The Chris Moeller Archives

The Top 50 TV Shows of All-Time: #1

#1- "WKRP in Cincinnati" CBS 1978-1982
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America's greatest prime-time TV show ever is about people working in radio. "WKRP in Cincinnati" only lasted four seasons on CBS due to creator Hugh Wilson's unreasonable complaints that the show not be bounced around the programming schedule like a ping-pong ball, but the four seasons that were produced amounted to a masterpiece. A durable TV series is lucky if it winds up boasting one character that graduates to the level of 'icon.' On "WKRP," I count four: Dr. Johnny Fever, the occasionally spaced-out disc jockey who was still spinning Carl Perkins records in a musical era defined by the Brothers Gibb; Herb Tarlek, the polyester-clad sales executive who never managed to pull in a bigger account than the worm sales outlet "Red Wiggler" (i.e. the 'Cadillac' of worms); the buxom and smart-as-she-was-beautiful receptionist Jennifer Marlowe, who was also the radio station's highest-paid employee; and the incomparable, bow-tied newsman Les Nessman, who put masking tape on the floor around his desk to illustrate to all "where walls will one day be," who wore a bandage on a different part of his person in each episode, and who missed the news report entirely when the Shah of Iran was overthrown, leading the news instead with a story about a pig that could do addition and subtraction. Oh yes, and of course he was also a five-time winner of the Buckeye NewsHawk Award and the (coveted) Silver Sow Award. The eight regular characters were fully-formed from the very beginning of the series. None ever left the series. None were phased out. None were added. It was a seamless blend from the very start. The characters were so distinctly drawn and became so internalized by the actors portraying them that three of the eight actors would pen episodes of the series, and three (not the same three) directed individual episodes. Each "WKRP" scene seemed to be written with the intent of capturing the essence of each character that appeared in that scene. It had it all-- big laughs, drama, edge, sentiment, controversy, and at least one touchstone moment (the infamous Thanksgiving turkey drop). It was prevented from finding a large audience while in production, but thanks to syndication, it became the most profitable series in the history of MTM Enterprises, a studio that produced many of the industry's most respected shows. It's been almost as equally underrated by critics, probably because it has such broad audience appeal, but I have another theory that it's because it has no connection at all to the Northeastern region of the United States. TV and film critics predominantly live and work in, and love New York City, and relate best to people who also live and work there. On television, even series that take place outside the Big Apple and the Northeast, and I'm thinking here of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," "The Golden Girls," "Northern Exposure," and "Curb Your Enthusiasm," feature transplanted New Yorkers. None of the "WKRP" actors are even from New York, let alone the characters. They hail from the Midwest (Loni Anderson, Gary Sandy, Gordon Jump, and Richard Sanders), the West Coast (Howard Hesseman and Jan Smithers), and the South (Tim Reid, Frank Bonner, and creator Wilson). This was almost unprecedented on TV. For all of the belly-laughs, there was a sweetness and humanity to "WKRP" and a wistfulness for things lost or fading. We all learned a thing or two from the gang at the Mighty 'K-R-P-- the 5,000 watt radio station "with more music and Les Nessman"-- and not just the proficiencies and deficits of the domestic turkey. We also learned that finishing #1 is not the end-all and be-all of our existence here on Earth. And that's why "WKRP in Cincinnati" just did. Everybody now, a-one-and-a-two-and-a-three...

posted by CM @ 9:00 PM