Ep. 53 - Baby, It's Cold Inside

August 31, 2017

Writers: Blake Hunter
Director: Rod Daniel
Original Air Date: January 3, 1981

Shirley Levy was 21 years old when Irving Berlin himself tapped her for a role in his latest Broadway musical "Louisiana Purchase" in 1930.  Later she played the lead role of Julie in the first major revival of Kern and Hammerstein's "Show Boat," directed by Oscar Hammerstein himself. Her career was dotted by appearances on radio, in movies and the big playhouse productions on television where statuesque strength and delicate voice combined keep her busy. She was a classic Hollywood beauty that belied sly comic timing, which she used in comedies such as "Abbott and Costello's Keep 'Em Flying." And somewhere along the line, she changed her name to Carol Bruce.

Bruce was not the first choice to play Mama Carlson. That was Sylvia Sidney, who had made a career of playing "tough dames," from gangster's molls in the 1930's and 40's to the grouchy afterlife administrator in "Beetlejuice." But after having Ms. Sidney in the pilot, scaring Arthur and the rest of the staff, Hugh Wilson decided to take a different approach to Mama when the show had a soft relaunch at episode nine. After being off the air for a couple of weeks, and in a new time slot, WKRP returned with a clip show (yes, after only eight episodes!) re-introducing the characters with "Mama's Review" of the station. But now Mama would be very different. She would not be shrill and mean - she would cold and imperious. She would not be a small hag - she would be statuesque and superior.

It is not surprising that the station member Mama Carlson most closely relates to is Jennifer. They are both strong, smart, beautiful who have used people's underestimations of them to their advantages. Jennifer is in many ways the guiding-force "mother" of the station and that Arthur relies on her so heavily because she is the compassionate mother figure he always yearned for. Mama has always spoken to Jennifer as an equal (followed closely by Bailey) and it would be easy to imagine that they both socialize in the same high brow Cincinnati circles. But she must also recognize Jennifer's compassionate side because it is to Jennifer that Lilian (she's not really "Mama" at this point anymore) discusses her past.

Wait! Why does she do that? Let's go back to the fundamental conflict of this episode. The heat is off in the Flemm Building. The Sales Manager has lost all feeling in his lower extremities! The staff is doing everything in their power to keep warm and Johnny's solution is to drink "brandy" on the air. This is a particularly strong beverage because it gets Jennifer drunk before the credits even run. We see one strong, controlled woman start to act silly and flirty after a few sips. Why not another one?

The drinking on the air subplot is just a distraction. The entire purpose of this episode is to give the audience a background on Lilian. How did she wind up as head of a business conglomerate like Carlson Enterprises? And, most importantly, what does she truly value. Most sit-coms, especially in the early 80's wouldn't risk an entire episode filling in the backstory of just a recurring character. Many don't bother doing this much for a main character.

She starts off laughing about how she "hasn't lost her touch" in scaring someone like Johnny just by looking at him. But what she really wants is a good old-fashioned gossip session with one of the girls, and Jennifer is the closest thing she's going to get to that. We just saw in the last episode where the General Manager was likely having an affair with his secretary. We don't know it until the final scene that Lillian has come to the station because she has the past on her mind, and with the help of the brandy, she gets sentimental about her late husband, her past as a singer and the price of her success. Carol Bruce delivers what might be her finest WKRP performance. It's is funny and poignant all at once.

If, as I suggest, the purpose is to give us some of Lillian's background, then the climax is her touching rendition of "Someone to Watch Over Me." She tells Johnny that she wants to hear it, but want she really wants is to perform it. Is she telling the staff that she is the one watching over them? Or does she miss having someone, like her husband, to watch over her? Or is she reliving a spotlight moment from her past, on a day when the past is on her mind? Either way, the producers were smart using the Bruce's talents in this way.

Moving away from Mama, the rest of the staff gives us some funny, panicky scenes. It has often been a struggle for the writers to explain why the night time DJ is hanging out at the station during the day. So for Johnny to call in Venus in a panic only to tell him to "Go home and get some sleep" actually highlighted that dilemma.

I don't know what is in that drink, but the flirtiness continues with Mama, who has her eyes on a certain cowboy. Gary Sandy is at his best when Andy is flustered and nothing gets him flustered faster than being hit on by a strong woman. Her touching of his knee knocks him off kilter for the rest of the episode. It takes a strong, forceful man to turn that flirting back on Mama Carlson.

Enter Les Nesman. He sees this as his opportunity to talk to her about getting walls. But Mama is drunk enough and strong enough to do what everyone else has been too polite to do... she laughs in his face! And calls him "ingenius" while she does it!

As anyone who has had too much brandy knows, once the giddiness subsides, reality steps in. Jennifer pops two asprins dry and Arthur comes to collect his mother. They were to meet to go visit his father's grave; the grave of the man she still loves. They leave arm in arm to the strains of Gershwin. So raise a glass to this episode...

"To Pale Grey."

Roy

Other Notes: I cannot find any references to a real Hoffman's Department Store in Dallas in 1980. Can anyone help?

Ep. 52 - Bah, Humbug

August 23, 2017

Writers: Lissa Levin
Director: Rod Daniel
Original Air Date: December 20, 1980

"This isn't going to be one of those Charles Dickens "Christmas Carol" things, is it?"
"Uh-huh."
"Oh boy!

There are 80 episodes of "WKRP in Cincinnati" which when shown once a day, five days a week, makes for an tidy 16 weeks of programming. However, when going into syndication, the hour long episode "Filthy Pictures" gets split up into two shows. That makes for 81 episodes, which is just cumbersome to program. So most stations dropped one particular episode and would only play it once a year, or roughly once every three programming rotations. This is that odd episode and for some fans, the box set may be the first time they have ever seen it.

It's not hard to see why "Bah, Humbug" became the "lost episode." First and most obviously, it is a Christmas themed show. But there are other Christmas themed WKRPs, so why this one? Because it's so weird, that's why. Here are all the ways it's weird.

The story is told as a dream sequence (and not as a drug-fueled fantasy if Johnny is to be believed). It follows the plot of Dickens' "Christmas Carol" in which three ghosts haunt Mr. Carlson to show him the error of his greedy ways. After the opening credit sequence, Jennifer peeks into his office to see Mr. Carlson asleep at his desk, so we know it's all a dream.

A dream is not part of reality which might explain Mr. Carlson's behaviour. For a show that prides itself on, in fact was an innovator of character continuity, at the beginning of the episode, Mr. Carlson comes off as a greedy jerk, not the befuddled father figure we have come to know and love. It's almost as if he has reverted to the Carlson of the pilot episode. The Carlson we know would love to get the team together to hand out bonuses. This Carlson is sneaky and deceitful.

This episode, hands down, utilizes the most special effects the show ever has, beating out the exploding window from "Tornando." Because of this, the set seems "off." The lighting isn't right; there are strange shadows even in the "awake" scenes. Even Carlson himself remarks upon his return from the past "I'm alone. And in bad lighting again."

But mostly, the audience seems out of sync with what is on our scenes. My best guess is that some of the scenes were filmed in front of a studio audience, as usual, but that the special effects, such has Carlson speaking with his deceased "Marley-like" grandfather (both played by Gordon Jump) just couldn't be filmed live. Some audience "sweetening" was needed and it is noticeable.

Something else that makes this episode stand out is how self-referential it is. The characters, especially Carlson himself, talk openly about how they are in a telling of "Christmas Carol." Carlson mocks "The Ghost of Christmas Present" for not being too good with his magic. "The Ghost of Christmas Past" goes on and on in his defense of "poor, misunderstood Johnny." It's almost as if the cast and crew are getting to put on a community theatre production of "Christmas Carol" rather than a network sit-com.

We start with an audience "Oooooo!" when Arthur is confronted with the ghost of his grandfather, warning that he will be visited by three ghosts that night. The effect of Jump conversing with himself is pretty well done, especially for 1980 television. But this ghost doesn't speak like either a ghost or like Arthur's grandfather would have. He speaks like Arthur using terms like "suckers" and buster" giving a very modern (for 1980) and irreverent twist to the telling.

Jennifer visits as the beautiful, white clad Ghost of Christmas Past and brings Arthur back to December 24, 1954 - 26 years before. This scene is a Christmas present for the audience in the form of a heaping helping of fan service. See squeaky-voiced Artie Carlson land his first big account as WKRP sales manager, sitting at the same desk Herb sits at now. See the staff of WKRP from a quarter century ago, including GM Mr. Armour who may be having an affair with sweet old Mrs. Butterworth, the receptionist. But mostly, see scrappy young office boy Les Nesman with a full head of hair be named a "full blown" cub reporter. And, touchingly, receive his first bow tie.

This scene sweetly emphazies how important WKRP is to Arthur. It is where he has spent his entire adult life and it's a place he is going to remain long after all these kids in their dungarees leave Cincinnati.

It is a good choice to make Venus the jovial, if not quite magical Ghost of Christmas Present. He is a natural Master of Ceremonies.  Carlson gets to see what his employees really think of him. I'm not sure who is playing the Bob Cratcrit role here though. Is it Herb, who calls himself Carlson's "number one Yes Man," just to be screwed out of a Christmas bonus again? (Does this mean his snaggletoothed daughter will have to live out her days in a convent?) Or is it Andy, who has to be the one to break the bad news to the staff and explain the bonuses aren't coming? For all the times Carlson and Andy have spent together, does Andy really think of him as "Cheap. A skinflint. A tightwad."?

What Carlson really sees is the camaraderie of the staff, excluding himself. They are the ones organizing their own Christmas party and bringing their own potluck treats. Johnny brings brownies that, for some reason, nobody wants to try. Bailey brings her Grandmother's cookies, even if they taste terrible. But Bailey also lies so she will work the Christmas Day shift and Les can visit with his Mother in Dayton.

All of this is enough for Carlson to agree to give out the bonuses, even out of his own pocket. But just as in the original story, these visits aren't to just earn a one time donation. As Carlson is told by the Ghost of Christmas Future "This trip is for you to understand the true spirit of giving. It's to teach you Good Will Among Men. Peace on Earth. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" and so on.

No other cast member could ever be the sombre, Reaper-like Ghost of Christmas Future than Johnny Fever. Clad in black with red-rimmed eyes, he's always been only a couple of cups of coffee away from death at the best of times. But it is a chilling glimpse into the future of WKRP and radio itself that pays off here. If Christmas past was 26 years ago, we can assume Christmas Future is 26 years ahead, which takes us to the dystopian year of... 2006! While others were Bringing Sexy Back, Herb Tarlek is alone in a THX1137 - inspired futuristic radio office, free to read actual girlie magazines at his desk because no one else is around. The station is fully automated (gasp!). Only the least effective employee has survived (gasp again!).

In an act of fan service like the Past gives us, the Future tells us what will become of our beloved 'KRP family, and each of the answers feels like it could possible happen - except for Les. Bailey runs a TV station in Chicago. Andy breeds guard dogs in New Mexico. Venus owns a clothing line called "Upwardly Mobile." Jennifer married and bought an island of the coast of Sardinia (which itself is off the coast of Italy). Christmas Past says that Les Nesman has become the Republican Whip of the U.S. Senate, but I think it would have to be another ten years or so before the Republican party would give someone like Les that kind of authority. Fever "just sort of... disappeared. There were rumours, of course..." also seems to be right on the money for his character.

Of course, true to Dickens' story, Arthur wakes up from his dream and is giddy about being generous to the staff. The ending of the show is the only time we don't hear the rockin' "knock 'em all dead, uh-huh" outro music, but instead we watch the staff enjoying their Christmas party together. They are all laughing and dancing together, and mixing outside of their usual office cliques until finally, Arthur Carlson throws kisses us all.

God Bless Us, Every One!

Roy

Other Notes: This is the one episode of "WKRP in Cincinnati" that won an Emmy. Andy Ackerman won for "Outstanding Videotape Editing for a Series." He would later win Emmys for "Cheers" and be nominated for "Seinfeld."  The Republican Whip of the U.S. Senate in 2006 was William Frist. Don Diamond, who played Past news director Don Bassett on this episode, had one other WKRP espisode... in the other Christmas episode "Jennifer's Home for Christmas!

Ep. 51 - A Mile in My Shoes

August 2, 2017

Writers: Dan Guntzelman
Director: Rod Daniel
Original Air Date: December 6, 1980

The great paradox of Herb Tarlek's life is this: His being Sales Manager may not be that important to WKRP but being Sales Manager of WKRP is the most important thing in his life.

This is evident before the credits even roll. Herb brings a letter to Mr. Carlson stating that "Herb Tarlek is ... essential and indispensable to the operation of the company" and Carlson, who has always been Herb's biggest supporter, literally laughs in his face. "Is this some kind of joke?" he laughs. The thing is, jury duty or not, that has always been the way Herb has seen himself at the station - as essential and indispensable. In the season two episode "Venus Rising," Herb bluffs he has a job elsewhere to get WKRP to give him a raise and loses big time when Carlson is ready to just let him go. The Sales department is essential to the running of any radio station, and he is the sales manager. Those two things are true. The false conclusion Herb then jumps to (and lives his life by) is that, therefore he is personally essential to the station. The great dirty truth in business is anyone can be replaced.

So Herb goes off to jury duty and Andy steps in with the intention of showing Herb the way things should be done. Andy is confident he can do the job better because he thinks ANYONE could do the job better than Herb. We'll come back to Andy's story in a minute.

Herb is elected foreman of the jury and what ensues is the "WKRP in Cincinnati" version of "12 Angry Men," except Herb is trying to convince everyone the defendant is guilty. As is alluded to in the final scene, this is suppose to represent Herb stepping into Andy shoes, trying to get a group of disparate people to work together without much success. Writer Dan Guntzelman made a wise decision in not having the jury be made up of representative characters from the station. There isn't an old hippie, a commie-hating paranoid, a smart, beautiful blonde, etc. Instead we see an "old, immigrant man," a bimbo and a guy trying to hit on the bimbo. This group can't even decide what to order for lunch! How can Herb wrangle them into a conviction?

He does so by pretending to be pretending. Herb gives a heart-tugging speech about how all the time spent in the courtroom is letting some young hotshot have a chance at taking over his job. He starts to tear up. The lady tries to comfort him and he reveals he is "acting" the same way the defendant is. Thing is, he's not acting. That is the real reason he wants out of jury duty. He's not missing his wife and kids - he's afraid someone is taking over his job. Once the jury finally lets out, the first place he goes, even late at night, is back to the office. And a real moment of fear overcomes him when he sees Andy, dressed in a suit, sitting at the Sales desk.

Before we get to Andy's "mile," what is happening with the rest of the cast? Venus has been made temporary Program Director and it's interesting to see he's now not dressing like funky "Venus" or cowboy "Andy." They say dress for the job you want, and in his suit, he more resembles General Manager Carlson than anyone else. He immediately bumps up against the same problems Andy constantly faces: Johnny not playing the playlist and Les with some hairball, award-baiting scheme.

The C-story in this script is that Les wants to adapt John Howard Griffin's 1961 book "Black Like Me" for radio. There is so much wrong with this idea, both in the WKRP universe and in the real world.

I have often critized Richard Sanders' showy acting, and I realize he was just following his script here. However, I'd like to point out that in three of the past four episodes, Frank Bonner has been working as a lead character, utilizing his comic timing and improve skills to elevate the show. In contrast, Richard Sanders has been reduced to a bit player, who with this episode, reaches the lowest point the character of Les Nesman would ever reach. The joke is Les in blackface - period. Look how silly Les is in blackface, especially in front of Venus ha ha ha. Sanders doesn't add anything to that joke and even in 1980, that joke isn't funny. It feels to me like the writers don't trust Sanders to carry an episode as much as they do Bonner.

But just go back to the world of WKRP. The book Les wants to adapt is already 20 years old. There was already a movie made of it 16 years earlier. So the premise is outdated. Also, this is a Rock 'n Roll station, with a mixed raced listenership, as evidenced by the popularity of both Johnny and Venus. This is not the audience for an expose on race relations in Cincinnati. But most obviously, you can't see Les in blackface on the radio. Venus is equal parts offended and terrified by Les in blackface. How would the whole listenership react?

Now it's time for Andy, who once again proves he's not as good at his job as he thinks he is. Andy loses six clients in a week. He claims to have "lived and breathed radio since (he) was a little boy" and "done every job there is to be done at a radio station, including sales" but after all this time he still doesn't understand WKRP's position in the marketplace. There are no national advertisers on this station, no agencies buying blocks of airtime. Herb has cobbled together a string of shady, sleazy clients because that's what he's had to do since the station was 24th in a 28 station market. The "Mile in My Shoes" of the title is a reference to Andy, who in four minutes in Smilin' Al's office sees what Herb has lived with, day after day for years. He needs to drink "hootch" and make mindless, glad handing small talk all while jumping around professional hustlers who are just waiting to take advantage of him.

Andy slowly turns into Herb, from the suits and slicked-back hair to killing time around the bullpen, building pencil towers just waiting, HOPING for one of his contacts to come back. When Herb comes back to save the account, Andy gains a new appreciation for him and how tough his job is. But not enough of an appreciation to actually hire some more salesmen, or a professional collection agency to help Herb out. The debts problem isn't solved, Herb has to earn back six new clients to make up for what Andy lost and Andy still needs to wash that stuff out of his hair.

Roy

Other Notes - Shout out to the scene of Johnny and Venus speaking in unison. Genuinely funny. Walter Jonowitz, who played the immigrant juror, made a career out of playing either Jewish immigrants or Nazis (specifically on "Hogan's Heroes"). That's a unique range