Bonus Feature -"Do My Eyes Say Yes?"

May 19, 2017


We have come to the end of the Second Season of "WKRP in Cincinnati," so let's celebrate by taking a look at Loni Anderson. (Does that sound right? That doesn't quite sound right). One of the Bonus Features of the boxset is the featurette "Do My Eyes Say Yes" that looks a little deeper into the phenomena that was Loni Anderson/Jennifer Marlow in 1980. This featurette first appeared in the Season One WKRP box set that was released in 2007 ("The Black Box"). That's why all of the clips used come exclusively from Season One.

Should I read anything into it that the first full minute of this featurette plays before they ever talk to Loni Anderson? Or that this minute includes Frank Bonner, Tim Reid and Hugh Wilson all mentioning how sexy she is, while the first words Anderson uses to discuss her character are "really intelligent woman"?

What is interesting is seeing how much Frank Bonner views his own character of Herb through his relationship to Jennifer. Now, of course, this is a clip about Jennifer, so it's not surprising, but Anderson talks about the real friendship between the two characters. In fact, I think we see that friendship more in the second season than the first. Looking at a very funny reel of clips in which Jennifer shoots Herb down, it becomes apparent that his hitting on her is just a running joke between colleagues. The second season Ep. 38 "Put Up or Shut Up" confirms this.

There's also quite a bit of discussion on which characters Jennifer kissed. Anderson confirms that Johnny is a good kisser, something I'm sure Bailey would like to know.

Tim Reid doesn't say "Jennifer" when he talks about her being "no dumb blonde." He says Loni Anderson is no dumb blonde and that's the point this piece tries to make. Jennifer cared about the staff and relished being the face of the station. She knew she could handle anybody and we are left with the impression that Loni was the same way.

This is just a fun little extra that doesn't add much to our understanding of the character. As I said of the "Fish Story" featureete at the end of Season One, I would have much preferred to get a commentary track instead.

The featurette does concludes with a wonderful little anecdote from Anderson of how she would get drinks sent to her in a bar when she was wearing the blonde wig from a play, but not when she wore her naturally brown hair and how Hugh Wilson took this story and worked it into the Ep. 15 "Never Leave Me Lucille" episode.

Roy

Note: To add more value to this blog, I am going to go back through and make a note at the top, stating if this is a "Very Important" or "Famously Funny" episode. Some might be both; most will be neither.

"Very Important" will mean it is important to the development of the overall story or characters. It does not necessarily mean it tackles an important topic. They are the episodes that I imagine the writers, producers and actors are most proud of.

"Famously Funny" will mean the biggest laughs of the series. These episodes will have the most quoted lines and craziest scenes.

I don't intent to rank the shows but to give a quick guide to those people just wanting to check out a few episodes. The choices are all mine, but I'd love to debate them with you!