Ep. 44 - Venus Rising

April 12, 2017

Writers: Steve Marshall and Dan Guntzelman
Director: Nicholas Stamos
Original Air Date: March 10, 1980

Before we heard the phrase GMOs, we had "Porker's Paradise Sweet Meat Treats, purveyors of pork-like products." Although they have been in business for at least two years, nobody wants to touch their "meat." Even though it can't spoil! So Herb, being the screw up he has always been, can't imagine why everyone isn't thrilled when he finally landed Porker's Paradise as Les's sponsor. Everybody gets all the ham they will every need! It's a win-win! Right?

Isn't Herb just as valuable as Venus? "Venus is just some DJ - Herb is the only salesman in the entire station. Station WREQ has FOURTEEN salespeople. All the money (or meat) that WKRP brings in is because of Herb. Doesn't everyone understand that? Maybe not that kid Travis, but certainly the Big Guy respects that!" These are the thoughts that get Herb through his work days

But what does respect look like? For Herb, it is about money and title. Simple. He is a forty something white guy in 1980. We saw in the episode with his father that he has been raised to scrounge and scrape for every angle to move up and make money since he was a kid. But Gordon Sims is a different guy. To a black man who just turned 30 last week, respect is a trickier concept.

WREQ is offering him money and title with very little effort. In the words of Johnny, he can become a "young execu-troid" (the term "Yuppie" wasn't coined until 1982; "Buppie" even later). Everyone would be proud of the money and the title. But he would be doing it with the aid of the Affirmative Action program of Meglo Communications. He would be getting all of those things not because of who he is, but because of what he is. Venus would be succeeding in a station that runs the opposite way of everything that led him into radio in the first place.

It plays as a joke when Herb says "that sounds perfect to me," because we are to see him as lazy. But I think it's more that he wouldn't have to struggle anymore. Herb sees respect as the thing you get when you achieve money and title. Venus (and by extension, we the audience) thinks the respect is earned BECAUSE of the struggle and path taken to the goal. Herb thinks he has already earned the respect. He just needs the reward.

So if Carlson is telling Travis "We can't afford to lose Venus!" then Herb believes he himself is even more valuable. When Venus visits the WREQ station, he is shown something that we don't usually see as an audience, but that the character of Herb would be confronted with constantly: the Manager of that station a salesman himself, not some music fan.  Salesmen are the important people in radio! DJs are being replaced by computers but salesmen are the lifeblood.

The greatest character flaw Herb Tarlek has is a lack of self-awareness. He can not see that his suits make him look ridiculous, not professional. He doesn't understand that trading airtime for meat causes more problems than not selling the airtime in the first place. He doesn't understand that what he sees as a struggle is just the requirements of his job. He shouldn't just receive money because he's there and he doesn't just earn respect for showing up.

Respect comes from sacrifice. Herb doesn't sacrifice; he gambles. Venus sacrifices the easy path to stick with something he believes in, ends up with some more money and a little better title. Venus sacrifices some of his money to save Herb's job and earns Herb's respect.

And WREQ earns it's chance to paint MAX brown! You know what I'm sayin'?

Roy

Other Notes: If you wanted to just kill that WREQ station manager, don't worry. It's been done! He's Bernie from "Weekend at Bernie's." I am not going to be able to explain Affirmative Action here. Just know, in the words of Mr. Carlson in Ep. 28 Carlson for President "This was something that was suppose to bring us together. But instead it's tearing us apart." Meglo Communications sounds an awful lot like megalomaniac.