WKRP in Cincinnati (TV Series) Commercial Break (1979) User Reviews

Ferryman!...Ferryman!

[stufield · 9/10 · 24 April 2018]

Admit it if you watched this show you just sang that title.

WKRP was a brilliant show and this is one of my favorite episodes. A short list with short titles would be, Turkeys, Scum of the Earth, Tornado, and this. Filmed late during the 1st season the show follows the acquisition of a new sponsor and the development of a commercial for the spots he is paying for. A lot of spots for a lot of money. Something that WKRP could use. The question is will what he wants be appropriate for the station and the audience. This is one of the episodes that shows the staff of the radio station starting to come together as a team. Watch for the auditions for the commercial. Watch for Bailey's and Jennifer's bits. Then all the different personalities of the station staff working together to put together a good product for the client. You also see a side of Mr. Carlson that is a bit different. And as they say there is where the plot complication comes in.

I can't say enough about this episode without giving away a spoiler so let me say these couple things. First is if you have ever listened radio in a market that is not in a major city, you have heard this commercial. And you will have to laugh. Second and maybe more important to the show is showing the team of WKRP coming together. It helps the show work. Lastly this is MTM Productions ensemble casting at it's best. You won't be disappointed.

If you have to ask why the Client is named Ferryman, this episode may not be for you,

One of the top episodes of a top sit-com.

Some day you're gonna buy it!

[JasonDanielBaker · 22 August 2011]

Bailey and Les get up in Tarlek's mix when he makes one unsuccessful sales phone call then tries to head out to a porn theatre to watch a 3-D bondage film - at 11 AM!

They are able to detain him long enough for him to be at his desk to accept a fateful call. A funeral home chain wants to do business with WKRP. Tarlek invites the owner Randall Ferryman - a man who looks like the Grim Reaper without the robe or scythe - to the station to talk details. Ferryman wants a saturation buy i.e. (in this case) thirty commercials (set to a limp rock jingle) aired every single day.

How do you tastefully market funerals? How do you do it without it seeming as though your business depends upon the morbid prospect of mass mortality? Ferryman does it like a burger franchise including drive-thru mourning. If the crowd looks a little sparse at your deceased loved ones eulogy you can rent mourners. There is even a group discount package.

Resident physician Dr.Fever, ever the expert on normalcy, diagnoses it as "deeply weird". Nevertheless all the regular employees get roped into the insanity of making this jingle written and produced by Venus which Bailey, Jennifer and Les sing on with Fever doing the voice-over. The slogan is "Some day you're gonna buy it" - catchy given the proposition i.e. buy your funeral plot now to hedge inflation, a financially sound idea when pondering what is an inevitable purchase. It ends with Bailey, Jennifer and Les cheerfully singing "Bye, bye!".

Travis, usually the voice of reason has evidently taken a big ol' swig of the WKRP Kool-Aid and beams with pride at the job his team has done. Fever muses that he can finally bail his dog out of the pound and buy drapes with his expected pay-raise.

This is an instance on the show where the Big Guy lets positive traits in his personality get in the way of whatever success he or the station might have. He cares about how he plays the game more than if he loses.

He takes Travis aside and tells him that where he is from the commercial is in bad taste (I'm not altogether sure where it would be in GOOD taste) and announces he has cancelled the $18,000 a month account. Herb, who for once has performed admirably and to the satisfaction of all of his colleagues is dumbfounded. But the Big Guy stands by the decision even when Ferryman threatens to sue.

How choosy can WKRP afford to be when it comes to sponsors? They have been dropped by clients like Rolling Thunder European Regulatory Tonic and Little Bo Peep Safety Shoes. The station's main sponsor is Red Wigglers - "The Cadillac of Worms" which employs the alternate slogan "We're Hooked!".

In the pilot episode the station's main sponsor was Shady Acres Rest Home "Call Today Because There Might Not Be A Tomorrow" clues us in on what WKRP's listenership is i.e. senior citizens so decrepit they are awaiting death.

I think that seeing Les singing in this episode is what led to online rumours that Richard Sanders who played him is the one who really sings the title theme heard at the beginning of each episode.