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Chapter Four ''Put Us Behind MxAxSxH" The First Season The September 18, 1978 debut of WKRP was greeted with a fair amount of fanfare, including a number of decent reviews. Variety called the new series a potential hit for CBS, provided Wilson and Company could keep up the excellent writing evidenced by the pilot. Because WKRP was of interest to the folks in Cincinnati, The Cincinnati Post made quite afuss as well. Meet The New 'WKRP Family' Even [Cincinnati] Mayor Springer will have to take a back seat when the new First Family comes to Cincinnati tonight. The cast of the new CBS-1V comedy WKRP In Cincinnati is expected to become a familiar gang of characters in local households, according to predictions of success within the television industry. (Cincinnati Post) The article, which featured a picture of the regular cast, went on to describe the format of the show. It also gave short biographical sketches of each of the actors, pointing out that both Gary Sandy and Gordon Jump were born in the Dayton, Ohio area. Perhaps more impressive was the debut day article that appeared on the front page of The Wall Street Journal. Using WKRP as an example of how a TV show makes it to the air, the article not only spoke to the specific background of WKRP, but to the gestation process of sitcoms in general: Tonight, millions of American television viewers will be formally introduced to eight people, the regular cast of the show ''WKRP in Cincinnati," a new CBS comedy about a floundering radio station that switches its music format from COOlball to rock. In the television business, such fU'St impressions are the source of all good things-namely advertising revenues and future profits. If, say, 25 million 49 50 America's Favorite Radio Station viewers like the performers well enough to welcome them eagerly into their living rooms week after week, the half-hour show will be on the way to becoming a hit. As such, it could remain on the air for the next five years or more. If, however, the elusive chemistry between viewer and performer fails to ignite, a year's effort on the part of the "WKRP" cast, as well as the network's $2 million investment in the first 13 episodes, will have been for naught. Without respectable Nielsen ratings (generally 30% of those watching TV at a given hour), the series probably will be yanked from the schedule with merciless dispatch. ...Even so, "WKRP" is more fortunate than most fledgling series. It has won raves from critics, ad agencies, and affiliated stations... (Graham) The pilot lived up to its expectations. Airing at 8:40 pm-it was delayed by President Carter's address to Congress ("Reviews" 52)-the episode captured a 19.7 rating, being seen in 14,675,000 homes. It also scored a respectable 30 share. Unfortunately, the next seven episodes did not place as well. "Pilot Part 1\vo," the second episode, captured only a 25 share and a dismal 15.7 rating (or 11,696,500 viewers, representing a loss of nearly 4 million viewers from the week before). lbis lack-luster performance continued through to November. Out of the eight episodes shown in that time period, the ratings remained in the low to midtwenties , with the lowest rating and share-14.2 and 21, respectivelyoccurring on November 6. lbis prompted the network to temporarily remove the series from its schedule. Various stories surfaced to explain the forced hiatus. "The highly touted WKRP in Cincinnati, characterized as a 'disappointment' by one CBS executive," wrote Sally Bedell in the November 11 issue of TV Guide, "will...be moved to another time slot to see if ratings improve" ("TV" A-4). Later, the network claimed that WKRP was taken off the air to give Hugh Wilson and the rest of the staff a chance to re-tool and save the show ("People Cancelled" 43). Was WKRP a bad show that needed revamping or were there other circumstances that contributed to its poor performance? After looking at the early episodes, the general trends in the ratings, and the competition against which WKRP was set, one begins to find that the problems were not entirely the fault of the show; the main culprit was time slots. From the beginning, Wilson had argued with the network that WKRP was not an 8 pm "family hour" show capable of [18.222.119.148] Project MUSE (2024-04...

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