Arthur Carlson
Encyclopedia
Arthur Carlson, aka "The Big Guy" is a fictional character
on the television situation comedy
WKRP in Cincinnati
(1978–82), the general manager
of the low-rated Cincinnati radio station
WKRP. The character was also a regular on the "revival" series, The New WKRP in Cincinnati
, still working as general manager of WKRP. He was played by Gordon Jump
in both shows.
Flashbacks in the episode "Bah, Humbug" reveal that Mr. Carlson joined WKRP as sales manager in the early '50s. When his mother fired the previous station manager for being too generous to the employees, Arthur got his job. With the rise of rock n' roll music, WKRP's "beautiful music" format became outdated and a sure money-loser, appealing only to senior citizens.
In the pilot of WKRP, the new program director, Andy Travis
, convinces Mr. Carlson that switching the format to rock n' roll might make the station successful and profitable; Mr. Carlson, who wants desperately to prove to his mother that he can be a success, goes along with the change and even gets the nerve to defend Andy's changes to his mother. Only when Arthur shows that much backbone does his mother relent and keep to the format change.
(based on a real-life incident that happened just recently, and in Cincinnati), the staff fears that Mr. Carlson, who feels guilty about having helped to promote the concert, will change their format back to "elevator music
." But Mr. Carlson, who was at the concert and actually found himself enjoying the music (before he learned what happened), understands that the stadium's first-come, first-served seating was to blame for the tragedy, and not the band or the music. "We're a rock n' roll station," he declares, "and we're going to stay a rock n' roll station."
Because Mr. Carlson doesn't know much about the music or about business, he spends most of his time sleeping or playing with various toys he keeps in his office: model trains, a miniature basketball
and hoop, or toy soldiers. He defends this practice by saying "I'm not a child -- I'm a hobbyist." He is also an avid fisherman
, keeping several rods and reels in his office at all times and speaking eloquently of the joys of hooking a fish and then throwing it back.
Mr. Carlson has trouble dealing with people, especially with saying "no"; he will buy anything from a salesman (WKRP sales manager Herb Tarlek
once sold him an insurance policy) and tends to whimper when someone yells at him. To protect him from the outside world, he depends on his receptionist, Jennifer Marlowe
, whose main job is keeping people away from her boss by any means necessary, including telling them that he's dead.
Despite these foibles, Mr. Carlson has a very strong sense of right and wrong, and at times, stands up for what he believes in and can even be confrontational. This is revealed in an episode where a sleazy photographer (George Wyner
) snaps nude pictures of Jennifer as she is changing in another room following a cheesecake photo shoot with Andy Travis. When Carlson finds the pictures in the photographer's studio, he grabs the photographer by his shirt and threatens a lawsuit. In another episode, he gently but firmly supports Andy's decision to fire a new disc jockey replacing Johnny Fever, after it is proven that the DJ (Philip Charles MacKenzie
) is being paid with cocaine
under a payola
plan with a record producer
.
Some episodes, particularly in the first season, show Mr. Carlson feeling left out at the station and wanting to prove that he, too, can come up with good ideas to make WKRP more successful. The most famous such attempt is chronicled in "Turkeys Away," where Mr. Carlson tries to become actively involved in every aspect of running the station, driving the employees crazy with incessant suggestions. He then comes up with what he describes as a brilliant idea for a Thanksgiving
promotion, but, distrustful of Andy and the other "casually dressed" employees, he won't tell anyone what the promotion is, except the obsequious Herb. On the day of the promotion, with news director Les Nessman
covering it live, the WKRP staff discovers that Mr. Carlson and Herb are throwing live turkeys out of a helicopter
, which promptly plummet to their deaths. When Mr. Carlson returns, covered with feathers, he admits: "As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." Despite the fiasco, the employees realize that they need to make Mr. Carlson feel more respected and wanted at the station.
Being generally a straightforward, uncomplicated kind of person, Mr. Carlson sometimes acts as a father figure
to members of his staff. By using a low-key, friendly approach, he helps Herb face up to his alcoholism
problems, and in the episode "Who is Gordon Sims", he assists Venus in coming to terms with his past as an Army deserter (albeit with mixed feelings, as Mr. Carlson himself had served in the Marine Corps
and is initially very taken aback at hearing of Venus' desertion).
Although genial and rather bumbling, Mr. Carlson does display a quick wit at times. In the episode "Changes", after overhearing Venus and Johnny Fever discuss Venus' racial identity concerns in the station's record library, Mr. Carlson offers some advice to Venus. When Johnny then asks him what he was doing hanging out in the record library in the first place, Carlson replies, deadpan, that he was "looking for old Guy Lombardo
records and smoking dope."
, Hirsch (Ian Wolfe). Mr. Carlson served in the Marine Corps
as an officer, presumably during the Korean War
(however, this is never explicitly stated; he also makes reference to being at Guadalcanal
, as well as learning some Japanese
, which may be a vague indication that he served during World War II
instead) and at some point saw combat, a fact he confirmed to Venus Flytrap
.
Mama Carlson has never shown Arthur any open signs of affection, and constantly puts him down: when he tries to hug her, she pushes him aside and says "keep away from me!" She admits to Andy Travis
that she "pushed and bullied" her son this way because she was trying to make him tough and self-sufficient, like her; instead, by her own admission, the tactic backfired, making him even more weak-willed than his father.
He is married to Carmen (Allyn Ann McLerie), a sweet-natured woman who is almost as shy as he is: though they are happily married, their main problem is that they are so anxious to avoid hurting each other's feelings that they rarely tell each other what they really think. They have a son, Arthur Jr., whom they sent off to military school on Mama Carlson's advice; this proved to be a mistake when it turns "Little Arthur" into a nasty, racist, borderline fascist. In the first season, Mr. Carlson takes his son out of military school, to live with his parents and go to public school, but later references suggest that Little Arthur gets worse, not better; in one episode, it is revealed that Little Arthur wants to join the American branch of the Nazi Party, and in another it's stated that he wants to join the PLO. During the course of the series, Carmen has a surprise pregnancy and, after she and Arthur decide they want the baby, she gives birth to a daughter, whom she and Arthur hope they can raise their own way, without the mistakes they made with their son. The girl's name is later revealed to be Melanie in a subsequent episode.
In the episode "A Simple Little Wedding", it is revealed that Arthur and Carmen have been married for 25 years, and that they eloped when Mama Carlson began taking control of their wedding. When they decide to renew their vows and have a small wedding ceremony (after a humorous aside when Jennifer and Bailey together seductively tell Mr. Carlson that he should "play the field" first), Mama Carlson initially agrees to remain in the background. When Mama Carlson's characteristic need to control asserts itself again, Arthur and Carmen decide to elope again for the second time.
Though Mr. Carlson pays the sexy Jennifer the highest salary of any employee at the station, there is never anything improper about their relationship. He relies on Jennifer to give him the kind of support he never got from his own mother. He also knows that Jennifer, despite her apparent self-reliance, really cares about him and, in her own way, depends on him too: "You need me to need you," he tells Jennifer in one episode. Carmen is friendly with Jennifer and shows no jealousy or suspicions of her.
Aside from Jennifer, Carlson also relies heavily on Andy Travis
. Although their initial meeting was rocky (Carlson didn't remember hiring Andy over the phone, and then tried to fire him after the station's format change to rock and roll), Carlson often turns to Andy for advice (such as when he decided to turn down a funeral home's business because he found their advertising campaign to be tasteless) and often stands behind Andy when Andy's required to make tough decisions (such as firing a DJ who was taking payola from a record station).
Mr. Carlson is tempted once in the course of the series, by his first receptionist, Joyce Armour (Rosemary Forsyth
). When Joyce stops by to recruit WKRP's business for her rep firm, she takes Carlson out for drinks and then asks him to come see her at her hotel room. A nervous Carlson initially thinks Joyce is coming on to him and so brushes her off, but eventually decides to visit her. After a couple of drinks, and some confused conversation, Joyce explains to Carlson that she was simply trying to drum up some business for her firm, and never intended to mislead him. Carlson replied that she didn't, it was merely his usual misinterpreting of a situation. Joyce then tells Carlson that she was flattered he was attracted to her, stating "If you weren't married I'd camp on your doorstep," to which Carlson replied before departing, "If I wasn't married, you wouldn't be camping very long."
Mr. Carlson is a Republican
; he belongs to the local Kiwanis Club as well as the Rotary Club, attends church every Sunday, and teaches Sunday School
. He also drives a Dodge
(at a time when Chrysler was teetering on the brink of bankruptcy). In the episode "Clean Up Radio Everywhere," his socially conservative leanings cause him to befriend the Reverend Dr. Bob Halyers, the Jerry Falwell
-esque leader of an organization dedicated to purging "obscene" songs from the airwaves. Shocked at reading some of the sexually suggestive lyrics that are being played on his station, Mr. Carlson orders his employees to follow Halyers' suggestions and not play those songs. But when Halyers delivers another list of songs to ban (including songs WKRP hasn't played yet), Mr. Carlson defies Halyers and refuses to co-operate with him anymore, leading to a boycott of WKRP's sponsors. In the closing scene of the episode, Mr. Carlson reaffirms that he likes Halyers personally, but that he won't submit to censorship
, and he warns Halyers that anyone who would be cowardly enough to co-operate with him is bound to change his tune when the political winds shift. Carlson's religious views are also brought forward in the episode "God Talks to Johnny"; when Johnny believes that God
is speaking to him and starts to go a little crazy, Carlson helps Johnny regain a sense of normalcy by telling him that it's all right if he thinks God is speaking to him, as long as God doesn't tell him to "get naked and hang out at the airport
".
, director of the WKRP pilot, MTM Enterprises
originally wanted Roddy McDowall
to play Mr. Carlson. When McDowall was unavailable, Sandrich recommended Jump, who had just played a memorable role for Sandrich as the bumbling Police Chief Tinkler on the show Soap
.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
on the television situation comedy
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
WKRP in Cincinnati
WKRP in Cincinnati
WKRP in Cincinnati is an American situation comedy that featured the misadventures of the staff of a struggling fictional radio station in Cincinnati, Ohio. The show was created by Hugh Wilson and was based upon his experiences working in advertising sales at Top 40 radio station WQXI in Atlanta...
(1978–82), the general manager
General manager
General manager is a descriptive term for certain executives in a business operation. It is also a formal title held by some business executives, most commonly in the hospitality industry.-Generic usage:...
of the low-rated Cincinnati radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
WKRP. The character was also a regular on the "revival" series, The New WKRP in Cincinnati
The New WKRP in Cincinnati
The New WKRP in Cincinnati is a sequel/spin-off of the original CBS sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati. It was made for the syndication market from 1991 to 1993....
, still working as general manager of WKRP. He was played by Gordon Jump
Gordon Jump
Alexander Gordon Jump was an American actor best known as the clueless radio station manager Arthur "Big Guy" Carlson in the TV series WKRP in Cincinnati and the incompetent "Chief of Police Tinkler" in the sitcom Soap...
in both shows.
Before and after the format change
Mr. Carlson is a well-meaning, bumbling, childlike man who is completely out of touch with the changes that have occurred in the radio and music business. He keeps his job as general manager of WKRP only because his mother, Lillian Carlson, better known as "Mama Carlson", owns the station. Unbeknownst to him, his mother has set up WKRP as a tax write-off that is intended to lose money, and she keeps him at the station not because she wants him to succeed but because she expects him to fail.Flashbacks in the episode "Bah, Humbug" reveal that Mr. Carlson joined WKRP as sales manager in the early '50s. When his mother fired the previous station manager for being too generous to the employees, Arthur got his job. With the rise of rock n' roll music, WKRP's "beautiful music" format became outdated and a sure money-loser, appealing only to senior citizens.
In the pilot of WKRP, the new program director, Andy Travis
Andy Travis
Andy Travis is a fictional character on the television situation comedy WKRP in Cincinnati . He was played by Gary Sandy.Travis was originally intended to be the lead character, the more-or-less normal person who would anchor the series and provide the focus for most of the stories...
, convinces Mr. Carlson that switching the format to rock n' roll might make the station successful and profitable; Mr. Carlson, who wants desperately to prove to his mother that he can be a success, goes along with the change and even gets the nerve to defend Andy's changes to his mother. Only when Arthur shows that much backbone does his mother relent and keep to the format change.
"Management" style
Though he accepts the format change, Mr. Carlson is not a fan of rock n' roll music (though he does admit to Andy that he likes Crosby, Stills and Nash), and frequently doesn't even listen to his own station because he doesn't enjoy the songs or the modern, with-it styles of the disc jockeys. As the series goes on, however, Mr. Carlson becomes more accepting of the format and the changing cultural trends. In the episode "In Concert," after eleven kids are trampled to death at a concert by The WhoThe Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
(based on a real-life incident that happened just recently, and in Cincinnati), the staff fears that Mr. Carlson, who feels guilty about having helped to promote the concert, will change their format back to "elevator music
Elevator music
Elevator music refers to instrumental arrangements of popular music designed for playing in shopping malls, grocery stores, department stores, telephone systems , cruise ships, airports, doctors' and dentists' offices, and elevators...
." But Mr. Carlson, who was at the concert and actually found himself enjoying the music (before he learned what happened), understands that the stadium's first-come, first-served seating was to blame for the tragedy, and not the band or the music. "We're a rock n' roll station," he declares, "and we're going to stay a rock n' roll station."
Because Mr. Carlson doesn't know much about the music or about business, he spends most of his time sleeping or playing with various toys he keeps in his office: model trains, a miniature basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
and hoop, or toy soldiers. He defends this practice by saying "I'm not a child -- I'm a hobbyist." He is also an avid fisherman
Fisherman
A fisherman or fisher is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishermen and fish farmers. The term can also be applied to recreational fishermen and may be used to describe both men...
, keeping several rods and reels in his office at all times and speaking eloquently of the joys of hooking a fish and then throwing it back.
Mr. Carlson has trouble dealing with people, especially with saying "no"; he will buy anything from a salesman (WKRP sales manager Herb Tarlek
Herb Tarlek
Herb Tarlek is a character on the television situation comedy WKRP in Cincinnati . He was played by actor Frank Bonner...
once sold him an insurance policy) and tends to whimper when someone yells at him. To protect him from the outside world, he depends on his receptionist, Jennifer Marlowe
Jennifer Marlowe
Jennifer Elizabeth Marlowe is a character on the television situation comedy WKRP in Cincinnati . She was played by actress Loni Anderson, who received two Emmy nominations for playing the character.-Fictional character biography:...
, whose main job is keeping people away from her boss by any means necessary, including telling them that he's dead.
Despite these foibles, Mr. Carlson has a very strong sense of right and wrong, and at times, stands up for what he believes in and can even be confrontational. This is revealed in an episode where a sleazy photographer (George Wyner
George Wyner
George Wyner is an American film and television actor. He is probably best known for his role as ADA Bernstein on the series Hill Street Blues. Wyner graduated from Syracuse University in 1968 as a drama major, and was an in-demand character actor by the early 1970s. To date, Wyner has made guest...
) snaps nude pictures of Jennifer as she is changing in another room following a cheesecake photo shoot with Andy Travis. When Carlson finds the pictures in the photographer's studio, he grabs the photographer by his shirt and threatens a lawsuit. In another episode, he gently but firmly supports Andy's decision to fire a new disc jockey replacing Johnny Fever, after it is proven that the DJ (Philip Charles MacKenzie
Philip Charles MacKenzie
Philip Charles MacKenzie is an American actor and television director. He is best known for his role as Donald Maltby on Brothers, and as Ted Nichols on Open House, which he worked on with his current wife Alison LaPlaca.-Career:...
) is being paid with cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
under a payola
Payola
Payola, in the American music industry, is the illegal practice of payment or other inducement by record companies for the broadcast of recordings on music radio, in which the song is presented as being part of the normal day's broadcast. Under U.S...
plan with a record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
.
Some episodes, particularly in the first season, show Mr. Carlson feeling left out at the station and wanting to prove that he, too, can come up with good ideas to make WKRP more successful. The most famous such attempt is chronicled in "Turkeys Away," where Mr. Carlson tries to become actively involved in every aspect of running the station, driving the employees crazy with incessant suggestions. He then comes up with what he describes as a brilliant idea for a Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. In Canada, Thanksgiving falls on the same day as Columbus Day in the...
promotion, but, distrustful of Andy and the other "casually dressed" employees, he won't tell anyone what the promotion is, except the obsequious Herb. On the day of the promotion, with news director Les Nessman
Les Nessman
Les Nessman is a fictional character on the television situation comedy WKRP in Cincinnati played by Richard Sanders. He reprised his role in the sequel series, The New WKRP in Cincinnati.-Background and Appearance:...
covering it live, the WKRP staff discovers that Mr. Carlson and Herb are throwing live turkeys out of a helicopter
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
, which promptly plummet to their deaths. When Mr. Carlson returns, covered with feathers, he admits: "As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." Despite the fiasco, the employees realize that they need to make Mr. Carlson feel more respected and wanted at the station.
Being generally a straightforward, uncomplicated kind of person, Mr. Carlson sometimes acts as a father figure
Father Figure
"Father Figure" is the U.S. number-one song written and performed by George Michael and released on Columbia Records in 1988 as the third single from the album Faith.-History:...
to members of his staff. By using a low-key, friendly approach, he helps Herb face up to his alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
problems, and in the episode "Who is Gordon Sims", he assists Venus in coming to terms with his past as an Army deserter (albeit with mixed feelings, as Mr. Carlson himself had served in the Marine Corps
Marine corps
A marine is a member of a force that specializes in expeditionary operations such as amphibious assault and occupation. The marines traditionally have strong links with the country's navy...
and is initially very taken aback at hearing of Venus' desertion).
Although genial and rather bumbling, Mr. Carlson does display a quick wit at times. In the episode "Changes", after overhearing Venus and Johnny Fever discuss Venus' racial identity concerns in the station's record library, Mr. Carlson offers some advice to Venus. When Johnny then asks him what he was doing hanging out in the record library in the first place, Carlson replies, deadpan, that he was "looking for old Guy Lombardo
Guy Lombardo
Gaetano Alberto "Guy" Lombardo was a Canadian-American bandleader and violinist.Forming "The Royal Canadians" in 1924 with his brothers Carmen, Lebert, and Victor and other musicians from his hometown, Lombardo led the group to international success, billing themselves as creating "The Sweetest...
records and smoking dope."
Personal life
Arthur Carlson comes from a successful family of Cincinnati business people. Arthur's grandfather, who is seen in one episode in a dream (also played by Gordon Jump), was a miserly businessman who built up Carlson Industries. He left it to Arthur's father, Hank, a sweet-natured man who was more interested in having a good time than running the business. Hank married Lillian, a former actress in Broadway musicals, who soon proved to have a talent for business and took the family business more seriously than Hank did. Eventually Lillian took over the corporation entirely, and Hank died soon after. Because his father died when he was very young, Arthur Carlson was raised mostly by his mother and by her sarcastic butlerButler
A butler is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantry. Some also have charge of the entire parlour floor, and housekeepers caring for the entire house and its...
, Hirsch (Ian Wolfe). Mr. Carlson served in the Marine Corps
Marine corps
A marine is a member of a force that specializes in expeditionary operations such as amphibious assault and occupation. The marines traditionally have strong links with the country's navy...
as an officer, presumably during the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
(however, this is never explicitly stated; he also makes reference to being at Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal is a tropical island in the South-Western Pacific. The largest island in the Solomons, it was discovered by the Spanish expedition of Alvaro de Mendaña in 1568...
, as well as learning some Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
, which may be a vague indication that he served during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
instead) and at some point saw combat, a fact he confirmed to Venus Flytrap
Venus Flytrap (WKRP in Cincinnati)
Venus Flytrap is a character on the television situation comedy WKRP in Cincinnati , played by Tim Reid. He is the evening and early night-time disc jockey at WKRP, and during the course of the series he also becomes the assistant program director.-Development:Concerning the paucity of black actors...
.
Mama Carlson has never shown Arthur any open signs of affection, and constantly puts him down: when he tries to hug her, she pushes him aside and says "keep away from me!" She admits to Andy Travis
Andy Travis
Andy Travis is a fictional character on the television situation comedy WKRP in Cincinnati . He was played by Gary Sandy.Travis was originally intended to be the lead character, the more-or-less normal person who would anchor the series and provide the focus for most of the stories...
that she "pushed and bullied" her son this way because she was trying to make him tough and self-sufficient, like her; instead, by her own admission, the tactic backfired, making him even more weak-willed than his father.
He is married to Carmen (Allyn Ann McLerie), a sweet-natured woman who is almost as shy as he is: though they are happily married, their main problem is that they are so anxious to avoid hurting each other's feelings that they rarely tell each other what they really think. They have a son, Arthur Jr., whom they sent off to military school on Mama Carlson's advice; this proved to be a mistake when it turns "Little Arthur" into a nasty, racist, borderline fascist. In the first season, Mr. Carlson takes his son out of military school, to live with his parents and go to public school, but later references suggest that Little Arthur gets worse, not better; in one episode, it is revealed that Little Arthur wants to join the American branch of the Nazi Party, and in another it's stated that he wants to join the PLO. During the course of the series, Carmen has a surprise pregnancy and, after she and Arthur decide they want the baby, she gives birth to a daughter, whom she and Arthur hope they can raise their own way, without the mistakes they made with their son. The girl's name is later revealed to be Melanie in a subsequent episode.
In the episode "A Simple Little Wedding", it is revealed that Arthur and Carmen have been married for 25 years, and that they eloped when Mama Carlson began taking control of their wedding. When they decide to renew their vows and have a small wedding ceremony (after a humorous aside when Jennifer and Bailey together seductively tell Mr. Carlson that he should "play the field" first), Mama Carlson initially agrees to remain in the background. When Mama Carlson's characteristic need to control asserts itself again, Arthur and Carmen decide to elope again for the second time.
Though Mr. Carlson pays the sexy Jennifer the highest salary of any employee at the station, there is never anything improper about their relationship. He relies on Jennifer to give him the kind of support he never got from his own mother. He also knows that Jennifer, despite her apparent self-reliance, really cares about him and, in her own way, depends on him too: "You need me to need you," he tells Jennifer in one episode. Carmen is friendly with Jennifer and shows no jealousy or suspicions of her.
Aside from Jennifer, Carlson also relies heavily on Andy Travis
Andy Travis
Andy Travis is a fictional character on the television situation comedy WKRP in Cincinnati . He was played by Gary Sandy.Travis was originally intended to be the lead character, the more-or-less normal person who would anchor the series and provide the focus for most of the stories...
. Although their initial meeting was rocky (Carlson didn't remember hiring Andy over the phone, and then tried to fire him after the station's format change to rock and roll), Carlson often turns to Andy for advice (such as when he decided to turn down a funeral home's business because he found their advertising campaign to be tasteless) and often stands behind Andy when Andy's required to make tough decisions (such as firing a DJ who was taking payola from a record station).
Mr. Carlson is tempted once in the course of the series, by his first receptionist, Joyce Armour (Rosemary Forsyth
Rosemary Forsyth
Rosemary Forsyth is a Canadian-born American actress most notable for her role as Bronwyn opposite Charlton Heston in The War Lord in 1965....
). When Joyce stops by to recruit WKRP's business for her rep firm, she takes Carlson out for drinks and then asks him to come see her at her hotel room. A nervous Carlson initially thinks Joyce is coming on to him and so brushes her off, but eventually decides to visit her. After a couple of drinks, and some confused conversation, Joyce explains to Carlson that she was simply trying to drum up some business for her firm, and never intended to mislead him. Carlson replied that she didn't, it was merely his usual misinterpreting of a situation. Joyce then tells Carlson that she was flattered he was attracted to her, stating "If you weren't married I'd camp on your doorstep," to which Carlson replied before departing, "If I wasn't married, you wouldn't be camping very long."
Mr. Carlson is a Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
; he belongs to the local Kiwanis Club as well as the Rotary Club, attends church every Sunday, and teaches Sunday School
Sunday school
Sunday school is the generic name for many different types of religious education pursued on Sundays by various denominations.-England:The first Sunday school may have been opened in 1751 in St. Mary's Church, Nottingham. Another early start was made by Hannah Ball, a native of High Wycombe in...
. He also drives a Dodge
Dodge
Dodge is a United States-based brand of automobiles, minivans, and sport utility vehicles, manufactured and marketed by Chrysler Group LLC in more than 60 different countries and territories worldwide....
(at a time when Chrysler was teetering on the brink of bankruptcy). In the episode "Clean Up Radio Everywhere," his socially conservative leanings cause him to befriend the Reverend Dr. Bob Halyers, the Jerry Falwell
Jerry Falwell
Jerry Lamon Falwell, Sr. was an evangelical fundamentalist Southern Baptist pastor, televangelist, and a conservative commentator from the United States. He was the founding pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church, a megachurch in Lynchburg, Virginia...
-esque leader of an organization dedicated to purging "obscene" songs from the airwaves. Shocked at reading some of the sexually suggestive lyrics that are being played on his station, Mr. Carlson orders his employees to follow Halyers' suggestions and not play those songs. But when Halyers delivers another list of songs to ban (including songs WKRP hasn't played yet), Mr. Carlson defies Halyers and refuses to co-operate with him anymore, leading to a boycott of WKRP's sponsors. In the closing scene of the episode, Mr. Carlson reaffirms that he likes Halyers personally, but that he won't submit to censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
, and he warns Halyers that anyone who would be cowardly enough to co-operate with him is bound to change his tune when the political winds shift. Carlson's religious views are also brought forward in the episode "God Talks to Johnny"; when Johnny believes that God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
is speaking to him and starts to go a little crazy, Carlson helps Johnny regain a sense of normalcy by telling him that it's all right if he thinks God is speaking to him, as long as God doesn't tell him to "get naked and hang out at the airport
Airport
An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...
".
Casting
According to Jay SandrichJay Sandrich
Jay Henry Sandrich is an American television director.He began his career as an Assistant Director on I Love Lucy. Sandrich has directed and/or produced episodes of The Bill Dana Show, Get Smart, 2/3 of the Mary Tyler Moore Show, Soap, first 3 seasons of The Cosby Show, and The Odd Couple...
, director of the WKRP pilot, MTM Enterprises
MTM Enterprises
MTM Enterprises was an American independent production company established in 1969 by Mary Tyler Moore and her then-husband Grant Tinker to produce The Mary Tyler Moore Show for CBS...
originally wanted Roddy McDowall
Roddy McDowall
Roderick Andrew Anthony Jude "Roddy" McDowall was an English actor and photographer. His film roles included Cornelius and Caesar in the Planet of the Apes film series...
to play Mr. Carlson. When McDowall was unavailable, Sandrich recommended Jump, who had just played a memorable role for Sandrich as the bumbling Police Chief Tinkler on the show Soap
Soap (TV series)
Soap is an American sitcom that originally ran on ABC from 1977 to 1981.The show was created as a parody of daytime soap operas, presented as a weekly half-hour prime time comedy. Similar to a soap opera, the show's story was presented in a serial format and included melodramatic plot elements such...
.