WKRP Episode: "Hotel Oceanview"

I had intended not to jump around so much from season to season in posting these complete, never-gonna-be-on-DVD episodes, but this third season episode is the only one I have uploaded at the moment: "Hotel Oceanview," the fifth episode broadcast in season 3 and one of the weirder episodes of this or any sitcom: Andy, Herb and Mr. Carlson go to the terrorized and terrifying town of Dayton to try and land the Vicky Von Vickey Jeans account. Some of my favorite lines include "Dayton can be nasty after dark" and "I don't know, Art, but I know one thing, it's got fruit in it."

The Herb story is actually based on a sketch that the writer, Steven Kampmann, did when he was at Second City. I found this out when I was reading a book on the Second City and found a description of a sketch Kampmann created: he played someone who goes to a convention and meets a woman (Shelley Long) who claims to remember him from high school. Only later does he learn that... well, it's in the episode. Anyway, I realized that Kampmann basically rewrote the sketch as a story for his favorite character, Herb.

Music: "Rise" by Herb Alpert, "Sailing" by Christopher Cross, and the Toccata from Bach's Toccata and Fugue in d minor, a piece Hugh Wilson seemed to like a lot because he used it (for similar creepy effect) on Frank's Place.


Hotel Oceanview by carpalton