WKRP...Rock n Roll Radio
Written: Aug 13 '01
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Excellent series, I was hoping it would go more than 4 seasons.
Cons: They pulled the plug too early, needed more guest appearances.
The Bottom Line: Once you see a couple of episodes you will grow to love this show too.
|
|
|
| freebird91's Full Review: WKRP In Cincinnati |
There are only a handful of classic TV shows that get my full attention; WKRP in Cincinnati is one of them. I remember seeing this when it was in first run (1978-82), I was glad when several stations picked it up throughout the years. Nick at Nite had a run of the show for a while, and with the formatting of TNN, the show has changed over to the morning lineup they have with Newhart and The Wonder Years and a few other shows. The series once had a revised version but didn’t last as long (I barely remember it though). The New WKRP was on the air from 1991-93. A few of the original cast were on there.
WKRP starts out as a Classical/Easy Listening station owned by Lillian Carlson (they always called her Mamma Carlson or something like that.) After Ms. Carlson gives her son Arthur the chance to run the station, he is asked by the new Program Director, Andy Travis to change formats and go to Rock n Roll. After sneaking the plan the series starts working on ideas to get them in the ratings from free tickets, flying turkeys, live broadcasts, and other off the wall ideas, this was part of the reason the show was so great. There are a few episodes that stick in my mind today, and a little side note, did you know Frank Bonner (Herb Tarlek) was one of the directors of the series? I wasn’t aware of this until checking out some info on the Web. Here’s a brief description of each character…
Arthur Carlson – Gordon Jump: Mr. Carlson is the “Big Guy” and has walked into a few of the on’ry things the Jocks promote, Mr. Carlson is also trying to raise his son Art Jr. and we hear him mention this during the series.
Andy Travis – Gary Sandy: Andy is the Program Director, and the one who changed formats of the station to get higher ratings,.
Johnny Fever – Howard Hessman: The wild one of the bunch, pure Rock n Roll and one of my favorite characters of the show.
Venus Flytrap – Tim Reid: Venus is the soul brother of the series, always grooving down with R&B, and Soul music, Venus is the night owl and has some great lines.
Jennifer Marlowe – Loni Anderson: Jennifer is the beautiful secretary that Herb is always flirting with (even though he’s married he still seems to do it). Jennifer is always looking after Mr. Carlson and I think she was the reason the show lasted as long as it did.
Bailey Quarters – Jan Smithers: Bailey is the only other female employed at WKRP and has to put up with Herb’s lines along with Jennifer. I always thought she deserved more exposure to the series myself.
Les Nessman – Richard Sanders: Les is one of the confused people I’ve seen on the series, he had the area marked off of his office space and people had to pantomime they were opening the door. Les was the one responsible for the flying turkey incident along with Mr. Carlson.
Herb Tarlek – Frank Bonner: Herb is the Sales guy and comes up with the cheapest pick up lines on Jennifer. Herb is the guy you love to hate.
Some of the favorite moments I recall from the show…
*The flying Turkey incident
*Festival Seating for the Who – This was one of the most serious episodes they did, this actually happened and the producers wanted to look at this from a radio station’s angle.
*Venus and John do an on air broadcast of Alcohol and how it can affect your system.
*The Baseball game the staff plays against the guys at WPIG
*John gets Mike fright after telling the community of Cincinnati to dump the trash outside of City Hall during the garbage strike.
That’s just a couple of the episodes I enjoy watching, I have been a fan of this series for years and would love to see them come back with another revised version, if they could make it more current I could see it getting a good run, especially if you could get celebrities to come in and do cameo spots. As a huge music fan I have to give this a 5 rating because it shows some comedy, drama, music, and also tells us a little bit about each person during the 4 seasons. In closing, if you ever get the chance to check this show out, I would take advantage of it.
Recommended:
Yes
Type of Program: Comedy
Program Quality: Thought-provoking, original material
Best Suited For: Other
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
freebird91
|
|
Location: Illinois
Reviews written: 150
Trusted by: 29 members
About Me:
Just a midwest guy with a love for music, Corona beer and Kevin Smith films!
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.