A CALL TO ARMS

I just got off a rousing round at the forums over at <WKRPinCincinnatiBlog.com> and I must say the support you all have for me is warmly and deeply felt. The Internet is the greatest advancement for the human species, and its good to know all my buddies in Cyber Land got my back when the flak comes beaucoup. Just because some peck o’ wood sees fit to use the world wide web for slander and hate-mongering, it does not and will not deter upright tax paying citizens and Decorated Veterans our Constitutional Right to enjoy our enthusiasm for that fine program WKRP In Cincinnati. Across the Internet fans of WKRP are uniting, banding together and rising up the banner as a people’s cyber-militia. One conversation in particular I had with my good buddy and fellow vet fire4fever over at WKRP in Cincinnati blog stood out for me. We served together and were reminiscing about the ‘Nam, and through all the names, Sarge., Goodall, Corp. Whitelaw, and Stodges, he broke off into a long pause and out of the middle distance, unexpectedly reels into the strangest idea.

“When The Doctor was on the air, he seemed to always come alive, you know what I mean? Its as though he were becoming complete for the first time. It was a look that came over him and I’ve seen it before. In Paan Nang back in ‘67 when we were nearly ambushed doing recon in the foothills. You remeber…The look on Stodges’ face, you were there… back then… “

And I knew exactly what he was talking about. We had both traveled immediately to that moment in the past that neither of us had spoken about since, nor could we, if we could even find words, but we had both blacked it out, simply as a survival instinct.

“We ALL knew full well what was going on with Stodges,” he continued, “he’d been in it deep for weeks now, it was starting to just seem normal” He was speaking of the mental state that Stodges had been slipping into, and we all had seen it before, like many a young recruit serving in the ‘Nam for the first time and living under inhuman circumstances on a daily basis he was suffering the initial stages of PTS and was gripped under a psychosis we all witnessed the onslaught of but were powerless in our own struggles for survival, to intervene with or help. He was able, as if by remote control, to fulfill all his duties and remain at the ready as we were constatly under fire, yet he had adopted, casually, a strikingly disturbing trait. Sometime in the chaos of battle, and in the wreakage of his deepest mind something had already snapped. He had become a cannibal. At first it was like a joke, he did it so casually.We were surrounded by death 24 hours a day, so the humour turned sort of dark, another cruel survival instinct the mind comes up with under duress.One day Stodges comes up to us all around the fire and he’s holding a tiny arm, a baby’s arm charred from where it was blown off, and jokingly he’s holding it like bugs bunny with a carrot and he’s chewing the end, tearing off peices and eating them and making the same “nyahhh, nyeahhh” noises, grinning a cold blooded macabre grin like skin peeling off a skull roasting in the sun Its not something a civilian can comprehend. Stodges was still the most A1 Front Line Honor Roll blood and guts soldier any of us had ever seen and I have yet to see a more steadfastedly efficient combatant nor more fearless warrior since. We trusted him with our lives no matter how low he sank And he had that same look, the look on his face like Johnny Fever would get years later on WKRP. No matter how bat-shit crazy and whatever regrettable actions he may had taken in the past, he was a soldier, first and foremost, bound by duty, to Search and Destroy in the name of Rock And Roll.”

And you know what? He always did, no matter what. That’s why WKRP has always had a large and loyal following amongst our armed forces personnel, especially for me, a vet and DOUBLE AMPUTEE, it is for its accurate and sympathetic portrayal in the character Johnny Fever, of vets living at home and the challenges we face on a daily basis. With that in mind it would be preposterous to challenge the faith and passion of the many thousands of Americans loyal to Land, Liberty, and WKRP

INSPIRATIONAL...

ONE NATION UNDER GOD AND THE MIGHTY 'KRP!

DOSSIER : WKRP - SUBJECT #1 - The Big Guy

The Many Faces of Gordon Jump, Renaissance Man.

This is the first installment of a new series I am adding to the WKRP-LOG.

it is a breakdown of each character, in depth. It is meant as an aid to the newly initiated “krp fan as well as a general checklist for the seasoned Buff. I call it DOSSIER : WKRP and each week I will address one character, studying their role and the artist(s) behind the Hollywood magic that brings to us again and again thanks to Internet technology, the diamond versatility of serial comic/drama which is WKRP in Cincinnati

SUBJECT #1 - THE BIG GUY -

“Wish not so much to live long as to live well” Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)

Whilst the main meat and potatoes of the action and certainly the high point of all the comic moments in the TV show WKRP always center on the characters Earl Tarlick and Loni Anderson, “The Big Guy” played by Gordon Jump, is a significant character, an anchor for the core action to take place around and quite often the pivotal dramatic foil at the crux of the writing in this program. In the show he owns the radio station WKRP. He is the sort of character who creates his own negative reality spreading his shitty attitude around so much that everything about him is cursed. His business is going bankrupt. He is always angry and frustrated. he alienates everyone he meets and frightens his employees. It is a subterfuge, he just wants people to leave him alone, so he uses the failing numbers his station pulls in to disabuse his staff and they are afraid to disturb his gloomy sanctum. Really, deep down he is a sad guy. he sits alone in his office and looks at an oil painting portrait of his dead mother. Sometimes the painting even speaks to him (voiced by Alice Ghostly) Hes so miserable, and every attempt of those around him to reach out is thwarted by his bitterness and temper. He throws shit at them and tells them to “Get the fuck outta my fuckin office you bitch!” and he spat at Earl once. Basically he is insane, but he is so rich, and such an asshole, no-one would ever suggest he was unwell, or in any way disadvantaged. He paces around in his office with the heat turned up (its summer) and he’s cursing, in a rage. All he really wants is to go fishing. He’s supposed to love fishing, and he does dream about fishing, often we see the same set piece, Big Guy is in a dinghy boat, in water with a (fake) mountain valley backdrop. Its his daydream fantasy and they always show the same shot when they depict him taking a breather from being his browned off usual mean old self. The insistence of the writers on including this not-exactly-funny comic trope and repeating it several times an episode even though it had tested as “stupid” in focus groups pre-airing and even for the fact that the live studio audience refused to laugh despite the “laugh” signs they use to prompt them. this is the story behind the introduction of “canned” laughter into the series in season one, even though I personally feel WKRP should appear unadulterated and therefore have transcribed several shows by hand and simply read along with the broadcast with the sound lowered.

that anecdote aside, it is within this recurring fantasy of Big Guy fishing that the payoff comes. you see, Big Guy doesn’t really want to fish, it is simply the location that he must see himself in so that the Big Guy in the fantasy, the fisherman in the fake boat Guy, he can dream his own dream, the daydream within the daydream. see, Big Guy goes fishing and then dreams of fame! He wishes he was a Huge Celebrity, a Star. In his little boat, in his imagination we see him accepting awards, promenading upon red carpets, he is blinded by flashbulbs always smiling, with his hand on his heart he serves the President and heads of state with his glorious art. he glows with specialness. these reveries, which are actually funny, are always broken by the same thing, Loni Anderson barging into his office with some sort of low-comic gag-dilemma, like she’s got chocolate fudge on her ass, or Earl tried to give her a makeover, or some other slapstick goof-off. Anyways Big Guy throws her out and calls her a whore, and thats that. Back to dreaming.

The actor Gordon Jump, who had another starring role as Radar O’Rieley’s  “roommate”  on the sadly-missed and lamentably short-lived “After M*A*S*H*” went on to a forge a lucrative career for himself as a motivational speaker in the 90s with his message of Personal Triumph through NLP and CERAGEM. In 2001 he was killed tragically in the events of 9-11. Yet another American hero fallen in the name of freedom and Democracy, he will live on in WKRP (and After M*A*S*H*) and always be remembered fondly. Let’s Roll Brotha.