S4E19 - "The Creation of Venus" - WKRP-Cast

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, everybody, This is very sandy, and thank you very
much for listening to the wuk Rpcast.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
So just sit right down, relax, open your ears real wide, and.

Speaker 3 (00:11):
Say weather today in the greater Cincinnati area.

Speaker 4 (00:15):
Are you awake? Are you awake now?

Speaker 5 (00:19):
But the Senator, while insisting he was not intoxicated, could
not explain his nudity.

Speaker 4 (00:24):
Same what Dear God, She's gonna kill us all.

Speaker 3 (00:27):
Welcome to the WKRP Cast. My name is Alan Stairs.

Speaker 6 (00:31):
And I'm Donna Stair. This is the fourth and final
season of our week by week, episode by episode.

Speaker 3 (00:37):
Rewatch join us for this final season as we're getting
into the music.

Speaker 6 (00:41):
The trivia, and the fun of WKRP.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
So, fellow babies, stay tuned and stay cool. It's time
for the WKRP Cast. WKRP Simpson, Welcome back to the
WKRP Cast. Our eighty seventh episode, and we're finally getting
around of filling in some details from the very first episode.

(01:10):
What is our episode, Donna.

Speaker 6 (01:12):
We are ready to discuss creation of Venus. The air
date was March thirty first, nineteen eighty two, written by
Blake Hunter, story consultant Lisa Levin and directed by Gordon jump.
While Andy and Venus are playing jokes on each other
at the radio station, Mama Carlson shows up. She had

(01:34):
a meeting with Arthur, but he seems to have forgotten. Instead,
she spends her time quizzing Andy and Venus. Venus lets
its slip that he used to be a teacher. Andy
and Venus tell Mama the story of how Venus went
from school teacher Gordon Simms to DJ Venus Flytrap.

Speaker 3 (01:54):
This is a fun episode and one of my personal favorites.
I'm fascinated by this idea of recreating the original scenes
from the pilot episode and then filling in the story
with other scenes from around the station. I was so
fascinated I may have gone a little overboard in my research.

Speaker 6 (02:15):
You get carried away with something.

Speaker 3 (02:18):
No, okay, okay. So I was doing screen grabs from
both this episode and the pilot episode. I wanted to
be able to compare the scenes that were the same.
What I found turned out to be pretty cool. We
even managed to turn one of my discoveries into a
special message from Tim Reid. You'll hear more about that

(02:40):
later in the show.

Speaker 6 (02:40):
Blake Hunter, who wrote this episode, said he was inspired
by a play called The Norman Conquests. When it came
to telling this story about Venus, he described it in
the book America's Favorite Radio Station. The Norman Conquests was
a nineteen seventy three series of three British plays. Each
play told the same story over three nights of performances.

(03:05):
It all takes place in a single house. The first
night might take place in the living room. The second
night the story is told in the dining room, the
third night the garden. Blake said if a character left
the living room to go to the dining room the
first night at nine point thirty, they would enter the

(03:25):
dining room the second night right at nine point thirty.
Each play is self contained, and they can be viewed
in any order. It's not until after you see all
three nights that you're able to fill in the complete story.

Speaker 3 (03:40):
Blake is filling in holes from the pilot by giving
us the backstory of Venus's first experiences in Cincinnati. He
claims he didn't do it nearly as well as they
did in The Norman Conquest, but it was his premise.
In his version of the story, we get Venus' perspective
right up to his first meeting with Mama, which happened
in the final minutes of the pilot. We see that

(04:03):
meeting again, only this time Mama is being played by
Carol Bruce, and everyone in the room is four years
older than they were the first time they did these scenes.
There's even a recreation of the birth of doctor Johnny Fever.

Speaker 6 (04:17):
This is a technically complex episode. Shooting on current sets
while recreating original scenes from the pilot seemed like a
tall order. It's the kind of thing where you'd want
an experienced director at the helm, like a Rod Daniel
or an Assad Colata, right, you'd think that, But this

(04:39):
is WKRP. Instead of going with a seasoned directing vet,
we've got the big guy himself, Gordon Jump, in his
first ever directing assignment, and he has to perform in
several key scenes. We think. Maybe it's no surprise. This
is also the only time Gordon Jump will ever direct

(05:00):
in his entire career. The huge amount of work involved
in making this one episode happen may have caused him
to swear off directing. He did an amazing job, but
it had to be exhausting. When we can we're going
to compare the original pilot scenes to the recreation scenes.
We found some fun stuff and we've got some great

(05:22):
stories to go along with our discoveries. So let's get
into the episode.

Speaker 3 (05:28):
I can imagine Gordon going, uh, that's it. Put that
one in the can. He's like, I'm never doing that again.
I'm just gonna act. We begin this episode in a
candlelit studio. Now, since we're starting out in the studio,
we figured there'd be a poster watch, but we didn't
see anything new this week. We can see through the
studio window it's dark outside, and Venus is on the air.

Speaker 2 (05:50):
And now the shadows of evening wrapped their silken arms
around the troubles of the day. My children, this is
Venus all alone up here in the night, riding the
chariots of fire. I'm keeping watching the dreams, maybe.

Speaker 4 (06:05):
Even straight Fantasy two. Here's a magnificence, mister Ernie Watts.

Speaker 3 (06:11):
Andy walks by the studio window. He looks in at Venus.
Once the song starts, Andy opens the studio door. He
throws a piece of wadded up paper at Venus, hitting
him in the head, and he then flips on the
lights before walking away. We know how much Venus loves
having his studio lights turned on.

Speaker 6 (06:30):
The song Venus Went Into was the theme to the
nineteen eighty one movie Chariots of Fire, as played by
Ernie Watts. Ernie Watts is an American jazz and rhythm
and blues sax player from Norfolk, Virginia. In nineteen eighty two,
he put out his own Chariots of Fire album on
Quincy Jones's Q West Records. The original Chariots of Fire

(06:54):
theme from Vangelis went to number one in nineteen eighty two.
This version from Watts did not chart.

Speaker 3 (07:03):
Okay, now, you were calling me a party pooper earlier,
but people say people say they like it when we
mentioned things about how it really was in a radio station.
So I've got a quick note about throwing things in
a radio studio where records are being played. It's an
absolute no no. The slightest jostle a piece of paper

(07:24):
landing on the tone arm could cause the record to skip,
and could even make the tone arm just slide completely
off the platter. Rough housing in the studio was also
frowned upon. If you bump that counter where the turntables
are mounted, you're definitely going to get a skip that
goes out over the air. Now, we understand keeping the
mood light around the station, but Andy should know better

(07:46):
than to throw anything around a turntable.

Speaker 6 (07:50):
Venus grabs the wat of paper and runs after Andy.

Speaker 7 (07:53):
Andy, you're messing with per This seems.

Speaker 6 (07:55):
To be an ongoing battle, possibly extending over multiple nights.
Venus sticks his head into the studio hallway, looking both
ways before crossing to the bullpen. Venus yells as he
opens the bullpen door. No one is there and the
bullpen is dark. Venus goes on in. In the studio hallway,

(08:15):
we see Andy tiptoeing to the studio door. He goes in,
then quickly rolls the DJ chair out of the studio.
He turns off the lights as he leaves. Andy heads
upstage through the door at the end of the hallway
and turns right, pushing the chair ahead of him.

Speaker 3 (08:32):
It's kind of like Capture the Flag. He's taken a trophy.
So Venus appears coming from the left side of the
hallway where Andy just went to the right. So if
you think about it, Venus would have seen Andy running
down the hall in front of him.

Speaker 6 (08:46):
But make you swisch.

Speaker 3 (08:47):
Yeah, it makes for a funny visual Venus runs to
the studio, giving a yell as he opens the door.

Speaker 4 (08:53):
Hey, he's got my chair.

Speaker 3 (08:57):
Venus crosses to the bullpen. Andy is back in the
studio hallway. He looks through the studio window. The hallway
and studio are both empty.

Speaker 6 (09:06):
And as Andy comes through the door at the end
of the hallway, we realized there is something new here.
It's time for all hallway poster watch. Okay, so we've
seen everything. At the camera end of the hallway, ACDC
quarter flash craftwork whispers Sammy, we've covered it all at
this end.

Speaker 3 (09:26):
Through the door at the other end of the hallway,
we see the dramatic, oversized black and white head of
a curly haired fellow with piercing eyes. This is Lindsey
Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac, out on his own with his
first solo album called Law and Order. This was a
weird period for the whole Buckingham Fleetwood Mac relationship. Lindsay

(09:49):
was technically still in the band while making solo albums.
This solo album includes guest vocals by Christine mcviee and
drumming from mcfleet. Buckingham played all of the other instruments
on the album. The single Trouble, which goes to number
nine on the Hot one hundred, features drumming from Fleetwood.

(10:26):
Buckingham does play on the nineteen eighty two Fleetwood Mac
album Mirage and on nineteen eighty seven's Tango in the Night.
After Tango, he leaves the Mac for ten years.

Speaker 6 (10:42):
Andy opens the bullpen dorm peeks in. He thinks he
has Venus right where he wants him. Smiling, he goes
back to the studio, opens the studio door and squats
behind it. We can see him on this side of
the door, waiting for Venus to come from the other
end of the hallway. A figure comes around the door.
Andy grabs the figure around the legs, thinking he's tackling Venus.

(11:05):
He takes this person down to the floor.

Speaker 3 (11:10):
The person Andy just tackled sits up. Oh. Andy discovers
he has just tackled Mama Carlson. Who Yeah, Missus Carlson
puts her furs stole back around her neck as Andy's
helping her to her feet, and a big kudos to
sixty one year old Carol Bruce playing Mama Carlson. She
seems to have taken the tackle from Gary Sandy and

(11:33):
actually dropped to her knees. No stand inz or trick
photography involved, It's all Missus Bruce doing her own stunts.
Mama looks thoroughly disgusted. Andy gets out a really breathy
Daggers are shooting from Lilian's eyes and as Andy prays
he's not fired, we head into our theme.

Speaker 8 (11:54):
UKRB Senson.

Speaker 6 (12:00):
Come back to the studio hallway. We're a very angry
Missus Carlson is giving it to Andy.

Speaker 9 (12:05):
Have you lost your mind?

Speaker 1 (12:07):
Yes, yes, Mamma, Yes, I I think I have lost
my mind.

Speaker 4 (12:11):
God just for a second. They a though, But I
think I'm okay.

Speaker 9 (12:14):
Now are you going to grab me? Do it nicely
in the back seat of my robe?

Speaker 6 (12:20):
Missus Carlson laughs and Andy looks a bit more relaxed.
Mama Carlson with the one liner. Ever since her comment
about nice hair, nice teeth and her joking around in
love exciting and new.

Speaker 9 (12:34):
Let's run away together? What to Los Angeles. They'll understand that.

Speaker 6 (12:45):
We've thought Lilian had a bit of a wild side
and maybe a soft spot for Andy.

Speaker 3 (12:50):
Venus, hearing the grab me comment, pops his head out
from behind the open studio door, Hi, you smiling, looking
back and forth from me to missus Carlson. Andy apologizes again,
saying he and Venus were just playing a little game,
that's all. Missus Carlson nods her head.

Speaker 9 (13:09):
You two go around grabbing each other.

Speaker 1 (13:11):
Oh yeah, just to relieve the tension.

Speaker 9 (13:16):
What tension?

Speaker 8 (13:17):
Don't feel?

Speaker 9 (13:17):
Its?

Speaker 3 (13:19):
Yeah? I think the tension was being created by Missus Carlson.
She looks at Venus, then back to Andy.

Speaker 9 (13:25):
Why is mister fly trap on the air?

Speaker 4 (13:28):
That's our darn good question. Excuse me.

Speaker 3 (13:30):
Venus walks right between Andy and Missus Carlson to head
back into the studio. Andy shuts the door. We're still
hearing chariots of fire on the monitors, so Venus was
at least listening, and there's no dead air and uncomfortable.

Speaker 6 (13:43):
Andy asks Missus Carlson if he could get her a
cup of coffee.

Speaker 9 (13:47):
Where's my son? I had an appointment to meet him
here at six third.

Speaker 6 (13:50):
Andy tells Missus Carlson he must have forgotten and gone
on home.

Speaker 3 (13:53):
He's not so much on his mind lately.

Speaker 6 (13:56):
Andy tries to encourage Missus Carlson to come out into.

Speaker 3 (13:59):
The There's no such new hanging around this old hallway.

Speaker 6 (14:02):
Here's Andy is motioning for Missus Carlson to follow him
as he begins walking to the exit.

Speaker 9 (14:08):
You'll be back, and he knows what's good for him.

Speaker 3 (14:10):
I'm Missus. Carlson goes to the studio window and looks
in at Venus. Andy walks up behind her.

Speaker 4 (14:16):
I can see that you're interested. How about if I
show you how things work around here?

Speaker 3 (14:22):
Andy opens the studio door.

Speaker 9 (14:23):
Think I've just seen how things work.

Speaker 3 (14:26):
Brillian Carlson has owned and operated WKRP since at least
nineteen fifty four. We're pretty sure she knows how things
work in the booth. To humor Andy, she steps into
the candlelit studio.

Speaker 4 (14:40):
Bobby evening.

Speaker 7 (14:41):
Do you find folks, Missus.

Speaker 3 (14:42):
Carlson says hello. Andy turns on the lights and begins
the tour of the studio. All right, cross, let's see now.

Speaker 1 (14:50):
First of all, this is what we call the board,
very complicated stuff.

Speaker 4 (14:53):
Here.

Speaker 3 (14:53):
Venus reaches over and turns the volume up.

Speaker 7 (14:56):
Aha.

Speaker 3 (14:57):
Then you see.

Speaker 6 (14:57):
That Missus Carlson is amused.

Speaker 3 (15:01):
Two turntables here.

Speaker 4 (15:02):
Venus can cue up a record on one turntable.

Speaker 1 (15:03):
As you can see, the record is playing on the
other turntable show the microphone.

Speaker 6 (15:07):
Venus pulls the mic out on its extendable arm. Andy
smiles as he presents the microphone to Missus Carlson with
a sour expression. She takes her gloves off and slaps
them into the palm of her hand. She steps to
where the consoles meet and leans on them.

Speaker 9 (15:26):
And now.

Speaker 4 (15:29):
You know just about as much as we do.

Speaker 6 (15:32):
Andy stands with his hands in his pockets. Venus is
beside him, standing ramrod straight. Both are looking at Missus
Carlson and waiting.

Speaker 3 (15:42):
That glove slap in the palm is really kind of threat.

Speaker 6 (15:46):
It's intimidating. She comes off with these very intimidating moves
all the time.

Speaker 3 (15:52):
So Missus Carlson looks them both up and down. She's
noticed the missing DJ chair.

Speaker 9 (15:58):
Where does he sit?

Speaker 3 (16:01):
Andy and Venus or speechless?

Speaker 1 (16:03):
I see, Missus Carlson, this is not what it seems.

Speaker 4 (16:06):
If you would give me.

Speaker 9 (16:07):
A check, Knockodolf Andrew. I have a sense of humor.
In fact, I'm known for my hearty guffore.

Speaker 3 (16:14):
Mama begins walking to the studio door. Then she turns
to Andy.

Speaker 9 (16:18):
You know I haven't had an amusing experience like this since, well,
since I fired your predecessor.

Speaker 3 (16:26):
I'm Carlson getting all passive aggressive on us with threats
of firing.

Speaker 6 (16:31):
Venus and Andy are both laughing nervously.

Speaker 8 (16:34):
There's a little horse play here.

Speaker 10 (16:36):
That was two guys playing horse boogey booge and.

Speaker 3 (16:40):
Venus said boogey, We said, huh.

Speaker 8 (16:43):
Well.

Speaker 3 (16:43):
It turns out boogey seems to have been coined in
the African American community in the early twentieth century. It's
most likely derived from the word boogie. Most meanings of
boogety involved moving quickly. Venus's reference might have something to
do with the Chubby Checker number one hit Pony Time
from nineteen sixty one. In it, Checker repeats boogety in

(17:05):
the chorus.

Speaker 6 (17:08):
It do the pony.

Speaker 11 (17:15):
Foster, You gotta love real five, so both do with it.

Speaker 6 (17:30):
Boogety also seems to have Southern roots. You can hear
Jerry Reid say it in the nineteen seventy seven movie
Smoking in the Bandit.

Speaker 7 (17:38):
I'm the brother of it you driving mother.

Speaker 6 (17:42):
Former NASCAR driver turned announcer Daryl Waltrip uses three boogheties
as a catchphrase.

Speaker 4 (17:48):
Tody w.

Speaker 3 (17:50):
Let's go dollar for God.

Speaker 6 (17:54):
Waltrip says his boogeties were inspired by the number one
nineteen seventy four Novelties by Ray Stevens called the Streak.

Speaker 8 (18:04):
Look why is I call in the.

Speaker 11 (18:11):
Street beast saying two feet.

Speaker 4 (18:18):
He get as proud as he can.

Speaker 8 (18:19):
Be a dild me he don't give us a beat.

Speaker 3 (18:26):
Is exactly the kind of thing I'm really gonna miss
when we're all done with the series, looking up the
history of boogey and finding all the clips of people
saying boogidity. So after Venus's comment, Mamma smiles and gives
a quiet laugh. And he started it. Andy's looking at Venus,
pointing at Andy. Missus Carlson says she knew mister Travis

(18:47):
liked games, but you.

Speaker 9 (18:48):
Mister fly Trap, well I thought you were more conservative.

Speaker 3 (18:52):
Andy agrees, saying he's a very conservative guy.

Speaker 2 (18:55):
You should see me four years ago when I was
teaching school in New Orleans, I used to wear three people.

Speaker 9 (18:58):
Four years ago, you were a school teacher.

Speaker 3 (19:00):
Whoops, and Venus looks like a kid got with his
hand in the cookie jar.

Speaker 9 (19:05):
When I hired you four years ago, you told me
you were a disc jockey.

Speaker 6 (19:09):
Actually, he told Sylvia Sidney he was a disc jockey,
but we'll get into that in a moment. Venus admits
he was only part time at the time.

Speaker 9 (19:19):
You said your audience in New Orleans was the biggest.
I remember the quote, and mister Travis, he had confirmed
the fact.

Speaker 4 (19:27):
I ever declared the little misunderstanding.

Speaker 6 (19:29):
No, Missus Carlson takes the stool, sets it firmly in
front of Andy and Venus, and has a seat.

Speaker 9 (19:37):
Since I have to wait for my son to realize
what day it is, why didn't you tell me all
about it?

Speaker 3 (19:44):
Venus and Andy are standing stiffly in front of Missus Carlson,
not saying anything. It just has the feel of two
guilty kids standing in front of the principal.

Speaker 9 (19:54):
While I'm waiting.

Speaker 4 (19:55):
Yeah, well, I guess I should start from the beginning.
Better be good. We're counting on your uni.

Speaker 3 (20:01):
Venus hits Andy in the arm as he walks over
to the album shelves. He's getting himself out of the
line of fire. Andy takes a deep breath and begins, See, as.

Speaker 1 (20:10):
Girls, when I first came to Cincinnati, I had gotten
kind of tired of packing and unpacking town town, up
and down the dial. So let's just say I knew
I was here to stay and I never ever wanted
to leave.

Speaker 6 (20:24):
Andy is, of course, quoting lines from the WKRP theme song,
which in his world would not be a song he's
ever heard. We've had episode titles borrow lines from the theme,
but we think this is the first time a character
has quoted from it.

Speaker 3 (20:41):
The screen fades and it's flashback time. Remember all of
the flashbacks are being recreated. It seems we're at Andy's apartment.
We've been to Andy's apartment one other time during the
episode Love Returns. This is a good recreation. Andy's landlady
does not seemed to be happy with him. A lady

(21:01):
who is about as wide as she is tall, is
in Andy's face. What do you mean.

Speaker 9 (21:08):
Break the least? You're here for good talk?

Speaker 12 (21:09):
One?

Speaker 4 (21:10):
Did I say break?

Speaker 1 (21:10):
I think maybe that was the wrong word there.

Speaker 9 (21:12):
Oh, you get your new Mexico funds it is.

Speaker 3 (21:15):
The landlady comes into the apartment, slamming the door behind her.
She walks towards Andy and he starts walking backwards.

Speaker 6 (21:22):
Missus Murphy, the landlady is being played by Nora Boland.
Nora is Canadian originally from Hamilton, Ontario. She was born
in December of nineteen twenty nine. Nora had one appearance
on General Hospital in nineteen sixty three, but that was
it for fourteen years. She really started her career at

(21:42):
age forty eight with an appearance on Police Story in
nineteen seventy seven. Nora would accumulate twenty eight total IMDb
credits in both movies and TV shows until nineteen ninety one.
Her less than five foot height and round physique made
her a perfect character actor. A fun WKRP crossover, Noura

(22:07):
had a small part in the nineteen eighty TV movie
about the life of Jane Mansfield, which starred Lonnie Anderson.
In later years, Nourra appeared frequently on stage in California.
She passed away in two thousand and eight at the
age of seventy eight.

Speaker 3 (22:25):
He may be less than five feet tall, but she
is threatening. Andy keeps walking backwards as his landlady advances.
He and the landlady are eventually standing at the couch.

Speaker 8 (22:35):
Come on on in here, how'd you like a diet soda?

Speaker 3 (22:37):
The landlady gives Andy an angry look.

Speaker 1 (22:39):
That's not to say that you need a diet soda.

Speaker 3 (22:42):
How about a beer.

Speaker 4 (22:43):
Would you like to be a beer? That'd be good?

Speaker 3 (22:45):
She tells him, Okay, it's not going to do you
any good. Beer coming on, and the land Lady sits
on Andy's couch.

Speaker 9 (22:51):
I'm thinking of it. Not going to do me any
good either.

Speaker 3 (22:56):
He can still laugh loudly. She is her own best audience.
Nora has an Edie McClurg kind of energy, and she's
great at whipping back and forth between really goofy and
then deadly serious and kind of threatening.

Speaker 6 (23:10):
It's almost like she's unbalanced.

Speaker 3 (23:12):
Yeah, she's scary. She's been land leading too long.

Speaker 6 (23:15):
Andy walks over and sits next to her on the couch.
He tells her he has come two thousand miles to
a job. Well, it's just not working.

Speaker 4 (23:23):
Out, now, you know how that is?

Speaker 6 (23:26):
No, She looks at Andy with a serious expression. He
said something about a beer. Andy tells her one beer
coming up. He heads to the kitchen.

Speaker 9 (23:35):
Could you make it too?

Speaker 6 (23:37):
Andy tells her two beers coming up?

Speaker 12 (23:40):
Ma'am.

Speaker 1 (23:40):
I know I signed that least and everything, but if
this job doesn't work out at that radio station, I
just might have to I just might have to get
right on back to Santa Fe.

Speaker 6 (23:50):
He's getting no sympathy. Andy disappears into the kitchen.

Speaker 3 (23:54):
Andy comes back from the kitchen empty handed. He starts
scanning the room looking for beers. He pulls out a
carton of six from a paper bag. They were just
sitting right there on the floor. He adds them all
to the land ladies, a little warm, but take the
whole thing.

Speaker 9 (24:10):
That's very nice of you. I'll save me for Masterpiece Theater.

Speaker 3 (24:15):
Yes, she begins to laugh, and he joins her on
the couch, laughing along with her.

Speaker 8 (24:20):
Oh dear, that alis to cooks a real cut up,
isn't it.

Speaker 6 (24:23):
The landlady mentioned having the beer with Masterpiece Theater sounds
like a good IDEA. Masterpiece Theater now just Masterpiece is
still on the air, and in their fifty first season,
the word theater was dropped from the title in two
thousand and eight.

Speaker 3 (24:41):
The original Masterpiece Theater went on the air in nineteen
seventy one. It was a production of WGBH out of Boston,
and it aired nationally on PBS. Masterpiece Theater was basically
a repackaging of the best of British television. All the
adaptations and anthology featured on Masterpiece Theater had previously appeared

(25:03):
on the BBC or one of the commercial British networks.

Speaker 6 (25:07):
Each Masterpiece Theater offering has a presenter or host. The
original Masterpiece Theater featured Alistair Cook as the sole presenter
from nineteen seventy one through nineteen ninety two. Cook is
really the only host whose name has ever been tied
to the show.

Speaker 5 (25:24):
Good Evening, I'm Alistair Cook. Tonight we begin a new
series called Pulldock, which is based on four novels by
Winston Graham and months to sixteen episodes.

Speaker 6 (25:38):
Cook was a British American journalist, personality and broadcaster. Although
Cook was involved in television and broadcasting for forty two years,
he's probably best known for his twenty two years as
host of Masterpiece Theater. Cook was not known to be
a cut up.

Speaker 3 (25:58):
Andy's having troubled get his landlady to understand his problem,
he tries a different approach.

Speaker 1 (26:05):
I really appreciate your listening to the ramblings of an
oh so very unhappy man.

Speaker 3 (26:11):
Hey. He puts his arm around the landlady's shoulders as
he continues talking, and I thank you so.

Speaker 4 (26:16):
Much for your understanding in this matter.

Speaker 3 (26:19):
Here the landlady looks at Andy's hand on her shoulder.
The sweet talking does not seem to be working.

Speaker 9 (26:25):
Elise is a lease, mister Travis. It's God's Last.

Speaker 3 (26:28):
She tries to stand, but Andy grabs her arm and
roughly pulls her back down on the couch.

Speaker 6 (26:34):
The landlady is sitting with the six pack of beer
in her lap. It's pretty obviously Budweiser, but they've covered
the logos. Taking a recognizable product and making it generic
like this is called product displacement in the TV production industry.
They could have made up special packaging with their own

(26:54):
brand of beer, but it's faster, easier, and cheaper to
just obscure the low of something existing.

Speaker 3 (27:01):
It's not illegal to show a product logo on a
TV show, but there are reasons why you wouldn't want
visible logos. If you're a TV producer, big brand names
will probably charge you using a recognizable logo could mean
a licensing fee for displaying it. Big advertisers probably have

(27:22):
greater name recognition than your TV show or movie, so
they see it like they've given an endorsement to your
show if their logo is visible, so they weren't paid
for it.

Speaker 6 (27:32):
Another common reason for hiding logos is to not offend advertisers,
even future syndication advertisers. Imagine if Andy were to hand
his landlady a six of Budweiser in nineteen eighty two,
it might be fine for the network airing, but what
about later fast forward thirteen years. Maybe the local Grand

(27:53):
Rapids Miller distributor is running ads in this episode in
syndication in nineteen ninety five. If Andy pulls out this
six with visible logos, it looks like Andy prefers Bud
over Miller, and he's going against the advertisers. It's just
easier all the way around if no logos are ever visible, unless,

(28:14):
of course, it's product placement.

Speaker 3 (28:17):
There is a knock on Andy's apartment door. He tells
his landlady to make herself comfortable. As he gets up
to answer the door, Venus greets him with a huge
smile and a handshake and thank you so.

Speaker 1 (28:30):
Much for coming, Gordon Sims, this is my landlady here,
Missus Murphy.

Speaker 12 (28:35):
Now let's take a look at Venus's vibin threads.

Speaker 6 (28:42):
Venus is wearing a blue gray three piece suit with
a white dressed shirt and a white pocket square He
is wearing a maroon tie with diagonal stripes, and he
is looking good.

Speaker 3 (28:57):
Venus says hello to Missus Murphy Andy. He tells Missus
Murphy that Gordon is a disc jockey. He's gonna help
out at the station where Andy works.

Speaker 9 (29:06):
Oh so sorry to hear that, mister Simms.

Speaker 3 (29:11):
We get a hilarious visual bit. Andy's couch is pretty low.
Missus Murphy begins rocking back and forth, working up the
momentum to stand. She puts her arms in the air.

Speaker 8 (29:23):
Come on, help me up, boys, Come.

Speaker 3 (29:25):
On, Andy and Venus pulled Missus Murphy up out of
the couch.

Speaker 9 (29:28):
I'm got a missus to run, and I I can't
feel sorry for every poor louse who comes around.

Speaker 3 (29:33):
Andy opens the door for her. As she leaves, she
turns to look at them both. Thanks for the lift,
Missus Murphy leaves.

Speaker 6 (29:41):
Andy closes the door and turns to Venus.

Speaker 4 (29:43):
Mean, don't you worry about that?

Speaker 1 (29:45):
Hey man?

Speaker 4 (29:46):
Good see it.

Speaker 6 (29:46):
Andy and Venus hug each other, and Andy tells Venus
he was afraid he wouldn't come.

Speaker 4 (29:50):
Are you kidding? This is where I get my big
break man a DJ full time.

Speaker 6 (29:54):
Andy reaches up and straightens Venus's tie as he tells
Venus he deserves it.

Speaker 4 (30:00):
A feel scary to have come in to work for
a top rank station and home it.

Speaker 6 (30:02):
M m Andy may not have been entirely truthful with
his good friend.

Speaker 3 (30:07):
Andy tells Venus to have a seat tomorrow morning. I
gotta tell you, I'm gonna make a little format change here.

Speaker 8 (30:12):
I'm gonna take this down and out radio station.

Speaker 3 (30:14):
This pops up from the couch.

Speaker 4 (30:15):
Down and out.

Speaker 3 (30:17):
Andy motions for Venus to just sit down. Venus does,
but his excitement has faded.

Speaker 8 (30:23):
I heard you on that station in New Orleans.

Speaker 4 (30:25):
I knew you had it, but they didn't know what
to do with it.

Speaker 3 (30:28):
Venus turns and asks what you What was it part.

Speaker 8 (30:31):
Time Saturday mornings. That's all wrong for your kind of using.

Speaker 6 (30:34):
Andy leans down next to Venus.

Speaker 8 (30:36):
Listen, I'm telling you I know how to program you right.

Speaker 6 (30:39):
Andy waves his hand in the air, meaning for Venus
to look into space and imagine.

Speaker 4 (30:45):
Gordon Simms and the sounds of the night.

Speaker 6 (30:47):
Venus is smiling, then looks at Andy and says, to
hold it.

Speaker 7 (30:51):
I don't use my real name.

Speaker 3 (30:52):
That's right, of course, nobody does you shouldn't no. Okay,
So maybe it's not as bad as nobody uses their
real name on the air, But there were quite a
few dj in the seventies and eighties who, like John Caravella,
did not go on the air with their real names.
Sometimes it was just a sound thing or a cool thing.
Your name wasn't cool enough for a rock and roll station,
so you changed it. Sometimes it was a format thing.

(31:15):
A DJ on a rock station could go with a
hot rock and roll kind of name. Next year, if
he gets a gig at a beautiful music station, he
changes to something format appropriate.

Speaker 6 (31:26):
Some DJs were also running away from bad ratings or
bad situations. Like Johnny said.

Speaker 5 (31:32):
So at that point the ratings boot came out and
they fired me on the spot.

Speaker 8 (31:37):
That's when I started changing my name.

Speaker 4 (31:39):
Sick, it's a bad book, no name.

Speaker 6 (31:42):
He wasn't exaggerating by much. Stations used to post all
FCC operator licenses in the hallway or entryway of the station.
For rock stations with crazy air personality names, it was
always fun to read the licenses to see the real
names of the guys who were on the air.

Speaker 3 (32:00):
Andy has Venus what name he was using in New Orleans.
Venus smiles and says proudly.

Speaker 7 (32:06):
The Duke of Funk.

Speaker 3 (32:09):
He looks at Venus and repeats Duke of Funk a
little bit of a sneer. Venus nods. Andy tells him
they need something a little more cosmic than that.

Speaker 4 (32:20):
What is your sign? Who wants to know?

Speaker 1 (32:23):
What is your sign?

Speaker 4 (32:24):
Libra libra?

Speaker 3 (32:25):
It stinks it's up and looks at Andy.

Speaker 7 (32:30):
It does not. It's a love sign ruled by Venus.

Speaker 3 (32:33):
Andy gives Venus a look and slowly stands up.

Speaker 9 (32:36):
It's perfect.

Speaker 7 (32:38):
Your new name is Venus.

Speaker 6 (32:41):
Venus stands up.

Speaker 2 (32:42):
I don't know how to tell you this, but Venus
is a girl's name, you know, that real white lady
with no arms.

Speaker 6 (32:47):
Venus puts his hands behind his back and clasps them
together so he looks as if he has no arms.

Speaker 3 (32:54):
Andy laughs and he tells him Venus has that cosmic
feel to.

Speaker 7 (32:59):
Its cosmic name for a boy like Pluto.

Speaker 3 (33:03):
That's a dog's name, Mercury.

Speaker 4 (33:05):
That guy brings flowers.

Speaker 3 (33:06):
Wow, these guys are throwing out a ton of stuff
we need to get into.

Speaker 6 (33:10):
First off, the real white lady with no arms is
the Venus de Milo. It's a Greek sculpture housed in
the Louver in Paris since its rediscovery in eighteen twenty.
The Venus de Milo was sculpted sometime between one fifty
and one twenty five BC by Alexandros of Antioch. The
original sculpture had two arms two feet and both ear

(33:33):
lobes intact. In a fun twist, the statue most likely
depicts Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love. Her Roman counterpart
was Venus. It was a Greek statue, but it wound
up captured by Romans and the naming got messed up
over the centuries. Some scholars call the statue Aphrodite de Milouna's.

Speaker 3 (34:02):
Time and I was shocked to find out that the
Venus de Milo is six ' eight It's an oversized statue.
She's six foot eight inches tall. When Andy says Mercury

(34:26):
brings flowers, he's referring to the famous logo for International
Florist FTD. FTD originally stood for Florists Telegraph Delivery. Developed
in nineteen ten, it was an amazing system that allowed
a person to send flowers anywhere in the world with
a single phone call or telegram. FTD would simply send

(34:47):
your order by telegraph to a florist in the town
where you wanted a flower delivery. Mercury first appeared on
FTD's logo all the way back in nineteen ten.

Speaker 6 (34:59):
In sixty five, they changed the company name to Florist's
trans World Delivery. By the mid nineteen sixties, the telegraph
was no longer a hip technology, but long distance flower
delivery was still very popular. The full name was also
dropped from the logo and they went with FTD for
the company name. A stylized version of Mercury can still

(35:23):
be seen in their logo today.

Speaker 3 (35:25):
If Venus is a Libra, it means he was born
sometime between September twenty third and October twenty second. They're right.
A Libra's ruling planet is Venus. Libra is an air
sign represented by scales. Libra is perfect as is sign
for Venus. Libras are fixated on balance and harmony. They

(35:49):
try to create equilibrium in all areas of life. This
could not be better for mister yin Yang with his
gong and coffee mug.

Speaker 6 (35:58):
We decided to see if this sign thing might extend
to Tim. Tim Reid is not a Libra tim was
born on December nineteenth, which makes him a Sagittarius. Interestingly,
Sagittarius is a perfect sign for Tim Reid. It's a
fire sign. According to how stuff works, those born under

(36:19):
Sagittarius feel the need to make a contribution to society
through their work or ideals. They have a commitment to
personal goals and are often success stories. Tim Reid is
most definitely a Sagittarius.

Speaker 3 (36:35):
But he plays a good libra. Andy has Venus what
he thinks of when he hears the name Venus fly trap.

Speaker 8 (36:44):
Plank at each buzzz be an idiot?

Speaker 9 (36:46):
Can I think Venus?

Speaker 4 (36:48):
What Venus?

Speaker 3 (36:49):
Venus rising right, and he tells Venus he loves it.

Speaker 4 (36:53):
You talk about.

Speaker 1 (36:53):
Love, and you talk about the stars, man, and you
will be famous.

Speaker 3 (36:57):
Venus smiles and asks Andy if he thinks of will work?
Andy tells Venus absolutely.

Speaker 1 (37:02):
And when I make that format change tomorrow morning, you
and I pal are.

Speaker 4 (37:05):
Here to stay.

Speaker 3 (37:06):
There is noise and the door opens. Missus Murphy just
very casually pops right back in.

Speaker 13 (37:13):
Maybe it's the beers, or maybe my heart's bigger than
my head.

Speaker 6 (37:16):
But oh well, hell, you can get out of your.

Speaker 3 (37:20):
Lease, y. Venus gives Andy a concerned look.

Speaker 4 (37:22):
Yeah, let's talk about this.

Speaker 6 (37:23):
Later, all right, Andy begins closing the door, causing Missus
Murphy to slowly back up.

Speaker 9 (37:28):
Will suit yourself, but it's more feeling, may not not?

Speaker 6 (37:32):
Yeah, Andy smiles at Missus Murphy, gently pushing her out
and closing the door. Venus walks towards Andy.

Speaker 7 (37:42):
And if you're so sure of yourself, why are you
trying to get out of your lease?

Speaker 8 (37:45):
Another thing?

Speaker 3 (37:46):
Venus that soon has got the deal?

Speaker 4 (37:48):
What looks wrong for the image?

Speaker 6 (37:50):
Venus tells Andy, this is radio. You can't see radio.

Speaker 4 (37:54):
Yeah, but you can feel it.

Speaker 1 (37:55):
And we're going to do this new format with style
and grace and clash.

Speaker 6 (38:01):
Wow. Andy is quite the salesman. What a pitch.

Speaker 3 (38:04):
She transitioned to the studio with a close up of
a hand on a tone arm. What's going on? It's
playing a record than we hear?

Speaker 1 (38:15):
Yes, all right, Cincinnati, it is time for this town
to get down right.

Speaker 3 (38:21):
You got Johnny doctor Johnny Fever, and I.

Speaker 8 (38:26):
Am burning up in here.

Speaker 3 (38:28):
There is a cut to continuity in the lobby where
Jennifer's at her desk drinking coffee. She lowers the cup
to the desk. When she hears Johnny over the lobby speakers, whoa.
Jennifer puts her hand up over her heart. The shots
in the station continue throughout this recut version of the
doctor's original message.

Speaker 6 (38:48):
Johnny's iconic first speech is doctor Johnny, fever is something
any good WKRP fan has tattooed in his brain. Here
Howard Hessman is recreating the moment with a slight change.
In the pilot, Hugh Wilson had inadvertently made WKRP a
fifty thousand watt AM radio station. He didn't realize the biggest,

(39:12):
most famous, most successful radio stations in any market and
in the country were the fifty thousand WoT stations.

Speaker 3 (39:20):
Local AM stations, especially ones like WKRP that are number
sixteen in the market, are never fifty thousand watt stations.
They'd made the correction to the coverage map by pilot
Part two, but they didn't touch it. In the pilot.
Howard Hassman makes the adjustment here. This is Johnny from
nineteen seventy eight.

Speaker 2 (39:41):
Now I am talking about your fifty thousand watt intensive
care unit.

Speaker 3 (39:45):
Maybe, and don't miss his update in the recreated scene,
I am talking.

Speaker 10 (39:50):
About your five thousand wat intensive care unit.

Speaker 6 (39:53):
Maybe we also noticed in the close up of Johnny's
hand on the record, they're using the new turntables. When
the entire production moved from KTLA over to the Radford
Studios at the start of the second season, they got
some cool new turntables. After comparing screenshots, it looks like
the old oversized turntables stayed at KTLA. Even for the flashback,

(40:18):
Johnny is doing his introductory scratch this time around on
the new tables.

Speaker 3 (40:23):
Johnny continues, We cut to the bullpen where Herb is
at his desk. The monitors are on into bullpen and
we get to see their reactions to Johnny's bit. We
definitely didn't see this scene in the pilot because we
didn't have a bullpen until the eighth episode of the
first season. It's nice to know the bullpen was there,
we just hadn't seen it yet. Herb looks over at

(40:45):
last with a worried expression.

Speaker 10 (40:46):
But you can tell me where it hurts because I
got the healing prescription.

Speaker 6 (40:50):
Less looks up from his teletype machine, then looks over
at the speaker on the wall. There is another cut
to the studio hallway.

Speaker 4 (40:58):
From the Big KRP musical.

Speaker 6 (40:59):
Ma Andy and Bailey are listening. Andy's really enjoying it.
This is what he wanted. Bailey is smiling as Johnny
continues his pattern. There's another cut, and we find ourselves
in mister Carlson's office.

Speaker 4 (41:14):
Nay, I'm talking.

Speaker 10 (41:15):
About your five thousand WADI intensive care unit.

Speaker 1 (41:18):
Baby.

Speaker 3 (41:18):
Art's leaning back in his chair, feed up on his desk.
A magazine is across his belly and his hands are
clasped over it. His eyes are closed.

Speaker 4 (41:27):
So just sit right down.

Speaker 3 (41:29):
We see Art's eyebrows raise, his eyes open and he's
looking towards the wall speaker.

Speaker 10 (41:35):
Relax, open your ears real wide and say give it
to me straight, doctor, I.

Speaker 8 (41:40):
Can take it.

Speaker 3 (41:44):
Johnny begins playing Queen of the Forest by Ted Nugent.
We end this scene the same as we did in
nineteen seventy eight, with a shot of Johnny dancing in
the studio, holding the mic on its extendable arm and
swinging it all around. This new dance is really cut
short compared to the original. We don't get Johnny's famous afterthought.

Speaker 4 (42:04):
Almost got fella babies, booger.

Speaker 6 (42:11):
You know what we didn't do two years ago? The
first time we reviewed the WKRP pilot, we didn't tell
you anything about Ted Nugent's Queen of the Forest, so
taking advantage of the recreation, here goes. Queen of the
Forest is the last cut on Ted Nugent's debut album.
It was his first solo effort after the breakup of

(42:33):
his band The Amboy Dukes. The nineteen seventy five album
was called Simply Ted Nugent.

Speaker 3 (42:40):
It will go to number twenty eight on the Billboard
Album Chart. This album kicks off with the eight minute
guitar opus Stranglehold. Ted solo from Stranglehold is ranked the
thirty first greatest guitar solo in history by Guitar World magazine.

(43:27):
Queen of the Forest was never released as a single,
and truth be told, it's probably most famous as Doctor
Johnny Fever's first song on w k REP.

Speaker 6 (43:45):
We cut to the lobby. There's been a time jump.
Jennifer is now sitting at her desk. Just what the
Doctor Ordered by Ted Nugent is playing over the lobby speaker.
Mister Carlson comes walking quickly through the door, coming from
the bullpen. He is followed closely by herb and less
remember in the pilot. This is just after Carlson broke

(44:08):
up Andy's staff meeting in the programming office.

Speaker 3 (44:11):
Herb plus follow me, Travis, You're fired.

Speaker 4 (44:14):
Good move, Big Guy.

Speaker 3 (44:16):
Johnny's gone into another Ted Nugent cut called Just What
the Doctor Ordered. We were a little worried back during
the pilot episode when Andy handed Johnny set his small
stack of albums to kick off this new format. It
sounds like Johnny's trying to make the most of what
he has. This cut comes from the same album as

(44:36):
Queen of the Forest. Looking at the title, we're wondering
how they've never used this one before. It's perfect for
the newly anointed doctor Fever. This is the last cut
on side one of Ted Nugent's self titled debut, Just
What the Doctor Ordered, was also not released as a single.

Speaker 6 (44:56):
As less Herb and the Big Guy make their way
across the lobby, we realize.

Speaker 3 (45:03):
Time Herb darlig Va should alert.

Speaker 6 (45:07):
Herb is wearing a dark blue blazer with brown Swede
elbow patches under it. He's got a white dressed shirt
and a maroon tie with white dots. Well, this isn't bad,
but then we get a look at his pants. The
pants Herbs wearing are white, light gray and dark gray plaid.
They don't go with the jacket at all. The coat, shirt,

(45:29):
and tie are the same as what Herb was wearing
in the pilot, but these pants are something new, and
they are something.

Speaker 4 (45:37):
Travis is a dead man's one to know one guy,
ile say.

Speaker 6 (45:39):
Mister Carlson stops at his office door and points to Jennifer.

Speaker 4 (45:43):
When mother gets here, you telling me threw Travis off
the roof.

Speaker 6 (45:47):
The three of them go into mister Carlson's office and
close the door. Andy comes running through the door headed
to mister Carlson's office.

Speaker 3 (45:55):
How's it going, oh McCalls.

Speaker 6 (45:58):
Kendy opens Carlson's off office door and runs inside, slamming
the door behind him.

Speaker 3 (46:03):
Now, as the three stooges or i mean, the three
radio executives make their way across the lobby, we wanted
to pause for a moment and take a close look
at this recreated lobby. The original lobby was pretty small.
Look at the space between the coffee maker and the
jam of arts office door. It's only a couple of feet.

(46:25):
In the pilot, after the first season hiatus, both the
lobby and Carlson's office got quite a bit bigger. When
we saw the smaller lobby in this recreation, we got
to wondering, is this the old set? Did they bring
the old lobby over from KTLA? We decided this was
definitely a Max question.

Speaker 6 (46:47):
Max Tash was the coordinating producer in season four. He
also worked on every single episode of WKRP. We threw
this one to Max. Are those the old set panels?
According to Max, No, this is not the old set.
It's actually an entirely new set. Max said, when they

(47:08):
rebuilt during the hiatus and season one, they used the
old set panels to make the bigger lobby. Then when
they moved to Radford in season two, those panels were trucked,
as Max says, over the hill from KTLA to Radford.

Speaker 3 (47:25):
For this episode, they rebuilt the original lobby to the
size it was in the pilot and put it in
front of the much larger fourth season lobby set. If
you do it side by side comparison, you can see
the font used for the word Cincinnati on the wall
above the coffee maker is a little different here than
it was in the pilot. Also, the color scheme of

(47:48):
the walls is definitely different than the pilot. So the
verdict from maxtash This is a great recreation of the
pilot sized lobby, but this is not the original set.
Thanks Max. We love quizzing Max because Max knows things.

Speaker 6 (48:06):
The phone rings and Jennifer answers. Although the format of
the station just changed, the way she answers the phone
has not. We've always thought Andy kind of jumped the
gun on the whole format change. This new and hilarious
detail is further proof of mister Travis not thinking it
all the way through, which brings us to.

Speaker 1 (48:26):
The line of the episode, WKRP soothing sounds for senior citizens.

Speaker 6 (48:35):
And what makes this line even funnier is hearing the
Ted Nugent rocking out behind her. The soothing sounds are
no more, Jennifer continues with the caller, No, this is.

Speaker 9 (48:47):
Not the emergency broadcast system.

Speaker 6 (48:49):
Why are you telling me all this?

Speaker 3 (48:52):
As Jennifer hangs up the phone, Bailey comes into the lobby.
Bailey's holding out some folded bills.

Speaker 9 (48:58):
Oh you're right, Jennifer didn't even last till noon. Oh Bailey,
I hate to take your money, but okay.

Speaker 3 (49:04):
As Jennifer reaches for the money, Bailey pulls her hand
back and puts the money into her sweater pocket. Now
they're making it sound like the format changed happened on
Andy's first day. It actually took place at least on
day two. We know that because in the pilot he's
wearing a different shirt.

Speaker 6 (49:20):
Bailey looks at Jennifer a little put out.

Speaker 9 (49:23):
We finally get a chance to turn this mortuary around.
I don't know why everybody is so scared of a
little old lady. If she were my mother, I duke
her out. You.

Speaker 6 (49:33):
Mama Carlson. Missus Carlson, as played by Carol Bruce, walks
into the lobby and orders Bailey too turn that off.

Speaker 9 (49:41):
Yes, ma'am.

Speaker 6 (49:43):
Bailey quickly turns off the wall monitor. Jennifer is smiling
at Bailey after all that tough talk. She completely collapses
when face to face with Mama. Lillian doesn't even pause
as she sweeps through the lobby and on into Art's office.
Bailey looks at Jennifer a bit sheepishly.

Speaker 9 (50:00):
He's not my mother.

Speaker 3 (50:03):
It'd be like stopping a hurricane or something. As she's
sweeping through that lobby, Venus comes into the lobby just
behind Missus Carlson. Now, hold on a minute, here, wouldn't
those two have come up on the elevator together. We
know from fire there's only one elevator, and Venus came
in right behind her, So maybe he stopped off in

(50:25):
the men's room to double check the threads and build
up his self confidence a little bit.

Speaker 6 (50:30):
And speaking of threads, wow, Venus is dressed to kill
in his original Venus outfit from pilot Part one. Think
for a minute about something we learned in this episode.
Gordon did not have this outfit last night. This means
he bought the whole thing off the rack somewhere in Cincinnati,

(50:51):
either late last night or first thing this morning. Hey,
you know what we weren't doing back during pilot part one.

Speaker 12 (51:00):
On Now, let's take a look at Venus's viban threads.

Speaker 6 (51:07):
Venus is wearing a wide brimmed felt hat with a
metallic gold band around it. He has a white scarf
tied around his neck. His shirt is gray with a
light crosshatch pattern. The fedora is maroon and matches the
maroon soup jacket and wide legged maroon pants. He's wearing
a full length of snow leopard faux fur raped over

(51:28):
his shoulders. This is the kind of look from the
first season that originally inspired the viban threads feature. By
the second season, Venus is still stylish, but he starts
to tone down the wardrobe quite a bit.

Speaker 3 (51:49):
Jennifer gives Venus the once over when he comes up
to her desk.

Speaker 8 (51:53):
Well, you're probably looking for the dance studio upstairs.

Speaker 3 (51:58):
His mouth is just hanging as she looks at Venus.

Speaker 8 (52:01):
No, I need to see my man.

Speaker 9 (52:03):
Which man is yours?

Speaker 4 (52:06):
The dude's name is Travis.

Speaker 8 (52:08):
Uh huh, Well, I'm afraid the dude is in conference
right now.

Speaker 3 (52:12):
Dude stills some. He's cool. Jennifer smiles at him.

Speaker 9 (52:16):
I'm sure you are.

Speaker 6 (52:19):
And this is the second mention of a fifteenth floor
and of a dance studio up there. The only other
time we've heard about it was during airplane show.

Speaker 8 (52:29):
I should be up there the fifteenth floor.

Speaker 4 (52:32):
It's a dance studio.

Speaker 6 (52:34):
We've been to Cincinnati. We stayed on the fourteenth floor
of the Flim building and it's on top. We can
guarantee you there is no fifteenth floor and no dance studio.

Speaker 3 (52:46):
Yeah, we cleared that one up definitively. Just check our
Facebook page.

Speaker 4 (52:50):
I'm the new nighttime DJ.

Speaker 8 (52:53):
Oh Dear.

Speaker 3 (52:55):
The oh dear causes Venus to lean down close to Jennifer.

Speaker 7 (52:59):
Beg you pardon, I mean save what.

Speaker 3 (53:03):
Love that recovery. Jennifer introduces herself and Bailey. He tells
them he is Venus rising.

Speaker 9 (53:10):
Oh how do we tell him?

Speaker 4 (53:11):
Just say it? I can take it.

Speaker 9 (53:13):
Your dude is about to be on the first stage
out of town at all.

Speaker 3 (53:16):
Venus looks like he's about to be sick.

Speaker 4 (53:19):
Where's the nearest elementary school?

Speaker 9 (53:21):
What?

Speaker 3 (53:23):
He wants to know? What happened to Andy Mama?

Speaker 6 (53:26):
Venus asks who's mama? Jennifer explains she's mister Carlson's mother.
She owns the station and hates rock and roll and
everything connected with it.

Speaker 9 (53:36):
And everyone connected with it.

Speaker 6 (53:37):
No kidding, Bailey tells Venus. She guesses he's used to
this kind of thing in the radio game.

Speaker 7 (53:43):
Oh this is my first you know, you never get
used to this.

Speaker 6 (53:47):
It is so much fun to see this side of
the Venus story.

Speaker 3 (53:51):
I love knowing what was happening out in the lobby.
So Bailey tells Jennifer she's not gonna stand by without
a fight. She begins to walk towards arts office door,
as she suddenly stops and turns back to Venus.

Speaker 6 (54:04):
Mister rising, would you like to go in?

Speaker 3 (54:06):
There is the big bad mom in there, Jennifer tells him, Yeah,
not me. Jennifer tells Venus Andy is being fired in there,
and if.

Speaker 9 (54:14):
He's fired, you're fired.

Speaker 4 (54:16):
Well, I don't know any of those people. How can
I help?

Speaker 9 (54:18):
Oh, you'll scare the hell out of her.

Speaker 3 (54:20):
Bailey takes Venus by the army.

Speaker 9 (54:23):
You know, shock is a very effective weapon. You've got
that going for you.

Speaker 3 (54:26):
Haley asks him, what's he got to lose?

Speaker 9 (54:29):
Certainly not a job.

Speaker 6 (54:30):
Bailey begins pushing Venus across the lobby to mister Carlson's
office door.

Speaker 8 (54:34):
If I was on New Orleans, now'd be recess. I'd
be working on my lesson plan.

Speaker 6 (54:39):
You remember how surprised we were during the pilot that
Venus just walked in. Well, now we know why. Bailey
gives him one last push and tells him to go
right in.

Speaker 9 (54:50):
Don't knock. I would go ahead, You're cool.

Speaker 6 (54:55):
Venus nods his head, but he can't seem to make
himself move any closer, Sir to the door. He turns
to look at Jennifer and Bailey.

Speaker 12 (55:03):
Thank you.

Speaker 6 (55:04):
He continues to stand in front of the door. He
gets a little bounce going and begins to nod as
he stares at the closed door.

Speaker 3 (55:12):
And our perspective from the pilot is just this very
self assured guy coming into the office.

Speaker 6 (55:18):
He's all the confidence in the world.

Speaker 3 (55:20):
Ready to go. You have no idea that he's out
there getting himself psyched up until now. Inside Art's office
we see Andy addressing missus Carlson. This is the point
where they marry up these new scenes to what was
happening in Carlson's office during the pilot. Andy is making
a turn we've seen before.

Speaker 12 (55:37):
Ma'am.

Speaker 4 (55:38):
Well, I hate to say it, but I personally cannot
work that way. Yes, I am fired.

Speaker 3 (55:43):
Andy starts to walk to the door. Well wait a minute, mister.
Carlson faces his mother and defends Andy.

Speaker 4 (55:49):
You've been on my back for years to turn a
profit here.

Speaker 13 (55:52):
Now when I finally start doing something about it, you
want to dump the station.

Speaker 4 (55:55):
I'll tell you something, Mama, He goes.

Speaker 12 (55:57):
I go.

Speaker 3 (55:58):
Mama is glaring at our what.

Speaker 4 (56:00):
Yeah, you got it?

Speaker 9 (56:02):
Author. You've never spoken to me in that tone of
voice before.

Speaker 4 (56:05):
Yeah, well, do you like it?

Speaker 8 (56:11):
I hate it, but.

Speaker 9 (56:12):
It's the first hint of backbone I've ever seen in you.

Speaker 3 (56:15):
This is so much fun getting to hear Carol Bruce
do the same lines we heard from Sylvia Sidney in
the pilot.

Speaker 6 (56:22):
Missus Carlson turns to look at Andy, who is leaning
against the door, his hand on the doorknob.

Speaker 9 (56:28):
Young man, we've played you away for a while. You've
got the.

Speaker 6 (56:31):
Deal, Andy, thanks, Missus Carlson. She tells him to proceed carefully.

Speaker 9 (56:36):
I warn you, nothing weird, nothing strange.

Speaker 6 (56:39):
This line has been added to the scene. Sylvia Sidney
did not say this line in the original pilot episode,
or if she did, it was cut from the final edit.
It's like they thought they needed to add a little
more spice to the Venus entrance. Andy assures her she
doesn't need to worry about him. The door opens and
it pushes Andy as Venus comes into the office, and

(57:05):
Andy and Venus slap each other fives. Missus Carlson is
staring at Venus.

Speaker 3 (57:10):
What is that still a good line? Indy and Venus
are standing side by side at Art's door, recreating the
exact shot from the pilot. We did a screen grab
of this shot from Creation of Venus and put it
right next to the same scene from the pilot. We
noticed an interesting difference between these two scenes, which makes

(57:30):
us want to pause here for a very cool story. Now.
We've tried with every episode of the WKRP cast to
give you some new tidbit or piece of interesting information
about the show that you've never heard before, like the
story about Jerry Springer's help when it came to shooting
the city all lit up, or Tom Dreesen telling us

(57:52):
about trying to crack up Frank Bonner the real story
behind Frank's parasailing accident, as told to us by Christian Seaborn.
We've found some cool new stuff for you, fellow babies,
but what we discovered with this episode has to go
way up there on the list.

Speaker 6 (58:08):
When we put these two almost identical shots side by side,
we noticed Venus did not have a beard in the
pilot episode. He's only on camera for about a minute
and there's a lot happening around him. It's easy to
miss a detail like that when watching, but looking at
the stills it becomes obvious Venus in the pilot has

(58:30):
a mustache but no beard. This seemed weird. Hasn't Venus
always had a beard? It's part of his signature.

Speaker 3 (58:39):
And down the rabbit hole we go. So this raised
the question when do we first see Venus wearing a beard? Well,
the research on this one was easy. Venus first has
a beard in Pilot Part two. The very next episode,
he shows up in the final two minutes after the
big press conference. He talks to Carlson by the reception desk,
and he very clearly he has a full beard. From

(59:02):
then on, we've never seen Venus without a beard. The
pilot episode shot in March of nineteen seventy eight. For
some reason, by the shooting of Pilot Part two in
August of nineteen seventy eight, Tim Reid had grown a
full beard.

Speaker 6 (59:18):
Tom Dreasen told us one of the reasons Tim doesn't
do podcasts anymore is because he keeps getting asked the
same old questions. He feels like all the answers are
out there if you're willing to go find him. We
sent a question to Tom and asked him if he
would forward it on to Tim. We had a hunch
it was not something Tim had been asked very often,

(59:40):
if at all. Why did you grow a beard in
the five months between the shoot date of the pilot
and the shoot date of Pilot Part two. Tim's response
blew us away.

Speaker 3 (59:52):
Tom said, Tim answered right back. Tim didn't say if
it was something he'd been asked before, but the fact
he answered at all might be telling. This is Tim
Reid's response to the question of growing a beard in
Pilot Part two. Quote. It was a personal decision. I
thought it fit the character. At that time, black actors
were not allowed to wear a beard on TV. The

(01:00:16):
debate went all the way to the executives in New York.
The late journalist Ed Bradley also decided to wear his
beard on Sixty Minutes, so he and I were the
first black men allowed to wear a beard on primetime
television unquote. And thank you Tim Reid for that fantastic answer.

Speaker 6 (01:00:40):
This, of course sent us on a bit of a
journey through the politics of beards. There's a lot to
it going back centuries. If you're interested, you might want
to do some googling. By the nineteen seventies, Tim was
very right. There was a bias against black men with
beards in all mass media, but especially on network television.

(01:01:02):
A black man in a beard was considered menacing or threatening.
We would like to note one exception. Red Fox as
Fred Sandford does wear a beard on Sandford and Son.

Speaker 7 (01:01:15):
Oh it's the worst.

Speaker 8 (01:01:16):
Well, this is a big one.

Speaker 11 (01:01:18):
I'm Donebeth, I'm coming to join you, honey.

Speaker 6 (01:01:24):
This is most likely due to his age. Red didn't
evoke a threatening black panther or a black power image
with his beard. He looked more like Uncle Remus of
Disney Fames.

Speaker 8 (01:01:36):
Bah Zip.

Speaker 3 (01:01:39):
Wonderful feeling, wonderful way Lamont.

Speaker 6 (01:01:44):
Fred's son was not allowed to wear a beard and
is only seen in a mustache throughout the series. Thank
you Tom Dreesen for helping us out, and thank you
Tim Reid for that interesting insight into the network politics
of beard in late nineteen seventies TV.

Speaker 3 (01:02:02):
I thought that was pretty cool.

Speaker 6 (01:02:04):
It was very interesting.

Speaker 3 (01:02:05):
It's still fun to find these interesting things. Even as
we're kind of tailing out here. Back to the recreated
action Carlson's office, Andy points at Venus.

Speaker 8 (01:02:14):
May I introduce mister Venus fly track.

Speaker 3 (01:02:16):
Venus is caught off guard. Hey what happened to Venus rising?
Andy's nerves got the better of him. He doesn't even
realize he's made a mistake. Venus regains his cool and
goes with the new last name, Hey, little Mama. And
that was funnier for me because he was saying it
to Carol Bruce. So Missus Carlson gives Venus a stern look.

(01:02:39):
Andy tells them all Venus is the best nighttime DJ
in the country. Andy has no problem lying about this stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:02:46):
Does He got took a liberty and hired him away
from the station to New Orleans.

Speaker 3 (01:02:49):
Missus Carlson asks Venus if he had a big audience there.
Venus is smiling at Missus Carlson.

Speaker 6 (01:02:55):
Missus Carlson holds out her hand to Venus.

Speaker 9 (01:02:57):
Looking to Cincinnati. Mister flytrack, Papa, Yes, mother, this doesn't work,
I'll tear you down, brick by brick.

Speaker 6 (01:03:06):
Mister Carlson tells her. They get the picture. Missus Carlson
gives Venus and Andy a look as she is leaving.

Speaker 9 (01:03:12):
Nice to have met you too.

Speaker 6 (01:03:14):
She turns towards the camera and looks up at the ceiling,
rolling her eyes and shaking her head as she walks
out of the office. This was another fun screen grab comparison.
Both Miss Sydney and Miss Bruce are world class with
their eye roll game. We have to give this one
to Carol, but only because the framing of her eye

(01:03:34):
roll shot is so much better in the recreation. We
can chalk the cool framing up to Gordon Jump.

Speaker 3 (01:03:41):
Okay, So, now that Mom's gone, and just because we
can and because it's fun, let's compare some of those
lines that were repeated from the pilot. Check it out.
The first cut will be from the pilot, followed by
the same line recreated for this episode. Now, remember Sylvia
Sidney is playing Mama Carlson in the pilot, Carol Bruce
in the recreation.

Speaker 4 (01:04:02):
Let me tell you something. If he goes, I go,
that's Lusia.

Speaker 9 (01:04:07):
I think you've never spoken to me that way before.

Speaker 4 (01:04:09):
Well do you like it?

Speaker 9 (01:04:13):
I hate it, but it's the first time I've seen
any sign of backbone in you.

Speaker 4 (01:04:18):
He goes, I go, what, Yeah, you got it?

Speaker 9 (01:04:21):
Author, You've never spoken to me in that tone of
voice before?

Speaker 4 (01:04:25):
Yeah, Well do you like it?

Speaker 9 (01:04:30):
I hate it, but it's the first hint of backbone
I've ever seen in you. Well, man, we'll.

Speaker 8 (01:04:36):
Try it your way for a while.

Speaker 4 (01:04:38):
You've got a.

Speaker 9 (01:04:38):
Deal, young man. We've played your way for a while
you've got the deal?

Speaker 3 (01:04:44):
What is that?

Speaker 8 (01:04:45):
What is that?

Speaker 9 (01:04:47):
Did you have a big audience there? The biggest welcome
to Cincinnati, mister Bikra.

Speaker 12 (01:04:54):
Yes.

Speaker 9 (01:04:55):
If this doesn't work, I'll tear you down brick by Britain.
We have a big audience there, the biggest welcome to Cincinnati,
mister fly track. Yes, mother, this doesn't work, I'll tear
you down brick by brick.

Speaker 3 (01:05:10):
Okay, so that was fine, but now let's get back
to the episode.

Speaker 6 (01:05:14):
Once the door has closed, Venus points at it and says.

Speaker 4 (01:05:18):
It's a mean mama you.

Speaker 6 (01:05:20):
And he asks Herb and Less to show Venus around
the station. Herb strides over to the door, telling Venus
he has some ideas about the nighttime show. Les goes
up to Venus.

Speaker 13 (01:05:30):
I do the sports news here, mister Flytrap. I don't
know if you've noticed, but there certainly are a lot
of negroes in sports.

Speaker 6 (01:05:37):
Less goes on out the door. Venus stands for a
bit and then save What. He follows Less out the door.

Speaker 3 (01:05:46):
And that's say what sounded almost identical to the pilot.
Say what?

Speaker 6 (01:05:51):
Oh did it?

Speaker 3 (01:05:52):
Yeah? Check it out. Here's a comparison the pilot Save
What and Venus just now pretty darn clothes. These were
all more great screen grab comparisons. The actors did an
amazing job recreating the scene as they all exit the office.
In the side by side comparison, you can see the
added space in the set of Carlson's office. We will

(01:06:15):
post some of our screen grab comparisons to our Facebook page.
Make sure to find us on Facebook by searching at
WKRP cast.

Speaker 6 (01:06:24):
We cut to the standard studio hallway shot. Les, Venus,
and Herb come through the door. At the end of
the hallway, Les is still explaining his theory.

Speaker 13 (01:06:34):
He may Jesse Owens, Cassius Clay, and Mohammed Ali.

Speaker 6 (01:06:40):
Quick side note to less Clay and Ali are the
same person. Cassius Clay took the name Mohammed Ali on
March sixth, nineteen sixty four, after announcing he had accepted
the teachings of Islam. The three get to the studio
window and look in. We hear Waveleock by Van Morrison

(01:07:01):
playing over the air. We get a long shot in
the studio where we can see Johnny taking records out
of their jacket covers, breaking them and tossing them into
the air. He's dancing around the studio as he destroys
the old record library. The floor is covered with broken
pieces of records.

Speaker 3 (01:07:21):
You know, we only got to see him break that
one in the pilot, and you could tell how much
he loved breaking that one that was sitting on the turntable.
So this is great seeing him break and everything that
pent up yestress that aggression. The new format song Johnny's
supposed to be playing is Wavelength by Van Morrison. Now,
if you're watching on the shot Factory Dissan thinking that's
not the Wavelength, I remember, you'd be right. What you're

(01:07:44):
hearing is a cover version. This is the difference between
copyright and publishing. Right, the copyright holder is Van Morrison.
He said no to using his performance in the show.
The publishing rights are held by someone else. The publisher
said sure, you can use performance of the song, just
not Vans, so MTM handed it off to a cover band.

(01:08:05):
Wavelength is the title cut from Van Morrison's nineteen seventy
eight album, so the timing is right for the flashback.
The single was considered a bit of a comeback for Morrison.
It peaked at number forty two on the Hot one hundred,
Although wavelength was heralded as Morrison's return to hit making.
It would actually wind up being his last hot one
hundred entry.

Speaker 6 (01:08:26):
Herb motions to the studio.

Speaker 7 (01:08:28):
Oh, in, here's what we in the business call the
DJ mooove right.

Speaker 6 (01:08:32):
Venus points through the window at Johnny and asks what
he is doing.

Speaker 8 (01:08:36):
It's what we in the business called breaking records.

Speaker 7 (01:08:39):
Weet the largest collection of Mitch Miller, Montmanni and Montenegro's
No Offense.

Speaker 6 (01:08:46):
Venus reacts to Herb's comment with an exasperated look, but
Herb was already in motion again. He points to the
door leading to the bullpen and tells Venus they want
to show him the nerve center of w Karp. Less
excitedly moves ahead to open the door.

Speaker 8 (01:09:02):
That would be the news departments.

Speaker 6 (01:09:04):
Less leads the way into the bullpen. As we're leaving
the studio hallway, we wanted to point something out. No posters.
Getting the station back to pre rock and roll seems
to have meant taking down all of the posters.

Speaker 3 (01:09:19):
Lets takes Venus by the arm, saying he wants to
show him his office. Less ushers Venus over to his
office and takes out his keys. He unlocks his invisible door,
opens it and walks in.

Speaker 13 (01:09:32):
Now these lines represent where walls will someday be.

Speaker 3 (01:09:36):
Less throws his arms up in the air walls ms
jumps back, wondering what he has gotten himself into. Venus
gives Herb a look as Less shows off his awards.

Speaker 13 (01:09:47):
These are my Buckeye News Hawk awards. I have more
awards than anyone else at this station. You seekarp is
just a stepping stone in this reporter's career.

Speaker 3 (01:09:57):
Bleans forward.

Speaker 7 (01:09:58):
Less, You've been here twenty four, which.

Speaker 3 (01:10:02):
Is correct if we go off the date of the
Christmas party flashback from BA Humbug. We've gotten a lot
of different years and dates out of mister Nesman over
the years, but we did get that nineteen fifty four
from BA Humbug. So if the pilot is in nineteen
seventy eight, that would put Less at the station twenty
four years.

Speaker 6 (01:10:21):
Herb grabs Venus's arm, pulling him toward his desk. Herb
slaps the top of his desk with his open hands.

Speaker 7 (01:10:28):
This desk is the nerve center. Mister claptrap.

Speaker 6 (01:10:31):
Less comes walking back over to Venus.

Speaker 13 (01:10:33):
Mister, I could tell you farming stories that would curl
your hair.

Speaker 6 (01:10:43):
Herb is motioning to us to stop. Venus's hair is
already pretty curly. The joke gets a decent laugh as
Johnny walks into the bullpen with his coffee mug.

Speaker 13 (01:10:54):
Hello, fellow babies, did you know that some chickens don't
have teeth?

Speaker 3 (01:11:00):
I do have an update for mister Nesmand on chicken teeth.
No modern chickens have teeth, but in two thousand and six,
biologists made an interesting announcement about chicken teeth. They discovered
even though chickens don't have teeth, they do have the
genes necessary to grow teeth. The gene function has been

(01:11:21):
shut off over the centuries of evolution. All birds, according
to researchers, have a dormant tooth growing gene. They believe
the gene is a holdover from the archosaurs, a class
of reptile that had teeth but would eventually evolve into
toothless beak using birds. Scientists say having unused genetic structures

(01:11:44):
like the tooth cheen and chickens is pretty common. Get this,
this is really weird. Snakes have a gene for limbs,
they just don't use it.

Speaker 6 (01:11:54):
It seems like they would want that it be easier
than Lily shut off off.

Speaker 3 (01:11:58):
It got shut off over the years of evolution. That
gene is just no longer used, but it is there.
They could grow limbs if it were somehow activated.

Speaker 6 (01:12:07):
Well, I'm glad I know about the tooth Jane and Chicken.
Johnny comes over to the group and asks if they've
been listening to his show.

Speaker 4 (01:12:15):
Oh, that's Johnny Caravella.

Speaker 6 (01:12:16):
Johnny tells them he used to be Johnny Caravella.

Speaker 8 (01:12:19):
Changed my name this morning on the air.

Speaker 6 (01:12:21):
Now I'm Johnny's trying to remember his new name. Herb
points to Venus.

Speaker 13 (01:12:27):
Venus clap trap, that's not it, Venus fly track.

Speaker 7 (01:12:37):
Professor is something.

Speaker 2 (01:12:38):
I think.

Speaker 6 (01:12:40):
Venus is looking at all of them as if they
were crazy, and he's in the middle of a nut farm.

Speaker 3 (01:12:46):
Oh, he's going to be wondering when he moved from
New Orleans.

Speaker 6 (01:12:48):
To this gotten himself into.

Speaker 3 (01:12:50):
So Herb turns to Venus.

Speaker 7 (01:12:52):
Anyway about that nighttime show of yours? What are your plans?

Speaker 3 (01:12:55):
Venus tells her he plens to play some records beyond that. Really,
not a lot of plans. Johnny, still searching his memory,
trying to recall his new name.

Speaker 4 (01:13:04):
Brother vibe.

Speaker 3 (01:13:08):
He decides to check the coffee mug. He reads all
of the names listed there.

Speaker 8 (01:13:12):
Sunshine, Dude Style, Cool, Midnight.

Speaker 3 (01:13:15):
No, that's not it. Johnny looks up and points, thinking
he's got it.

Speaker 8 (01:13:20):
Officers, No, I would never do that.

Speaker 3 (01:13:22):
No, no, not that.

Speaker 6 (01:13:25):
Venus looks at Johnny.

Speaker 7 (01:13:26):
Oh, was doctor Johnny Fever heard it this morning? You
were great, man, Fever.

Speaker 1 (01:13:30):
I gotta write that down.

Speaker 6 (01:13:32):
Johnny goes to the DJ's desk. Andy enters the bullpen
and asks everyone how it's going. He asks Venus how
it's going and slaps him on the.

Speaker 8 (01:13:40):
Back, and he may I speak with you privately. Sure
you could use my office.

Speaker 6 (01:13:45):
Less motions to his office.

Speaker 8 (01:13:47):
I got something to tell you.

Speaker 4 (01:13:48):
Po, Just get me out of here.

Speaker 6 (01:13:50):
As they head to the door leading to the studio hallway,
Andy tells Johnny he did a good job this morning.

Speaker 3 (01:13:56):
He's not honi yet about not playing the hits that'll
come later. As soon as they are in the hallway
and the door shuts behind them, Venus says, Andy, what
the hell is going on? We hear new song by
the Who playing over these speakers, and Andy is excited.

Speaker 4 (01:14:11):
We did it.

Speaker 8 (01:14:12):
I just got through talking with Carlson.

Speaker 4 (01:14:13):
He is fully committed. It should be all of you
should be.

Speaker 3 (01:14:17):
And I did like that line, all of you should be.
And he tells Venus that old lady Carlson loves him.

Speaker 8 (01:14:23):
She bought the entire out.

Speaker 3 (01:14:24):
Venus says Andy where he got the name fly trap? Now?
Andy says he doesn't know. It's just weird right in
there tonight in that booth, You're going to become a
star starting to an animal plant eats bugs.

Speaker 6 (01:14:36):
The song we're hearing on the air throughout the hallway
scene is new song by The Who. This was a
cut from their August of nineteen seventy eight album Who
Are You So? Keeping it tight to the time period
of the flashback news song was Pete Townsend's screed against
FM radio. He said they were wanting artists to do
clones of their established hits, which sounds about right. He

(01:15:00):
said new song would never get airplay because of the
subject matter, also because it was never released as a single.

Speaker 3 (01:15:08):
We're gonna talk about a venus fly trap. Yes, for
eighty six episodes, we've avoided giving out a definition of
a venus fly trap. We were waiting for just the
right moment and what could be better than an episode
called The Creation of Venus. The venus flytrap is truly
a carnivorous plant indigenous to the United States. It eats

(01:15:32):
bugs to survive. It is native to subtropical wetlands on
the east coast of both North and South Carolina. It
was first documented in seventeen fifty nine by the colonial
governor of North Carolina, Arthur Dobbs. He penned the first
written description of the plant, calling it a quote catch

(01:15:53):
fly sensitive.

Speaker 6 (01:15:54):
Subsequent studies have revealed interesting details about the venus flytrap,
so prepare to close. If an insect or crawling spider
contacts a sensitive hair on the open leaf of the plant,
it won't close immediately. It waits for another contact within
approximately twenty seconds of the first strike, to confirm something moving.

(01:16:17):
It wants to make sure this is a real hit
with nutrient potential, not a false alarm like a falling leaf.
After closing over the prey, the venus fly trap will
only begin digestion if it gets at least five more stimuli,
ensuring a live bug. The plant doesn't want to waste
energy on digesting something that's not actually a meal. After

(01:16:41):
decades of study, scientists still don't fully understand how the
mechanism actually flips closed to trap prey.

Speaker 3 (01:16:49):
The venus flytrap is cultivated for sale, but the population
of the venus fly trap in the wild has dwindled rapidly.
A nineteen seventy nine population estimate indicated four point five
million individual plants. In twenty nineteen, that number was down
by a shocking ninety three percent to only about three

(01:17:10):
hundred thousand individual plants. The venus flytrap is listed as
vulnerable to extinction and it is on the Protected Species List.
They are very popular as houseplants, but beware of taking
on the responsibility of a venus flytrap. They can live
for up to thirty years. I want one now, Yeah,

(01:17:31):
it sounds cool.

Speaker 6 (01:17:32):
Yeah. We could leave it in our will to.

Speaker 3 (01:17:34):
Our daughter to keep it alive.

Speaker 6 (01:17:36):
Venus suddenly realizes what Andy said tonight.

Speaker 4 (01:17:39):
What you're talking abouts? Right?

Speaker 8 (01:17:40):
You go on eight o'clock tonight yet, But I'm not ready.

Speaker 4 (01:17:43):
I'm scared you're a here. I'm scared you're a here.

Speaker 6 (01:17:45):
Jennifer comes walking down the hall.

Speaker 9 (01:17:46):
Gaginvations Andy, you too, mister rising.

Speaker 6 (01:17:50):
Andy corrects her, telling her it's fly trap. Mister Venus Flytrap.

Speaker 9 (01:17:55):
Ah like the plant that eats bugs?

Speaker 4 (01:17:56):
How it?

Speaker 6 (01:17:58):
Jennifer goes into the bullpen.

Speaker 3 (01:18:00):
Venus turns to Andy. He is panicking about going on tonight.
Andy tells Venus to just let himself go.

Speaker 8 (01:18:06):
You got the talent for it. It's what skin sign crops.

Speaker 3 (01:18:09):
I need some props, and he tells Venus you'll get
him a flu ton I can't play, and he doesn't
like the accordion idea. He suggests wind chimes. Well. Venus
says he can't play wind chimes, but I'm thinking how
much playing is there with wind chimes.

Speaker 6 (01:18:27):
Johnny comes out of the bullpen door and stops. He's
looking at Venus. They just met in the bullpen three
minutes ago. I know you, Venus tells him.

Speaker 7 (01:18:37):
Yeah, I'm Venus fly Trap.

Speaker 4 (01:18:40):
Right.

Speaker 6 (01:18:40):
Johnny walks up to him and they shake hands.

Speaker 13 (01:18:43):
Venus fly Trap, I've been hearing about you for years.

Speaker 8 (01:18:46):
Man, we finally meet at last.

Speaker 10 (01:18:50):
They're gonna get along this time.

Speaker 4 (01:18:53):
I'm Johnny.

Speaker 6 (01:18:56):
Johnny is looking around, trying to remember his new name.
He turns and heads to the door leading to the bullpen.
Johnny disappears into the bullpen. We're pretty sure he wrote
it down now if he can just find it.

Speaker 3 (01:19:10):
I do think Johnny has gotten more coherent over the
years since we first met Johnny. He seems a little
more aware of things. Remember in the pilot, he just
came into Andy's office and fell asleep on the couch
and he was just so completely out of it, and
here he can't remember his name. It just seems like
in more recent episodes, Johnny's a little more on top
of things.

Speaker 6 (01:19:30):
Yeah, I think so. He has kind of elevated his
performance alone.

Speaker 3 (01:19:35):
And maybe the more in tune, the regular stability of
the job at KRP, and maybe the relationship with Bailey.
He's maybe cleaning himself up a little bit. I don't know.
Maybe Savena's points is the door closed. He's behind Johnny.

Speaker 8 (01:19:50):
That guy is great.

Speaker 4 (01:19:51):
He doesn't know his name, but he's still great.

Speaker 3 (01:19:53):
And he tells Andy Johnny's got a gimmick.

Speaker 4 (01:19:55):
He calls his people fellow. Maybe that's a nice gimmick.

Speaker 3 (01:19:57):
Andy grees. He tells Venus yes to go, but Venus
frantically asked Andy, what's he gonna call his people?

Speaker 4 (01:20:04):
Ay anything?

Speaker 3 (01:20:05):
What he used to call your kids in school?

Speaker 8 (01:20:07):
Uh? EMPs, rascals?

Speaker 2 (01:20:10):
The rats, disgusting little stuff and things.

Speaker 3 (01:20:17):
Venus walks away, shaking his head.

Speaker 6 (01:20:19):
It's time for our first ever continuity error slash poster
watch Gee yeay. After Andy leaves the studio hallway flashback,
Venus is pacing back and forth doing his monologue about
what he used to call his kids. As he does this,
he pulls the studio door open. It's only open for

(01:20:40):
a second, but DVD means the luxury of the freeze frame.
We noticed on the door opened by flashback Venus, you
could see the Grover Washington and George Carlum posters from
the present day scene with Mama. The studio set hadn't
been converted yet for the Johnny flashback scenes, and Venus

(01:21:01):
opened the door.

Speaker 7 (01:21:02):
Oops.

Speaker 3 (01:21:03):
It took me like three times before I saw that.
But after I saw it, I didn't even notice when
he pulled that open, and I finally realized what we
were looking at him, like, oh, that's so cool. They
messed up. We've got a big transition with an outside
evening shot of Cincinnati. We hear wind chimes playing as
Venus is doing a talk over.

Speaker 10 (01:21:22):
And so, students, my children, this is Venus flight Trap
inviting you to join me on a telescope ride of
incredible distances and joyous harmonies as we spin soar and
somersault into the night of need deep velvet.

Speaker 3 (01:21:39):
Now, little Taste of Honey, Ye yugy by Taste of
Honey begins to play. Venus picks up a big bass
drumstick and hits the gong. It was quite a bit
louder than he expected, causing him to jump and grab
the gong to quiet it down. We must be hearing

(01:22:00):
a different part of his show in this clip. The
first song we heard him play on the air during
the pilot was Dance Dance Dance yaose Yoseosa. We do
hear him play Boogie Uggie on his show, but not
until the episode Bailey's Show.

Speaker 6 (01:22:16):
We jumped to current day in the studio where Andy
and Venus are talking to Missus Carlson.

Speaker 4 (01:22:21):
So you see, Missus Carleson. We did bend the truth
just a little bit, but we had to. The station
needed Venus.

Speaker 8 (01:22:28):
It needed to know it how to sure winter.

Speaker 4 (01:22:29):
You can understand that.

Speaker 6 (01:22:30):
No, Andy tells her they did it for the station.

Speaker 9 (01:22:33):
Oh knock it all, Andrew, I hate nobility. You were
thinking of your own hide and you know it.

Speaker 6 (01:22:39):
Andy is left standing with his mouth open, not knowing
what to say. Missus Carlson asks Venus what he has
to say.

Speaker 4 (01:22:46):
I guess we were fooling around just a little.

Speaker 9 (01:22:49):
Indeed, you were with my money in my.

Speaker 6 (01:22:51):
Station, Venus tells her at work.

Speaker 8 (01:22:54):
Have him been for that little game, I would have
never found Venus.

Speaker 3 (01:22:56):
Missus Carlson gives a look to Andy and Venus.

Speaker 9 (01:22:58):
You know you're both a couple of artist, but you
never fooled me for a minute.

Speaker 3 (01:23:02):
Andy walks closer to Missus Carleson and puts his hand
on her shoulder.

Speaker 8 (01:23:06):
Come on now, Missus Carlson, I admit it, you bought
the act.

Speaker 3 (01:23:10):
She pushes Andy's hand off her shoulder.

Speaker 9 (01:23:13):
I never buy anything. After I heard your preposterous story,
I did a little digging. Shall I tell you what
I learned.

Speaker 3 (01:23:21):
Mama has walked over, so she is standing in front
of Venus, who's sitting on the console. Venus leans around
to where he can see Andy.

Speaker 4 (01:23:28):
Andy.

Speaker 6 (01:23:29):
Missus Carlson fixes her gaze on Venus like Mama would
let someone on the station.

Speaker 9 (01:23:34):
She didn't know you taught chemistry full time, you worked
at a radio station part time. You love the classics.
You've never been married, your parents divorced when you were young,
you were raised by your grandmother, and you play the accordion.

Speaker 6 (01:23:50):
We can hear Andy laughing. Andy looks at Venus.

Speaker 9 (01:23:53):
Come on, you do play the accordion, and you, mister Travis,
collect baseball cards?

Speaker 8 (01:23:59):
What's funny about it?

Speaker 9 (01:24:00):
And you wet the bed when you were seven.

Speaker 6 (01:24:04):
Now it's Venus who is laughing.

Speaker 3 (01:24:06):
Andy takes a seat on the stool, and suddenly he's
had enough truth for one day.

Speaker 9 (01:24:11):
I was just getting warmed up. Well, I think I'll
motor over to my son's house and tell him a
few things he'd rather not hear.

Speaker 3 (01:24:21):
She picks up her prairie sin moves towards the door.

Speaker 4 (01:24:24):
Ie talking to you, Carlton.

Speaker 9 (01:24:25):
Oh, I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

Speaker 3 (01:24:28):
She gives one last stern look to Andy in walks
out of the studio.

Speaker 6 (01:24:32):
The door slams behind her.

Speaker 4 (01:24:34):
That is a mean little mama.

Speaker 6 (01:24:38):
Andy has his head in his hands and he's rubbing
his temples as he stands. Venus is laughing uncontrollably. Andy
stares at him as he opens the door to leave.
Andy pulls a piece of paper off the bulletin board
and takes it with him into the hallway. There's a beat,

(01:25:00):
then the door opens and Andy throws the watted up
paper at Venus's head, but he misses.

Speaker 3 (01:25:06):
Check Andy's hand as he shuts off the studio lights,
his hand is nowhere near the switch, but the lights
go off anyway. Andy runs, Venus runs after him. Venus
opens the bullpen door and heads in. We see Andy
come back down the hallway and hide behind the studio
door the same way he did in the cold open.
He squats down waiting, he sees a shadow and jumps,

(01:25:29):
tackling the person. The camera freezes on Andy looking up
to see mister Carlson looking down in surprise.

Speaker 6 (01:25:36):
Now you'd think Andy would have learned after the first
tackle debacle.

Speaker 3 (01:25:40):
Nannie still hasn't gotten Venus. So that's going to do
it for the creation of Venus. A fun episode and
a cool new detail that we found in there about
Tim Reid and his beard. So, Donna, what is up
for next week?

Speaker 6 (01:25:55):
This is an important programming note, my children. We've hit
the point where the listing on the DVD and what
has always been the accepted final order of WKRP episodes
changes a lot thanks to Michael Hernandez, the accountant of Rock,
for his research into the actual air dates of these
episodes for the next two weeks. The two new episodes

(01:26:19):
of WKRP that had been scheduled do not air next
week on April seventh. Instead of running Impossible Dream like
we've always thought, CBS dropped in a rerun of the
Kenney Rogers movie Coward of the County from nine pm
until eleven.

Speaker 3 (01:26:36):
PM next week on Wednesday, April fourteenth. We've always been
told the WKRP episode to air is Human Ran. It
was listed that way until twenty twenty two on IMDb,
and it's how the episodes are listed on the Shout
Factory DVDs. According to Michael Hernandez, that's a big nope.
On April fourteenth of nineteen eighty two, CBS in Sweaty

(01:26:59):
Dust Inspiration you can almost smell reran a two parter
dukes of Hazard from nine to eleven. So that makes
the next episode of WKRP the one they aired on
April twenty first. This is the one we've always believed
was the last first run episode of the series, but

(01:27:19):
it's not. We'll still have two more after this one.
So what is our next episode?

Speaker 6 (01:27:26):
Donna, We will be ready for up and down the dial.
Andy has some big news for the WKARP staff. The
station has moved up in the ratings to number six.
Venus is number one in his timeslot and Johnny is
number one overall in the market. Arthur Carlson is thrilled.

(01:27:46):
Mama Carlson not so much. She hires a new news
director and word is she's going to change the format.
The whole gang will be out of their jobs. Johnny
decides to have it out with her and her true
motivations about the station are revealed.

Speaker 3 (01:28:04):
That's going to do it for this episode of the
WKRP Cast. If you'd like to watch you along with us,
make sure to check our show notes. You can find
us on social media. Follow our Facebook page at WKRP
cast For more WKRP fun. Become a patron go to
patreon dot com slash WKRP cast for behind the scenes fun,

(01:28:25):
full interviews and more.

Speaker 6 (01:28:27):
Got a question, comment or correction Let us know about it.
Write us WKRP cast at gmail dot com.

Speaker 3 (01:28:35):
And remember to please rate and review us on Apple Podcast.
Thanks for listening by mail.

Speaker 8 (01:28:42):
May the good news be yours.

Speaker 3 (01:28:51):
The WKRP Cast is not endorsed by MTM, Enterprise, Use
Shot Factory, or CBS. This podcast is intended for entertainment
and information purposes only WKRP and Cincinnati. The WKRP logo,
and all names, pictures, and audio of WKRP and Cincinnati
characters are registered trademarks of MTM, CBS, shout Factory, or

(01:29:13):
their respective copyright holders.

Speaker 7 (01:29:21):
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S4E19 - "The Creation of Venus"

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}S4E19 - "The Creation of Venus"