Cincinnati Beat

Fellow babies!

So I listen to a lot of podcasts, and I admit I often roll my eyes at how the hosts of fledgling podcast always seem to be hustling for love "engagement," in the form of email, comments, feedback, and the like. But now that I have a fledgling podcast of my own, I get it. Because it is SO EXCELLENT that people are actually listening to this thing, and it is SO FUN to get email, comments, feedback, and the like. So thank you. Thank you. You are awesome and I hope you keep listening and enjoying and commenting for as long as this little ride goes.

There are a few running themes in the emails, comments, and conversations I've had about last week's episode. To wit:

Joyce Armor

Some of the hardcore KRP experts among you pointed out that Joyce Armor, the name of the real-life writer of episode 6, "Bailey's Show," is also the name of a character on a later episode of WKRP. What can I say? We're watching these in order so the fourth-season episodes are really not on my radar yet. It just goes to show: 99.9% of the world would say Mike and I are dangerously obsessed with this show, but at least two of my good friends are giving me grief for not being obsessed enough. Anyway, yes. I admit I had forgotten this, but in the fourth-season episode "An Explosive Affair" (aka the one with the Phone Cops), Jennifer's predecessor as the station receptionist is named Joyce Armor! Crazy. Is it a shout-out to the real-life Joyce Armor? An inside joke? I'm sure we'll talk about all that when we get there. In the meantime, enjoy our buddy Chris' theory that WKRP is some kind of hyperfictional metatext riffing on Grant Morrison's The Invisibles.

Were we too hard on Team Bailey?

Several people, including my wife*, have said we were too tough on Bailey fans in our last episode. (* Who is beautiful, bespectacled, smart, and sometimes underappreciated at work. Hmm...) Let me be clear on this: we still love Bailey! We just don't claim that ours is a minority opinion. If we were tough on Team Bailey, it's because we were being tough on our own selves.

To make it up to you, here are several early pictures of Jan Smithers. See if you can look past her awkward exterior to appreciate the beauty within.

Close Encounters was Not Scary

I have to agree. Man up, Mike!