Techtite Feature Article!

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(Episode 53, 12/20/1980)

If there's poignancy in this holiday-themed episode of the original WKRP series, it's that this would turn out to be the last holiday episode for our favorite radio station in Cincinatti. It's in this holiday episode which showcases the series' subtle humor without going over the edge. On its surface, "Bah, Humbug" seems to be a simple Christmas Carol clone, but WKRP makes the story part of its own, with a 1980 flair and characters who were allowed to bring a bit of "themselves" into the classic Charles Dickens tale. 

So, as this holiday episode goes, Carlson is a major "Scrooge" for the holidays, only to foolishly eat one of radio DJ Venus Flytrap's (ahem) "brownies" for a snack. The resulting dream sequence is filled with Scrooge parodies galore, all played riotously by the characters of the series. See WKRP as it looks in the past, present, and future, with Venus, Jennifer, and friends performing the roles of the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future. Particularly amusing, over 25 years later, is the view of a "high tech" future WKRP, completely run by computer. (even funnier, when this wall-sized box of flashing lights is the way a 1980's sitcom viewed 2005 computers of the "future").

But the real reason this Scrooge parody makes our top ten list, is how much fun the actors obviously had making this episode. Example: when resident bombshell Jennifer (Loni Anderson) comes prancing into Carlson's office, spotlights aglow, she says with a very girly-girl flourish "I am the ghost of Christmas Present." When Carlson begins to chuckle at the sight, Jennifer promptly puts her hands on her hips and insists like a grade school teacher, "I ...am ...the ...ghost ...of ...Christmas ...Present!" I guess the lesson is to never laugh at a girl's Christmas outfit. Word.

Onward to Number 9: Cal-i-for-niaaaaaa!!!!