CARLSON FOR PRESIDENT-episode discussion - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

APPLEI · 03-21-2003, 04:12 AM

arthur carlson hoping to please his mother runs for the cincinnati's city council.
andy supports his campaign helping to do anything to help carlson win.
andy travis"i like him,and if he wins he will be down at city hall helping the CITY instead of us"
dr. johnny fever says"HE'S GOT MY VOTE"!
my favorite scene in this episode is the debate.
when carlson with way too much makeup accidentally exposes chuck tillmans drinking problem.
carlson does'nt want to be elected that way.
carlson sabotages his campaign.
he loses to chuck tillman who passes out at his victory speech.
this is one of the best episodes of wkrp in cincinnati in my opinion.
i loved the subtle references to chuck berry in the debate.

dlemond · 03-27-2003, 11:11 AM

Carlson For President has some good things in it-

-The horrible campaign commercial on WKRP is pretty funny.
-Les Nesman asking why are Armenians eating lasagna.
-Carlson at the debate- all red faced with make-up, knocking the pencil into the air, the candidate with the all the cutout articles and papers on suspected Communists, the whole debate in general.
-The Carlson lies at the end plus the poster with the bug-eyes.

The sabatoge of the election was humorous but pretty silly to me.
Carlson was ruining his name in all other respects with all the absurd things he was doing - calling women fat, implying he hit his wife, cross dressing - etc.

Funny no doubt (Venus and Johnny standing there looking on was classic), but come on, as far as WKRP being consistent in its realism it's hard to imagine that anyone would let their reputation stand as a sexist, cross-dressing wife beater! What happens after the election?

It's hard to watch the characters you love sababtoge themselves and look foolish in favor of an unlikeable liability like Tillman. If Tillman had some redeeming qualities or been sympathetic in some way it would have worked better. He was just a jackass.

And of course we discount Momma Carlson- we know she would not stand for any of this- not having an input on his running for office or damaging the Carlson name. It actually works better that she is not in the episode in that respect.

I don't mean to nitpick, I'm just pointing out things that I noticed. Like I said, it was funny. A good episode, and definitely a Carlson highlight.

APPLEI · 03-28-2003, 12:10 AM

i agree it was WAY out of character for carlson to
inply he would beat his wife to lose an election to a drunk jackass!
the womans groups would've been all over with him like wet on water for months.
thats in real life of course.
however i could see herb tarlek doing those things(inplying he beats his wife,saying to the womans league they were'nt just a little tubby THEIR just plain fat and the rumor about cross dressing..thats les nessmans territory)
however i think wkrp does a better job at realism than most sitcoms.

WHATS EVERYBODY ELSES OPINION ABOUT THIS EPISODE.

APPLEI · 09-27-2003, 01:38 AM

hi everybody,
lets discuss this episode it's just airing right now!

03-21-2003, 04:12 AM	#1
APPLEI Member Forum Regular Join Date: Aug 16, 2000 Location: JACKSON MI. 49203 Posts: 810	CARLSON FOR PRESIDENT-episode discussion arthur carlson hoping to please his mother runs for the cincinnati's city council. andy supports his campaign helping to do anything to help carlson win. andy travis"i like him,and if he wins he will be down at city hall helping the CITY instead of us" dr. johnny fever says"HE'S GOT MY VOTE"! my favorite scene in this episode is the debate. when carlson with way too much makeup accidentally exposes chuck tillmans drinking problem. carlson does'nt want to be elected that way. carlson sabotages his campaign. he loses to chuck tillman who passes out at his victory speech. this is one of the best episodes of wkrp in cincinnati in my opinion. i loved the subtle references to chuck berry in the debate.
	Last edited by APPLEI; 03-30-2003 at 05:26 AM.

03-28-2003, 12:10 AM	#3
APPLEI Member Forum Regular Join Date: Aug 16, 2000 Location: JACKSON MI. 49203 Posts: 810	i agree it was WAY out of character for carlson to inply he would beat his wife to lose an election to a drunk jackass! the womans groups would've been all over with him like wet on water for months. thats in real life of course. however i could see herb tarlek doing those things(inplying he beats his wife,saying to the womans league they were'nt just a little tubby THEIR just plain fat and the rumor about cross dressing..thats les nessmans territory) however i think wkrp does a better job at realism than most sitcoms. WHATS EVERYBODY ELSES OPINION ABOUT THIS EPISODE.
	Last edited by APPLEI; 03-30-2003 at 05:42 AM.

03-27-2003, 11:11 AM	#2
dlemond Hey, I know you. Moderator Forum Veteran Join Date: Dec 03, 2001 Location: New Jersey Posts: 6,751	Carlson For President has some good things in it- -The horrible campaign commercial on WKRP is pretty funny. -Les Nesman asking why are Armenians eating lasagna. -Carlson at the debate- all red faced with make-up, knocking the pencil into the air, the candidate with the all the cutout articles and papers on suspected Communists, the whole debate in general. -The Carlson lies at the end plus the poster with the bug-eyes. The sabatoge of the election was humorous but pretty silly to me. Carlson was ruining his name in all other respects with all the absurd things he was doing - calling women fat, implying he hit his wife, cross dressing - etc. Funny no doubt (Venus and Johnny standing there looking on was classic), but come on, as far as WKRP being consistent in its realism it's hard to imagine that anyone would let their reputation stand as a sexist, cross-dressing wife beater! What happens after the election? It's hard to watch the characters you love sababtoge themselves and look foolish in favor of an unlikeable liability like Tillman. If Tillman had some redeeming qualities or been sympathetic in some way it would have worked better. He was just a jackass. And of course we discount Momma Carlson- we know she would not stand for any of this- not having an input on his running for office or damaging the Carlson name. It actually works better that she is not in the episode in that respect. I don't mean to nitpick, I'm just pointing out things that I noticed. Like I said, it was funny. A good episode, and definitely a Carlson highlight.

09-27-2003, 01:38 AM	#4
APPLEI Member Forum Regular Join Date: Aug 16, 2000 Location: JACKSON MI. 49203 Posts: 810	hi everybody, lets discuss this episode it's just airing right now!