. Carlson suggested walls might be a good idea for Les... padded walls.

This scene usually opens at the point when Jennifer walks in to say the Cincinnati Enquirer called. They want to run the story, verbatim, in tomorrow's Features section. Jennifer, knowing the story is fake, suggests maybe they shouldn't because maybe it's exploiting the boy. But Andy sees this as a huge opportunity for WKRP to make an impact in the community.

Les might be more excited about getting a story into print than he is about getting walls! Remember, his motivation through all of this is acclaim and a published story is even more impressive than a Buckeye NewsHawk Award. Bailey congratulates him sarcastically, and shamed, Les offers to share the byline with Bailey. He apologizes later in private for stealing the story, promising he'll never do it again. But he SOOOO wants to be in the paper. He's even is willing to but the flower picture from Bailey... for Ten Dollars! And that's when the truth comes out.

Nothing good can happen to WKRP without it coming with a moral quandary. Andy and Mr. Carlson both have there heads in their hands as they hear the news. Les stands with them as if he has the moral high ground. Once he forces Bailey to confess what she's done, Les proclaims  "The journalistic integrity of my news department has been compromised!"

That leads to the best joke in the episode. In trying to defend Bailey against Les' attack Andy tells Les "I want you to go to your desk, get out your dictionary and look up the word "Plagiarism." Of course, in the heat of the argument, Les says "Alright!" and leaves the office to do just that. The capper is when he returns after the audience has forgotten about him to literally read the definition of plagiarism straight from the dictionary, and that it is "something plagiarized".

Finally Andy and Bailey are alone to really discuss what happened. As Edna had thought, Bailey wasn't ready for how many children she saw or how serious their injuries and illnesses were. "I couldn't pick out just one and I couldn't begin to describe them all so I just put them all into... Bobby."

Bailey is ready to fall on her sword. The journalistic integrity argument is one she can't get over. But Andy is successful with a crazy station like WKRP because he doesn't see the world in such blacks and whites.  "This is the station that's employed Herb Tarlek for the last 16 years," he tells her. "Don't talk to me about integrity." As is his job, Andy is going to make everything all right.

But then he has a little throw away line that, I think, might have really been an interesting idea if the show had gone on another season. Andy warns Bailey "You ever do that again, you'll be the best looking reporter on the unemployment line." And she coyly looks back at him and smiles. "Best looking?"

Andy nods and smiles as Bailey leaves. 

I'm going off on a tangent here, but wouldn't Bailey and Andy make a more logical couple than Bailey and Johnny? Could there be love triangle in the station? Which side would Venus support? It's all speculation now but, I'm just saying, their kids would have great hair!

The newspaper still wanted to run the article, because they realized what everyone else should have realized: it's not about the flower picture! It's about a children's hospital in the middle of their city that is facing a funding crisis. That's why Mama Carlson wanted a story about it in the first place. The feature ran  entirely under Bailey's name, with prologue stating the character of Bobby was a composite of the children she met that day.

At that moment Edna comes in to thank Bailey with 87 flower pictures for Bailey, saying the story brought in "over six thou in new donations this morning" which is just fantastic late '70's slang. Nobody says "Thou" for one thousand anymore and maybe we should. 

Jan Smithers gets to do a little of everything we've ever seen her do in this one episode: she the optimistic do-gooder saving the Flimm building; she is the angry fighter telling Les and Herb to shut up; she's the caregiver getting a Russian to Cleveland. Smithers does it all here and does it all naturally. I believe it is her best performance

Roy

Other Notes: Edna is played by Barbara Cason, who appeared on dozens of TV shows including "Trapper John, MD" "All in the Family" and played Garry Shandling's mother on "It's Garry Shandling's Show,"

The entire "integrity" angle is a reflection of the story of Washington Post report Janet Cooke, who won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing in 1981 for "Jimmy's World" about an 8-year old Heroin addict. She is the only person to have had to return a Pulitzer, once it was discovered the story had been fabricated, along with many of her credentials.. She was fired and never went back to journalism again

Ep. 83 - Fire

July 2, 2020

Writer: Dan Guntzelman
Director: Will MacKenzie
Original Air Date: March 17, 1982


Since starting this blog, I have learned there is a small but passionate subsection of the WKRP in Cincinnati fan base who are obsessed with the layout of the office. Where do the halls lead? Where is Andy's office in relation to Mr. Carlson's office. For them, this episode is a treasure-trove of information. For the rest of us, not so much.

"Fire" is like a combination of two earlier episodes: Ep. 12 "Tornado" and Ep. 37 "Put Up or Shut Up." In "Tornado," we see how each member of the staff respond in an emergency (spoiler: Herb is a coward), giving each cast member a couple of minutes to show their reaction to the same events. In "Put Up or Shut Up," Jennifer finally goes on a date with Herb. In the course of that episode, the two of them share secrets and become vulnerable with each other, resulting in them having a deeper friendship. Both of these things happen in this episode, but not as well as those original episodes.

Everyone is going home on a Friday night. Andy going to the Bahamas with a stewardess for weekend of snorkelling (I guess he doesn't need the  "I'll Take Romance Computerized Dating Service" anymore!) that he's desperate for people to ask him about, but he's trying to come off as coy and humble. This comes off as if Andy is writing a letter to Penthouse magazine.

In a real nod to history, Bailey needs to deposit her paycheque as soon as possible so the other cheques she has written in the past couple of weeks won't bounce. Kids, cheques were these things people would write out to other people (usually in cursive) as an instruction for a bank to give some of your money to the person/company receiving the cheque. You would even receive a cheque as your payment from work! All this was before direct deposits or interact payments.

There's even a concrete reason for Johnny to be in the building this late at night - he read his clock wrong and is 12 1/2 hours early. Usually he or Venus just... happen to be there. Venus is there to begin his shift. And Mr. Carlson is just going home.

Suddenly there is the smell of smoke and a bunch of fire trucks are surrounding the building. Johnny says he doesn't know what's happening because, as he was coming through the lobby "everything was... kinda foggy." The Flemm Building is on fire!!

Well not the whole building, just an office on the fifth floor. But someone down there has opened a fire door, blocking the stairwells with smoke, and the elevator has broken down... with Jennifer and Herb trapped inside!

This sounds like the beginning of Herb's Penthouse letter. At first he's thrilled to be trapped with Jennifer. But then they are told there is a fire in the building and Herb starts to panic! He becomes claustrophobic and starts taking off his clothes. Jennifer tries to remain calm and be the adult in the room, but she is scared too.

Back up on the ninth floor, the gang is panicking. The fire warden for the floor is... Mr. Carlson. He wanted to wear the firefighters' hat. So that really means Andy is in charge. After speaking with the fire chief, he takes Venus' Security Hose (there's a phrase!) and looks for a volunteer to lower down onto the elevator car. The suddenly energized Dr. Fever decides to "leap into the jaws of danger" for reasons probably best described as "the writers wanted to lower Johnny down an elevator shaft."

Just as an aside, this is the episode that proves to me that, if WKRP were in the real world, Les would have been the most successful radio personality to have survived the 80's. A right-wing conspiracy theorist who can take a small event (like an office fire) and sensationalize it into a headline grabbing delirium (a towering inferno!). We are seeing the beginnings of a conservative talk radio host like Rush Limbaugh or Morton Downey jr.  emerging from Cincinnati's "News Beacon."

Back down in the elevator, Herb says he knows why this is happening: "God wants me out of the way and He's burning down a whole building to do it. He's been working on this all my life. The heart trouble? I've had it. Drinking problem? That's me. Real Estate? I bought a home in the only neighbourhood in the whole world where the property values have gone down. My best friend is Les. Lucille thinks sex is a reward."

Both to calm him down and because she really is frightened, Jennifer asks Herb to put his arm around her. Then she tells him a secret: she didn't have any big weekend plans; she was just going to go home...alone... and read a trashy romance novel! I think we the audience are suppose to be much more shocked by this revelation. Herb is! But I think we are too familiar with the troupe of the beautiful, lonely woman to be very surprised.  Herb's confession is that he tells every man he meets that he and Jennifer are together on the side. I always assumed he was doing that already.

These are Herb's and Jennifer's big revelations to each other, and as far as revelations go, they've each had more personal conversations in other episodes.

Then Johnny sticks his head through the top of the elevator car. He's learned he could just climb the emergency ladder down to them. Strangely emboldened by his success and hero's welcome, Johnny turns his attention to the control panel on which he somehow electrocutes himself. like a cartoon character, to bring the elevator back up to the gang.

Everyone is relieved and excitedly telling each other about their part in the story. The fire chief calls to let them know it's now safe to leave. But there's a bit of a let down after the adrenaline rush of the fire and everyone just sort of awkwardly leaves for the evening as they originally planned to.

Except for Herb. He takes the stairs

Awkward might be the best description of this episode. It's not wacky enough to be really funny. It's not vulnerable enough to be very touching. Much like the Friday night depicted, something happens and then it ends.

Roy

Other Notes: Is Hugh Wilson the voice of the Fire Chief? There is no credit given, but it sort of sounds like him. Does anyone know? "The Towering Inferno" is a movie from 1974 that the writers and audience would have been very familiar with. It stars... everybody and was the highest grossing film of the year. It is about a burning skyscraper that is a little taller than the Flemm Building... 135 stories tall!

Ep. 82 - Circumstantial Evidence

May 22, 2020

Writer: Tim Reid and Peter Torokvei
Director: Frank Bonner
Original Air Date: February 24, 1982
*** VERY IMPORTANT***

I have no evidence to back this up, but here's what I think happened while making this episode: writers Tim Reid and Peter Torokvei wanted to write a script that focused on Big Ideas, like racial inequality in the justice system and the power of faith in times of crisis. They also wanted it to be really funny, with a set piece for all of the cast members to be on a witness stand and a clever opening in which Reid would be the receiver of romantic advances, rather than his usual persuer role. There were a lot of ideas to be touched on but when the script came back, it was about 10-15 minutes too long. So someone, whether the producers or the network or the writers themselves decided that the parts to leave in were the comedy bits and give short shrift to the Big Ideas.

This makes the ending seemed rushed; maybe even a little confusing.

The opening is simple and a play on a long running joke: Venus has snuck a woman up to the station late at night during his shift. He has even pre-recorded the show to spend more intimate time with the lovely Jessica Langtree. She gives Venus a diamond earring. "This is a gift?" he asks, and she says what turns out to be her most honest line in the episode "You're not too perceptive. I like that in a man."

To Venus' confusion, Jessica walks out in the middle of their date. He doesn't know what happened until two police officer come to the station. Jessica has been arrested and named Venus as her accomplice in a string of jewellery store robberies. Johnny, in disguise visits Venus in holding and explains the situation, to both him and us. Jessica was stopped with the stolen jewellery and Venus is suspected because he is the one who snuck her past the building's security guards.

That's a lot just in the first few minutes of the show.

Frank Bonner gives us some nice direction by using the very funny sight of Johnny in a fake beard, in the visitors' room of the jail as a vehicle to deliver a lot of exposition to the audience. The "dancing vs. boxing" routine provides a good shorthand as to how far out of his element Venus is in jail.

Oh, and by the way... Venus is right. Jennifer should absolutely be the person to get him a lawyer, not Mr. Carlson. But that would have ended the show in three minutes.

Max Wright returns as WKRP's Mama-provided lawyer, Mr. Bartman, and he goes through a painfully drawn out explanation on the definition of circumstantial evidence. But he begins this speech by saying "The law is set up by, and for, our society as a whole." I'm sure he, and any other lawyer of his generation was taught that very phrase on Day One of law school. But look who he's saying that to... a room full of white people. This is not a coincidence. This is a message the writers are trying to get across to the audience. Unfortunately, it is even more strongly felt by today's audience. There is no point, from the moment Venus gets handcuffed in his own workplace to here, that we believe he is not in danger from the system. Not just at it's mercy, but really threatened by what is about to happen to him.

What is about to happen is only a preliminary hearing to determine if the state has enough evidence to proceed with a trial. We're not even at the trial stage yet, but the feeling of danger against Venus is real.

Bartman wants the whole WKRP staff to act as character witnesses at the hearing (except for Les, unless things go bad, which of course means we are going to see Les on the stand) and this is just a blatant excuse to get everyone on the witness stand. In a real hearing, only Andy has anything relevant to say about the night in question.

In the courtroom, we learn Venus has been charged with five counts of burglary, one count of possession of stolen property, conspiracy to commit a felony and pandering. That's quite a bit. Venus is in even more danger.

The lawyer (as well as the officer who handcuffed Venus) is black and that is not an accident. This lawyer is part of the system that is attacking Venus; it is not the lawyer himself who is attacking. He's doing his job to the best of his abilities and as we will soon see, he's doing a pretty good job.

The first witness called is Miss Langtree and even both Carlson and Herb say they like her on sight. This is another commentary - if these two white men didn't personally know Venus, they would have pre-judged Langtree as someone they liked before she had even said a word! She claims that she was a "victim of love" who would do whatever Venus told her to do. Venus makes himself look reckless by jumping up and yelling that she's lying. But this causes the whole courtroom, including his own lawyer, to look unfavourably at Venus.

"I'm not going to sit here and let her lie!" Venus tells his lawyer. "You have to. This is a court of law!"

As predicted, the staff's testimony only goes to wreck Venus' credibility. Carlson admits the composite police sketch does look like Venus. Bailey is condesending to the judge and goes off on a tangent about killing baby seals (?!?) Johnny is asked if he himself has ever been arrested and we cut to Jennifer before we ever get his answer.

The most damning testimony comes from Venus' best friend Andy, verifying Venus had used the prerecorded tape of his show for an hour (maybe? maybe more?) and that he couldn't confirm where Venus was during that time. Andy feels terrible about it.

Back on the stand, we get a couple of callbacks to past episodes. Herb tells the story from ep. 66  "Nothing to Fear but..." of when Venus pulled a gun on Andy.  Then Les (who was only being called upon if they were going for a mistrial) repeats the store from ep. 44 "Filthy Pictures pt 2" of the gang breaking into the photographer's studio.

Finally, Venus takes the stand. He makes a good point that the composite picture is of a black man with a beard. But then he starts to bury himself. He claims the worst thing he ever did was worked on Nixon's campaign because "a good-looking girl asked him to."

The judge rules there is enough evidence, circumstantial as it may be, to proceed to grand jury. Bail is set at $200,000.

The rest of the episode runs only about four minutes and is interrupted by a commercial break. This is where, I feel, all the big ideas get jammed in together. I remember watching this episode in syndication as a teenager and not understanding what was happening. It's all too rushed.

Venus is led to the elevator by one of the arresting officers. Venus once again pleads his innocence, but the cop isn't buying it. "I've never seen an innocent man go in. It just don't work that way, my friend." Next, Venus is mumbling to himself and the cop asks "What are you doing? Some sort of Muslim thing?" "Praying to my God" answers Venus.

Stop right there! There's a lot in that exchange. First go Google InnocenceProject.org about "it just don't work that way." Second, I understand that in 1982, the American public at large didn't know as much about Muslim culture as they do today, but even back then wouldn't "some sort of Muslim thing?" come off as offensive? It sounds as dismissive as "some sort of plantation voodoo thing that gets paint off a frog." Third, although we know Venus is a spiritual man, as is Tim Reid himself, answering with "praying to my God" seems very "other" as if his God is superior to whatever God the cop might be worshipping.

Back to the scene. The elevator doors open and Venus, lead by his police officer and Jessica Langtree, lead by her officer get on board. Just as the doors start to close, a third officer calls for them to hold it. He brings on a third person, who stands next to the still praying Venus. The cop looks at both of them, then over to Langtree who is clearly flustered, then back to the two men. They are identical. And what has this new bearded black man been arrested for? Jewellery store heist. The audience gasps and we go to commercial.

The epilogue is so long, a good chunk of the credit roll through it. Venus is back in the bullpen with Carlson, Andy, Johnny and Les. He explains Langtree was the ringleader of the jewellery heists all along and had tricked the doppelganger the same way she had tricked him. He calls it "a miracle - pure and simple."

I wish this had been a two part episode and if WKRP hadn't been on the verge of cancellation at the time it was recorded, it might have been. There was a lot of humour that could have come out of the Venus-doppelganger idea., or more conspiracy theories from Les about the justice system. I guess I mean to say that the writers chose to go a punchier, more targeted direction like boxing and I would have preferred a little more dancing.

Roy

Other Notes - So many important guest stars! First among them, Daphne Maxwell played Jessica Langtree. She has had a long and successful career, as a regular on "Simon and Simon" and Tim's Reid own "Frank's Place" and most famously as the second Aunt Viv on "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air." But by that time, her credits read as Daphne Maxwell-Reid and she has been Mrs. Venus Flytrap since 1982. If you were trying to remember where you had seen Venus' arresting officer before, try picturing him with a Russian accent. Michael Pataki played Ivan the Russian defector in ep. 39 "The Americanization of Ivan."

Ep. 81 - I'll Take Romance

April 26, 2020

Writer: Lissa Levin
Director: Asaad Kelada
Original Air Date: February 17, 1982

Sometimes WKRP tackles important socio-political issues through the lens of comedy and sometimes it's a funny show about nerd on a date. This episode is one of the second ones. It seems every season there is an episode about Les with a woman, whether he's wearing a MACO toupee to a date with Jennifer, or inviting a groupie over to his apartment. Somehow we are always supposed to be shocked by this event because Les is just so... Les. But honestly, we've seen more dates for Les than we have for pretty boy workaholic Andy.

More about Andy at the end of this episode.

It is time for the Cincinnati Broadcasters Dinner Dance which strangely Carmen Carlson never seems to be able to attend. Who wouldn't want to hear two hours of guests speaking about radio ad rates? Jennifer remembers each cold and flu Carmen has used to get out of this event with Arthur, but Jennifer is able to reschedule the christening of a ship in order to attend with Mr. Carlson.

Carlson wouldn't have had to ask Jennifer he he had just used's Herb's new client, the "I'll Take Romance" Dating Service, wherein you fill out a questionnaire and a computer finds your perfect match.

Here is a real time capsule of attitudes towards computers in 1982. The very idea that someone would use a computer to find love seems desperate or cold in some way to the staff. The general sense is that it's not a natural or loving way to find someone. Proof of how weird it is comes simply from the fact that they are one of Herb's clients. However in our world, as of 2017, research found 39% of American heterosexual couples had met online.

The entire staff has ideas about how computers work that seem to come from sci-fi movies. Jennifer says Les' date is "programmed to like you." Today, if you are reading this blog, you have a computer. Most of us carry a computer in our pockets that are more powerful anything from 1982. Computers are a safer, more natural way for new couples to interact today than the answer Andy has from his time "I pick [women] up in bars."

The action of the story is that Herb has filled out a questionnaire but put Les's name on it, so he could see who he would get matched up with. With the Broadcaster's Dance coming up, it's a perfect reason for Les to need a date.

But Les is just as frightened of what a computer might match him with as anyone else. "I'm a complicated man," he tells Herb and Johnny. "I need a complicated woman."

While rewatching this episode, I kept thinking why isn't Mr. Carlson inviting Bailey to the dance since she is the one who might be interested and would be able to "network" with other Cincinnati broadcasters. She is friendly with and, respected by Mr. Carlson and she could certainly feel safe with him. So I was pleased to see this very notion being addressed when Andy invites Bailey, using the same logic. But it's really only as a last result because none of the "four women" Andy is currently dating wanted to attend because "the event...is dull as hell." Bailey was really just Andy's last resort, and even SHE turns him  down to go to the movies with Johnny.

So Andy gives his tickets to Les so he has a place to take his computer date.

Les still has his reservations and these are another of those early 80's time capsule issues. He genuinely asks Jennifer "What if she's one of those "feminists"?" with some real distain in his voice. He follows up by asking "Do we still hold chairs out for them?" as if 1) Jennifer isn't one of "them" and 2) women are a whole other species to be mistrusted. Those are questions that would NOT get asked today. Still the show reveals the true connection between Les and Lorraine later when he does hold out her chair and she sincerely thanks him.

But I'm getting ahead of the reveal! The whole staff nonchalantly find themselves in the lobby at the time Les' date is suppose to arrive. Lorraine enters and everyone is stunned that THIS beautiful woman is the computer match.

A couple of notes about Johnny in this episode and how shabbily he treats Bailey. When Herb is trying to convince Les to take out his computer match, Johnny seems eager to step in to take her out. Later when Johnny sees Jennifer in her gown, he stares at her agog IN FRONT OF BAILEY. He does the same when Lorraine herself shows up. In fact, the only thing that causes Johnny to leave is when Bailey reminds him she's paying for the movie. There are a lot of Bailey fans out there who would say Johnny is blind to what he already has.

I'm always surprised about the things Jennifer knows about that I wouldn't expect her to know about. We've seen in previous episodes she knows about kickback schemes and the names of the jailers in the Cincinnati vice tank. It really makes me feel a lot happened between her arriving from Rock Throw, WV and starting work at WKRP. In this episode, she reveals her knowledge of the inner workings of prostitution.

Lorraine reveals her true profession to Jennifer, because she think Jennifer is the full time "escort" for Mr. Carlson. Lorraine is a hooker and "I'll Take Romance" is just a front for prostitution. Knowing this gives us a lot of comedy, as Jennifer is now uncomfortable throughout the date. Should she tell Les, who is obviously having a wonderful night?

She tells Herb the next day, who has a fantastic retort when Jennifer asks him if he knows what this means. "It means I wasted a $200 hooker on Nesman"

She confides what's she's learned to Bailey who responds "Maybe Les is the man that will turn this girl around and make her leave that sort of life forever!" Jennifer is shocked by that naivete and asks Bailey what movie she and Johnny saw. "Cinderella!"

Finally, Jennifer pins Les down to tell him. He's been in exuberant spirits believing that he may have finally found his perfect match. But the more Jennifer tries to soft pedal her revelation, the more upset he becomes. He asks Jennifer if she thinks he's not worthy of Lorraine. "I'm trying to tell you Lorraine's not worthy of you."

Next comes the funniest line of this episode, and a classic Nesman-ism:
"Les I'm talking about the oldest profession."
"Lorraine's a farmer?"

Les is shocked and heartbroken. But Jennifer is just as shocked to learn Lorraine has asked Les out on a date herself. She told him she doesn't often meet men who just want to talk. Today, we know we are watching one of the final episodes of the show and there is never any additional talk of Les' love life after this. I think it's kind of a romantic thought that maybe Les and Lorraine stayed together for a while. Maybe Bailey wasn't so far off after all.

But don't forget about Andy! At the end of the revelation scene, Andy drops an envelope into the out mail box. In the epilogue, which is probably a week later, Andy confides to Les that he himself had sent in a questionnaire to "I'll Take Romance," and had ALSO been matched up with Lorraine. He tries to do the noble thing, assuring Les "I would never take your girl, Les."

It's sort of insulting that Andy thinks he COULD take Les's girl. Andy is obviously not the type of guy she's interested in. But this does give Les the chance to sit Andy down and explain the Facts of Life.

Roy

Other Notes - A few episodes ago, when Herb had signed a different client that was just a front for selling over-the-counter uppers, the entire station came together to shut him down. This time, nobody is very concerned about the crime. The visual joke about Mr. Carlson's tuxedo doesn't really work. Is it that just the shoes are too small or the crotch of the pants? It fits too well to be a joke suit. Actress Livia Genise played Lorraine and has had an interesting career. She was in Hollywood for about 10 years, getting small roles in TV and movies.  But she then moved to the Pacific Northwest where she became a regional theatre actor and director even up until today. She founded the Camelot Theatre in Talent, Oregon and is a very respecting acting veteran in the area.

Ep. 80 - Jennifer and Johnny's Charity

March 10, 2020

Writer: Blake Hunter
Director: Will MacKenzie
Original Air Date: February 3, 1982

America has now gone through one full year of Ronald Reagan as its President, and a year of Reaganomics - deep cuts in Social Services and deep tax cuts for the highest earners. The writers for WKRP have not been shy in taking swipes at Reagan this season. Just in the last episode, Herb gives a practiced speech about Trickle Down Economics which Jennifer calls "a little too good." But this is the first episode that takes this issue straight on and your political views probably shape how successful you think this episode is.

Right from the cold opening, we hear that the problems the Vine Street Mission has with rebuilding their kitchen after a fire swept through it, is the result os "a loss of Federal Funding." So the first half of the episode show that long standing WKRP trope of going from character to character to get their reactions to a situation. This time that situation is charity.

However, this time those reactions are as much a reflection of our characters political views as anything else. On the right side of the political spectrum, Les needed a little convincing, but eventually gives $10. Mr. Carlson offers $10 also, but is tricked by Johnny into donating $160, as is Andy. Carlson is fine spending literally sixteen times as much money on a toy for himself than giving that money to some charity of Johnny's. On the far side of the right is Herb, who says he doesn't believe in charity - that people should pull themselves up by their bootstraps ("like Venus did" which displays a different right wing view). He only decides to donate when Bailey tricks him into admitting he does claim to be charitable when he files his taxes!

Herb does bring up a point that the end of the episode is going to turn on. He thinks that people only give to charity so they can feel better about themselves.

On the left side of the spectrum, Bailey is not only donating, she's organizing the fund raising at the station. There was never a question she would donate. Venus is also willing to give, prepared to give triple of what Johnny is going to give (more in the Other Notes). Johnny gives what he can but he simply doesn't have that much to give. That's why he hangs out at the Mission in the first place - he needs the free meals.

Jennifer is happy to help, but stops when she figures she has already raised the $30,000 the kitchen needs. To the shock of everyone who is donating $10 or a little more, Jennifer is operating at a whole other level, where $30,000 is "a piece of cake." We are already seeing the income divide that would come to define politics and western economies in the 21st century.

Even the most generous of the WKRP staff has to consider how much they can afford to give. Jennifer and her friends operate in a whole other stratosphere. She knows just by throwing a little cocktail party with a couple of the right people, she can get $30,000 on one night. For everyone else on the staff, that's more than a year's salary.

The second half of the episode is the party in Jennifer's apartment. But wait! you say. Didn't Jennifer move into a house across the river last season? Yes, and the writers, in a great move of continuity explain away that small fact by commenting that she moved back when that whole neighbourhood was re-zoned to commercial. Most viewers wouldn't have remembered that, but it is wonderful someone on the writing staff cared (more than they do about the seemingly dozens of jobs Venus has held throughout his life, but I digress). The apartment is a far more opulent set than the house, which makes the later point of the episode more vivid.

What happens at Jennifer's party is little more than a pissing contest between two very rich men trying to one up each other and impress their own wives. Judge Randall offers a piece of land on which to build a new Mission. Mr. Mittenhoff ups him with a $50,000 donation towards the building of the Mission. Then the Judge matches that donation. And just like that, the Mission has three times as much money as they need.

Next, miscommunication rears its comedic head! Johnny, misunderstanding Jennifer from earlier, thinks bringing the people from the Mission to the party will help secure the money. Johnny operates in a world where all the stops need to be pulled out to get the kind of money he's looking for. Jennifer operates in a world where that kind of money is a rounding error. So Johnny brings Sheila, Charlie and Percy from the Mission and the rich people get to meet exactly the sort of people their money is going to. And those people are not impressed.

First of all, they don't want a new Mission built, and certainly not in the suburbs. "There are drunks out there looking for it.You can't move that thing a foot!" Next, they don't need that much money - they just need enough to rebuild the kitchen. They have ideas on how best to spend this money on themselves that are not in line with the fancy ideas of their benefactors.

Oddly, it is Jennifer who is most offended by the attitude of the Mission group. She feels they are being ungrateful to her friends. "I haven't heard a Thank you" she tells Johnny. Johnny feels the rich people are being condescending to his friends. "This is just chequebook charity," he says, thinking her friends just care about the tax deduction and not about the people involved.

It comes down to Sheila, speaking one on one with Mr. Mittenhoff to really get the heart of the situation because, as a former exotic dancer, she knows something about the way the world works (Herb had come to basically the same conclusion earlier in the episode and he is definitely not an exotic dancer, so I'm not sure what that really has to do with anything). She knows rich people like giving money because it's fun! "It's a kick," she says and we saw that plainly earlier at the party. "So see! Everybody gets what they want!"

Except the rest of the WKRP staff, who had no real need to be at this party, and all get shunted off to the kitchen while the real business of the episode is taking place anyway. As they proceed to set fire to her kitchen, Bailey concludes "this is just a very bad week for kitchens in Cincinnati."

Roy

Other Notes - Classic Les Nesman news bulletin as a "Monster Lizzard Ravages the East Coast." Listen to his entire report and notice that no other word would have used the letter B. The song "Come Together" is played during this episode, and it really sounds like the Beatles... but it's not. It's a cover band, which makes me wonder why Shout couldn't have used more cover bands for songs they couldn't clear.