In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Chapter Seven "I'm Exhausted" The Fourth Season There was an interesting irony in WKRP's fourth and final season. On the one hand, WKRP, the radio station, began dOing very well. Under an economic boycott instigated by the "Clean Up Radio" people, WKRP went commercial free and began picking up good numbers, eventually "becoming" the number 6 station in the Cincinnati market (Guntzelman). When Andy was able to keep the employees from forming a union, he was rewarded by Momma with more money for the station, which soon received a brand new lobby (Hunter, "The Union"). Meanwhile, WKRP, the TV show, was having its worst season ever. While the season opener helped CBS to win its premier week Monday night, WKRP's other first-run episodes that season failed to register in the top 20......It was just clear that the show wasn't going anywhere," admitted Wilson. "Because we had 18 time slots, I think, in four years, and I must say that, by the time the fourth year rolled around, my mood was just, 'Cancel it. I'm tired of this. I'm exhausted' " (Wilson). Frustrated as Wilson was, it did not affect the show's quality; that fourth season included some of WKRP's most inventive, provocative and humorous episodes. "Fire," which featured Herb and Jennifer trapped in an elevator of the burning Rem building, was one of the few TV shows shot in real-time. "To Err is Human" had Herb wind up on a black haircare product stand-up display that was supposed to feature Venus Flytrap. Herb later ended up making things worse by offending the client, who turned out to be blind. In "Three Days of the Condo," Johnny Fever came upon a financial windfall and bought a condo at "Gone with the Wind Estates." When he ended up hating the place, Fever eventually got out of the deal by pretending that he and Venus were homosexual lovers. 98 "I'm Exhausted" 99 Herb got the thrill of his life in "Changes" when Jennifer agreed to go out with him on a mercy date. Nervously sitting in a restaurant booth with Jennifer, Herb accidentally spilled wine onto his lap. In what was to be his proudest moment, Herb ended up walking out of the restaurant with Jennifer on his arm and a wet wine stain on the front of his pants. On the other hand, Les Nessman found luck in love when he was matched with his perfect mate in "I'll Take Romance." Things went along pretty well until Les found out that the service was merely a front for prostitution. WKRP also maintained its forthright posture in dealing with timely issues. "Love, Exciting and New" had Andy as the victim of Momma Carlson's sexual harassment. Radio station programming services came under fire in "The Consultant," in which an old friend of Andy's threatened to give the station a bad report unless Andy subscribed to the consultant's service. Proud that he worked at one of the few stations that still programmed its own music-and wanting to hold on to that honorAndy came up with a funny scheme to discredit his old friend. "The Consultant" was not the first WKRP episode that focused on the dwindling state of pre-programmed playlists and computer-operated radio stations. In the second season episode "Venus Rising," Venus was asked to become the PD at WREQ, an automated radio station run by a computer affectionately called MAXX. "What do I do around here?" asked Venus. "Not much!" replied the station manager, who went on to tell Venus how proud WREQ was of its affirmative action program. Telling the manager to "Paint MAXX brown," Venus returned to WKRP (Marshall, Guntzelman). The episode "Rumors" asked the question, "Can male and female coworkers live together and still be friends?" With his apartment being fumigated, Johnny took up quarters with Bailey. Rumors of sexual activity between Bailey and Fever began to fill the station. Even the level-headed Andy and Venus were not immune to spreading the off-color gossip. "Dear Liar," which had Bailey embellishing the facts of a local news story, was based on an actual scandal that had taken place at the Washington Post. Another headline topic involved over-the-counter diet pills. Forced to air commercial spots they had sold to a vendor of "legal speed," WKRP was faced with the legal and ethical questions associated [18.191.46.36] Project MUSE...

Share