Ep. 36 - A Family Affair

February 19, 2017

Writer: Tim Reid
Director: Rod Daniel
Original Air Date: January 7, 1980
***VERY IMPORTANT***

A new decade begins for the world and WKRP with another strange question for a sit-com... what do your friends really think about you?

The friendship between Andy Travis and Venus Flytrap might be the closest on the show. They knew each other BEFORE coming to Cincinnati; Andy having hired Venus "away from a station in New Orleans" to help him restart this failed radio station. Herb and Les wouldn't be friends if they didn't work together. Probably Venus and Johnny wouldn't be either. But Andy and Venus run in the same circles.

It can even be said that Andy has been a champion of Venus at the station, bringing him there, defending him to Mama Carlson and later making him Assistant Program Director. However, however.... what does Andy REALLY think of Venus?

It's very important to point out that this episode was written by Tim Reid, who portrays Venus. This is his first script for the show and I think, beyond the messaging, it is a very good episode. There is no wasted space. The B-plot of Carlson taking over the phones is funny itself, but also vital to the main conflict of the A-plot. The C-plot of Bailey getting Herb to hang glide in the fish suit is a great callback to the very popular "Fish Story" episode of Season One. It is clear how much thought Reid put into this script. But it is the message of generational racism that makes Reid's authorship important to the script.

Andy makes a joke later in the episode that Venus not wanting HIS sister to date Johnny isn't a question of racism but of good taste. If that's the case, why would Andy first approach Johnny about taking sister out on a date? Venus is his closest friend at the station - why ask a burnt-out DJ 15 years his sister's senior instead?

We, the audience, don't want to think about our surrogate into the show being anything but righteous, but the facts remain: when Andy looks at Venus, he sees black before he sees the man. When Andy says he's upset because Venus missed his show, it doesn't make sense because he never even thought about that until literally seven seconds before the show began. So he was worried about his sister with Venus.

And, OMG, is that what Andy thinks a black man sounds like?!? Or ANY man? Or, more importantly, is that what he thinks his own night time DJ sounds like?? Just sound like the calmest, warmest version of yourself and you could get though an hour of the show, Andy!  No disc jockey in the world sounds like a bad Truman Capote impression.

So, despite every genuine friendliness Andy has shared with Venus over the years, is the only answer as to why Andy is upset that deep down, Travis is a racist? That's the question in Venus' mind when the two confront each other in the lobby and I want to point out how great Tim Reid's acting is here. He is not flinching. Reid stares daggers and what remains unsaid between the two friends is louder than any speech Reid could have written for himself right there.

Johnny has some understanding when he explains to Andy's sister "we're all bigots, okay?"  Venus later says "We've chopped down the tree (of racism) but the roots run pretty deep." But Andy is still behaving naive and in denial when they all meet up at the bar. "I thought we had all of the black and white junk behind us," he says and genuinely believes it.

I'm writing this at the beginning of 2017 and "all the black and white junk" is definitely not behind us, as just a cursory look at the news will prove. Many things have improved in 37 years, but many things have not. How could Andy think racism was over only 12 years after MLK was killed?

We then see Andy exhibiting a different type of racism - overcompensating. Making Venus dance with his sister in a bar Johnny specifically warns them not to dance together or stepping in to defend Venus when he is confronted by the "real" racist.

Let's finish this up by going back to how tightly written this script is and look at the final scene. Jennifer comes back and everyone is injured! How? Carlson with laryngitis from the B-Plot. Andy, then Venus and finally Johnny with progressively worse injuries from the A-Plot. Herb on crutches from the C-Plot, finishing up with Bailey leaving the office dressed like a fish! Each craziness has been explained to the audience beforehand but the slow piling on in front of Jennifer just gets funnier and funnier until Johnny gets the last huge, deadpan laugh of the show.

Reid know that the message will be lost if the script is not, first of all, funny and he delivers.

Roy

Other Notes: Allison Argo, who played Andy's sister Carol, was mostly a soap opera actress who later became the producer of wildlife documentaries (thanks, IMDB!)