Writers: Steven Kampmann
Director: Rod Daniel
Original Air Date: November 29, 1980
***Very Important***
^^^FAMOUSLY FUNNY^^^
This might be the most perfect episode of "WKRP in Cincinnati" ever written.
That's not to say the best, or the funniest, but this is the episode that has been the most perfectly constructed. All of the jokes and storylines weave seamlessly into each other. The rhythm and pacing are tight and deliberate. The characters stay very true to themselves. This episode refuses to blink from the ridiculousness of the situations it has put our three lead characters in. And all of that is summed up in the title of the episode, which no one at home would ever see.
Usually, WKRP episode titles are very bland. Last week's episode about Carlson's baby was called "The Baby." The episode before that set in the fictional show was titled "Real Families." This one could have been called "The Business Trip" or "The Dayton Poisoner." But the actual title is a reference to one early joke, that a hotel in VERY landlocked Dayton would be name "Hotel Oceanview" is ridiculous, emphasises that the focus of this episode is the ridiculous.
Jennifer, can you please give the audience some quick exposition as to what our main characters will be up to in this episode?
"You're driving to Dayton, where you'll be staying at the luxurious Hotel Oceanview, and you'll meet with Vicky Von Vicky at 7 pm. Because the Vicky Von Vicky jeans account could make the station a lot of money."
So Mr. Carlson, Andy and Herb drive Herb's Chrysler Cordoba, with rich Corinthian leather, an hour north to Dayton, home of Les' mother and the Dayton Poisoner. Dayton in 1980 had about 200,000 people in it, making it about half the size of Cincinnati. There will be many jokes at the expense of Dayton being dangerous and "nasty after dark" when in reality, this should have been a small town meeting for these three men. It's never really explained why a designer as popular and "major" as Vicky Von Vicky would want to meet in a hotel in Dayton, especially if she is already centred there. Just the allure of the Hotel Oceanview, I suppose.
I'm now going to return to a running theme of this blog: that Andy Travis is not good at his job. He is the Program Director of WKRP, so why should he be at a sales meeting? In reality, those should be two separate departments under the General Manager's control. Even if he is attending because you want to present a show of strength, Herb is correct in saying that, as Sales Manager, he should be delivering the presentation. The reason to bring Andy is because you don't trust that Herb is not going to screw it up. So who screws up the presentation? The guy who loads pornographic and vacation slides onto his own projector, that's who!
The episode really comes to life when Mickey the bartender shows up. He is played by veteran character actor Larry Hankin (as of this writing, he has 172 IMDB.com acting credits) and immediately pushes a cadence of speaking onto the characters that turns the script into poetry. Is "poetry" too much praise for a sit-com script? There is plenty of evidence. Mickey knows Nikki who works for Vicky Von Vicky and where to buy a bulb? At Ricky's. When Mickey tells Arthur the Poisoner writes in verse, he says he's been staying awake "tossing and turning, thinking and churning."
Yet the best piece of poetry in the script in a joke that is only funny because of the rhythm at which it is delivered.
"You're sleazy."
"I'm smart."
"I'm ready."
"Let's go!"
On it's own, that's not funny. But delivered in a perfect staccato by three different actors, the rhythm delivers one of the biggest laughs of the night!
Something else we see for the only time ever on the show is Herb cheating on Lucille! He doesn't end up going all the way through with it, but he was obviously intending to! We can tell that Herb is as surprised his "oozing charm" has worked this well as Andy and Arthur are. He asks Nikki St. Clair "Are you kidding?" and when she answers "No I'm not!" his shocked expression to the other guys looks pretty genuine. Even Herb can't believe that he is finally going to close a deal through sex!
But it doesn't come naturally to him. Looking up at Herb dancing, Nikki asks "Nervous, Tiger?" He quickly answers "No, married." But Nikki is very aggressive and Herb is soon doing what none of us in the audience ever thought, or wanted, to see.
But in the world of Eighties sit-com's, no immoral deed goes unpunished, and we get the biggest punishment for a man who earlier in the episode didn't want to drink a fruity drink because the bartender said it was just for ladies. We have discussed before the gay panic that spreads over most comedies from the late 70's/ early 80's, WKRP in Cincinnati included. It goes back to "Les on a Ledge" in only the third episode. So transsexual panic? In 1980, that's just an immediate punchline.
Nikki was originally "Nick Sinclair, class of '64," male high school football classmate of Herb and Herb's previously jacked up sense of manhood now crumples and dies. Bonner rolls though Herb's emotions of shame, fear and regret slowly and hilariously as he physically rolls into the fetal position. Even though Nikki makes a sound argument why he shouldn't feel this way, Herb is too gripped by his panic to hear any of it. Or maybe it's the huge laugh from the audience that keeps him from hearing it. I'd like to think they are laughing more at Herb's comeuppance than at Nikki's revelation.
Speaking of revelations, in another room, Arthur has no fear of fruity drinks. What he does have is a growing fear of Mickey the bartender and his strange fascination with the Dayton Poisoner. To give Arthur his due, Mickey is acting very suspiciously: the intense, first-name repeating conversation about the Dayton Poisoner, Mickey's seeming insulted that Arthur might not like his Bamboozle, heck, he even brings out a tape of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor! (It's not just WKRP, readers. I also can remember Fantasia!) But the part part that breaks from Three's Company style misunderstand to pure inference of danger is Mickey just pulling out a pre-made drink called the Mickey Special "Get it? Mickey special." I'd be crying like Arthur too!
Our time in Dayton ends with the arrival of Vicky Von Vicky played by '70's TV stalwart Dr. Joyce Brothers. For those too young to remember, she was the Dr. Drew Pinsky of her time - someone who was brought onto talk shows every time a pseudo-psychological opinion was needed. The fact that she is brought in to just play this jeans executive is one more element of the ridiculous.
Since most of the cast is isn't in Dayton, everybody gets their line in the final scene, as each walks through the lobby. Les giving Bailey advice on her love life is a jarring moment! But the final bit of poetry is in both Carlson and Andy's matching answers when asked how the trip went: "She's not going to sue, if that's what you mean."
Roy
Other Notes: The song Herb plays on the coin operated radio is Herb Alpert's "Rise," and not Notorious B.I.G.'s "Hypnotize" which samples it. A Bamboozle is made with three types of rum, bitters, pineapple juice, grenadine, coconut extract and a slice of mango. Linda Carlson, who played Nikki, was never actually a man.
^^^FAMOUSLY FUNNY^^^
This might be the most perfect episode of "WKRP in Cincinnati" ever written.
That's not to say the best, or the funniest, but this is the episode that has been the most perfectly constructed. All of the jokes and storylines weave seamlessly into each other. The rhythm and pacing are tight and deliberate. The characters stay very true to themselves. This episode refuses to blink from the ridiculousness of the situations it has put our three lead characters in. And all of that is summed up in the title of the episode, which no one at home would ever see.
Usually, WKRP episode titles are very bland. Last week's episode about Carlson's baby was called "The Baby." The episode before that set in the fictional show was titled "Real Families." This one could have been called "The Business Trip" or "The Dayton Poisoner." But the actual title is a reference to one early joke, that a hotel in VERY landlocked Dayton would be name "Hotel Oceanview" is ridiculous, emphasises that the focus of this episode is the ridiculous.
Jennifer, can you please give the audience some quick exposition as to what our main characters will be up to in this episode?
"You're driving to Dayton, where you'll be staying at the luxurious Hotel Oceanview, and you'll meet with Vicky Von Vicky at 7 pm. Because the Vicky Von Vicky jeans account could make the station a lot of money."
So Mr. Carlson, Andy and Herb drive Herb's Chrysler Cordoba, with rich Corinthian leather, an hour north to Dayton, home of Les' mother and the Dayton Poisoner. Dayton in 1980 had about 200,000 people in it, making it about half the size of Cincinnati. There will be many jokes at the expense of Dayton being dangerous and "nasty after dark" when in reality, this should have been a small town meeting for these three men. It's never really explained why a designer as popular and "major" as Vicky Von Vicky would want to meet in a hotel in Dayton, especially if she is already centred there. Just the allure of the Hotel Oceanview, I suppose.
I'm now going to return to a running theme of this blog: that Andy Travis is not good at his job. He is the Program Director of WKRP, so why should he be at a sales meeting? In reality, those should be two separate departments under the General Manager's control. Even if he is attending because you want to present a show of strength, Herb is correct in saying that, as Sales Manager, he should be delivering the presentation. The reason to bring Andy is because you don't trust that Herb is not going to screw it up. So who screws up the presentation? The guy who loads pornographic and vacation slides onto his own projector, that's who!
The episode really comes to life when Mickey the bartender shows up. He is played by veteran character actor Larry Hankin (as of this writing, he has 172 IMDB.com acting credits) and immediately pushes a cadence of speaking onto the characters that turns the script into poetry. Is "poetry" too much praise for a sit-com script? There is plenty of evidence. Mickey knows Nikki who works for Vicky Von Vicky and where to buy a bulb? At Ricky's. When Mickey tells Arthur the Poisoner writes in verse, he says he's been staying awake "tossing and turning, thinking and churning."
Yet the best piece of poetry in the script in a joke that is only funny because of the rhythm at which it is delivered.
"You're sleazy."
"I'm smart."
"I'm ready."
"Let's go!"
On it's own, that's not funny. But delivered in a perfect staccato by three different actors, the rhythm delivers one of the biggest laughs of the night!
Something else we see for the only time ever on the show is Herb cheating on Lucille! He doesn't end up going all the way through with it, but he was obviously intending to! We can tell that Herb is as surprised his "oozing charm" has worked this well as Andy and Arthur are. He asks Nikki St. Clair "Are you kidding?" and when she answers "No I'm not!" his shocked expression to the other guys looks pretty genuine. Even Herb can't believe that he is finally going to close a deal through sex!
But it doesn't come naturally to him. Looking up at Herb dancing, Nikki asks "Nervous, Tiger?" He quickly answers "No, married." But Nikki is very aggressive and Herb is soon doing what none of us in the audience ever thought, or wanted, to see.
But in the world of Eighties sit-com's, no immoral deed goes unpunished, and we get the biggest punishment for a man who earlier in the episode didn't want to drink a fruity drink because the bartender said it was just for ladies. We have discussed before the gay panic that spreads over most comedies from the late 70's/ early 80's, WKRP in Cincinnati included. It goes back to "Les on a Ledge" in only the third episode. So transsexual panic? In 1980, that's just an immediate punchline.
Nikki was originally "Nick Sinclair, class of '64," male high school football classmate of Herb and Herb's previously jacked up sense of manhood now crumples and dies. Bonner rolls though Herb's emotions of shame, fear and regret slowly and hilariously as he physically rolls into the fetal position. Even though Nikki makes a sound argument why he shouldn't feel this way, Herb is too gripped by his panic to hear any of it. Or maybe it's the huge laugh from the audience that keeps him from hearing it. I'd like to think they are laughing more at Herb's comeuppance than at Nikki's revelation.
Speaking of revelations, in another room, Arthur has no fear of fruity drinks. What he does have is a growing fear of Mickey the bartender and his strange fascination with the Dayton Poisoner. To give Arthur his due, Mickey is acting very suspiciously: the intense, first-name repeating conversation about the Dayton Poisoner, Mickey's seeming insulted that Arthur might not like his Bamboozle, heck, he even brings out a tape of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor! (It's not just WKRP, readers. I also can remember Fantasia!) But the part part that breaks from Three's Company style misunderstand to pure inference of danger is Mickey just pulling out a pre-made drink called the Mickey Special "Get it? Mickey special." I'd be crying like Arthur too!
Our time in Dayton ends with the arrival of Vicky Von Vicky played by '70's TV stalwart Dr. Joyce Brothers. For those too young to remember, she was the Dr. Drew Pinsky of her time - someone who was brought onto talk shows every time a pseudo-psychological opinion was needed. The fact that she is brought in to just play this jeans executive is one more element of the ridiculous.
Since most of the cast is isn't in Dayton, everybody gets their line in the final scene, as each walks through the lobby. Les giving Bailey advice on her love life is a jarring moment! But the final bit of poetry is in both Carlson and Andy's matching answers when asked how the trip went: "She's not going to sue, if that's what you mean."
Roy
Other Notes: The song Herb plays on the coin operated radio is Herb Alpert's "Rise," and not Notorious B.I.G.'s "Hypnotize" which samples it. A Bamboozle is made with three types of rum, bitters, pineapple juice, grenadine, coconut extract and a slice of mango. Linda Carlson, who played Nikki, was never actually a man.
No comments:
Post a Comment