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WKRP in Cincinnati
1978 - 1982 7.5 (82 votes) 4 Seasons
Genres
Comedy
Networks
CBS
Created By
Hugh Wilson

WKRP in Cincinnati

So just sit right down, relax, open your ears real wide and say, "Give it to me straight, Doctor. I can take it!"

Overview

When a Cincinnati radio station switches from sedate music to top-40 rock 'n' roll, its staff of oddball characters is forced to switch gears quickly. New programming director Andy Travis brings in a new DJ named Venus Flytrap to work with the station's burned-out veteran, Dr. Johnny Fever. Neurotic newsman Les Nessman, eager beaver Bailey Quarters, sleazy salesman Herb Tarlek, blonde bombshell Jennifer Marlowe, who serves as the station's ultra-capable receptionist, and station manager Arthur Carlson, whose domineering mother owns WKRP, round out the eccentric bunch.

Key Crew

Producer: Grant Tinker, Max Tash, Dan Guntzelman, Blake Hunter, Steve Marshall, PJ Torokvei, Rod Daniel, Steven Kampmann

Top Cast

Gary Sandy
Gary Sandy

Andy Travis

Howard Hesseman
Howard Hesseman

Dr. Johnny Fever

Tim Reid
Tim Reid

Venus Flytrap

Loni Anderson
Loni Anderson

Jennifer Marlowe

Frank Bonner
Frank Bonner

Herb Tarlek

Gordon Jump
Gordon Jump

Arthur Carlson

Richard Sanders
Richard Sanders

Les Nessman

Jan Smithers
Jan Smithers

Bailey Quarters

Seasons

Season 1 poster
Season 1 (1978)

No overview available.

22 episodes

Episodes
Episode 1: Pilot (1)
1978-09-18

Andy tries to convince WKRP's owner that rock and roll will cure the station's ailing ratings.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 2: Pilot (2)
1978-09-25

Andy faces a fiscal crisis: Carlson won't finance a breaking-in period for the new format.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 3: Les On a Ledge
1978-10-02

Les is barred from locker-room interviews when his manhood is questioned.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 4: Hoodlum Rock
1978-10-09

Andy books a rock band whose members attack their audiences.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 5: Hold-Up
1978-10-16

A broadcast from a stereo shop is disrupted by a holdup.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 6: Bailey's Show
1978-10-23

Bailey's show brings out the weirdest people in town.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 7: Turkeys Away
1978-10-30

Carlson thinks up a wacko Thanksgiving promotional gimmick.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 8: Love Returns
1978-11-06

Andy may have to leave WKRP when he rekindles his love for a touring rock star.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 9: Mama's Review
1979-01-15

In flashbacks, Andy and Carlson update WKRP's owner Mrs. Carlson on recent station happenings.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 10: A Date With Jennifer
1979-01-22

Les invites Jennifer to a banquet, then suspects she only accepted out of pity.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 11: The Contest Nobody Could Win
1979-01-29

Johnny accidentally offers listeners $5000 instead of $50 as a contest prize.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 12: Tornado
1979-02-05

A tornado strikes while Japanese businessmen are touring the station.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 13: Goodbye, Johnny
1979-02-19

Johnny is offered a job in California, so the staff devises a scheme to keep him in Cincinnati.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 14: Johnny Comes Back
1979-02-26

Johnny comes back to WKRP expecting to get his job back. Instead, he is assigned to the predawn show.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 15: Never Leave Me, Lucille
1979-03-05

Temporarily separated from his wife, Herb envisions a fanciful bachelorhood.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 16: I Want to Keep My Baby
1979-03-12

Johnny refuses to relinquish an abandoned baby left at WKRP until he can contact the mother.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 17: A Commercial Break
1979-03-26

Andy has doubts about an upbeat ad campaign for a mortician.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 18: Who is Gordon Sims?
1979-04-02

Venus refuses to pose for an ad because he's wanted by the law.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 19: I Do, I Do... For Now
1979-04-23

Jennifer tries to discourage a beau by revealing she's married--to Johnny Fever.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 20: Young Master Carlson
1979-04-30

Momma Carlson insists her grandson be allowed to roam around the station after he's booted out of military school.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 21: Fish Story
1979-05-28

Andy tells a journalist that WKRP is just a "run-of-the-mill" station, even though a staffer is running around in a "carp" suit.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 22: Preacher
1979-06-04

A wrestler turned preacher uses his radio sermon to sell merchandise.

Runtime: 25 min
Season 2 poster
Season 2 (1979)

No overview available.

24 episodes

Episodes
Episode 1: For Love or Money (1)
1979-09-17

Johnny forgets about his date with Bailey when he gets a call from Buffy, his old girlfriend from California. He borrows Jennifer's apartment to impress Buffy; however, that plan ends when she tells him she's suing him for palimony.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 2: For Love or Money (2)
1979-09-24

Johnny calls his friends over to Jennifer's apartment to help him deal with Buffy and her threat of a lawsuit. Buffy arrives and, after having a drink with Johnny, tells him that she put poison in his drink.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 3: Baseball
1979-10-15

The staff plays against the team from rival station WPIG in a softball game.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 4: Bad Risk
1979-10-22

Herb starts selling insurance as a sideline, and sells a comprehensive policy to Les, who promptly has an accident.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 5: Jennifer Falls in Love
1979-10-22

For the first time in her life, Jennifer is in love, with a penniless but handsome repairman who turns out to be even more of a gold digger than she is. Meanwhile, Les tries to get a raise, and Johnny becomes convinced that he's the man Jennifer is in love with.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 6: Carlson for President
1979-11-05

Mr. Carlson runs for Cincinnati City Council. When Bailey discovers a potentially damaging piece of information about the front-runner in the election, Mr. Carlson considers using that information in a televised debate.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 7: Mike Fright
1979-11-12

During a citywide garbage strike, Johnny jokingly suggests that his listeners dump their garbage on the steps of City Hall. The joke is on him, and the station, when hundreds of listeners take him seriously. Johnny becomes aware of his power and develops a serious case of mike fright.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 8: The Patter of Little Feet
1979-11-26

Mr. Carlson's wife Carmen announces that she is pregnant. Mr. Carlson is overjoyed, and certain that Carmen feels the same way. However, Mama Carlson points out the potential dangers of middle-aged pregnancy and recommends an abortion.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 9: Baby, If You've Ever Wondered
1979-12-03

The new ratings book arrives, and WKRP has climbed from 16th to 14th place in the Cincinnati market. Everyone is happy about the gain except Andy, who knows that the station has not improved enough, in part because of his own unwillingness to fire incompetent employees like Herb and Les.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 10: Bailey's Big Break
1979-12-10

When WKRP needs an assistant news reporter, Bailey applies for the job and gets it. Les, who doesn't want to work with anyone, least of all a woman, tries to keep Bailey from going on the air.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 11: Jennifer's Home for Christmas
1979-12-17

Jennifer tells her friends that she has nothing special planned for Christmas, and that she doesn't have a tree this year. Everyone begins to suspect that she might be alone for the holidays.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 12: Sparky
1979-12-24

Mr. Carlson hires legendary baseball manager Sparky Anderson as the host of a new sports interview show. But when the show proves a complete disaster, it falls to Mr. Carlson to fire his hero.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 13: God Talks to Johnny
1979-12-31

When Johnny thinks he's heard God's voice talking to him, everyone, including Johnny, thinks he's going insane.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 14: A Family Affair
1980-01-07

Andy's sister Carol visits Cincinnati, and Andy sets up a date for her and Johnny. But Carol winds up going out with Venus instead, and Andy becomes instinctively angry about it.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 15: Herb's Dad
1980-01-14

Herb's father, a lifelong salesman who shares Herb's taste in clothes, runs away from the Shady Hills Rest Home and visits the station.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 16: Put Up or Shut Up
1980-01-21

Bailey convinces Jennifer to accept a date with Herb in the hope that he'll get scared and back down.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 17: The Americanization of Ivan
1980-01-28

Bailey and Les attend a press conference given by a group of visiting Russian hog experts. One of the Russians falls for Bailey and asks her to help him defect to the United States.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 18: Les' Groupie
1980-02-04

Les goes out on a date with a female fan, who proceeds to move into his apartment and take over his life.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 19: In Concert
1980-02-11

At a concert by the Who in Cincinnati on December 3, 1979, eleven kids were trampled to death when the crowd rushed to get seats. The first part of this episode takes place before that concert; the second act takes place the day after, and presents the characters' reactions to the tragedy.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 20: The Doctor's Daughter
1980-02-18

Johnny's daughter shows up and moves in, and Johnny has to decide whether to express his disapproval of the shiftless boyfriend she's brought along.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 21: Filthy Pictures (1)
1980-03-03

Mr. Carlson convinces Jennifer and Andy to pose in bathing suits for a ""Surf's Up in Cincinnati"" poster. After the photo session, the photographer secretly takes nude photos of Jennifer while she's changing.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 22: Filthy Pictures (2)
1980-03-03

Mr. Carlson convinces Jennifer and Andy to pose in bathing suits for a ""Surf's Up in Cincinnati"" poster. After the photo session, the photographer secretly takes nude photos of Jennifer while she's changing.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 23: Venus Rising
1980-03-10

Venus is offered a job as program director of WREQ radio, but is disillusioned when he discovers how the station is run and why they want to hire him. Meanwhile, Herb circulates a rumor that he, too, has received a job offer.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 24: Most Improved Station
1980-03-31

Everyone starts bickering after the station loses a broadcasting award.

Runtime: 25 min
Season 3 poster
Season 3 (1980)

No overview available.

22 episodes

Episodes
Episode 1: The Airplane Show
1980-11-01

Trying to compete with WPIG's traffic helicopter, Les starts doing traffic reports from a World War I biplane piloted by a crazy war veteran.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 2: Jennifer Moves
1980-11-08

The staff helps Jennifer move into her new $125,000 house in the quiet suburb of Landersville. But she soon finds out that life in Landersville isn't as pleasant as she thought it would be.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 3: Real Families
1980-11-15

When Herb's family is featured in the show ""Real Families"", he is sure that they can serve as an example of a clean living family. Unfortunately, the image Herb wants to convey is different from the reality shown on screen.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 4: The Baby
1980-11-22

Mr. Carlson's wife goes into labor and the WKRP staffers all visit the hospital to be there when she gives birth.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 5: Hotel Oceanview
1980-11-29

Andy, Mr. Carlson and Herb visit Dayton to try and land the advertising account for Vicky Von Vickey jeans. While Mr. Carlson worries about the notorious Dayton poisoner, Herb romances an old high school acquaintance and Andy has trouble with his slide projector.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 6: A Mile in My Shoes
1980-12-06

When Herb is called for jury duty, Andy takes over as sales manager and soon discovers just how tough it is trying to sell advertising time or collect from deadbeat clients. Meanwhile, Venus becomes acting program director and has to deal with Les's plan to disguise himself as a black man so that he can do a series of reports based on the book Black Like Me.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 7: Bah, Humbug
1980-12-20

Once again, Mr. Carlson plans to give the staffers almost no Christmas bonuses. But in a dream brought on by eating one of Johnny Fever's brownies, the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future visit him to show him the error of his ways.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 8: Baby, It's Cold Inside
1981-01-03

On a day when the furnace has broken down, Mama Carlson pays a surprise visit to the station and catches Johnny drinking in the broadcast booth.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 9: The Painting
1981-01-10

At Mr. Carlson's church auction, Herb buys a painting that Bailey loves. He tries to get Mr. Carlson or Bailey to buy it from him...until he learns that it might be valuable.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 10: Daydreams
1981-01-17

When Mr. Carlson rehearses a dull speech in front of the WKRP staff, all the staffers drift off into daydreams about what they would most like to be: Herb as a Latin-American dictator, Jennifer as a '30s movie star, Les as a reporter covering the Blitz in 1940, Bailey as the President of the United States, Andy as a radio Mafioso, Venus as a standup comedian, and Johnny as a rock star.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 11: Frog Story
1981-01-24

Herb has accidentally spray-painted his daughter's pet frog Greenpeace pink, and brings the frog to the station trying to find a way to save its life. Meanwhile, Les convinces Johnny that he is suffering from the dreaded ""schistosomiasis.""

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 12: Venus and the Man
1981-01-31

The station's cleaning woman asks Venus to convince her big, tough teenage son not to drop out of school.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 13: Dr. Fever and Mr. Tide: Part 1
1981-02-07

Johnny signs a contract to host a music TV program unaware that the songs will be disco.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 14: Dr. Fever and Mr. Tide: Part 2
1981-02-07

Johnny signs a contract to host a music TV program unaware that the songs will be disco.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 15: Ask Jennifer
1981-02-14

When Herb's choice as host of a new call-in advice show proves unable to go on the air, Jennifer takes over and becomes an instant success.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 16: I Am Woman
1981-02-21

When it is announced that the Flimm Building is to be torn down, Bailey starts a campaign to have the building declared a Cincinnati landmark. Everyone pitches in to help, until Mr. Carlson gets his mother's permission to build a new and better building.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 17: Secrets of Dayton Heights
1981-02-28

The Secret Service refuses to grant Les credentials for a Presidential press conference, suspecting him of having radical affiliations. It turns out that the man who raised Les wasn't his father, and that his real father was a card-carrying Communist.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 18: Out to Lunch
1981-03-14

Herb's three-martini business lunches with an ad agency representative are causing him to mess up even more than usual, and it begins to seem that his use of alcohol as a sales tool is turning into a drinking problem.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 19: A Simple Little Wedding
1981-03-21

In honor of their 25th anniversary, Arthur and Carmen Carlson plan to get married again. They want a small, private ceremony, but Mama Carlson has other ideas.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 20: Nothing to Fear But...
1981-03-28

Everyone is in the grip of urban paranoia after the station is robbed.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 21: Til Debt Do Us Part
1981-04-05

When Johnny learns that his first ex-wife is planning to remarry, he is overjoyed at the thought of not having to pay alimony, and celebrates by inviting Bailey to take a trip with him. But he feels less happy about the situation when he meets the obnoxious womanizer his ex-wife is going to marry.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 22: Clean Up Radio Everywhere
1981-04-12

Dr. Bob Halyers, head of the organization Clean Up Radio Broadcasting (CURB), visits Mr. Carlson with a list of obscene songs that he wants the station to stop playing.

Runtime: 25 min
Season 4 poster
Season 4 (1981)

No overview available.

22 episodes

Episodes
Episode 1: An Explosive Affair (Part 1)
1981-10-07

After the station receives a bomb threat, Andy sends Johnny and Venus to broadcast from the transmitter tower while the station is being searched.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 2: An Explosive Affair (Part 2)
1981-10-14

Andy is unable to warn Johnny and Venus when he realizes that the bomb is at the transmitter.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 3: The Union
1981-10-21

The staff of WKRP considers joining a union. Mr. Carlson is furious and rushes to his mother for advice, while Andy tries to appear neutral in this labor-management conflict.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 4: Rumors
1981-10-28

While his apartment is being fumigated, Johnny accepts Bailey's offer to stay at her place, causing everyone at the station to think that the two are sleeping together. Johnny's also afraid that he's in danger of losing his time slot to Rex, the afternoon DJ, and when Bailey tries to cheer him up, he mistakes her friendliness for a come-on.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 5: Straight from the Heart
1981-11-04

Herb tells everyone that he's going on vacation, but Les and Jennifer discover that he's actually checked into the hospital for heart tests.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 6: Who's on First?
1981-11-11

With Herb in the hospital, Mr. Carlson pretends he is Herb and is impersonated by Les for an advertising client.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 7: Three Days of the Condo
1981-11-18

When Johnny receives $24,000 in a legal settlement, Venus convinces him to use the money to invest in a condominium at Gone With the Wind Estates.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 8: Jennifer and the Will
1981-12-02

Colonel Buchanan, Jennifer's elderly gentleman friend, dies suddenly. As executrix of his will, Jennifer must deal with the press and with the Colonel's money-grubbing, rumor mongering relatives.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 9: The Consultant
1981-12-30

Mama Carlson hires a professional radio consultant to evaluate WKRP. The man she's hired, Norris Breeze, is an old friend of Andy's who also runs a radio programming service. Andy soon realizes that Breeze intends to give the station a bad report unless it subscribes to the service.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 10: Love, Exciting and New
1982-01-06

Andy starts taking Mama Carlson out after hours in the hopes of getting her to pay for a new transmitter for the station. But he begins to suspect that she might have more-than-businesslike expectations of him.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 11: You Can't Go Out of Town Again
1982-01-13

Mr. Carlson goes with Carmen to a college reunion where he learns the disillusioning truth about how he and Carmen first met; Bailey is frustrated in her attempts to get a computer for billing; Venus can't get a moment alone in the booth with his latest date.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 12: Pills
1982-01-20

Herb sells ad spots to a seller of ""diet pills""; after it turns out that the pills are a legalized way of selling speed to teenagers, it also turns out that the station can't legally get out of running the ads.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 13: Changes
1982-01-27

When Venus learns that he's going to be interviewed by a militant black magazine, he adopts a new wardrobe and manner in order to seem more in touch with black culture. Meanwhile, Jennifer offers to change Herb's image, starting with picking out new, tasteful clothes for him.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 14: Jennifer and Johnny's Charity
1982-02-03

When a fire destroys the kitchen at the Vine Street Mission, Johnny recruits Jennifer to help raise the $40,000 dollars to rebuild it. Jennifer throws a party for her rich friends and asks them to contribute, and everything is going fine until the contributors meet the people involved.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 15: I'll Take Romance
1982-02-17

Herb fixes Les up with a date through his latest client, the I'll Take Romance Dating Service. Les hits it off with his date immediately, not knowing that the dating service is a front for prostitution.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 16: Circumstantial Evidence
1982-02-24

Venus's latest date gives him an expensive diamond earring as a gift and then runs out on him; it turns out that she's a thief who has used the stolen earring to frame Venus as her accomplice.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 17: Fire
1982-03-17

Herb and Jennifer are trapped in an elevator when a fire breaks out in the Flimm Building.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 18: Dear Liar
1982-03-24

When Bailey writes a news story on the Northside Children's Clinic, Les steals it and reads it on the air. This turns out to be a blow to the station's integrity in more ways than one when Bailey admits that she fictionalized part of the story.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 19: The Creation of Venus
1982-03-31

When Venus lets it slip that he was a schoolteacher before he came to WKRP, Andy has to tell Mama Carlson the truth about how he hired Gordon Sims as a DJ and how they came up with the persona of Venus Flytrap.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 20: The Impossible Dream
1982-04-07

On his birthday, Les announces that he's going to New York to pursue his dream of becoming a world-famous broadcast journalist by auditioning for The CBS Evening News.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 21: To Err is Human
1982-04-14

After Herb screws up an important advertising account, Mr. Carlson finally intends to fire him, but Jennifer takes pity on Herb and tries to help him keep his job.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 22: Up and Down the Dial
1982-04-21

Just as WKRP hits #6 in the ratings, Mama Carlson announces that she plans to switch the format of the station to 24 hours a day of news.

Runtime: 25 min

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