New WKRP in Cincinnati Boned the Fish When...

[TMC]

http://www.bonethefish.com/viewtopics.php?3817

The New WKRP in Cincinnati was a spin-off of the CBS sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati. The character of Arthur Carlson, Jr. returns as an adult, but Sparky Marcus did not return to reprise the role that he had played as a ten-year-old in one episode of the original series. Newcomer Lightfield Lewis was signed on to assume the role of the character, modeled much after the Herb Tarlek character from the original series. Like Tarlek and his father before him, Art Jr. works as an advertising sales rep for WKRP, presumably grooming him to take over the business from his father. The show underwent many cast changes during its run, and ended in 1993 after two seasons and 47 episodes (though it ran for another year in repeats on VH1). Among the other notable actors that were cast members on the show were Mykelti Williamson as program director Donovan Aderhold, Tawny Kitaen as late night DJ Mona Loveland, and French Stewart, who joined the cast in the second season as morning DJ Razor Dee.

[Marvo301]

I would have preferred a reunion movie with the entire original cast rather than this revival series.

[Mr. Television]

Day 1. A mediocre sitcom at best. The best shows were when some of the original cast showed up. I don't believe I ever saw season 2.

[Skywalker]

Day 1. I saw the episode where Venus returns a while back and had a tough time making it through the episode. The new characters were just so dull.

[missy's pop pop]

Originally Posted by Marvo301

I would have preferred a reunion movie with the entire original cast rather than this revival series.

If there ever was a reunion movie, they could have had Carlson getting an offer from a major radio conglomerate (one of those backtiming nets where the format never changes from New York and L. A., not to mention Cincinnati).

You know the ones: "You're listening to Blasts from the Past! It's now 21 minutes past the hour." The ones that put lots of good local talent out of work!

Truth is, it would have been a way to not only reunite the classic 'KRP staff while introducing some of the characters from the new series as potential threats. The best ending could be inspired from the end of the Mary Tyler Moore Show: The conglomerate buys WKRP -- AND keeps Les Nessman as the newsman while firing everyone else!

Alas, ya can't go home again!

[TMC]

https://web.archive.org/web/20070225...ptheshark.com/

• Other Thoughts:
  
  Here's another one for the "Reunited, We Fall" files, or "Why Reunion Shows Don't Work Unless You're Star Trek".
  The Top 10 Reasons why this show doesn't work:
  10) It's a "reunion" show as mentioned above.
  9) Only 1/3 of the original cast bothered to show up, so that factor alone will supply only 1/3 of the humor.
  8) It's never a good idea to call anything "THE NEW" version of anything, as it will only make viewers long for the old version. (See "The New Leave It to Beaver".)
  7) Had this show started out as a new concept, people might not have noticed right away that it wasn't that funny. However, when you have the old classic to compare it to, a "new" show almost always comes out unfavorably. (See "Saturday Night Live" after the Not Ready for Prime Time Players left the show.)
  6) Dr. Johnny Fever is NOT a regular. That factor alone hurts the show.
  5) A show that's syndicated is a code for "no major network would buy it". Granted, the major networks tend not to know a good show if it bites them in the butt. However, this time they made the right call.
  4) Who are all the new people? They have no personalities. They could have been refugees from "Murphy Brown" or "NewsRadio" for all their distinction.
  3) Herb, Les & Mr. Carlson are funny, I'll give them that. But here they don't have anybody to play off of. Again, this makes viewers miss the old cast even more.
  2) What exactly was the "concept" of this show? On the original, Andy had to butt heads with Mother Carlson so he could run a rock music station, and deal with all the quirky co-workers. What exactly was the "angle" here? You know a show's in trouble when the premise is, "Uh, they're still running a radio station with just Mr. Carlson, Herb & Les."
  1) The #1 reason for this show bombing, and by that I don't mean that it's the "bomb": Tawny Kitaen. Any show that's desperate enough to use her as the resident bimbo/sex symbol is desperate indeed. If you see her name, or the names of Pamela Anderson or Barbi Benton in the opening credits, that's the cue right there that you're watching utter crap. What a shame to blacken WKRP's good name this way.
  the new WKRP in Cincinnati jumped the first day
  Does anyone remember the episode that Johnny's apt. was being fumigated for rats and he stayed with Bailey? This, along with the turkey episode were my fav's. I still use Johnny's line as he pulls his robe out from under the sofa cushions and sez, "Let me slip into my robe so as not to catch a chill". This show is still funny.
  This show was doomed from the start. Having been a radio announcer myself for 11 years, the show needed to evolve from where it was in the 70's. In this version, it was still an AM station, and it still was trying to rock. This show hit the air in 1991 when most AM's had already gone to news/talk or other formats. They should have made the station into an FM if they still wanted to rock, or should have made the AM a news formatted station...they may have been able to have gotten the same ratings as "Newsradio" and concentrated more on office politics. Also this show is proof positive that Michael Des Barres can't get work elsewhere. In the 70's, he played a punk rocker on the show, and then came back as half of the morning team? The writing was weak throughout the show's duration on the air, and needed to evolve into the 1990's and the changes that came with radio during that time period. This didn't happen. I can't believe that Gordon Jump, Frank Bonner, and Richard Sanders even wasted time doing this, since the scripts were so horrible. Gary Sandy and Howard Hessman will forever rule!
  Without much of the original cast, writers or Hugh Wilson, this retread was doomed from the start. I once spoke to Gordon Jump about the "New" series and he agreed it was a major disappointment.The only high point, for me, was the final episode, in which the WKRP staff went to Hollywood to see the taping of a sitcom based on WKRP! This show-within-a-show was cast with alternate versions of the "real" WKRP cast; for instance, MASH's William Christopher was "Les", THREE'S COMPANY Richard Kline was "Herb", etc...The best touch was that French Stewart, in heavy make-up, was to play the "Johhny Fever" role -- this was apparently a commentary on the fact that Stewart had already played "Razor D" in the show, an obviious and unsuccessful attempt to recreate the Fever character for a new audience. The final episode ended on a nice note, with Howard Hesseman, as the real Johnny Fever, walking off into the foggy night.
  As reunion shows go, I didn't think the new WKRP was too bad. I especially like the beginning of the very first show when Mr. Carlson is apparently talking to the camera about the latest goings on at the station and they pull back and reveal that he's being arrested. There was, however, one episode where they slipped up. I don't remember the plot of the episode, but I remember one scene where Herb Tarlek is seen having a drink. They had already established in the original series that he was an alcoholic, and that everyone else at the station knew it, including Les and Mr. Carlson.
  A nice try, but the revived series was just a pale imitation of the original. One episode, when Venus Flytrap stopped by the station to visit, came close to capturing zany spirit of the original series. But otherwise, even occasional appearances by Howard Hesseman and Loni Anderson couldn't raise this out of the doldrums.
  This hideous attempt at a reunion was so sad. The political correctness made me want to cry. Didn't they see that the "old" show was the politically correct one cause it took all the stereotypes of the time and twisted them right back in our faces. Jennifer=dumb blonde=not. Bailey=womans lib=really innocent and naive. Venus=the "token" black=savvy stock trader and and no ones fool. Same bug hit Captain Kangaroo.
  Never jumped, because I don't think anyone expected this show to be as good as the orginal. How could it be? On it's own terms, though, it was pretty good. It was only logical that Herb, Les and the big guy were the only ones still around. Carlson's mother owned the station. And who else would hire such incompetents? They all knew they would be safe working there. Although frankly, I always thought that when Phil Hartman died, Les would have been a perfect replacement for Bill. After all, he WAS a newsman. Imagine Dave having to contend with Les' hog fram reports! Especially in the big city! It would have been a great fish out of water premise. Anyway, the plots of the new WKRP were at least creative. The show still entertained. The big flaw was that, outside of the three original members, the rest of the cast just didn't jell together. You never got the impression that everyone really dug each other, albeit begrudgingly, the way you did with the original cast of characters. Although I did think Gary Saunders replacement-can never remember that actors name-did convey the same sort of low key hipness and warmth as the station manager. The creators realized that, as in the original, there had to have been a voice of reason in the group. Les, Herb and the big guy were like friends to us, and it was nice to see them again on a regular basis. I always wondered, though, did the creators ask all of the originals to return, and only three accepted? (although I know others made guest appearances). As to those who said that none of the major networks would have touched this-given the fact that the original was bounced around with no rhyme or reason when in primetime, isn't it just as well that the New WKRP ended up in syndication? If CBS had had the brains to put the original WKRP behind MASH and kept it there, the show could have easily run another two years. But don't let me get started on that one.
  Since WKRP's concept didn't lend itself to a one-shot reunion movie, creating this series was the only option, no matter how doomed and misguided. The first season was a downright embarrassment, so by the time they started fixing things in the second it was too late. Getting rid of that insipid morning crew was a no-brainer while the addition of French Stewart's Razor D gave the show its sole unique and worthwhile creation. His defense of Ice-T's "Cop Killer" on free speech grounds harked back to an original WKRP episode about religious-based censorship and provided the new show with its only good episode. Guest spots by Johnny Fever were almost as good but the return of Venus Flytrap disappointed and Jennifer's visit was yet another Burt Reynolds-related disaster. The finale, where "reality" gets turned into a sitcom was done earlier on the Andy Griffith Show and later copied on Married With Children and, most famously, Seinfeld. Only the most ardent WKRP completist needs to watch this travesty.
  The New WKRP was a bomb from day one. The biggest mistake IMO was that they didn't (or wouldn't) persuade Gary Sandy to reprise his role as Andy Travis. Straight man Andy was the linchpin of the original show. The one sane guy surrounded by various loonies. The updated WKRP was poorly cast with only occasional guest appearances by original cast members Howard Hesseman, Tim Reid, and Loni Anderson. Most of these guest appearances were disappointments as another poster has mentioned. Original cast members Gordon Jump, Frank Bonner, and Richard Sanders tried their best but were unable to overcome their mediocre material.
  The show did manage to produce one of the funniest scenes in tv though. Herb used a real credit card to break into Les' "office". That was funny enough, but when he actually opened the door, an alarm went off.
  In response to the person who posted that they made a continuity error when Herb was seen taking a drink when it had been established on the old series that he was an alcoholic - it was no error. Herb realized he was on the "New" WKRP and he relapsed. That would cause anybody to resume drinking. This show suffers from "AfterMASH" syndrome...take the three weakest characters and let them continue on. But even so, "AfterMASH" at least put the characters in a new setting. For the "New" WKRP, they just dusted off the old sets and carried on like it was business as usual. Kind of like hearing one of your favorite old bands is playing a club near you, going to see them and finding out that there's only one or two of the original members...and not the key ones, either.
  Jumped the shark at about episode three (okay, episode two). It wasn't the new cast (who were soon replaced by an even newer one). It was the new writers. The cast was talented enough, maybe even potentially hilarious...but you couldn't expect them to generate many laughs with the substandard scripts they seemed to get. I'd still like to see a third attempt, this time with proper scripting. Ah, well...re-runs of the classic original program live on. (These, mind you, are often somewhat edited to make room for today's more commercial-filled timeslots.)
  How could they even think of reviving this show without the four best characters (Johnny, Venus, Bailey, and Andy)? That's the TV equivalent of Pete Best hiring three session musicians and touring as The Beatles, although I do have to admit that the last episode (the sitcom-within-a-sitcom) *was* pretty hysterical.
  Sorry, an original cannot be duplicated. I agree with the contributor who said that by 1991 AM radio had changed. Keeping Les Nessman was a good move (AM radio stations seem to keep their reactionary commentators) but this show also featured Tawny Kitaen. 'Nuff said there. Also, bringing back Venus as an BET exec was good but a little unreal.