WKRP Quote of the Day

[jon]

Everyday, until I run out, I'll attempt to include either a quote or description of an event in the life of the WKRP TV show.

This will not be quotes from show as aired. But from the 1993 Michael Kassel book that is no longer in print in Canada. After all, if the book is not available, there is no point in me simply doing a book review and expecting you to go out and buy it.

The book took two years of research, and a lot of interviews with the cast and stars of the show. Quite often, it reveals errors in the stories you've heard.

Today's quote is just such a story. Howard Hesseman, who plays Johnny Fever, is always referred to as an ex-DJ, as if Radio was actually a career for him.

In fact, in 1967, he did a 6 hour Saturday night show on KMPX San Francisco for 8-9 months, as a favour to the late Tom Donahue. Howard had previously been working professionally as an actor for over two years, doing 6 nights a week of political satire and comedy with The Committee, a highly respected improvisational comedy group that also launched careers for Penny Marshall and Rob Reiner.

Before that, he had several years of non-professional (i.e. - not paid) acting under his belt.

[jon]

Mr. Carlson is partially based on a Radio Executive who really did the "Turkey Drop" for a station promotion in Dallas, Texas. Later, at Top 40 powerhouse WQXI (Quixie in Dixie) in Atlanta, where many of the ideas for WKRP came, this same Exec had another brilliant idea that never made it to air on WKRP. This time the SPCA nailed him to the wall for the "Quixy Quacker Dancing Ducks" stunt.

In a downtown store window, ducks were placed on some sort of hot plate. And kept moving their webbed feet in a dance-like motion to try and avoid being burnt.

For his part, Gordon Jump, who played Mr. Carlson, actually had more experience as a Radio and Television Broadcaster than anyone else involved with WKRP. He used aspects of three people he had worked with in Radio, to create the Mr. Carlson character.

The Turkey Drop episode was co-written by series creator Hugh Wilson, who spent time at WQXI, meeting station staff in preparation for creating WKRP. Included was Mr. Turkey Drop.

[drmusic]

Actually, it was stated in an episode, I think the "Real Families" episode, that Herb HAD done the Dancing Ducks at WKRP. It wasn't shown, of course, but recalled later.

[jon]

The concept that WKRP would not do well as a radio station did not come part and parcel with the original concept for the series. In fact, Hugh Wilson had dreamed up the series idea, and both the studio (MTM) and network (CBS) had already agreed to the development of a script for the pilot for the series BEFORE Wilson realized that WKRP could not do well as a radio station.

After approval by MTM and CBS, Hugh spent a day at WQXI in Atlanta as his first step in developing the plot for the pilot. WQXI had six sales staff.

Wilson knew that the show would only "work" if there was only one salesman. He also had enough business knowledge to realize that, without a multi-person "sales force", if it were a real radio station, WKRP was never going to be a hugely profitable major market radio station.

That realization, that WKRP would linger near the bottom of the ratings, probably shaped the entire tone of the WKRP TV series more than any other single factor.

The final irony of the piece is that Hugh's old friend at WQXI who got him the day at the station was salesman Clark Brown. As Hugh peopled WKRP with characters from WQXI, Clark became Herb Tarlek. Obviously, Herb's character in WKRP quickly had a life of its own, separate from WQXI and Clark Brown, especially given Hugh's willingness and even desire to get the actors to help develop the characters. Much of Herb came from Frank Bonner, who was cast as Herb.

[jon]

In the episode "Daydreams", each character is shown in their personal fantasy. Bailey is the first woman President of the U.S. Johnny Fever is her husband, making him America's first "first-husband".

Remember the scene where they are lying in bed together? That was the same bed used by Scarlet O'Hara in Gone With the Wind.

Yes, you can Google and find out that fact. But the only Google hit that I can find is an actual page from this book:
http://books.google.com/books?id=x-esBm ... t&resnum=1

[jon]

In the years leading up to the release of the WKRP First Season on DVD, everybody, it seemed, talked about how the music was not going to be the same. Always laying the blame on Music Royalties. And how they'd increased so much since the series was originally aired.

Not!

The book reveals that Music Royalties were a huge, probably the largest, issue facing the series getting to air in the first place.

After a lot of heated discussions, the only solution ended up being recording the show on video tape. In those days, video tape quality was such that you just couldn't do some things on video tape that you could do on film, even for airing on television.

Plus, the studio, MTM, had no video tape facilities; they did everything on film. As a result, the first half of the first season, before WKRP went on a network-forced hiatus, was recorded at KTLA-TV in Los Angeles. MTM built video tape-equipped studios by the time it was time to record the second half of the first season.

So, the Music Royalties issue has plagued the series from its inception through to the DVD editions of today.

By the way, even the members of the cast and crew from the original series who did the commentary on the DVD of the first season had nothing but good things to say about the way the music was replaced. The implication is that Pink Floyd was a real "killer" in terms of Rights costs. Given how much Floyd was used in the series....

[Howaboutthat]

Weird... I did a Google search on 'quote of the day' and it usually involved one line maximum, (an actual quote!) and an attribution of where it come from. The above is more like an annecdote or synopsis.

[jon]

...you can't believe everything you read in Google. Especially the reports of Elvis still being alive.

OK, maybe the title is misleading, but I thought I explained what I was up to in the first post:

Everyday, until I run out, I'll attempt to include either a quote or description of an event in the life of the WKRP TV show.

This will not be quotes from show as aired. But from the 1993 Michael Kassel book that is no longer in print in Canada. After all, if the book is not available, there is no point in me simply doing a book review and expecting you to go out and buy it.

As I said, everything is from the same book.

Besides "WKRP annecdote or synopsis of the day" just doesn't quite have the same ring to it.

[Howaboutthat]

heh heh....yeah you're right!

It was such a great show. Am I the only one that had a crush on Bailey?

[jon]

No, there is nothing in the book on it. But I've read a lot of comments over the years that make me think that, among regular viewers, there were more crushes on Bailey than Jennifer.

I haven't mentioned it, and didn't plan to, as part of the poorly named "Quote of the Day", because I had heard this before reading the book, but: Bailey's character was patterned by Hugh Wilson after his own wife. Or, more accurately, his impression of his wife. (page 30 of the book) "very shy, but very smart -- the sort of person people tend to dismiss as a jerk until they find out she's got so much to offer."

Jan Smithers immediately got the role of Bailey because she was the only actress who read for the part that actually was shy, as opposed to playing shy.

Jan's self-esteem originally went into the dumpster as a teenager when she had a traffic accident that left her with a scar on her chin. Later, at age 19, Jan finally decided to become a professional actress, and lost quite a few roles because of that scar.

[jon]

"Exposition" was not a word that I was familiar with, in terms of film-making (movies/televison/radio), until a few years back. The word came up in one of those DVD commentaries that you can turn on or off for the first season of a TV series. It would appear to be one of the first words they teach you in Film School. I dunno, of course, since I've never darkened the door of Academia on the subject. In fact, I'm so old that they didn't even have Film courses in University in those days....

Exposition refers to the revelation of who the characters are at the beginning of a movie. Or, where it really is a challenge, the first episode(s) of a TV series. Common percpetion is that, if you don't hook your audience into caring (good or bad) about (some or all of) the characters in the pilot, they won't be coming back each week.

As you might guess, having a narrator telling you all about each character has been considered "heavy handed" since the early 1950s on television. So that was the question that plagued Hugh Wilson as he began to develop the pilot for WKRP: how to do exposition?

"The Stranger as Guide" is one of the methods taught in Film School. Andy Travis being the new Program Director became the ideal vehicle. In the pilot, much is seen through Andy's eyes, so that he can meet and learn about each character for the first time, just as the audience is.

Presto! Problem solved.

[jon]

Richard Sanders wanted to research the part of a News Director named Les Nessman at WKRP. So, he visited KFWB, Los Angeles' very successful All News station.

"Too modern" was his immediate reaction, so he didn't take anything from his tour of the station, relying instead on his own experience working at the Carnegie-Mellon (then Carnegie-Tech in Pittsburgh) campus radio station while a student there. "It was a very rinky-dink station," recalled Sanders. "We had a very bad board and none of us at the station really knew what we were doing."

He started at Carnegie in 1958, the same year he had last used a pair of eyeglasses that he adapted for his "reading for the role" of Les.

I think it is fairly well known that the signature bandage that Les wore in each episode of the series began with a real bandage required for a real flesh wound Richard had in the pilot. Late in the series, a plot point in one episode has Les owning a dog that is continually biting him, finally explaining the bandages.

What is less well known is just how serious that original injury was. An hour before the pilot was scheduled to be shot, a light fell down from the stage, gashing Richard in the head. He was taken to Emergency at the local hospital because he required stitches. Knowing that he was killing the show -- everyone could do nothing but sit around and wait -- Richard asked about a butterfly bandage. The Doctor said it wouldn't hold, but was willing to give it a try.

Richard's plan was to cover the bandage with makeup, but the Doctor "put his foot down", explaining that the makeup would create a serious infection. So, the bandage made it to air on the pilot.

As for Les' bow-tie, it was as spontaneous as the bandage. During the photo session to promote the show, Richard's straight tie caught the eye of one of the cameramen, who thought it really sucked. He suggested Richard try his own tie, a bow-tie.

[jon]

Frank Bonner wasn't the first choice to pay Herb Tarlek, WKRP's entire sales force. He was actually third choice.

Howard Hesseman (Johnny Fever) was first choice, but turned the part of Herb down flat. Frank's friend Rod McCarey had just come off of General Hospital and was given the part. Since nothing is for sure in Hollywood, he had also read for the pilot of Mother, Jugs and Speed. He got that part, too, so had to make a choice. WKRP lost in Rod's coin toss to decide, and third choice Frank Bonner was now Herb Tarlek.

Beginning in high school, Frank was constantly teased because he looked so much like Bert Parks, famous host of game shows and the Miss America telecast from 1955 to 1979. In fact, in later years, Frank used to start singing "There she is, Miss America..." to head things off at the pass, in terms of teasing.

Bert was chosen to pay Herb's Father in the "Herb's Dad" episode, where Herb Sr. won't go into retirement, and retirement housing.

The well known fact about this episode is that Bert Parks was also being forced to retired when he was fired from Miss America. Less well known is that the WKRP episode was filmed before (and aired after) Bert found out about his firing.

Bonner said "That was a very special episode for me" even though "It [Bert's firing] was very spooky. It kind of gave you that chill. It's like a prophetic episode. We all just went, 'We didn't mean to do it, Bert.'"

[jon]

WKRP was fun to watch for me, not just for the Radio angle in the first season. I had spent a week on course in Cincinnati six months earlier, so I recognized most of the landmarks. Although the pilot first aired on September 18, 1978, the scenes for the opening credits were shot in early Spring 1978. I had been there in the Autumn of 1977.

But the truth was that there were really only two trips to Cincinnati for filming. As well as the credits, the airplane shots in the first episode of the Third Season were filmed in Cincinnati.

Actually, an Actor's Strike was in progress, and only Richard Sanders ("Les") and guest Michael Fairman could get a special waiver to work on "The Airplane Show", which the two of them had written themselves. Les has finally got his own "Fish Eye in the Sky" (W-Carp has a fish mascot), an old bi-plane. And it just wouldn't work without the real Cincinnati in the background. At least, not with 1978 levels of special effects.

To make matters worse, the stunt double got sick, and it was up to Richard to do all the crazy Les stunts that you see in the episode. "So they shot it from a helicopter and I was up there in the plane. I don't know what the heck got into me to do that, but I was in the plane doing stupid stunts like that. I was halfway out on the plane's fuselage...there was no way in the world I could have survived if I would have fallen out. The plane was a 1934 Waco--you had to be careful--if you stepped out, you'd step through the wing."

[jon]

WKRP series creator and producer Hugh Wilson was a great fan of Improv (improvisational comedy). And wanted to foster a repertory atmosphere as much as he could. As mentioned earlier, that love of Improv had him attend a performance of "The Committee" (improv group) where he first saw Howard Hesseman, though he somehow had Herb Tarlek in mind for Howard.

A lot of members of The Committee ended up guesting on WKRP, as Hesseman would suggest someone for a part that Hugh was looking for. Conversely, when Hugh and three writers appeared in an episode, a complaint letter was received from the Screen Actor's Guild, with a $500 fine, about non-actors working in series TV.

Later on, WKRP actors did write and direct episodes. But, from the beginning, suggestions on casting, dialogue, wardrobe and scripted actions were welcome from both the cast and crew.

Most of the music and "DJ patter" was developed by Hesseman ("Fever") and Tim Reid ("Venus") themselves, rather than being scripted by the writers. Hesseman went as far as taking LPs home with him at night, and working everything out on his own turntable and board, so he could talk up to the vocal in one take, etc.