What If…
Wednesday, November 25th, 2009
…we replaced the cast of WKRP with the quirky crew from Firefly? Before you ask “why?”, let me explain where this train of thought originated. ManWithPez and I enjoy watching reruns of WKRP. It reminds of us of our youth and it’s freakin’ hilarious. One evening during a WKRP marathon ManWithPez noticed Gary Sandy and Nathan Fillion share some movement and personality traits. We decided then and there that should WKRP ever return to the small screen, or large, that Nathan should assume the role of Andy Travis. That kernel of fun led to recasting the station crew with Serenity’s crew.
First we have the aforementioned Malcolm/Andy casting. Mal has a lot of trouble controlling his crew. His plans rarely work and trouble seems to hover like a cloud. Andy was a great program director until he moved to Cincinnati. He struggles with keeping the station running smoothly and the crew doing the right thing. I think it fits. Next I dropped our lovable pilot Wash into the role of station manager Mr. Carlson. They both love toys and play time. They both enjoy a good joke. Despite the fact that they both pilot the crew, someone else is making all the directional decisions.
Just as Inara acted as a sort of ambassador, Jennifer often is the face of WKRP, the person that relates to everyone else. They have beauty and grace and more intelligence than their positions would suggest. On the other hand we have Herb. A distasteful man who surprises everyone that he gets any sales. Jayne is a distasteful man who surprises everyone that he has any social skills at all. Plus, they aren’t the snazziest dressers.
And what of the DJs? Johhny Fever can be no one other than Book. Both have pasts that aren’t fully known. Both seem to have a font of unusual knowledge and advice. Both are obviously the coolest, most relaxed members of their crews. Venus was a bit trickier. I settled on Zoe for a couple or reasons. First, Venus and Zoe are war veterans. This gives them a sense of duty and willingness to be a part of the team effort. Second, Andy turns to Venus for advice every now-and-then. He recognizes that even though Venus isn’t as experienced as Johnny, his opinion is valuable. Venus is usually in one of two places: the studio or Andy’s office. Zoe it is.
We’re left with the fastidious Les Nesman and the perky Bailey Quarters. Fastidious and perky…Simon and Kaylee, obviously. Les and Simon are the butt of jokes, well manicured, and too smart for their britches. While the crews of both the station and the ship love them, they always seem to be outside the lines…or in the office/infirmary. Bailey and Kaylee are the fixers-of-things. They seem to know how everything works. Bailey can splice a reel and Kaylee can splice some wires. They are the heart of their crews.
You may have noticed River missing from the station crew. I couldn’t figure out where to put her. I don’t know enough about the other three DJs or Bucky to feel comfortable casting her for any of those roles. So, she’s a free agent. Free to roam the station observing and commenting and being kooky.
Did I get it right? Feel free to discuss what’s right and what’s wrong with my choices. Also, offer up some other “What If” scenarios. This could be the beginning of a regular post for little ol’ me.
—-ThatCostumeGirl
Tags: WhatIf
Posted on November 30th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
I like most of your casting choices; but I don’t see Book as Dr. Johnny Fever. I’d cast River as Johnny. After all, both of them have a reputation for being a little bit crazy and unpredictable, and are capable of suddenly switching from being quiet and laid back to being animated and talkative. But that raises the question of what to do with Book. Mama Carlson, perhaps? Both are just a little bit judgmental (though Book is far less so than Mama Carlson). But, apart from that, it’s not a really great fit. Nor does Book really work all that well as Bucky. Both are extremely cool and relaxed (Bucky may be even more relaxed than Johnny Fever). But Book is very talkative, while Bucky is extremely taciturn. There was a con-artist preacher on WKRP: a former professional wrestler called Little Ed. But, apart from the fact that they are both men of the cloth, there is little similarity between Little Ed and Shepherd Book. I’d probably cast Book as Mama Carlson’s butler, Hirsch, who was constantly needling Mama Carlson much in the same way that Book needled Mal. So, who would I cast as Mama Carlson? Saffron, of course. It’s almost a perfect fit. I could see Badger as Little Ed; but I’d rather cast Badger as Herb Tarlek, and cast Jayne as Little Ed (both are big, mean, greedy, and dishonest, but both have a soft spot). Zoe would work as Bucky; but that would leave us without a Venus; and it’s more important to have a Venus than a Bucky.
Posted on November 30th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
I have to say I’d go with River as ‘Johnny Fever’ because he was so ‘Anti-war’ & usually had such a highly attuned mental awareness-read into that what you will…Some would say that’s bad-but Johnny would say, “It’s all good man…it’s all good.” WKRP fans know that Johnny was a War Vet who dealt with that by taking a lot of drugs & drinking to deal with the PPD so sometimes he’d come off as very flighty, flakey and immature. When in reality he was a very tortured, philiosophical character for a sit-com in that time-he took a stand for his political beliefs (ok. it was the writers, but you get what I’m saying-without me going into a bunch of hoop-la) Even though he was sometimes the Funny man to Venus’ Straight man we’d have episodes where Johnny would end up making you ‘think’ the most. So-if we’re making ‘Firefly’ comparisons then I feel we’d have to cast River as Johnny Fever-She mayn’t have served in the war, but what the ‘war-time experiments’ did to her state of mind certainly left her sounding as zany most of the time as Johnny, illuminated with spots of profound wisdom-or just plain kick6-take no names hand to hand combat skills that surprised everyone. At least we know if Jayne’s going to be Herb..he can bring Vera for station holdiaty parties as Herb’s Wife, Lucielle.
Posted on December 3rd, 2009 at 10:17 am
River is obviously the episode where Bailey was pretending to be high on drugs.
N – E – S – T – L – E – S,
Nestles makes the very best,
Choooooooocklaaaaaaaaaate.