So let's turn the dial to WKRP in Cincinnati and see how those loony DJs from the Queen City celebrate the holidays.
Bah, Humbug- aired December 20, 1980
It's Christmas Eve at the station, time for the annual office holiday party. It seems like a fun time will be had by all until everyone has learned that station head Mr. Carlson, played by Gordon Jump, has forgone with Christmas bonuses! That quickly puts everyone in a bad mood and the party breaks up fast.
Mr. Carson is the only one left and he decides to partake of some of the Christmas goodies leftover. The one thing in particular that he grabs is a brownie. As in morning DJ Dr. Johnny Fever's (Howard Hesseman) magic brownies. (They're laced with pot, okay???)
Anyways, the brownies put Carson to sleep where he ends up being visited by, you guessed it, the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future.
The spirits in form of various cast members from the show, take him to his days as a young lad at the station when his dad ran it. Then he learns of how times are tough for his current staff. And then he learns of the horrors of automation in the future of radio before the Big Guy wakes up and has a change of heart giving out bonuses to his much deserving staff.
What I really like about this story is how it shows some of the characters when they were younger, albeit by different actors. Plus, it shows what could happen to the station in the future. True, this isn't as glorious a holiday episode as when WKRP dropped live turkeys on the people of the Pineville Shopping Center. But that was a Thanksgiving episode.
Anyways, my Advent gift for your today is this very episode. I need to let you know, that for some reason when the episode ends around the 24 minute mark, it begins at the middle of the episode and plays about half through. So even though this video is 39 minutes long, you only have to watch about 2/3 of the video. (If you want to...)
Well, that's all the time I have for today. Enjoy and until next time- Merry Christmas!
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