TV's favorite radio station

If you came of age in the 70s, like me, the raging debate over which type of woman a man preferred had gone far beyond the traditional old Ginger or Mary Ann discussion. I was way too young to be interested in either one of them, although as an adult my preference came down well on the Mary Ann side in reruns.

Young adults of the 1970s had their own TV characters to fawn over, and mine was on a little show that debuted in September of 1978 called WKRP in Cincinnati. I know most of you may be thinking that I'm about to launch into some flowery tribute of Loni Anderson, who played the blonde receptionist Jennifer Marlowe, but no. My flowery tribute is going out to the hot little station billing and traffic girl, Bailey Quarters, played by Jan Smithers.

I always figured that it was way too easy to fall for the obvious choices in such instances. Bailey was shy, quiet and a more interesting person than Jennifer, who only seemed interested in keeping her hair lacquered and tormenting Herb Tarlek. Maybe it was Bailey's big glasses or that little scar on her chin - who knows?
What got me to thinking about such things? It generally doesn't take much. Last week, the DVDs of the first season of WKRP finally were made available, after years of legal wrangling over music copyrights and whatnot.

The first season was perhaps best known for one called "Turkeys Away", where station manager Arthur Carlson sends newsman Les Nessman out to cover the station's Thanksgiving Turkey Drop, in which live turkeys were dropped from a helicopter. It quickly becomes a Hindenburg-like affair, where Les proclaimed, "The turkeys are hitting the ground like sacks of wet cement!"

It is climaxed by Carlson's declaration: "As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly."

"For those of you who've just tuned in, the Pinedale Shopping Mall has just been bombed with live turkeys. Film at eleven."

The show lasted four seasons (90 episodes) and sadly, they aren't shown much on TV anymore. So, screw 'em, because now we can buy the episodes and watch them when we want, in stark contrast to the odd CBS scheduling in which the show seemed to change nights and times almost weekly during its last two seasons.
How the tiny AM radio station ever survived is anyone's guess, but regardless, it made great television. Maybe it was Dr. Johnny Fever (a.k.a. Johnny Sunshine, Johnny Duke, Johnny Style and Heavy Early) who somehow had shortened reaction time as he became increasingly drunk.
Maybe it was Venus Flytrap, or Herb; but it sure as Hell wasn't because of Les Nessman (winner of the "Buckeye Newshawk Award"). Les was famous for his imaginary walls and doorway around his desk and his stubborn mispronunciation of golfer Chi Chi Rodriguez, [Chy Chy Rod-ri-gweeze] even after Dr. Fever corrected him off-air. Even so, you gotta love a guy who inexplicably wore a bandage in a different spot in every episode.

If you're as tired as I am of repeat upon repeat of Seinfeld and Everybody Loves Raymond, you can pick up the first season of this classic TV sitcom and remember a time when sitcoms actually existed, unlike now, when there are maybe five; and radio is something they want us to pay for. By my unofficial count, in 1978 there were 24 situation comedies on the three networks in prime time. 24. Can you imagine? All of which makes WKRP even better by virtue of its competition. Today, a show can stand out if there are only four others doing the same thing. In the 70s, sitcoms were King, and WKRP was very close to the throne.

It had great writing, and like all great writing, it is timeless. The characters are well-developed and the show hit the ground running, unlike many shows today that take half a season to figure out whether they are a comedy or drama, even though it took the boobs at CBS half a season to figure out that it had a winner on its hands with WKRP. Half-way through season one, the show was placed on hiatus (usually a death blow) but it was so popular with viewers that they brought it back, just as its popularity has led to its DVD release now.
As it turned out, the show was nominated for three Emmy awards for Outstanding Comedy Series, but strangely none for any of the actors. There was competition, then , you know.
Bailey deserved some sort of trophy.

I almost forgot, fellow babies ...

Booger!