Two Time Winner of the Buckeye News Award!
Written: Apr 15 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: One of the best, funniest shows ever.
Cons: Only four seasons. Should have been much more!
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| laryan's Full Review: WKRP In Cincinnati |
The hardest part of writing this review was coming up with a good title. My first thought was to steal from the theme song, "Baby, did you ever wonder, duh duh something, whatever became of me. Something about up and the dial, something something, I'm living on the air in Cincinnati, Cincinnati WKRP." Turns out, my idea may have been the most unoriginal idea I had since hooking all the computers of the world together via modems to something I called "The Innernet".
I should have titled this "I am the reason they were cancelled", but I thought the hate mail that generated would overwhelm me. WKRP ran from 1978 to 1882. I watched it religiously (I was a journalism student in High School and college) until fall of 1981 until I went to college. Then I stopped watching TV all together, spending my time partying. But that's another review.
WKRP in Cincinnati was cancelled for whatever reason after its fourth season. The Powers That Be who cancelled it, were responsible for dumping one of the funniest sit-coms ever.
The show dealt with the Cincinnati radio station WKRP who had one of the most unpopular stations in that city. Andy Travis (Gary Sandy) was brought on-board as the new manager to try to jumpstart the ratings. Mr. Carlson (Gordon Jump) was the "Big Guy" in charge because his mother owned the station. Actually, Mr. Carlson was the most inept man on the planet... until you meet the rest of the cast. He was protected by his amazingly Barbie-doll beautiful secretary Jennifer Marlowe (Loni Anderson who did do something besides be unfortunate enough to marry Burt Reynolds).
Andy's first step was to change formats from the elderly music-talk format to rock! Whoo-hoo! Then he hired Venus Flytrap/Gordon Sims (Tim Reid) (with the "sounds of Luhve" drawled in that deep voice) and Dr. Johnny Fever (Howard Hessman) who was canned from his previous job for saying "booger" on the air. I remember the first season, when Johnny's coffee mug listed all his radio names with them crossed out in red and 'Dr. Johnny Fever' written on the bottom. And his first episode where Johnny ends it by saying "booger, booger, booger" on the air.
The rest of the staff was Bailey Quarters (Jan Smithers, a truly beautiful woman who was overshadowed by the others). Herb Tarlek (Frank Bonner) was the sleazy, philandering accounts salesman who constantly drooled over Jennifer (who so coolly and adeptly put him in his place). Of course, there is the favorite character of them all, two time winner of the Buckeye News Award!--Les Nessman (a truly divine, inspiring, totally believable character played by (Richard Sanders). Les was the 'newsman' and who can forget his slapping his chest to imitate a news helicopter and using his mo-ped to get around to all the earth breaking news that was happening around Cincinnati?
Besides the terrific, timeless writing, the ensemble cast worked together like magic. They supported each other and still played off each other. Everyone knew Mr. Carlson was inept, but tried to protect him from his mother, who owned the radio station. The story advanced character development as well as the laughs so the cast developed into warm, 3-d people.
But the best episode, the best laugh of them all was the famous "Turkey Carnage" episode. This is a classic must-see for any true fans of comedy. WKRP decides to promote itself by giving away free turkeys. Like most really good ideas, this one went so totally wrong. With Les Nessman on the scene of the supermarket, reporting this as seriously as ever, the helicopter flies over. Slowly, letter by letter, sounding it out, Les reads the banner that says "Happy Thanksgiving from WKRP". That scene alone is priceless. Then the fun really begins as they begin dropping live turkeys from the helicopter. The idea is that the birds will fly about and someone will eventually catch them. However, one small point is overlooked--turkeys can't fly. "Oh my God!" Les reports on the scene "It's a bloodbath? When will this end?" He is as serious and concerned as if this were a major bombing. Well, as the windshields shatter and people run for cover, it is a major bombing. No turkeys were injured during filming, but the laughs go on and on and on.
This is a classic TV sit-com that was one of the few golden spots of comedy on the dial. Why it was cancelled, I truly do not know. But thank the Powers That Be who are now showing it on Nick at Night. Set your VCRs and catch this one. It's well worth it!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
laryan
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Member: Lisa Ryan
Location: Louisville, KY
Reviews written: 281
Trusted by: 248 members
About Me:
Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt, moved on, reviewed it all. Made 7 cents.
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