WKRP Episode: "Venus and the Man" (aka "Venus Flytrap Explains the Atom")

I'm posting this one earlier than usual because I got a request for it: here is one of the most famous episodes of WKRP in Cincinnati, the episode where Venus (Tim Reid) tries to convince a gang leader not to drop out of high school, resulting in the much-quoted scene where Venus explains the structure of the atom by comparing it to a gang war. Creator/showrunner Hugh Wilson wrote the episode, which won him a Humanitas prize. The script looks forward to some of what Wilson would do on Frank's Place, in its mixture of comedy and drama in the same episode and sometimes the same scene. It's also a great vehicle for Tim Reid, who has virtually the whole episode to himself, though Les Nessman comes close to stealing the episode with his speech about the black influence on music (somehow it's actually funnier to hear Les speaking knowledgeably than it is to hear him get things wrong). The guy who plays the kid, Keny Long, had played a similar part on MTM's The White Shadow; he seems way too old for the part, but it's not easy to cast a high school kid who's supposed to be strong enough to intimidate an adult.

This version I'm using is the version that originally aired in 1981, which started with a brief message welcoming back the Iranian hostages. (For pure 1981 nostalgia, you can't beat that.) In repeats, this was removed and the scene with Venus in the booth became the first scene of the show. Note that Howard Hesseman is holding his flag in his teeth and looks like he kinda doesn't want to be there.

Music: "Lookin' For Love" by Candi Staton and, in the final scene, a cover of "Bein' Green" by Della Reese (which sounds like an awesome version).