'WKRP' The Lost Episodes: Jennifer Marlow Getting Married & Mr. Carlson Smoking "Pot"

[Brian Damage]

- In an interview with Ron Fineman, writer Steve Marshall recalled two scripts he wrote (both based on ideas by Hugh Wilson) that CBS would not allow to be produced.

One of the unproduced scripts was called "Jennifer's Wedding." It dealt with Jennifer's marriage to one of her elderly gentleman friends. The episode "Jennifer and the Will" was presumably supposed to be a sequel of sorts; this explains why all the characters in "Jennifer and the Will" are reacting as though Jennifer has lost her husband rather than merely one of several sugar-daddies. Despite the assurances that Jennifer would not remain married for more than a few weeks, CBS did not want the character married off, and the script was never shot.

The other was called "Another Merry Mix-Up." It dealt with the discovery, in the station, of what everyone thinks is a joint of hash. Though Johnny is of course suspected, it has actually been purchased by Herb in order to entertain some younger clients. However, the "joint" turns out to be nothing more than oregano. In a sort of reversal of the famous cocaine/foot-powder mixup, Mr. Carlson decides to smoke the "pot" to build up his confidence for a meeting with his mother's accountant. And lo and behold, Mr. Carlson is confident and "in control" throughout the subsequent meeting, even though he has only been smoking oregano. As Marshall points out, "What we had was a variation of the old 'Dumbo's magic feather' idea, with the message that your true powers come from within." Though ABC had allowed shows in which characters actually ingested marijuana (such as the famous hash-brownie episode of "Barney Miller"), the CBS standards and practices department held up the script for two years and finally refused to let it go into production.

http://www.oocities.org/wkrpvote/trivia.htm

[Marvo301]

That story about Mr. Carlson smoking oregano thinking it was pot sounds hilarious and Gordon Jump would have acted it brilliantly I'm sure. It even had a great message about true power coming from within. It's a shame the sensors nixed it.

[dlemond]

I wish those scripts were available to read/purchase.

Somebody call Steve Marshall!

[dlemond]

I just found an article on Jaime Weinman's blog site Something Old, Nothing New.

Jaime is a WKRP expert and used to post here way back when. Apparently he has a photocopy of this script - which didn't make it past the first draft.

See below from his blog:



WKRP Foreshadowing


In comments to the final episode, commenter Andy Rose points out that the big revelation is "a little hard to swallow":



While the station may have been financially beneficial to Mrs. Carlson as a write-off, surely it would be much more beneficial as a burgeoning success. (Note how she and Johnny speak about this in a very roundabout way... I presume the writers could never come up with a more precise explanation that would make sense.)



While nothing could make this situation completely plausible, it was actually supposed to be set up a little more than it was. The script for an unproduced episode called "Another Merry Mix-Up" actually contained a scene where Mama Carlson's accountant arrives to look over the books, and is disturbed by the fact that the station is starting to turn a profit.

The script never got beyond a first draft because CBS vetoed it due to the subject matter: it was about Mr. Carlson finding, and smoking, what he thinks is a marijuana joint. (He smokes it to calm his nerves for the meeting with his mother's accountant; after Jennifer tells him that she tried it once -- "In international waters" -- he realizes that his teacher must have lied to him when she said one puff would ruin his life forever.) Though the joint turns out to be oregano, CBS wouldn't allow the script to be produced.

I have a photocopy of the script; I haven't said much about it yet because I'm not yet sure what to say: because it's a first-draft script by a staff writer, it's inevitably not nearly as funny as a finished script. (If it had been produced, the final version wouldn't have been that similar to the script except in terms of scenes and structure.) But I'll do a post about it eventually; meanwhile, here's the dialogue about the station's unexpected profits, which (if the episode had been produced) would have foreshadowed the finale.

The fact that Carlson is unusually prepared and on top of things in this scene is supposed to come from the burst of confidence he got from smoking the "joint."



EMMETT [the accountant]: There's just one problem.

CARLSON: What's that?

EMMETT: That can be worse than losing money in terms of the overall corporate picture at Carlson Industries.

ANDY: It can?

CARLSON: Of course. It gives us triple leverage for a write-off.

ANDY (lost): Uh-huh.

EMMETT: Showing a profit where one is unexpected could have tax repercussions all the way down in the lingerie division.

ANDY: We have a lingerie division?

CARLSON: Oh, boy, do we.

ANDY: I didn't know that.

CARLSON (to Emmett): I'm sorry about unexpected profits. I guess you'll just have to start expecting them.



So that scene, if produced, would have made it a little clearer that WKRP is more valuable to the company as a big write-off than a small profit-maker.

http://zvbxrpl.blogspot.com/2009_07_01_archive.html

[Miss Lisa]

Actually that episode "Jennifer and the Will" would have made a lot more sense if they would have shown her getting married to the man. They said they didn't want to marry her off, but I honestly don't think that one episode would have hurt anything. It doesn't really though I guess.

I too would have loved to have seen the pot episode. Gordon Jump could've pulled it off. If they were able to do that, it honestly probably would have been one of those moments up there with Turkey's Away.

[Ryan Chamberlain]

Old thread I know. But, I don't get the big deal about the Arthur and the pot one. Barney Miller had the Hash episode years before. Just tells you how that CBS was far less "liberal" than ABC right there.

It would have been hilarious to see Arthur thinking he was high.

[MickeyMac]

Another CBS blunder with this show.