Posted on 01/30/2022 10:47:39 AM PST by Houserino
oward Hesseman, the actor best known for playing DJ Dr. Johnny Fever in "WKRP in Cincinnati," has died, his manager of 35 years, Robbie Kass of Kass Management, confirms. He was 81.
"Unfortunately, I can confirm that Howard passed away on Saturday at 5 p.m. in Los Angeles," Kass said, adding that Howard underwent colon surgery several weeks ago and suffered complications of the surgery.
Hesseman starred in all 90 episodes of "WKRP in Cincinnati," from 1978 to 1982, and returned to star in nine episodes of the series revival, "The New WKRP in Cincinnati," in the 90s. His character's real name was John Caravella, and he was very big in the anti-disco movement.
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Same here!
They were doing a Thanksgiving promotion at a local shopping center by dropping Turkeys out of helicopter.
Here’s the bit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGFtV6-ALoQ
One of the funniest clips on sitcom TV ever.
Helicopter! Right! LOL!! Thanks
When Hesseman was on Head of the Class, they filmed an episode where the class goes to Moscow. It was the first time an American primetime series had been allowed to film in the Soviet Union.
I don’t think CBS knew quite what to do with WKRP. It was off beat and not the traditional sit-com. CBS was risk averse and didn’t like the weird or different (see Smother’s Brothers). WKRP always did pretty well in the ratings. CBS cancelled WKRP in the Spring, and the summer re-runs of WKRP that followed were ranked in the Nielsen top 10 if I’m remembering correctly.
RIP Dr. Johnny Fever.
They dropped them from a helicopter.
Les Nesman was on the ground in front of a grocery store when the turkeys came flying down “like bags of wet cement”
IMO, one of the last truly funny, non-formulaic comedy shows. Just classic. The other night I saw the episode where Hohnny bought a condo but hated it, so he and Venus acted gay to get out of the cobtract. Great stuff you couldn’t do today.
Dr. Fever was right...there really were phone cops. I know for a fact. I met them once!
Thanks for all the laughs!
I wonder if this is where the character’s name came from...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKT5MyhJdNo
Rest in peace.
“Jennifer or Bailey?”
They were both beautiful in their own ways, but Bailey would have been my choice.
I saw an episode about his character’s origins and why he chose WKRP over other stations is because the other stations had younger station managers who didnt like the records he played and felt threatened by the other younger DJ’s who were after his time slot. He didnt like taking orders and if you are over 40, people at that age get it..
Bailey!
Of course phone cops were real. We called them corporate security. You gotta remember that Ma Bell’s been involved in providing government phone service and other things, since Alexander invented the thing.
And AT&T/Western Electric/Bell Labs used to be in charge of managing Sandia National Labs in New Mexico, from 1949 to around 1983 when storied Lockheed took over. It’s now managed by Honeywell, another long time government contractor.
So yea, there were “phone cops”. Still are, after a fashion..
Rest In Peace, Howard, and thank you from the bottom of my heart for your talented performance.
I hate the ravages of time.
Jan Smithers was born 1 week before me.
Considering her age, she looks quite well with no cosmetic restructuring.
The Sixties and Seventies gave us classic TV. I don't think a lot of is was that great, but you can't take away the fact that it was classic and iconic and memorable.
Also, the sitcom seems to have died since then. There are still network sitcoms, but nobody watches them or remembers them.
What you get on cable is better but it doesn't fit the classic, comfortable sitcom model, so the Seventies sitcoms are a highpoint for the traditional sitcom genre.
Bailey.
Careful there Johnny, you’ll poke your eye out.
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