WKRP in Cincinnati (TV Series) Pilot: Part 2 (1978) User Reviews

Jan Smithers dynamite!

[RavenGlamDVDCollector · 7/10 · 12 September 2017]

You just know that a whole lot of fun lies ahead with these well-defined crazy set-up: new guy Andy, shirker Mr. Carlson, pass-the-buck Herb, ol' stick-in-the-mud Les, naive Bailey and sexpot Jennifer. Add to that the lunatic fringe running around the station in this episode, complete with a missing cat...

Jan Smithers as nervous little Bailey was non- surprisingly overlooked by the media, the It girl of the time was Loni Anderson, and WKRP IN CINCINNATI was really put more on the map because of her presence. But I'm in the Bailey corner, always been, and in this episode, she is quite dynamite, notice the red boots. Oddly enough she is depicted as quite less insecure at times, an inconsistency, really.

Of course they are all pure genius. Think of them all as chemical components... Here stirred together in a wondrous volatile elixir which produced a mostly-forgotten but zany and lovable old classic.

Almost forty years later, and they're still hilariously funny. Better than the vast majority polluting the broadcast waves today.

Want a good laugh? For those in the know, you are invited to join the club. Tune in to WKRP.

"They were attacking rock 'n' roll, WKRP, me, and pay toilets."

[Hey_Sweden · 7/10 · 11 June 2023]

A certain amount of backlash results from Andy changing the stations' format. Advertisers start deserting WKRP like rats leaving a sinking ship, and now a small group of protesters is at the studio. They are led by a determined man, Wayne R. Coe (Richard Stahl, "Nine to Five"), who openly considers himself a fringe dweller. Since the staff at the station are hard-pressed to think of promotional ideas, Andy realizes that this protest could actually be a blessing in disguise.

It truly is a pleasure to watch this ensemble at work, with each cast member nicely fitting their role. I particularly enjoy the late Frank Bonner as the sleazy Herb, who has one great scene where he insults Coe, after Arthur has weaseled out of a confrontation with Coe by saying that Herb is actually Mr. Carlson. Another priceless moment is seeing Johnny relaxing while some of his loud rock 'n' roll is playing. Bailey is just adorable as always, maybe a little insecure here, but she's a breath of fresh air amid some of the more chaotic moments. The guest stars (Nedra Volz ("Earth Girls are Easy") and Delos V. Smith Jr. ("One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest") are funny themselves, especially Smith.

The payoff at the end with the missing cat was a hilarious note on which to end the episode.

Seven out of 10.

Heck No We Won't Go!

[JasonDanielBaker · 21 August 2011]

A frustrated Carlson calls a meeting with Tarlek and Travis to demand to know why there are no new ad sales and muses about canning Tarlek. Tarlek is well-prepared to protect himself and lay the blame on Travis when he produces a list of sponsors (Including "Rolling Thunder European Regulatory Tonic" - can you even imagine what radio ads for that must have sounded like?) who have jumped ship since the station went Rock N' Roll.

Travis counters that without publicity for the format change ad sales are likely to remain stagnant for awhile. Carlson and Tarlek have no answers particularly since there is no money budgeted for the needed publicity campaign. Other employees have no answers as to how to generate free publicity.

Johnny of course doesn't appear to care one way or the other. Fewer commercials mean he gets to spin more tunes and do his Rock N' Roll Howard Beal act. Why Venus, the night-time jock is even there during the day is something never adequately explained in any episode.

The unexpected occurs when the Big Guy is visited by Wayne R.Coe. The soft-spoken but nevertheless utterly bonkers leader of what he himself characterizes as "A determined fringe element that can't be counted upon to do the sensible thing" confronts Carlson about the change in format, states that he and his people hate Rock N' Roll and are staging a protest. It is unexpected because the station had so few listeners under the old format to alienate.

The ragtag group assembled here (I refer to the protesters, not the staff) is only able to muster 12 signatures for an FCC petition with one name signed twice and only 9 of them show up for the sit-in at the radio station. The other activities of this far from cohesive unit include shutting down a small-town bingo hall and chasing Hari Krishna's out of an airport. Ultimately self-important, professional protesters lampoon themselves but never so completely as we see them depicted here.

But if you have had bad experiences with people like this it can impede your ability to find it funny. If they remind you of people who burn the flag or walk around with placards that have spelling mistakes on them which say that God hates a certain group of people it can test your patience a little.

When Travis decides to call news outlets and use the protest for publicity so that they can all get what they want it can also seem like a bit of a cop out. But compared with the Big Guy who is ready to cave in to their demands what Travis does and how the protesters react seems so utterly reasonable. Eventually the station and Travis will confront attempts at censorship in a meaningful way. They just didn't do it in the first season.

This is only the second episode of the series so we only see sets built for the lobby, Carlson's office, the DJ booth and Travis's office. Until they built the "bullpen" (office common area where Les, Bailey, Tarlek and the jocks have their desks) things looked very cramped.