Ep. 49 - The Baby

July 14, 2017

Writers: Blake Hunter
Director: Rod Daniel
Original Air Date: November 22, 1980

For many TV shows, the "new baby" episode is a classic, highlight episode. For "WKRP In Cincinnati,"  it was a palate cleanser between two genre-stretching and bizarre episodes. Leave it to WKRP to take the then-new idea of a father in the delivery room, and put it in a very conventional sit-com formula.

That formula isn't the zany "get her to the hospital" plot television has used since "I Love Lucy." It is the character study of our familiar cast members' reactions to being in a hospital, combined with Arthur Carlson's self-debate about being in the delivery room, combined with regular, old doctor jokes.

Can you remember a time when just wearing a tracksuit could make you look good? Neither do I, but Andy is casually in control as he proudly takes new-Dad-to-be Mr. Carlson to the hospital while wearing his fancy new tracksuit. And it seems to work too, because he immediately earns the attentions of a candy stripper/wannabe Playboy model and isn't seen again until after the baby is born.

Venus is not confidant. He can't stand the smell of hospitals although he comes to support Carlson. He immediately gets lost. Jennifer and Bailey arrive together and the viewer gets the sense that they were out together when summoned to the hospital. Ever the newsman, Les takes it upon himself to document the momentous event. Herb would rather be in bed but shows up because he thinks it will make Mr. Carlson happy.

Then there is Johnny, for whom the birth of Carlson's baby just seems like an excuse to wander around a hospital. There he meets the elderly Peggy Sue, who, if the viewers are still getting senses of things, might believe will never be leaving the hospital. She wants someone to talk to about the larger issues of life and death and she couldn't be luckier than to run into our "not really" Doctor.  It becomes clear that life after life is a topic Johnny has done a lot of thinking about. He discussion of the band in Heaven included musicians you might not associate with Dr. Fever, including Coltrane, Beethoven and... Albert Schweitzer!

If this were a different show, like say "Twin Peaks" or "Lost," I might argue that Fever discussing life after life with the personification of the most famous woman reference by the singer who died "The Day the Music Died" in Buddy Holly might just be a drug-fuelled fantasy, or even evidence that this is really Johnny's own near death experience!! But, it's WKRP, so Venus finds Johnny and shuttles him back to the group.

Looking back now, Arthur Carlson's nervousness about being in the delivery room might seem silly, but they are tied into his concerns about being new parents in their forties. My wife and I were new parents in our forties and I can tell you, many of Arthur's concerns are real. Being "the oldest couple they ever had" in a birthing class can be shocking. The health concerns for a woman in her forties giving birth are real and although everyone involved tries to put the brightest face on them, when those concerns actually arise in a real delivery room, it is very scary and very sobering.

WKRP did a very nice job of not hiding from those real health issues. The detail of a possible Caesarean section is something most "wacky delivery" sit-com episode never even bring up. The far-away stare Gordon Jump delivers when Arthur is being told about Carmen's possible surgery reveals years of love for his wife and a hundred worries. It is a powerful moment.

Powerful moments need to be broken up with... tired doctor jokes. The constant paging of doctors to call everyone except another health care worker is funny due to repetition (they are, in order: call your pool man, call your contractor, call your pilot and call your chiropractor). Watching each characters reactions to the task of following complicated coloured lines throughout the hospital has its charms. The dim witted candy stripper and jokes about the nervous dad are easy marks for these writers.

The best parts of this episode are whenever Arthur and Carmen are together. The two actors create the gentle chemistry of a couple who deeply care about each other, and are happy to have a new adventure together - this time with a little girl who may not grow up to be Patton.

Roy

Other notes - I didn't want to neglect Venus' comment about Andy's jogging: "If I ran home from here, I'd be stopped by the cops seven times." We often think these ideas like "white privilege" are new. Watching something like WKRP shows us they aren't. Actress Darian Mathias never appeared in Playboy. The Albert Schweitzer Organ Festival has been held annually in Wethersfield CT since 1997. He really was a highly regarded organist.